Pamplin Historical Park – The Breakthrough

Petersburg, VA

Less than a week ago we were at the place where the Civil War started. Today we are at Pamplin Park, where, on April 2, 1865, one week before General Lee surrendered to General Grant, the Union Forces broke through the defensive lines of the Confederate Forces, ended the siege of Petersburg, forced the Confederate evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and started the Confederate retreat toward Appomattox.

Although we had been in the Richmond/Petersburg area several years ago to tour Civil War sites, we had not heard of Pamplin Park before this trip. WOW – is this place impressive. This 422 acre privately owned park has many things to see. For starters there are 2 museums – The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier and The Battlefield Center. Then there are the Tudor Hall Plantation buildings and other historic homes and a recreated Confederate winter encampment and defensive line fortifications. It is all extremely well done. When you enter the first building you are provided with a recorded audio walking tour to listen to – or not – that takes you through the entire park. If you are ever in this area and are interested at all in U.S. History, I strongly recommend a visit to Pamplin Park.

The remaining original earthworks have been greatly reduced in size due to erosion and other natural factors in the 146 years since the end of hostilities. This is not true only of this place but of many Civil War battlefields. The picture of the recreated fortifications shows just how massive they were “in the day” and what the attacking forces had to overcome.

The grounds here are very wooded. In reality, there would have been zero trees for miles around. The trees were cut for many reasons, a few being: to make sure the enemy did not have concealment to hide in, for building of huts (as the Armies wintered over here during the siege), for construction of fortifications, and for use as fuel for fires. I'm sure the list goes on and on.

I just had to include this copy of a letter written to my Great Grandfather. He was at Appomattox Court House on the day of surrender. He was probably here in Petersburg during the siege, somewhere close to Lee's HQ as he was a courier for the Chief Medical Officer of the Army, Lafayette Guild. I would assume that Guild would have been in close proximity to Lee.

As we are not going to Appomattox Court house I will include this information here.

I mentioned in the Ft. Sumter blog that approximately 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War. Here are some interesting statistics:

At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. The number that is most often quoted is 620,000. At any rate, these casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.

The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. Their losses, by the best estimates:

Battle deaths:	110,070
Disease, etc.:	250,152
Total	360,222

The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. Its estimated losses:

Battle deaths:	94,000
Disease, etc.:	64,000
Total	258,000

Do NOT get your hopes up - we are not done with the Civil War and other U.S. History on this trip.  Trust me - you are going to love it!

Petersburg National Battlefield

Petersburg, Virginia

We have stopped for a few days in Petersburg, VA to do, what else, but tour battlefields. So here, without further ado, is a very condensed story of the Siege of Petersburg.  I won't make you suffer through a day by day account of the entire 9.5 months.

From early May until mid-June 1864, 4 major battles of the Civil War were fought at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna River and Cold Harbor. At each of these battles General Grant's objective was to break the Confederate lines and to take the Confederate Capital of Richmond. At each battle – he failed as General Lee's lines held. Grant knew that the key to ending the war was the taking of Richmond so to that end he marched his army south of Richmond to the south side of Petersburg, set up a 30 mile long perimeter, and thus started a nine and one-half month siege of Petersburg.

Petersburg is where four railroad lines from the south met before continuing to Richmond. Most of the supplies to Lee's army and to the city of Richmond funneled through this point. Grant effectively cut off all supplies that normally would have been flowing in to Petersburg and Richmond from the south. The Union forces constructed over 30 miles of earthworks that matched the over 30 miles of earthworks constructed by the Rebels that protected Petersburg and Richmond to the north.

One of the great fiascoes of the Civil War occurred six weeks in to the siege in July 1864 when Union Soldiers under command of General Burnside (the man whose main claim to fame is that sideburns are named for him) decided to construct and explode a mine underneath the Confederate line and thus open the way in to Petersburg and on to Richmond. The mine was 511 feet long and at the end branches extended to the right and left and added 75 feet to the total length of the mine. Keep in mind – this was all done with picks and shovels and makeshift tools. When digging was complete the mine was charged with 8,000 pounds of black powder. The powder was ignited at 4:30 a.m. with the resulting explosion killing or wounding 278 Confederate troops. The crater was approximately 170 feet long and 80 feet wide. And now came the debacle – as Union troops rushed into the crater and were now below the Confederate Soldiers who started pouring shells and bullets into their opponents. By 8:30 that morning reinforcements had been sent in to the crater and now over 15,000 Federal troops were in or attempting to get in the crater. By the time all was said and done, the Union Army had suffered 4,000 killed, wounded or captured as against about 1,500 for the Confederates.

Once again a frontal assault had failed. But, the siege would continue until April 2 and would win out in the end.

And the battlefields just keep on coming...Tomorrow – The Breakthrough at Pamplin Park.