BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Staunton River Battlefield State Park

VA -- Staunton River Battlefield State Park:

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: 3.133.147.252 -- 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] STARBB_060305_001.JPG	[2] STARBB_060305_006.JPG	[3] STARBB_060305_010.JPG
[4] STARBB_060305_017.JPG	[5] STARBB_060305_020.JPG	[6] STARBB_060305_024.JPG
[7] STARBB_060305_030.JPG	[8] STARBB_060305_033.JPG	[9] STARBB_060305_038.JPG
[10] STARBB_060305_042.JPG	[11] STARBB_060305_046.JPG	[12] STARBB_060305_051.JPG
[13] STARBB_060305_057.JPG	[14] STARBB_060305_060.JPG	[15] STARBB_060305_068.JPG
[16] STARBB_060305_075.JPG	[17] STARBB_060305_080.JPG	[18] STARBB_060305_090.JPG
[19] STARBB_060305_095.JPG	[20] STARBB_060305_102.JPG	[21] STARBB_060305_104.JPG
[22] STARBB_060305_109.JPG	[23] STARBB_060305_112.JPG	[24] STARBB_060305_116.JPG
[25] STARBB_060305_120.JPG	[26] STARBB_060305_124.JPG	[27] STARBB_060305_127.JPG
[28] STARBB_060305_131.JPG	[29] STARBB_060305_138.JPG	[30] STARBB_060305_140.JPG
[31] STARBB_060305_148.JPG	[32] STARBB_060305_152.JPG	[33] STARBB_060305_162.JPG
[34] STARBB_060305_176.JPG	[35] STARBB_060305_186.JPG	[36] STARBB_060305_214.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. STARBB_060305_001.JPG: Staunton River Bridge: The Battle of Staunton River Bridge: In late June 1864, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia were engaged in a desperate defense of the city of Petersburg. Victory for Lee depended on a steady flow of supplies from the west, brought in by rail. To force Lee from Petersburg, Union Gen. U.S. Grant planned to cut Southern supply lines. He ordered a cavalry raid west to tear up track and destroy railroad stations and bridges. On June 22, 1864, Union Gen. James H. Wilson and August V. Kautz, commanding more than 5,000 cavalry troops and 16 pieces of artillery, left Petersburg to destroy track on the Richmond & Danville Railroad and to burn the Staunton River Bridge. A battalion of 296 Confederate reserves under the command of Capt. Benjamin Farinholt was stationed at the bridge. Receiving word that a large enemy force was headed toward the bridge, Farinholt sent out an urgent plea for volunteers. Within days, his command was bolstered by 642 reinforcements. Of these, about 150 were Confederate regulars who were home on leave or in transit, among them Col. Henry E. Coleman, on wounded furlough in Halifax. The remainder were local citizens, either too old or too young to serve in the military. On the oppressively hot afternoon of June 25, 1864, the Union cavalry arrived at Roanoke Station. Though badly outnumbered and outgunned, Farinholt's determined forces, following Col. Coleman's defense strategy, successfully repulsed four separate Union assaults and saved the bridge. The "battle at the bridge" has been retold countless times and has become an important part of the heritage of Southside Virginia.
2. STARBB_060305_010.JPG: The Confederate Trail: On the hot day of June 25, 1864, several southern Virginia counties sent their "old men and young boys" to war. Not a one knew if they would live to see tomorrow. In mid-1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's main army was besieged in the city of Petersburg. Union General Ulysses S. Grant focused his campaign on Lee's forces, hoping to seal a Confederate defeat. The scene was set for a long and terrible siege. Grant began destroying the Confederate railroad tracks and burning the depots. He knew that without the supplies that arrived by railroad, Lee had no chance of surviving the siege. The Richmond and Danville Railroad -- including the railroad bridge over the Staunton River -- became one of Grant's targets. To stop the flow of supplies to Lee's army, Grant had dispatches cavalry divisions under Brigadier Generals James H. Wilson and August V. Kautz to destroy the railroads west of Petersburg. Wilson's forces had been continually dogged by General W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee, son of Robert E. Lee. Although Lee had managed to slow the enemy's progress, he could not keep them from reaching Roanoke Station and the Staunton River Bridge. Upon hearing that the Federals were soon to arrive with over 5,000 men, Captain Benjamin L. Farinholt -- in command of the defenses at the Staunton River Bridge -- made a desperate call for volunteers to join the 250 reserves in his charge. While most able men of fighting age were stationed elsewhere, Captain William B. Hurt and his group of Home Guards immediately responded to the call, as did John Powell's Halifax Boys Academy. Old men and young boys from the area showed courage and southern spirit by volunteering. It became known locally as "the day everybody went to the bridge to fight."
3. STARBB_060305_017.JPG: Waiting for Battle: Captain Benjamin L. Farinholt had been in charge of the Staunton River Bridge post for forty days prior to the battle, preparing its defenses and drilling his forces. Captain E.N. Fitzhugh was assigned to build earthworks here on the south -- of Halifax County -- side of the bridge. Colonel Stanhope Flournoy and his cavalry of about 50 men were sent downriver to the nearest ford, and Captain Paul Edmonds -- with about as many men -- were sent to defend the first ford above the bridge -- to guard against any Union crossings. By mid-afternoon on June 25, all were ready and the men in position for battle. The wait for the Federal soldiers to appear seemed to last forever, and both experienced and inexperienced men alike grew nervous. Veterans entertained the boys with jokes and old war stories. Tradition holds that Patrick Henry's granddaughter, Mrs. William Clark, played a French harp to calm the fears of the men. The Confederates had one "superior piece of cannon, three in a half-completed fort, across the river on the left side, and one in an earthwork on the right, which treated (us) to horrifying discharges of grape which seemed as though they would take the breath out of my body, as they flew like a flight of noisy birds close over us." -- Rowland M. Hall, 3rd New York The earthworks were improved considerably after the battle, because the Confederates expected additional assaults on the bridge. Farinholt asked the citizens of Charlotte and Halifax Counties to send two hundred of their slaves to complete the fortifications here at the earthworks. The current earthworks are a result of these improvements made after the battle.
4. STARBB_060305_038.JPG: "The battle of Staunton River Bridge was fought here June 25, 1864. Capt. Benj. L. Farinholt 53rd Va. Inf. with 296 men reinforced by 642 citizens and soldiers from Halifax Charlotte and Mecklenburg Counties Virginia defeated Col. R.M. West 5th Penn. Cavalry supported by the 3rd New York. This monument placed by Halifax County Chapter U.D.C. and the State of Virginia."
5. STARBB_060305_046.JPG: Coleman's Foresight: Colonel Henry Eaton Coleman was a Virginian, born in Halifax County in 1837. He studied civil engineering at William and Mary College and Virginia Military Institute. He joined the 12th North Carolina Infantry, a company his uncle formed shortly after the Civil War began, and was elevated to the rank of Captain. Coleman's gallantry in battles such as Second Manassas, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness earned him a promotion from Captain to Lt. Colonel and eventually to Colonel. He was wounded five times, two being severe. A minie ball tore off the top of Coleman's head, exposing a portion of his brain during the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864,. Surprisingly enough, he lived. He received permission to stay with his father-in-law at "Oakville" in Halifax County where he could recover. On June 24, Coleman, without any concern for his own well-being, set off to help save the Staunton River Bridge, a distance of 25 miles away. He traveled to this site in a carriage lying on a makeshift bed. Pillows surrounding his head eased the pain from the constant jolting. Upon his arrival at the bridge, Coleman volunteered his services to Col. Farinholt, who was in charge at the Staunton River Bridge. He surveyed the area and realized that in order to save the bridge from destruction by the Union forces, the north side of the river needed to be strengthened. Farinholt agreed with Coleman's assessment and put him in charge of building the additional entrenchments. By mid-morning on the 25th, the day of the battle, a small but well-built, semi-circular earthwork was completed just north of the bridge across the river.
6. STARBB_060305_068.JPG: One of the Last to Burn... Nine months after this battle, on April 3, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet fled the capital in Richmond on their way to Danville to set up a temporary government. They crossed the Staunton River via this bridge. Six days later, the fighting in Virginia ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. On April 12, a southern officer gave the order to burn the bridge. This was one of a number of bridges that were burned by retreating Confederates in this part of the state, including the trestle over Little Roanoke Creek less than a mile northeast of here. It was one of the last bridges to be burned... The bridge you see today is not the Staunton River Bridge of 1864. The original Staunton River Railroad Bridge was over 600 feet long and 30 feet high. It was a covered bridge with well-constructed weathered board sides and a tin roof. The rails were 50 feet above the flowing river below, where the water reached a depth of 10-15 feet. No photos of the Staunton River Bridge have been found. The current bridge, built in 1902, makes use of the original stone supports and has been elevated approximately 4 feet higher than the original bridge and roadbed were in 1864.
7. STARBB_060305_090.JPG: The Enemy Has Arrived: Captain James A. Hoyt and the 1st South Carolina Palmetto Sharp Shooters had been rushed by railroad to reinforce those Confederates already at the bridge. "It was not very long until the enemy began to appear upon the hills. Their artillery was soon unlimbered, and only a few moments elapsed until shells were bursting all around us..." "My orders were for every man to keep on the ground behind the breastworks, which were only two or three feet high, and when the first line of the enemy had crosse the ditch in our front, the command would be given to fire.... This ditch was not more than seventy-five yards in our front, and when the men rose with the rebel yell and poured a volley into the ranks of the enemy there was a great consternation and hasty retreat." -- Hoyt Friendly Fire Accounts: Several Confederate accounts mention a "friendly fire" occurrence before the actual fighting had begun. Farinholt's report: "The enemy appeared in my front at 3:45pm, and immediately on their approaching to place their artillery in position (on the far hillside), I opened on them with a 3-inch rifled gun and 3 six-pounders... but the shot, from some inexplicable defect in the gun, fell far short of the mark." Hoyt sent private Fenton of the Maryland Artillery across the bridge to tell the artillery commander to cease firing and "adjust his aim". The artillery "aim" did not need to be adjusted. The inexperienced artillerymen had apparently loaded the cannons with grape and canister (canister is a can full of iron or lead balls packed in sawdust and grape is large balls held together with iron rings) instead of shot and shell.
8. STARBB_060305_095.JPG: Old Men and Young Boys: "Old gentlemen of 70 winters took their place in the trenches with lads of 15." -- H.E. Coleman Many Confederates felt that Coleman's suggestion to build the earthworks on the north side of the river saved the bridge and won the battle for them. The breastworks were dug to a depth of about four feet "with old canteens a spade or two, sticks and whatever (the men) could lay their hands on." The fresh earth was thrown down the river bank so as to be invisible to the enemy advancing on the bridge. The defenders in these trenches were under orders to remain hidden until the Federal troops were well within firing range. The bravery of the old men and young boys and the element of surprise were to a large degree responsible for the Confederate victory at the bridge. "The shells striking the tin roof of the bridge made a fearful racket, scaring some of the small boys into outbursts of weeping." --- J.T. Eason, 17th Miss. "While the infantry or dismounted cavalry outnumber(ed) them over ten to one... these little untrained boys and old gray-headed farmers... arose from their position of partial safety and protection and with a firm and steady step marched into the very jaws of death itself..." -- William B. Hurt, 1st Virginia Reserves
9. STARBB_060305_102.JPG: A Failed Assault: With Confederate reserves and volunteer forces totaling a mere 938 (Wilson's and Kautz's Union forces totalled over 5,000), Farinholt pulled off a surprising victory on June 25, 1864. Kautz's fourth and final attack on the bridge had just been launched toward dusk when "Rooney" Lee arrived to bear down on Chapman who was guarding the Union rear. Wilson was hemmed in and could not push forward any longer. His men were no further ahead than they were before the assault began. There was nothing left to do but retreat. Wilson later wrote of his decision to break off the engagement at Staunton River Bridge, "Finding the bridge could not be carried without severe loss, if at all, the enemy being again close upon our rear, the Staunton too deep for fording and unprovided with bridges or steam ferries, I determined to push no further South but to endeavor to reach the Army by returning towards Petersburg." Few of the Union troops knew where their fellow soldiers ended up because in the confusion during the raid, many of the wounded and dead were abandoned. The heat was so intense that hospital wagons could carry only a few men at a time for fear of suffocating the injured. For that reason, many men were left behind. Nelson M. Ward, of the 11th Pa. Cavalry received the Congressional Medal of Honor for not leaving the field until he retrieved the personal effects from his dead Captain.
10. STARBB_060305_109.JPG: A Spirited Defense: Left Flank:Union Colonel Samuel P. Spear dismounted his men and sent them as skirmishers to the left of the railbed. The whole way across the field to the ditchline, they were under heavy fire from the bridge. He was forced to pull his men back because of the "superior force of (the) enemy and their being protected by earth works, while my men were exposed to all their fire." Right Flank: The Confederate rifle pits were hidden from view behind the tall wheat in the field. The Confederates rose out of nowhere with a rebel yell, surprising the Federals and trapping them in the open. Colonel Robert M. West tried to get his men to climb the embankment no fewer than four times in the hopes of burning the trestle, but the Confederates had the upper hand and "swept the sides and tracks with terrible dire." Men fell right and left, some from bullets, others by the heat. At one point, the Union almost claimed the bridge, but as they were putting a torch to it, the rebels forced them back by "murderous discharges" of artillery fire. Later that night, West received orders to pull his men back.
11. STARBB_060305_112.JPG: This is the abandoned railroad bed
12. STARBB_060305_116.JPG: Tricking the Enemy: "The work of these last two days, performed under a burning sun and over hot fires, was extremely exhausting, and many of the men have not and never will recover from its effects." -- Lt. Col. George A. Perington, 2nd Ohio Cavalry The Federal soldiers were physically and mentally worn out as they came to gaze upon the wheat fields before them. The thought of fighting to burn a well-defended bridge was almost more than they could bear. Wilson quickly assessed the situation. The railbed was steeply elevated and split the field in two. He set up his artillery on the hillside to the right. Wilson determined that Kautz's divisions would be sent out in the field to fight. Kautz sent Colonel Samuel P. Spear and his 2nd Brigade to the left of the railbed. Colonel Robert M. West and his 1st Brigade were sent to the right of the railbed. Wilson and Kautz had no idea how many Confederates were defending the bridge. They believed they were up against several thousand men at least. Mrs. McPhail, a local plantation owner who lived on Mulberry Hill, had convinced them that Confederate soldiers were being brought in by the thousands. Wilson had no doubt that what she said was true; they had seen several trains pull up to the bridge during the night and let off what looked like a constant supply of new soldiers. The Federals had, in fact, been fooled. "In the course of the night, Colonel Farinholt had a train of empty card run back and forth on the railroad at different times. Farinholt also orders a number of his men to move about the cars when they arrived and thereby create the impression that he was receiving reinforcements. This ruse had the desired effect. Wilson thought that he was facing a large army at the bridge and that Colonel Farinholt could withstand any attack made upon him." -- J.B. Faulkner, one of Farinholt's scouts who had been stationed near Wilson's troops
13. STARBB_060305_120.JPG: Union artillery were in the hills on the left there
14. STARBB_060305_124.JPG: Burning the Tracks: "At last, what with intense heat and our fatigue, railroad burning, except under the most favorable circumstances, was abandoned and we marched along..." -- Roger Hannaford, 2nd Ohio Cavalry Each day grew worse for the Union men; the roads were dusty, and the sun beat down on them with blistering intensity. Burning the rails in the hot sun and then marching through fire and smoke to get to the next section drained the men physically. Although the heat and drought helped the raid by making it easier to light the fires, it was terrible for the men and beasts. Before long, they ran out of water, then the men and horses started giving out. (The roadbeds had iron strap rail on timber. Once lit, the tracks burned quickly, warping the metal straps and rails beyond repair.) "I thought much during the march of the sufferings of caravans over the desert." -- Louis Napoleon Boudrye, Chaplain, 5th Regiment, New York Cavalry Wilson and Kautz first raided the South Side Railroad, then they attacked the Richmond and Danville Railroad. They marched steadily toward the Staunton River Bridge. By early morning of Jun 25, the Federals had reached Keysville, seventeen miles northeast of the bridge. Later that day, they reached their goal. They saw the Staunton River Bridge and also large earthworks with six guns. Confederate volunteers under the charge of Captain Benjamin L. Farinholt were prepared to defend the bridge.
15. STARBB_060305_127.JPG: Roanoke Station
16. STARBB_060305_131.JPG: The Union Trail: Wilson's orders were to destroy the Richmond and Danville Railroad "to the greatest extent possible..." Brigadier General James H. Wilson and his Third Division, as well as Brigadier General August V. Kautz's small cavalry division of the Army of the James, had participated in Grant's railroad-breaking expeditions from the beginning. They received word from Grant that they were to lead the raid on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. Unprepared for the difficult job ahead of them, Wilson and Kautz's divisions reluctantly began their trek. The days leading to the battle of Staunton River Bridge sorely tried the Union Cavalry; they had been forced to march in the worst heat in years. They were hungry, hot and exhausted and were being forced to hurry. From the beginning of the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864 to the end of the war a year later at Appomattox, General Ulysses S. Grant's desire was to destroy the railroads that kept the people of Richmond and Petersburg fed and gave General Robert E. Lee the food and supplies he needed to continue fighting. Grant's overall goal was to destroy Lee's fighting capacity. "I had no doubt of my ability to carry out my orders and fully destroy the enemy's railroads..." -- Brigadier General James H. Wilson
17. STARBB_060305_138.JPG: Roanoke Station The Battle of Staunton River Bridge Wilson-Kautz Raid In late June 1864, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia were engaged in a desperate defense of the city of Petersburg. Victory for Lee depended on a steady flow of supplies from the west, brought in by rail. To force Lee from Petersburg, Union Gen. U.S. Grant planned to cut Southern supply lines. He ordered a cavalry raid west to tear up track and destroy railroad stations and bridges. On June 22, 1864, Union Gens. James H. Wilson and August V. Kautz, commanding more than 5,000 cavalry troops and 16 pieces of artillery, left Petersburg to destroy track on the Richmond & Danville Railroad and to burn the Staunton River Bridge. A battalion of 296 Confederate reserves under the command of Capt. Benjamin Farinholt was stationed at the bridge. Receiving word that a large enemy force was headed toward the bridge, Farinholt sent out an urgent plea for volunteers. Within days, his command was bolstered by 642 reinforcements. Of these, about 150 were Confederate regulars who were home on leave or in transit, among them Col. Henry E. Coleman, on wounded furlough in Halifax. The remainder were local citizens, either too old or too young to serve in the military. On the oppressively hot afternoon of June 25, 1864, the Union cavalry arrived at Roanoke Station. Though badly outnumbered and outgunned, Farinholt's determined forces, following Col. Coleman's defense strategy, successfully repulsed four separate Union assaults and saved the bridge. The "battle at the bridge" has been retold countless times and has become an important part of the heritage of Southside Virginia.
18. STARBB_060305_214.JPG: Guarding a Lifeline: The Richmond and Danville Railroad was a lifeline for Lee's army and the people in the cities of Richmond and Petersburg and the outlying countryside. The railroad crossed the Staunton River less than 500 yards east of here on a covered bridge. Gun crews occupied these small earthworks and helped guard the bridge. The main artillery guarding it was located in the larger earthworks overlooking the bridge's south end. The Confederates were in charge of a battery of six guns, one 3-inch rifled gun, two smooth bore 12-pounders and three iron six-pounders. Captain Farinholt, commander of the forces at Staunton River Battlefield, was from West Point, Virginia. As a member of the 53rd Virginia Infantry, he gallantly fought for his beloved south. Captain Farinholt was wounded and "captured at Gettysburg while leading his company in that memorable charge of Pickett's Division on the ill-fated 3rd day of July 1863." He escaped from a Union prison on February 22, 1864. Upon reporting for duty in Richmond following his courageous escape from prison, he was congratulated by Confederate President Jefferson Davis himself. Farinholt's successful defeat of Union forces at Staunton River Bridge earned his promotion to Colonel.
Wikipedia Description: Staunton River Battlefield State Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Staunton River Battlefield State Park is a state park located in Virginia. The park straddles the Staunton River in Halifax and Charlotte counties. The Roanoke visitor center in Randolph, Virginia is a railroad depot which now holds exhibits on Native Americans and railroad history. The Clover visitor center has exhibits on the American Civil War and the battle which took place on this site. It also includes information about the production of electric energy. The park also includes the Mulberry Hill plantation, given to the state in 1999.

Located in the park is the Wade Archeological Site. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The Confederate fortifications at the bridge were listed in 2014.
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].