BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Petersburg -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Breakthrough Battlefield Tour

VA -- Petersburg -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Breakthrough Battlefield Tour:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. PAMPBR_150603_002.JPG: The Breakthrough Trail Pamplin Historical Park A walk along the Breakthrough Trail is a journey into history! On April 2, 1865, thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers clashed here to determine the fate of Petersburg and Richmond. The Breakthrough Trail leads past many original features of this battlefield, including the Hart House and some of America's best preserved Civil War fortifications. A series of interpretive signs, many with recorded messages, helps explain the dramatic events that occurred on this hallowed ground. This terrain is generally level, and the trail is well maintained for easy walking. Please help us protect the earthworks, rifle pits, house sites, and other historic resources along the Breakthrough Trail by remaining on the path. "[The] enemy have broken through our lines …. I see no prospect of doing more than holding our position here till night. I am not certain that I can do that." -- General Robert E. Lee, commanding Confederate army "Altogether this has been one of the greatest victories of the war." -- Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding Union armies
2. PAMPBR_150603_010.JPG: Petersburg Breakthrough Battlefield has been designated a National Historic Landmark This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America. In the predawn darkness of April 2, 1865, the Union Sixth Corps successfully breached the Confederate defenses southwest of Petersburg. The breakthrough forced the Confederate evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, hastening an end to four years of civil war.
3. PAMPBR_150603_013.JPG: The Confederate Fortifications The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The earthen wall in front of you is a part of the main Confederate defense line begun in 1864 and defended until April 2, 1865. You are standing behind the line facing southeast towards the Union positions about one mile away. When Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's forces established a toehold on the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad in August 1864, General Robert E. Lee lost his direct communication and supply line to North Carolina. This break in the rails forced the Confederates to off-load supplies at Stony Creek Station, eighteen miles south of Petersburg, and transport them by wagon to Dinwiddie Court House. From there, the Boydton Plank Road (modern U.S. Highway 1) led directly into Petersburg. In order to protect this new supply line, Lee expanded his defenses eight miles to the southwest parallel to the Boydton Plank Road. The well-preserved fortifications in front of you formed only a part of an extensive defensive network protecting Richmond and Petersburg that by the spring stretched some 45 miles in length.
4. PAMPBR_150603_023.JPG: McGowan's South Carolina Brigade The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Brigadier General Samuel McGowan, a 43-year-old lawyer and politician from Abbeville, South Carolina, commanded the troops responsible for maintaining these fortifications from October 1864 through March 1865. McGowan's Brigade consisted of five South Carolina regiments numbering about 1,400 men during the time they spent here. Although these original fortifications have eroded relatively little since 1865, their appearance has changed significantly. Most of the fieldworks around Petersburg contained large amounts of wood for strength and durability. The soldiers erected a row of vertical logs called a "revetment" and then began digging a ditch or moat about twelve feet in front of it. They placed the dirt from the excavation against the revetment to form an embankment, or "parapet." A firing step, or "banquette," behind the revetment allowed riflemen to step up behind the fortification and place barrels of their rifles over the "superior slope," or top of the parapet. McGowan's men worked on these fortifications continually, finding new ways to improve them, and repairing damage caused by the elements. Every brigade along General Lee's line had similar responsibility for the works protecting their individual fronts. Therefore, the Confederate line did not have a strictly uniform appearance along its length. The works reflected the construction techniques, craftsmanship, and diligence of the particular soldier defending them. "These works were constructed according to rule – with a ditch in front of six feet depth and eight feet width, whence all the earth for the embankment was thrown; with an embankment of six feet height, twelve foot base, and four foot terreplein; with a strong nest revetment, and banquette tread. These works should conceal troops marching behind them, would afford perfect protection from small arms and ordinary field artillery fire, and they could scarcely be stormed, on account of the ditch and the brush abatis in front. This was hard work, for we had to walk at least two miles over ground, almost always either shoe-deep in mud or frozen to the depth of a foot, and at other times running streams or water." -- Lt. James Fitz James Caldwell, McGowan's Brigade
5. PAMPBR_150603_028.JPG: This sketch by Civil War artist Edwin Forbes shows soldiers felling trees and transporting the logs for use in revetting the works. Note the vertical logs used to support the revetment and the men in front of the works digging the ditch or moat.
6. PAMPBR_150603_033.JPG: "The Strongest Line of Works Ever Constructed" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The main line of entrenchments behind you was only one part of the entire defensive network established here by the Confederates. Southern soldiers removed all the trees in front of their works to create a clear field of fire. They used the wood to improve their fortifications, build winter quarters, or as fuel for heating and cooking. They also established a variety of obstructions in front of their lines. Abatis, a French military term, served essentially as the Civil War-version of barbed wire. The Confederates interlaced these solid rows of pointed tree branches and tangled brush at various intervals from their main fortifications to pin down attackers at optimum rifle range. Fraise, another French word, was a line of thick, sharpened limbs and branches buried in the ground at an angle to act as a barrier to assault. Occasionally the Confederates would string telegraph lines as trip wires throughout the open fields. Pamplin Historical Park has removed the vegetation on selected portions of the battlefield to restore the landscape to its 1865 appearance, thus recreating the visual relationship between Confederate defenders and Union attackers. Today these clearings are discreet breaks in the forest. In 1865, this ground was nearly as barren as a desert.
7. PAMPBR_150603_042.JPG: The Hart Farm The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- This extension of The Breakthrough Trail leads to the historic Hart House, a ten minute walk from here. The trail parallels the Confederate earthworks that extended across the Boisseau farm (Tudor Hall) to the neighboring Hart farm to the southwest. Pamplin Historical Park has restored the Hart House exterior to its appearance in 1865. Exhibits at the house describe the fighting that occurred there during the Battle of Peebles' Farm on October 2, 1864 and during the Breakthrough of April 2, 1865. The terrain is fairly level and the trail is maintained for easy walking. The trail crosses a major local terrain feature, Arthur's Swamp. Please help us protect the earthworks and other historic resources along the trail by remaining on the prepared path.
8. PAMPBR_150603_053.JPG: The Sixth Maryland Infantry attacked over this ground in the pre-dawn hours of April 2, 1865. A portion of the regiment, led by Major Clifton K. Prentiss, poured over the Confederate works here, suffering numerous casualties in the process, including Major Prentiss. Sergeant John E. Buffington earned the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the attack. This monument is respectfully dedicated to the soldiers of the Sixth Maryland Infantry. Sixth Regiment of Maryland Infantry Descendants Association Dedication April 2, 2011
9. PAMPBR_150603_066.JPG: The Breakthrough -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Sergeant John E. Buffington 6th Maryland Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division (Seymour), Sixth Corps Resident: Carroll County, Maryland Enlisted: August 1862 Sergeant John Ezra Buffington, with five other men of his regiment, stormed the ramparts of the Confederate works near this position during the attack on April 2, 1865. The commander of the brigade that included the 6th Maryland wrote after the battle, "I have made a full investigation as to who was in fact the first man from this brigade to enter the works and am fully satisfied that Sergeant John E. Buffington, Co. C 6th Maryland Volunteers was the first man to pass over the works." It was not until March 4, 1908 that Buffington was awarded the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry in carrying the lines of the enemy at Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865."
10. PAMPBR_150603_085.JPG: "The Cannons' Flashes Lit Up the Terrible Scene" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- At various intervals along their lines, Confederate defenders constructed gun emplacements, called redans, such as the one in front of you. Each redan would hold as few as one or as many as six cannons. Virtually every square inch of ground in front of the works could be fired upon from two redans, creating a deadly crossfire for any attacker. Cannons in these redans would be positioned in one of two ways. Guns en barbette were fired from raised platforms over the fortification walls allowing the widest field of fire. Some redans contained openings called embrasures through which artillerists aimed their cannon. Embrasures limited the field of fire but protected the artillerymen in the works. Approximately twenty artillery pieces of various types opened on the Union Sixth Corps on the morning of April 2, 1865. Evidence suggests that two powerful cannons, 3-inch Ordnance Rifles belonging to the Norfolk (Va.) Light Artillery Blues, occupied this redan. The Union Sixth Corps recorded the capture of twenty Confederate cannons on April 2, including the two 3-inch Ordinance Rifles positioned here. Artillery of the Breakthrough 3-inch Ordnance Rifle Tube Length: 73 inches Tube Weight: 816 pounds Bore Diameter: 3.0 inches Range: 1850 yards Material: Wrought Iron Light 12-pounder Howitzer, Model 1857 Tube Length: 66 inches Tube Weight: 1227 pounds Bore Diameter: 4.62 inches Range: 1620 yards Material: Bronze (U.S.)/Iron (C.S.) 10-pounder Parrott Rifle, Model 1861 Tube Length: 78 inches Tube Weight: 890 pounds Bore Diameter: 2.9 inches Range: 2000 yards Material: Cast Iron 6-Pounder Field Gun, Model 1841 Tube Length: 60 inches Tube Weight: 884 pounds Bore Diameter: 3.67 inches Range: 1520 yards Material: Bronze 24-pounder Howitzer Tube Length: 65 inches Tube Weight: 1318 pounds Bore Diameter: 5.82 inches Range: 1325 yards Material: Bronze
11. PAMPBR_150603_094.JPG: The Battle of Harmon Road The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- On the final day of the Battle of Peebles' Farm, October 2, 1864, Union troops of Brigadier General Gershom Mott's Third Division, Second Army Corps, moved against the Confederate breastworks at the Hart Farm. Mott had orders to determine if the trenches were vulnerable to an attack. The Federals met light resistance from Confederate cavalrymen as they marched up Duncan Road (which they called Harmon Road, after a home located near its intersection with Boydton Plank Road, today's U.S. 1). Major General Henry Heth began rushing infantry units to the area to meet this threat. Just as Mott's soldiers advanced from the low ground across this field, North Carolinians of Brigadier General William MacRae's Brigade filed into the works. Musketry and artillery fire repulsed the Union attack. About mid-afternoon, four Federal regiments under Lieutenant Colonel George Zinn moved forward again to test the strength of the Confederate defenses. Two more infantry brigades of Heth's division had reinforced MacRae's and easily halted this assault. Zinn received a severe leg wound, but his men removed him from the field. Fewer than 70 Union soldiers became casualties in what was dubbed the Battle of Harmon Road. Confederate losses are unknown but probably were light. Mott's division withdrew to the area of Peebles' Farm and entrenched. The two armies would occupy these lines until April 2, 1865. "... we were called off to try to drive the enemy from a redoubt in course of construction on another part of the line. Withdrawn from this attempt, we were just going into bivouac again when we were double-quicked to meet the enemy, who was, as usual extending his left. Then occurred the unique incident of two opposing forces running to reach the same point, the point being in this instance the very works we had recently built. The brigade reached them first and just in time to drive back the enemy, who had approached through an extended open field instead of through a wood in front, which would have concealed his movement .... The attack was repelled and the extension of Grant's left delayed for many days." -- Captain Louis G. Young, Assistant Adjutant General, MacRae's [North Carolina] Brigade
12. PAMPBR_150603_106.JPG: The Breakthrough at Hart Farm The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- "... after going through a leaden and war hail storm, thanks to the God of Battles, I am alive and happy. Our Corps charged the enemy's lines last night, broke their line and drove them out of sight ... I never felt more like fighting than I have today and I kept my shooting iron hot for about an hour and a half, and with prayer all the time. I felt as if I was willing to give my life up freely and I felt assured I would be received in Heaven. The Confederacy is gone up. I lost part of a third finger, right hand. Boys bound it up – am all right and doing well - " -- Sergeant Albert C. Harrison, Company G, 14th New Jersey Infantry Regiment On the morning of April 2, 1865, Union troops of the Third Division, Sixth Army Corps, attacked the Confederate trenches that ran across the Hart Farm. Brigadier General Truman Seymour commanded the division, which consisted of two brigades commanded by Colonel William Truex and Brevet Brigadier General J. Warren Keifer. Three small Confederate regiments defended the earthworks – the 28th North Carolina of Brigadier General James H. Lane's Brigade and the 11th and 52nd North Carolina of Brigadier General William MacRae's Brigade. Union soldiers overran the Confederate line at the Boisseau Farm and quickly outflanked the 28th North Carolina, forcing that regiment to retreat toward the Boydton Plank Road. At about the same time, men of Seymour's division began crossing the parapets near the Hart house. A small two-gun battery near Arthur's Swamp and a large six-gun redoubt near Duncan Road, along with all their cannons, fell to the Federals. Most of the soldiers of MacRae's regiments became prisoners of war. According to family tradition, Mary Hart and an unnamed slave emerged from the house's basement after the fighting had shifted toward the southwest. They tended to a mortally wounded Union officer and buried his body in their garden. Mrs. Hart wrote a letter to the officer's family, who later came to Dinwiddie County to retrieve the remains of their fallen soldier. "I was shooting at Yanks in front of me where they were thick as black birds. They had broke our line on our left & come on us on our left flank. I had seen them, but thought it was our own men until a Cap't who was in front of his men with sword drawn whacked me over the head twice. Before I realized my situation his men were right at his heels with fixed bayonets." -- Private John C. Warlick, Company I, 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment
13. PAMPBR_150603_117.JPG: The Hart House The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Charles H. Carr, a native of New York, purchased twenty acres from the Boisseaus of Tudor Hall in March 1859. He began construction of the house in front of you shortly afterwards. Carr died in July 1862 while enlisted in the Confederate army. In November of that year, his widow sold the house and property to John Hart, a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Hart completed the house and grew market crops on the farm. Most of Hart's neighbors along Duncan Road to the south also operated small farms that provided produce to the residents of nearby Petersburg. Hart enlisted in the Confederate army in April 1864, leaving the farm in the hands of his wife, Mary. In September 1864, Confederate soldiers moved into the area and began building earthworks to protect the Boydton Plank Road and South Side Railroad. Following the Battle of Peebles's Farm in October, troops of Brigadier General William MacRae's North Carolina Brigade set up winter quarters near the house. During the winter, they improved the rudimentary entrenchments that crossed the property. The fruit trees are blooming very fast here. Our encampments are in a large ‘Orchard' in front of Mrs. Hart's house. Her house is in the same camp. The line runs through her yard. She still stays here. She goes down into the Cellar when they commence shelling. -- Corporal Benjamin H. Freeman, Company K, 44th North Carolina Infantry Regiment The Hart House is a cottage built in the Gothic Revival style, known as "Carpenter Gothic" in North America. This new style adorned modest wood frame cottages with scrolled ornamentation and lacy trim, many of them built according to pattern-book models. The newly invented scroll-saw allowed carpenters to create the delicate bargeboard trim called "gingerbread," which hangs from the gable end of these houses. Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), an architect, introduced the Gothic Revival form to America. During his career, Davis designed many public buildings, including the barracks, professors' residences and other buildings at the Virginia Military Institute. His 1837 book, Rural Residences, included the Dutchess County, New York, home depicted at left. Notice that it is nearly identical to the design of the Hart House.
14. PAMPBR_150603_162.JPG: The Confederates Fall Back These shallow depressions are the remains of rifle pits constructed by the Confederates on the night of March 25, 1865. Earlier in the day, the Union Sixth Corps attacked a strong advanced line of Confederate fortifications located about 400 yards ahead of you. In a spirited battle that lasted into the early evening, the Federals captured that Confederate line, forcing the Southerners to fall back to the ridge where you are now standing. During the night, Confederate soldiers created this new advanced line overlooking the swampy low ground in front of you. Not only were these fortifications much weaker than the ones captured on March 25, but they were substantially closer to the main Confederate works, only about 500 yards behind you. The Federals modified the captured picket line to face toward the Confederates and would use that position as their jump off point on the morning of April 2. A portion of those works survive along the Jones Farm Loop Trail. Picket posts like this protected the Confederate line about 400 yards in front of you. The rifle pits that survive here, and along the length of this ridge, resembled what soldiers in later wars called "foxholes" and provided much less protection than the elaborate defenses overrun by Union troops on March 25. Elsewhere along the Headwaters Trail, the new Confederate picket line follows a more conventional appearance.
15. PAMPBR_150603_214.JPG: A Mysterious Historic Feature The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The shallow depression in front of you marks the location of what was once a substantial dwelling. Archaeologists excavated this site in 1997 and discovered a well-preserved brick foundation and flooring. The artifacts recovered from the site suggest that the house dates to the early 19th century. This building was part of the Tudor Hall plantation owned by the Boisseau family. Research has not revealed who lived here, but it is possible that members of the family or plantation employees, such as an overseer and his family, occupied this home. The relatively elaborate construction and its isolated location make it doubtful that it served as slave quarters. The best military map of the area produced in 1867 includes what appears to be a dwelling in approximately this location. However, none of the Confederate sources mentions a house between their fortifications and their picket line, and no Federal account refers to a structure in their path during the Breakthrough attack. It is possible that the building had fallen into ruins before the war or that the Confederates had leveled it to maintain a clear field of fire in front of their works. Further historical and archaeological research might tell us more about this mysterious dwelling. In the meantime, in the interest of preservation and your own safety, do not disturb this site. This structure, the bricks for which were laid in English bond, is an example of how fragile the historical record can be. The origins and occupants of this house remain unknown. After taking this photograph, archeologists backfilled the excavation to preserve it.
16. PAMPBR_150603_222.JPG: Headwaters Trail & Petersburg Battlefields Trail
17. PAMPBR_150603_227.JPG: "A Great Struggle is Now Impending" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The Union high command began making preparations to attack the Confederate lines on the Boisseau Plantation shortly after the capture of the Rebels' picket line on March 25. Final orders arrived on the afternoon of April 1 for a dawn assault the following morning. Major General Horatio G. Wright, commander of the Union Sixth Corps, took several steps to ensure that his offensive would be successful. He assigned axmen and sharpshooters to precede the infantry to remove the obstructions and pickoff enemy riflemen who might try to interfere. Soldiers received orders not to stop and return fire during their charge, which would commence at the earliest hour of daylight. Finally, an artillery bombardment of 150 guns opened on the Confederate lines at 10:00 p.m., April 1, and continued until after midnight. The barrage was designed to soften up enemy resistance and knock out the southern cannon positions. Despite these tactics, many Federal soldiers considered their attack orders a death warrant. Some wrote their names and hometowns on pieces of paper and pinned them to their uniforms so that their bodies could be identified after they were killed. "All knew that bloody work was before us" admitted one Federal commander.
18. PAMPBR_150603_233.JPG: Cannoneers like these participated in the bombardment of the Confederate lines on the night of April 1, 1865. Although Confederate division commander Major General Cadmus Wilcox called the barrage "an almost incessant cannonade, solid shot and shell whizzing through the air and bursting in every direction, at times equal in brilliancy to a vivid meteoric display," the bombardment had little practical effect on the Confederate defense lines.
19. PAMPBR_150603_236.JPG: The Breakthrough -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Lieutenant Colonel Ronald A. Kennedy 5th Vermont Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division (Getty), Sixth Corps Resident: Concord, Vermont Enlisted: June 18, 1861 Kennedy and his men passed this very spot during their attack on April 2, 1865. He described the action that occurred here: "About 5 a.m., at the signal from Fort Fisher, we commenced the charge; passing through the enemy's pickets, and, taking most of them prisoners, we pushed on to the main works, through two lines of abatis, and soon after took the work in our front, almost directly west of Fort Welch, with four pieces of artillery." Kennedy survived the assault and was mustered out of service in June 1865.
20. PAMPBR_150603_245.JPG: At 4:40am April 2, 1865 the Old Vermont Brigade, led by the 5th Vermont, passed this point and broke through the Confederate defenses -- a victory that led to the fall of Richmond. Six Vermont soldiers received Medals of Honor for their efforts on this field. Charles W. Dolloff -- Cpl 11th VT Charles G. Gould -- Captain 5th VT Lester G. Hack -- Sgt 5th VT Gardner C. Hawkins -- 1st Lt 3rd VT Jackson Sargent -- Color Bearer 5th VT William J. Sperry -- Major 6th VT Dedicated by the Vermont Civil War Hemlocks, April 2, 2015
21. PAMPBR_150603_250.JPG: The Attack Begins The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Major General Horatio G. Wright deployed the 14,000 attackers of his Sixth Corps in a wedge-shaped formation. Although the entire battle front extended for nearly a mile, the point of the wedge was here, manned by the Vermont Brigade commanded by Brigadier General Lewis A. Grant. Some 2,200 Vermonters stepped out at 4:40 a.m. to lead the assault, their left flank hugging the ravine to your left. The rest of the Sixth Corps formed to the left and right of the Vermonters but somewhat behind them. At the sound of a signal gun, the entire Sixth Corps arose and moved forward, invisible in the misty darkness but making a noise "like a strong breeze blowing through the swaying boughs and dense foliage of some great forest." The new Confederate picket line fell quickly, but the graycoats behind the main line of fortifications soon realized what was happening. The earthworks in front of you erupted with orange sheets of flame as rifles and cannon wielded by the alerted Southerners poured a deadly fire across this naked field. Could the Vermonters sustain their momentum? The Sixth Corps utilized a wedge-shaped attack formation with their units ‘in echelon' to create the maximum drive and momentum necessary to pierce the Confederate fortifications. The point of the wedge belonged to the Vermont Brigade of the Second Division, which advanced using the ravine to your left as a guide.
22. PAMPBR_150603_255.JPG: "A Determination That Knew No Such Word as Fail" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- As the Vermonters pushed closer to the Confederate fortifications, they encountered the multiple rows of obstructions specifically designed to pin down an attacking force. Here, the Confederates extracted a terrible toll on the desperate Federals, who struggled to find their way through the tangled tree limbs while absorbing a deadly fire from the enemy line. "With a cheer we went on getting through the abatis the best we could," remembered Lieutenant Robert Pratt of the 5th Vermont. When 19-year-old Lieutenant Gardner C. Hawkins of the 3rd Vermont noticed that his men were wavering under the unceasing hail of lead and iron, he sprang forward and flashed his sword dramatically, urging the troops to maintain the momentum and continue the charge. "The effect upon the regiment if not upon other regiments of the brigade was very pointed and decisive," testified one Vermonter. Shortly after rallying his men, Hawkins received a hideous wound to the face, the minie ball entering the right side of his nose, passing into his head, and exiting out through his left eye, carving a gouge down his left ear and cheek. Despite his injury, Hawkins refused to leave the battlefield. At last, the bluecoats tore away the obstructions allowing them to renew their advance towards their immediate goal several hundred yards ahead of them. These survivors mustered their courage and plunged forward into the Confederate line with, according to Captain Merritt Barber, "a determination that knew no such word as fail." Robert Pratt, a native of Brandon, Vermont, enlisted as a private in Company H, 5th Vermont Infantry, in September 1861. he rose through the ranks to become 1st lieutenant in November 1864. Pratt succeeded to command of his company after his captain was wounded during the Breakthrough. In May 1865, he was promoted to captain of Company F, 5th Vermont. Major General Horatio G. Wright directed each brigade to provide men armed with axes to chop through the abatis. In some places the Confederate obstructions were relatively easy to breach. In others, the Southerners created as many as four separate lines of obstructions. The highest concentration of Union casualties during the Breakthrough occurred at these deadly barriers.
23. PAMPBR_150603_258.JPG: Major General Horatio G. Wright directed each brigade to provide men armed with axes to chop through the abatis. In some places the Confederate obstructions were relatively easy to breach. In others, the Southerners created as many as four separate lines of obstructions. The highest concentration of Union casualties during the Breakthrough occurred at these deadly barriers.
24. PAMPBR_150603_261.JPG: "We Fought Desperately" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The passage of the picket posts and abatis shattered regimental formations in the Vermont Brigade. The attack degenerated into a rush of disorganized men rather than an example of textbook tactics. Orderly Sergeant Thomas H. McCauley of the 2nd Vermont bore the brigade flag at the head of this mass of determined soldiers. The bluecoats tumbled into the moat and then scaled the steep walls of the Confederate line. Troops from the 18th and 37th North Carolina awaited them along with cannoneers manning the guns in the artillery position in front of you. "We fought desperately, but our thin line was pushed back by sheer force of numbers until it was broken in pieces," remembered on Tarheel officer. As other Federal brigades reached the Confederate works on either side of the Vermonters, a brief but bitter hand-to-hand battle raged along nearly a mile of the ramparts. Clubbed muskets and bayonets thrusts characterized this awful melee. Northern and Southern soldiers displayed equal and admirable bravery, but inevitably, the superior Union numbers spelled the difference. Hundreds of Confederate troops surrendered while others retreated through the abandoned winter huts of McGowan's Brigade seeking safety in the rear. By 5:15 a.m., the Stars and Stripes flew above the Confederate works.
25. PAMPBR_150603_268.JPG: This scene might represent any one of the numerous places where the Sixth Corps broke the Confederate line. Nineteen of the forty-two Union regiments which participated in the attack claimed to be the first troops to achieve the Breakthrough.
26. PAMPBR_150603_286.JPG: "Our Line of Battle was so Thin" The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The Confederate troops who defended this portion of the works belonged to Brigadier General James H. Lane's North Carolina Brigade. These Tarheels assumed responsibility here on March 30 after McGowan's Brigade moved several miles west to plug a gap in the overstretched Southern defenses. Lane's four regiments, perhaps 1,200 men on the morning of April 2, protected about half a mile of entrenchments, part of their old sector to the northeast plus McGowan's former front. The soldiers stood some three or four feet apart in a single rank with no reserves. Along the entire Sixth Corps battlefront of a little more than one mile, 14,000 Bluecoats faced 2,800 Confederates. The outmanned Southern infantry had an important ally in their artillerists. Gun crews manning cannons in prepared positions such as this two-gun redan, fired scores of rounds across the shelterless ground. Most of the nearly 1,100 casualties suffered by the Sixth Corps on April 2, 1865, occurred on the naked fields in front of the fortifications, although the hand-to-hand combat on the works themselves claimed its share of victims. While exact Confederate casualties during the battle are unknown, the Sixth Corps reported capturing some 3,000 prisoners throughout the course of April 2, many surrendering during the Breakthrough itself. Civil War artillery fired several type of ammunition designed to defend against massed attacks at relatively close range, hurling their fragments at enemy soldiers. More effective was spherical case, invented in the 18th century by an English artilleryman named Henry Shrapnel. This iron cannonball was filled with smaller iron or lead balls which exploded and scattered at a range of 500 to 1,500 yards. The most deadly anti-personnel round in the Civil War was canister. Essentially a tin can packed with 48 iron balls surrounded by sawdust, canister turned cannons into giant shotguns at short distances. Multiple rounds of canister could annihilate a line of battle at a distance of less than 600 yeards. Brigadier General James Henry Lane a Virginian who moved before the Civil War to teach in North Carolina's military institute, was 31 years old at the time of the Breakthrough. Lane rose to brigade command in 1862 and earned the respect and affection of his troops, who called him "The Little General." Lane suffered three wounds during the war and his brigade fought with distinction in all the army's campaigns. One of his regiments, the 16th North Carolina, fired the volley that wounded "Stonewall" Jackson at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. The 16th defended this portion of the works during the Breakthrough.
27. PAMPBR_150603_296.JPG: Major James Augustus Weston 33rd North Carolina Infantry, Lane's Brigade, Wilcox's Division, Third Corps Resident: Hyde County, North Carolina Enlisted: September 1861 Weston remembered his experience during the Breakthrough on April 2, 1865: "We fought desperately, but our thin line was pushed back by sheer force of numbers until it was broke in pieces. We then retreated behind our winter quarters and continued the contest, each man for himself." Weston surrendered with the army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
28. PAMPBR_150603_304.JPG: The Confederate Counterattack The Breakthrough Trail Once the sixth Corps completed its Breakthrough, corps commander Horatio wright ordered seven of his eight brigades to pivot southwest and move against the remaining Confederate defenses north of Hatcher's Run. Wright assigned just one brigade, Colonel Joseph E. Hamblin's, to remain in this area and secure the ground captured during the Breakthrough. Confederate division commander Major General Cadmus M. Wilcox reacted to the Breakthrough by organizing about 600 troops from Brigadier General James H. Lane's North Carolina Brigade and Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas' Georgia Brigade to attempt to regain the lost lines. At the very least, Wilcox hoped to blunt any attempt to move against Petersburg until fresh Confederate troops could arrive from north of the Appomattox River. Wilcox's counterattack drove elements of Hamblin's Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and Connecticut men back from their advanced positions to this vicinity. The Confederates established a thin line of defense along Church Road perpendicular to their old works, temporarily blocking any further Union advance. Later in the morning, however, the Sixth Corps, supported by other Union troops, returned to this area and compelled Wilcox's men to retreat again. The stage was now set for the dramatic afternoon battle at Fort Gregg. The Confederate counterattack on the morning of April 2, 1865: 1. The extent of the Sixth Corps breakthrough. 2. Wilcox's counterattack against Hamblin's Brigade. 3. The Sixth Corps advance to Hatcher's Run. 4. The Union advance toward Fort Gregg. Check with any member of the park staff about how to visit Fort Gregg. Joseph Elbridge Hamblin, a 37-year-old native of Massachusetts, was popular with the men of his brigade. One admirer described him as "a brave officer of magnificent figure and bearing, and a gentleman by instinct." Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox was a 40-year-old native of North Carolina. He commanded most of the troops victimized by the Sixth Corps Breakthrough, although during the attack Wilcox was at his headquarters several miles to the north.
29. PAMPBR_150603_311.JPG: The Confederate counterattack on the morning of April 2, 1865: 1. The extent of the Sixth Corps breakthrough. 2. Wilcox's counterattack against Hamblin's Brigade. 3. The Sixth Corps advance to Hatcher's Run. 4. The Union advance toward Fort Gregg. Check with any member of the park staff about how to visit Fort Gregg.
30. PAMPBR_150603_328.JPG: The Breakthrough Colonel Egbert Olcott 121st New York Inf, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division (Wheaton), Sixth Corps Resident: Albany, New York Enlisted: September 1861 Colonel Olcott and his regiment crossed the entrenchments about 350 yards to the northeast of this position (to your right) during their attack on April 2, 1865. His experience was similar to that of the Vermont troops who fought on this ground: "When the order to advance was given the regiment moved rapidly forward maintaining a good line until within about 200 yards of the enemy's works, when the second line was moved a short distance by the left flank and then forward again. This, together with the darkness and the character of the ground, divided the regiment somewhat, most of the men with the colors entering the works farther to the right than intended." Olcott survived the assault and was mustered out of service in June 1865.
31. PAMPBR_150603_333.JPG: The Breakthrough -- Pamplin Historical Park -- 1st Lieutenant Evander McNair Robeson Company K, 18th North Carolina Infantry, Lane's Brigade, Wilcox's Division, Third Corps Resident: Bladen County, North Carolina Enlisted: April 1861 A comrade of Robeson's wrote about the battle on April 2, 1865: "The men of Lane's Brigade were some twenty feet apart in the trenches when the final attack was made. Our thin line could make but feeble resistance. We detained them, however, until the lines were broken beyond us." Robeson surrendered with the army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
32. PAMPBR_150603_355.JPG: First Man Over the Works The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- In the hours, days, and years after the Breakthrough, many Union soldiers boasted that they or their regiment were the first troops to capture the Confederate works on the morning of April 2. Darkness, the chaos of the attack, and the wide Federal battle front make it impossible to credit with absolute certainty any individual or unit with that honor. Captain Charles G. Gould of the 5th Vermont, however, made the most persuasive claim that he preceded the rest of the Sixth Corps over the earthworks at a spot near here. Gould's regiment led the Vermont Brigade at the tip of the wedge-shaped formation advancing along the right side of the ravine. Through a misunderstanding of orders, Gould and about 50 of his men veered left across the ravine and approached the Confederate line at this point. The young captain scrambled through the obstructions, and over the parapet in advance of his small party. In a matter of moments, Gould received a bayonet thrust through his mouth. He managed to kill his attacker, but then another Confederate slashed his skull with a sword. A third Southerner grabbed Gould's coat allowing a comrade to plunge his bayonet through Gould's back, the point of the blade resting near a vertebrae. By this time, additional Union troops had gained the works, among them Corporal Henry H. Recor who managed to pull the captain out of harm's way and into the ditch in front of the fortifications. Incredibly, the thrice-wounded Gould staggered rear-ward until he found someone to help him reach a Sixth Corps hospital. The Medal of Honor is the highest decoration for valor given by the United States Army. Congress authorized it for enlisted men in July 1862 and extended it to include officers in March 1863. Small groups of soldiers like that of Captain Gould and his men pushed ahead of their regiments trying to be the first to place their flag on the Confederate works. This Edwin Forbes drawing shows a similar group of soldiers advancing with their colors. Charles Gould survived his injuries and wrote his brother on April 4, "Have got wounds enough to make a great deal of noise but they are all very light." The army rewarded Gould with a promotion, and in 1890, he received the Medal of Honor for his unique ordeal on April 2, 1865.
33. PAMPBR_150603_360.JPG: Small groups of soldiers like that of Captain Gould and his men pushed ahead of their regiments trying to be the first to place their flag on the Confederate works. This Edwin Forbes drawing shows a similar group of soldiers advancing with their colors.
34. PAMPBR_150603_363.JPG: Charles Gould survived his injuries and wrote his brother on April 4, "Have got wounds enough to make a great deal of noise but they are all very light." The army rewarded Gould with a promotion, and in 1890, he received the Medal of Honor for his unique ordeal on April 2, 1865.
35. PAMPBR_150603_365.JPG: Brother vs. Brother The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Near here, the 6th Maryland Infantry (Union) made their penetration of the Confederate fortifications. Major Clifton K. Prentiss, a 29-year-old from Baltimore, helped lead his unit in the Breakthrough only to fall wounded with a rifle ball in his chest. Some distance to your right and a little later in the battle, Private William S. Prentiss also suffered a severe wound, one that would require the amputation of his right leg. William Prentiss served in the 2nd Maryland Battalion, a Confederate unit. William and Clifton were brothers. As in so many families from border states like Maryland, the Civil War had driven a wedge between these two young men. Their service in opposing armies brought them together on this battlefield, although under tragic circumstances. An artist's conception of how this area appeared during the winter of 1865. The Confederates created this narrow opening in their fortifications to allow pickets to go back and forth from their posts, for wood-gathering parties to scavenge for timber, and to permit the men to use the latrines which were located in front of their works. A number of these gaps existed along the entire Confederate line. The earthwork running perpendicular to the main fortifications is the remains of an engineering device known as a traverse. Originally, another section of earthwork would have connected with this one to create an "L" shaped fortification behind the main line to protect the narrow opening. These gaps attracted the attention of Union attackers during the Breakthrough as a potential path of least resistance.
36. PAMPBR_150603_373.JPG: The Breakthrough -- Pamplin Historical Park -- 1st Lieutenant Octavius Augustus Wiggins Company E, 37th North Carolina Infantry, Lane's Brigade, Wilcox's Division, Third Corps Resident: Halifax County, North Carolina Enlisted: June 1862 Wiggins was wounded near here during the Breakthrough on April 2, 1865: "I received a scalp wound, the muzzle of the gun being in such close proximity to my head as to blow powder into my face, nearly destroying my eyes and knocking me senseless upon the ground. Of course, I was captured." Wiggins escaped while being taken to a prison at Johnson's Island, Ohio, and made his way back home.
37. PAMPBR_150603_382.JPG: Confederate Winter Huts The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- The two mounds on the lawn in front of you mark the locations of winter huts built by soldiers of Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's South Carolina brigade during the winter of 1864-65. McGowan's troops established several camps in this area immediately behind the earthworks they were building. During the Breakthrough of April 2, 1865, there was some brief fighting among the huts as the men of the Union Sixth Corps pushed forward to the Boydton Plank Road and the Southside Railroad. These huts were excavated by archaeologists during the construction of the Battlefield Center. The huts varied in size from 6 feet by 8 feet to 10 feet by 12 feet. They were heated by fireplaces with well-built chimneys and there is evidence to suggest that both had central roof supports.
38. PAMPBR_150603_387.JPG: Confederate Winter Quarters The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's South Carolina Brigade spent the winter of 1864-1865 very close to the fortifications they defended. A temporary scarcity of building materials in the early winter compelled many of McGowan's men to rely on their tents or burrow into the ground for additional shelter. By mid-winter, however, most of these quarters had been replaced by wooden huts such as the reconstructed buildings in front of you. Small groups of soldiers banded together to share responsibility for preparing their temporary homes. Building styles and materials depended upon the skill and ingenuity of the residents themselves. The men cut down trees, "borrowed" lumber from nearby structures, and appropriated items such as barrels to make their huts as comfortable as they could. Six to eight men could share a hut this size. The Confederates struggled against a variety of shortages during the last winter of the war. While drinking water could be found in nearby streams or shallow wells, food supplies proved erratic, and few Southern soldiers left even their best meals feeling entirely satisfied. Some regiments lacked warm clothes, blankets, and even shoes for a period of time until the failing Confederate transportation system could move these goods to the army. Many men complained about a scarcity of firewood in a countryside made barren by the armies. These privations, pessimism about the outcome of the war, and pleas from desperate families to come home all contributed to a growing desertion rate in the Confederate ranks. Still, the vast majority of Southern soldiers stood by their duty and their comrades as the advent of spring promised renewed fighting. Typical Civil War winter camps. During the winter of 1864-1865, this entire area would have been covered with scenes such as these, military communities consisting of McGowan's 1,400 men. Archaeologists discovered the foundations of two of McGowan's original soldier huts behind the Battlefield Center.
39. PAMPBR_150603_405.JPG: Battlefield Terrain The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- This bridge spans a small branch of Arthur's Swamp. The ravine created by this streamlet had important consequences for both the defending Confederates and the attacking Union troops. The earthen mounds immediately in front of you are the remains of a military dam designed by Confederate engineers. Notice how the fortifications end on either bank of the stream. Rather than build earthworks across the stream and post soldiers in a swamp, the engineers relied on this dam to impound the water. They called this device an "inundation," simply a pond behind the dam. The water from the pond would create an obstruction to attacking troops and make them easy targets for the soldiers positioned behind the works to the right and left. The Confederates built another such dam several hundred yards downstream, behind you, but neither one of them was functional on April 2, 1865. This ravine provided an important landmark for the attacking Union troops in the darkness of that April morning. Soldiers from Vermont aligned themselves along the far bank of the ravine while troops from Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania advanced along the opposite side. Near here the first Union troops penetrated the Confederate fortifications. Although no record has been found to explain why the Confederates failed to maintain this dam and its associated inundation, they probably discovered that it was too close to their fortifications to allow free movement between the lines. The concept of impounding water to create an obstruction against attacks remained a valid one. Barely a mile away, the Confederates built a dam across Rohoic Creek creating an inundation that General Horatio G. Wright, Union Sixth Corps commander, called ‘entirely impracticable' as a target of attack.
40. PAMPBR_150603_427.JPG: The Breakthrough -- Pamplin Historical Park -- Lieutenant Colonel George B. Damon 10th Vermont Infantry, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division (Seymour), Sixth Corps Resident: Newbury, Vermont Enlisted: August 1862 Colonel Damon's regiment, the 10th Vermont Infantry, struck the Confederate trenches about 300 yards southwest of this position (to your left) during the attack on April 2, 1865. He vividly remembered his role in the battle: "We immediately mounted and entered the works over the most accessible passages, being the first to enter the entrenchments on our own front, and taking a number of prisoners, who were sent to the rear without guard, because I thought it imprudent to spare any men for that purpose." Given an honorary promotion (breveted) to colonel for gallantry during the Breakthrough, Damon was mustered out of service in June 1865.
41. PAMPBR_150603_430.JPG: The Breakthrough Trail -- Pamplin Historical Park -- On the evening of April 1, 1865, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant issued orders for a massive attack against the Confederate lines defending Petersburg. Grant scheduled the assault for the following morning. In the pre-dawn darkness of April 2, the Union Sixth Corps deployed in a wedge-shaped formation aimed at the Confederate works directly in front of you. They began their attack at 4:30 a.m. In a matter of minutes they had crossed what was then one-half mile of open fields and approached the Confederate fortifications. The grayclad defenders, soldiers from North Carolina, blasted the attackers with muskets and cannon fire, inflicting hundreds of casualties in about fifteen minutes. Despite these terrible losses, the brave and determined Northerners sustained their momentum and scrambled up and over the earthworks. A vicious hand-to-hand struggle took place along the Confederate works, but the outnumbered Southerners could not hold their position. Many of the Confederates were captured - unknown numbers of others were killed or wounded. Soon, Union flags flew from these ramparts that had been defended for so long by General Robert E. Lee's devoted troops. The Breakthrough here forced General Lee to evacuate Petersburg that night. Confederate government officials fled the capital at Richmond as well. One week later, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. 14,000 Union soldiers of the Sixth Corps overwhelmed some 2,800 Confederates here on the morning of April 2, 1865, on a battle front nearly one mile wide. The Breakthrough proved to be the decisive struggle of the Petersburg Campaign.
42. PAMPBR_150603_467.JPG: Civil War artillery fired several types of ammunition designed to defend against massed attacks at relatively close range. Various types of exploding shells broke apart down range, hurling their fragments at enemy soldiers. More effective was spherical case, invented in the 18th century by an English artilleryman named Henry Shrapnel. This iron cannonball was filled with smaller iron or lead balls which exploded and scattered at a range of 500 to 1,500 yards. The most deadly anti-personnel round in the Civil War arsenal was canister. Essentially a tin can packed with 48 iron balls surrounded by sawdust, canister turned cannons into giant shotguns at short distances. Multiple rounds of canister could annihilate a line of battle at a distance of less than 600 yards.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Description of Subject Matter: Journey back into the 19th Century at Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier! Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a Virginia Historic Landmark, and a National Historic Landmark, Pamplin Historical Park is recognized as one of America's premier historical attractions and as the most innovative Civil War history park in the country.

Located on the site of the April 2, 1865 "Breakthrough," the battle that ended the Petersburg Campaign and led to the evacuation of the Confederate capital at Richmond, the Park's 422 acres include four award-winning museums, four antebellum homes, living history venues, and shopping and dining facilities. Costumed interpreters conduct engaging demonstrations of military and civilian life of the Civil War era. Historians conduct guided tours of the battlefield and plantation homes daily.

The award-winning National Museum of the Civil War Soldier forms the Park's centerpiece. Here, the story of the 3 million common soldiers who fought in America's bloodiest conflict is told in breathtaking fashion using the latest museum technology. An impressive artifact collection is set amidst lifelike settings. Interactive learning stations attract kids and grownups alike. The entire experience is keyed to an audio tour featuring the words and "voices" of real participants in the war. Museums interpreting plantation life, slavery in America, and the Breakthrough battlefield of April 2, 1865 are within a short walk of the National Museum.

The Park also offers three miles of interpreted trails winding through some of America's best-preserved Civil War fortifications. Wheelchairs and scooters may be available for those needing assistance. Pamplin Historical Park draws visitors worldwide. Open 362 days annually, Pamplin Historical Park has received accolades from a wide range of national and regional media and has been rated by AAA Automotive Club as a Gem attraction.

The above was from http://www.pamplinpark.org/
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