An Archaeological Overview and Assessment of the
Main Unit, Petersburg National Battlefield, Virginia

Chapter Two:  Geographical Setting

An essential point of departure for an overview and assessment of archaeological resources is the modern landscape and geography of the study area.  The emphasis should be upon the term "modern" since paleoenvironmental conditions have changed throughout the Holocene Epoch (as will be discussed in Chapter Three).  Further, human intervention has dramatically reshaped the landscape, for example the substantial increase in erosion arising from tree clearance associated with late prehistoric but particularly European colonial and later agriculture.  Nevertheless, certain geographic conditions arising from landscape topography, elevation, proximity to water, and soil types have had a marked impact upon prehistoric and historic occupations, including those related to the Civil War siege.

The Main Unit of Petersburg National Battlefield is located on the inner portion of the Coastal Plain physiographic province.  The specific position of the park should be considered an interior one in the Chesapeake Tidewater, although the confluence of the Appomattox and James rivers at City Point lies only six miles to the northeast.  The average winter temperature is 41E F, with a average daily minimum of 31E F.  The summer average is 78E F, with an average daily maximum of 88E F.  The total annual precipitation is 44.5 inches; 50 % of that amount falls between April and September, which constitutes the normal growing season for most crops.  A total of 186 days per year in 9 out of 10 years will have temperatures in excess of 32E F (Jones et al. 1985:1, 83).

Topography: Terraces and Tributaries

The dominant features of the landscape are creeks that flow from the higher interior elevations toward the Appomattox River northwest of the park (Figure 2.1).  These creeksCdesignated from east to west as an unnamed stream, Harrison, and PoorCand associated smaller tributaries have created a landscape of higher uplands above and slopes into drainage valleys with lower terraces and flood plains.  Topographic elevations range from approximately 40 feet above sea level (asl) on the low terrace adjacent to Harrison Creek along the northern boundary of the park to 143 feet asl at the site of Union Fort Morton near Hickory Hill Road along the southern boundary of the park.

The soil survey for Prince George County (Jones et al. 1985:70) describes a variably dissected landscape with four major terraces as follows:

Since rivers, creeks, and tributaries generally incise the landscape downward through geologic time, the oldest terraces are those at higher elevations.  The soil survey indicates that a distinction between the Wicomico and Chowan terraces is difficult in practice in the field.  The Sunderland (uppermost) and Dismal Swamp (lowest) terraces were described as slightly dissected by drainages; the Wicomico and Chowan terraces were considered at times to be highly dissected (Jones et al. 1985:70).

Opperman (Opperman and Hanson 1985:2-3) argued that the Sunderland Terrace had a drainage system that was "more dendritically developed" and had a more uneven relief when compared with the Wicomico Terrace due to the greater geologic age of the Sunderland Terrace.  My observations in the field suggested that the upper terraces were fairly dissected by drainages, while the lower Chowan Terrace was cut only by the creeks that flowed from the higher terraces to the Appomattox River.  The Sunderland Terrace manifested a plateau-like profile, particularly at the north end of the park, although the altitude increased moving southward and eastward away from the Appomattox and James rivers.  The Sunderland Terrace, also referred to as the 100 foot bluff or plateau in subsequent chapters, was the location of all of the historic plantation and farm dwellings within the Main Unit.

The Wicomico Terrace was reflected in sloping but still reasonably level areas between Harrison and Poor creeks in the central portion of the park.  The terrace was rarely apparent east of Harrison Creek, where slopes descended from the Sunderland to the Chowan terraces.   The portion of the main Union siege line within the park ran across the Wicomico Terrace, crossing the 100 foot asl elevation at Battery XIII and continuing past Fort Morton, one of the highest and most formidable fortifications east of Petersburg.  The lower Chowan Terrace is found east and west of Harrison Creek along the northern boundary of the park and extends as a level plain beyond the park boundaries to the bluffs along the Appomattox River.  The agricultural fields for two of the oldest plantations within the Main UnitCJordan and FriendClay on this low level terrace, and houses associated with a "quarter" on the Friend plantation were located on this terrace near the railroad along the northern boundary of the park.

Soils

The terrace soils were deposited in various sedimentary environments over time (Jones et al. 1985:69):

The soils mapping for the Main Unit has been reported in two separate soils manuals.  The Prince George County manual (Jones et al. 1985:sheet 14) provides information of the eastern portion, while the Dinwiddie Area manual (Clausen et al. 1996:sheets 7 and 8) defines the soils in the central and western portions that are now located within the boundaries of the City of Petersburg.  The soils on the uplands of the Sunderland and Wicomico terraces and on the side slopes of drainages reflect the Emporia and Slagle sandy loams.  The well drained Emporia soils were associated with much of the uplands due to drainage promoted by natural stream dissection (Jones et al. 1985:59, 66, 70), while the moderately well drained Slagle soils formed at greater distances from drainage valleys.  Other upland soil types included the well drained Uchee loamy sand and moderately well drained Mattaponi sandy loam (Clausen et al. 1996:68, 72).

All of the historic plantation and farm dwellings were constructed on the upland plateau of the Sunderland Terrace, at or above 100 feet asl.  These soils on the Sunderland and Wicomico terraces are considered to be good farm land when occurring on level or slightly sloping ground (Clausen et al. 1996:93) and cultivated fields were located on the uplands in association with the Hare, Taylor, and Gibbons properties in the mid-nineteenth century.  However, a greater percentage of those fields lying on the lower Chowan Terrace along the Appomattox River were under cultivation in the mid-nineteenth century (see Figure 4.4).

A small portion of the Chowan Terrace at the north end of the park was the location of farm fields and a "quarter" associated with the Friend plantation.  The soils at this location are classified as Bolling silt loam, a moderately well drained soil found on low-lying flat lands on low river terraces (Jones et al. 1985:56).  Opperman (Opperman and Hanson 1985:2-5, 2-7) summarized various soils studies that emphasized the comparatively greater fertility of lowland and stream terrace soils compared with those on the uplands.  He cited a passage from Robert Beverly's 1705 description of Virginia that indicates the distinction had been recognized from the early days of the colony, and further that the coniferous pine forests of today represent a replacement of earlier more diverse forest associations:

The Middle of the Necks, or Ridges between the Rivers, is generally poor, being either a light Sand, or a white or red Clay, with a thin Mould: Yet even these Places are stored with Chestnuts, Chinkapins, Acorns of the Shrub-Oak, and a Reedy Grass in Summer....The rich Lands lie next to the Rivers and Branches, and are stored with large Oaks, Walnuts, Hickories, Ash, Beech, Poplar, and many other Sorts of Timber, of surprizing Bigness. (Beverly 1705(1947):124)

The apparent fertility of river and stream margins may in part explain a suggested shift in prehistoric settlement patterns from the uplands during the Late Archaic to the lower stream terraces during the Early and Middle Woodland (Chapter Three).

These patterns should be interpreted with caution, however, since many of the soils in the narrow tributary valleys and along the wider creeks are described as well drained but sloping Emporia and Slagle soils or poorly drained ones on flood plains, such as the Kinston complex or Roanoke loams along Harrison and Poor creeks (Jones et al. 1985:21,22; Clausen et al. 1996:70).  Such settings would hardly make for favorable agricultural conditions.  However, low stream terraces with well drained soils slightly above the flood plains would be favorable, if at times constricted, agricultural areas.

Wildlife Habitat

Woodland areas in Prince George County consist of coniferous woods (pine and cedar) that provide browse and seeds.  A range of deciduous hardwoods, many of which were mentioned by Beverly in the early eighteenth century, are also present: oak, poplar, hickory, cherry, sweetgum, blackgum, and dogwood, and woody understory plants such as hawthorn, blackberry, and blueberry.  The deciduous forests produce various foods of use to humans or animals, such as nuts, fruits, buds, catkins, twigs, bark and foliage.  Mammals that inhabit the woodlands include white-tailed deer, wild turkey, gray squirrel, red and gray foxes, opossum, and raccoon.

Openland habitats contain fields with agricultural crops such as wheat and corn and pastures and meadows with grasses, herbs, and shrubs.  Animals found in these open lands include quail, meadowlark, field sparrow, rabbits, and red fox.

Wetland marshes along tidal rivers and interior woodland swamps contain a range of herbaceous plants that thrive on moist or wet locations, including smartweed, wild millet, wildrice, cordgrass, rushes, sedges, and reeds.  Wildfowl and mammals that favor such habitats are migratory ducks and geese, herons, shore birds, muskrat, and beaver.  Fish in the James and Appomattox rivers consist of species such as catfish, migratory rock fish, largemouth bass, white shad, herring, and sunfish (Lawrence Robinson in Jones et al. 1985:42, 43).

Hunters, Gatherers, and Cultivators

While it is clear that both macroenvironmental and microenvironmental change occurred during the Holocene, current environmental conditions reflect the rich and seasonally varied terrestrial, fluvial, and marine habitats on this portion of the inner coastal plain.  Animal and plant resources would have been attractive to Native Americans, hunters and gatherers who later also cleared fields to cultivate maize, gourds, and local domesticates.  Resources such as the quartz and quartzite cobbles that eroded along the steep slopes between terraces and along creeks would have been desirable as a raw material for stone tools (Opperman and Hanson 1985:2-3, 2-4).

European colonists occupied cleared Native American fields (Potter 1993) and soon cleared extensive tracts to grow tobacco during the seventeenth century and increasingly corn and wheat during the eighteenth century along the Tidewater rivers.  A plantation and farm instruction and account book published in Richmond in 1852 advocated three rotation systems for cultivating tobacco, corn, wheat, and clover: