BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Richmond Natl Battlefield Park -- Fort Harrison

VA -- Richmond Natl Battlefield Park -- Fort Harrison:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 18.117.137.64 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] FTHARR_050425_01.JPG	[2] FTHARR_050425_04.JPG	[3] FTHARR_050425_05.JPG
[4] FTHARR_050425_10.JPG	[5] FTHARR_050425_14.JPG	[6] FTHARR_050425_17.JPG
[7] FTHARR_050425_25.JPG	[8] FTHARR_050425_29.JPG	[9] FTHARR_050425_37.JPG
[10] FTHARR_050425_42.JPG	[11] FTHARR_050425_45.JPG	[12] FTHARR_050425_48.JPG
[13] FTHARR_050425_51.JPG	[14] FTHARR_050425_52.JPG	[15] FTHARR_050425_57.JPG
[16] FTHARR_050425_58.JPG	[17] FTHARR_050425_64.JPG	[18] FTHARR_050425_69.JPG
[19] FTHARR_050425_73.JPG	[20] FTHARR_050425_82.JPG	[21] FTHARR_050425_83.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FTHARR_050425_05.JPG: Fort Harrison: Fort Harrison stood in 1864 as the most powerful fort in the extensive outer defenses of Richmond. Built on high, open ground, the fort and its surrounding entrenchments were built to protect the approaches to Richmond from the south. The Union army's strongest probe toward Richmond from this direction occurred on September 29, when General Butler's Army of the James crossed the river in two columns and struck the defenses here and at New Market Heights to the east in a predawn attack. The Union troops captured both targets, but were unable to make any further progress against the smaller fortifications at Fort Gilmer, Fort Gregg, Fort Johnson, and Fort Hoke. Confederate counterattacks the next day, personally led by Robert E. Lee, failed to recover the lost ground and produced a stalemate that was unbroken until Richmond was evacuated in April 1865. Although Federal operations here did not achieve the immediate capture of Richmond, the permanent presence of Northern soldiers so close to the capital city did contribute to the extension of the Confederate lines. The fall of Fort Harrison provoked more fighting. Three separate October battles along the Darbytown Road, north of here, increased the pressure on Richmond's defenses, and kept the armies active in this area until the decisive events of the following spring.
2. FTHARR_050425_10.JPG: First Park Headquarters: This log structure was built in 1930 to serve as headquarters for the Battlefield Parks Corporation. This private organization, composed of Richmond citizens, worked to preserve and protect Civil War battlefields around the city. In 1927, the corporation purchased acreage around Fort Harrison, and later acquired portions of the battlefields at Cold Harbor, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, and Beaver Dam Creek. In 1936, Congress created the Richmond National Battlefield Park which included all of the lands acquired by the Battlefield Parks Corporation. This log structure became the visitor center and headquarters for this new national park. It remained in use until 1959. It is now used only for special occasions.
3. FTHARR_050425_17.JPG: Fort Harrison Trail: Both Federals and Confederates occupied this fort. Originally these earthworks were part of the 1862 Richmond line of defense. When Federal troops overran the fort in 1864, they built more than half the earthworks you will see on the tour, and defended them till the end of the war.
4. FTHARR_050425_29.JPG: Surprise Attack: In the predawn darkness, Federal soldiers storm over this outer wall. Hundreds of Confederates are asleep in their tents. Although the Federals are able to overrun Fort Harrison, General Hiram Burnham, commanding the lead brigade, is killed. His troops rename the captured earthworks Fort Burnham. The fall of Fort Harrison on September 29, 1864, forces Lee to bring in more troops and build new entrenchments to stitch up Richmond's weakened line of defense.
5. FTHARR_050425_48.JPG: This is the remnant of a bombproof. A bombproof is built of earth covered logs to shelter troops during a bombardment. Magazines of similar construction stored powder and ammunition. A casemate, on the other hand, is earth-covered wood which is used to protect a gun position from enemy mortar fire.
6. FTHARR_050425_52.JPG: "The Big Guns Spoke": "When about halfway across the field... one of the big guns spoke, and out through the white, woolly smoke that leaped from its throat rushed a group of black balls that looked the size of our modern baseball... and they didn't seem to move much faster... A dozen men yelled "Look out!" The men shied to the left and right, lifting their legs high in [the] air, and, to my utter astonishment, dodged them as easily as if they have been cabbageheads... Three or four later doses of these could be readily seen, but they came too fast to be dodged, and their work was terrible." -- Merlin C. Harris, 96th New York Infantry
7. FTHARR_050425_57.JPG: Braving the Fire: The Union attacking force paused briefly to reorganize in the low ground behind you. Then, defying heavy infantry and artillery fire, they lunged toward the steep earth walls of Fort Harrison. "Some of our men fall riddled with bullets; great gaps are rent in our ranks as the shells cut their way through us, or burst in our midst; a solid shot or a shell striking directly will bore straight through ten or twenty men; here are some men literally cut in two, others yonder are blown to pieces -- and the horrors of an assault in force... are repeated over and over again." -- S. Millett Thompson, 13th New Hampshire Infantry
8. FTHARR_050425_58.JPG: Storming the Fort: "... The men nobly responded to their officers' call and pour over the edge of the ditch into the dry moat, and then, scrambling up the bank, some on hands and knees, some stepping on their bayonets thrust into the clay, some on each other's shoulders, the blue column mounts the parapet, lingers a moment in a fierce blaze of musketry on its crest, and finally, overflowing all barriers, pushes across the parade ground..." -- William S. Hubbell, 21st Connecticut Infantry Captain Cecil Clay commanded the 58th Pennsylvania Infantry during the September 29, 1864 assault. Seizing a flag, the 22-year-old Clay scaled the wall of Fort Harrison and stood atop the parapet waving the banner until felled by severe wounds. For his extreme gallantry at Fort Harrison, Clay received the Medal of Honor in 1892.
9. FTHARR_050425_64.JPG: (Earthworks:) Confederate troops, aided by slave labor, built these earthworks between 1862 and 1864. By September 1864, over 100 miles of defensive fortifications protected Richmond against attack. After several unsuccessful attempts, Union troops captured Fort Harrison and the surrounding works in September 1864. This area remained under Federal occupation until Confederate forces abandoned Richmond in April 1865.
10. FTHARR_050425_69.JPG: (Earthworks:) Union forces constructed these entrenchments after the September 1864 battle. This line ran continuously south for 2.5 miles connecting Fort Harrison (Burnham) to Fort Brady on the James River.
11. FTHARR_050425_73.JPG: First Park Headquarters: This log structure was built in 1930 to serve as headquarters for the Battlefield Parks Corporation. This private organization, composed of Richmond citizens, worked to preserve and protect Civil War battlefields around the city. In 1927, the corporation purchased acreage around Fort Harrison, and later acquired portions of the battlefields at Cold Harbor, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, and Beaver Dam Creek. In 1936, Congress created the Richmond National Battlefield Park which included all of the lands acquired by the Battlefield Parks Corporation. This log structure became the first visitor center and headquarters for this new national park. It remained in use until 1959. It is now used only for special occasions.
12. FTHARR_050425_82.JPG: Counterattack: The day after Federals captured Fort Harrison, Robert E. Lee personally directed savage Confederate counterattacks against this section of earthworks. Union forces had already closed and strengthened the rear of the fort. Armed with new repeating rifles, the Union troops held their ground. In the space of three hours, they repulsed three Confederate assaults.
Wikipedia Description: Battle of Chaffin's Farm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Chaffin's Farm, also known as New Market Heights and Fort Harrison, was fought September 29–September 30, 1864, as part of the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War.

Prelude:

The nature of warfare evolved dramatically during the final ten months of the Civil War. Static warfare in the trenches replaced the freewheeling mass movements of earlier campaigns. This began at Cold Harbor in June 1864 and the technique was used progressively southward to the series of battles around Petersburg. These affairs occasionally erupted into full-scale battles. The Battle of Chaffin's Farm is a particularly illustrative example of a late-war engagement.

From the very beginning of the war, Confederate engineers worked feverishly to build permanent defenses around Richmond. By 1864, they had created a system anchored south of the capital on the James River at Chaffin's Farm, a large open bluff named for a local resident. This outer line was supported by an intermediate and inner system of fortifications much closer to the capital.

The strength of these lines remained untested until September 1864 when Union General Ulysses S. Grant tried to capture Richmond or Petersburg by attacking simultaneously north and south of the James.

The Battle:

The attack north of the river occurred on September 29. Troops under Federal general Benjamin Butler launched attacks on two fronts. The Union X Corps advanced against New Market Heights north of Deep Bottom, while the XVIII Corps attacked Fort Harrison.

New Market Heights:

Major General David B. Birney moved the X Corps north from the Deep Bottom bridgehead toward the Confederate works atop New Market Heights manned by Brigadier General John Gregg. A brigade of U.S. Colored Troops attacked the heights but was repulsed. In this attack, Christian Fleetwood's actions would later earn him the Medal of Honor. Birney reinforced the assault force and stormed the heights again. Alfred H. Terry's division managed to turn the Confederate left flank, thus turning the tide of the battle. Word of Union success against Fort Harrison then reached Gregg, compelling him to pull Confederate troops back to Forts Gregg, Gilmer and Johnson.

Once Birney's troops had taken New Market Heights, the X Corps turned to the northwest along the New Market Road and moved against a secondary line of works guarding Richmond north of Fort Harrison. Brigadier General Robert S. Foster's X Corps division assaulted a small salient known as Fort Gilmer. David Birney's brother, Brigadier General William Birney, led a brigade of U.S. Colored Troops against Fort Gregg south of Fort Gilmer. These attacks were marked by heroism among the Colored Troops but were ultimately repulsed.

Fort Harrison:

At roughly the same time Birney's first attack moved forward, the Union XVIII Corps under Major General Edward Ord, assaulted Fort Harrison to the west of New Market Heights. Ord's assault was led by Brigadier General George Stannard, a veteran of Gettysburg. Stannard's men rushed across an open field and took cover in a slight depression just in front of the fort and, after a moment's rest, took the fort. The Confederate defenders broke to the rear, seeking refuge behind a secondary line. Brigadier General Hiram Burnham was killed during the attack; Union troops would rename the captured fort in his honor.

Once inside the fort, the Union attackers became disorganized. Stannard was wounded and all three of his brigade commanders were also wounded or killed. A supporting column under Brigadier General Charles Heckman veered far off to the north and was repulsed. Ord personally attempted to rally the troops to exploit their success, but he too fell with a critical wound. The loss of commanders and Confederate ironclads on the James put an end to the XVIII Corps' drive on Chaffin's Bluff along the James River.

Robert E. Lee realized the severity of the loss of Fort Harrison and personally brought 10,000 reinforcements under Brigadier General Charles Fields north from Petersburg. On September 30, Lee ordered a counterattack to retake Fort Harrison, now commanded by Major General Godfrey Weitzel, replacing the wounded Ord. The Confederate attacks were uncoordinated and were easily handled.

Results:

Just as Grant had anticipated, the fighting around Chaffin's Farm forced Lee to shift his resources and helped the Union army south of Petersburg win the Battle of Peebles' Farm. After October, the two armies settled into trench warfare that continued until the end of the war. The fighting around Chaffin's Farm cost the nation nearly 5,000 casualties.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].