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

Chapter Four:  Historic Occupation (Part A)

Historic Overview

English colonial adventurers explored the James River as far as the mouth of the Appomattox River at City Point in 1607 during their first weeks in the new Virginia Colony.  An Appomattox Indian village—the location of "Queene apumateca bowere" or the "quene of Mattica" (Barbour 1969:91-93)—stood north of the Appomattox River.  Other contemporary Native American settlements are indicated in the vicinity on Robert Tindall's map of 1608 and the John Smith map of 1612 (see Figure 3.1).

The English moved quickly to establish their hegemony throughout the region (Reinhart 1984; Deetz 1993).  Sir Thomas Dale occupied the Appomattox Indian village north of the river in January 1611/12, and created a colonial settlement on the site in the "new Bermudas."  The Corporation of Henrico, which lay north of the Appomattox River on both sides of the James, was divided into several "hundreds," an English land division of obscure and often varying definition.  The "new Bermudas" became Bermuda Hundred.  City Point, on the south side of the Appomattox, lay within the Corporation of Charles City, and was probably first known as Charles City Point (Billings 1975:7-9).

The Native American rising of 1622 resulted in extensive damage to settlements along the James and in the effective eradication of Native Americans in eastern Virginia.  The charter of the Virginia Company was revoked by the Crown in 1624, and thereafter Virginia was administered as a royal colony.  In 1634, the various "corporations" were replaced by shires or counties that often retained the corporation names.  Thus City Point and lands to the east and west fell within the boundaries of Charles City County.  An English strong point named Fort Henry was established c.1654-6 on a bluff above the Appomattox River, west of the current location of Petersburg.

A primary means of promoting settlement in the royal colony were land patents.  An individual, usually a member or aspiring member of the gentry, received 50 acres for each headright or immigrant passage that he financed.  Major (later Colonel) Abraham Wood received patents of 1557 acres in 1653 and 2073 acres in 1663 on the south side of Appomattox River near Fort Henry and Flea Island (Patent Book No. 3, p. 77, and No. 4, p. 486, cited in Parks 1982:34,35).  During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, European occupation had spread inland, often considerable distances from the major river valleys.

The gentry, influential though they may have been, comprised a small portion of the social spectrum.  Individuals whose passage was paid by someone else often entered the colony as an indentured servant.  Those servants who survived to fulfill the terms of their indenture would seek a small land tract.  During the fourth quarter of the seventeenth century the importation of African slaves rose substantially in the Chesapeake Tidewater as more and more servants began to survive their periods of indenture (Morgan 1975:223, passim; Carr and Menard 1979: 207).  Poorer immigrants and the growth of a landless class provided a source of tenants.

Even the internal structure of gentry society became increasingly complex.  Population pressure arose due to increasing numbers of male heirs in succeeding generations.  Widows and daughters of landowners, both among the gentry and small farmers, represented yet another demand upon landed estates.

It was not necessary to provide for all of these social groups around the dwelling or even on the home plantation of the landowner.  Lands obtained by royal patent or through subsequent purchase became acreage for children, former indentured servants, or tenants (Kelly 1979:190, 191, 198).  The land-hungry nature of tobacco cultivation led to the subdivision of larger plantations into "quarters" where field slaves and overseers lived on the land that they tilled.  By the second half of the eighteenth century, these various forms of land occupancy and the architectural and landscape features associated with them had appeared on lands currently within the Main Unit.

The natural geography of Virginia, coupled with the strongly agricultural orientation of the economy and the dispersed settlement patterns resulting from land patents, were not conducive to the emergence of large towns.  As early as 1692, the Virginia Colony required each county to establish and maintain a "port" town to promote trade of agricultural products and the importation of manufactured products from England.  During the first half of the eighteenth century, Petersburg emerged as a shipping point for tobacco, a settlement on the fall line of the Appomattox River, and consequently as a junction for numerous roadways.  The growth settlement is indicated east of town in Prince George County—established in 1702—as several plantation dwellings were constructed near roadways and along a bluff overlooking the Appomattox River.  The Jefferson and Fry map of 1751 (Figure 4.1) indicates the town of Petersburg, with the separate town of Blandford lying to the east.  The area experienced some disruption during the British invasion of Virginia in 1781, when a skirmish was fought near Blandford, but a stable domestic order of large and small agricultural plantations remained intact after the Revolution.

The early nineteenth century prosperity of Petersburg was based on its role in processing cotton and tobacco, with labor provided by free African-Americans and slaves, and the milling of flour, a task undertaken by white labor.  This prosperity was also promoted by the growth of railroads and the operation of the Upper Appomattox Canal.  The first railroad in Virginia was constructed between Petersburg and City Point on the James River in 1837.  As a consequence, the town became the focal point of various plank roads and turnpikes, generally headed to the south and west. In addition to having access to wheat from the James River Valley and cotton and tobacco from Dinwiddie County to the west, Petersburg was linked to the cotton and tobacco growing regions of North Carolina by the Weldon Railroad (Henderson 1977:101-103; Wyatt 1937).

By the mid-nineteenth century, the citizens of Petersburg had the benefit of gas lighting from the local gas works and piped water from a reservoir south of town.  Brick and frame Georgian and Federal dwellings extended westward along High Street, while the "Landing" below the hill along the river contained the central-chimney frame house of slave and free African-American residents.

The distribution of wealth in Prince George County indicates that the most valuable estates were those located along the James and Appomattox rivers east of Petersburg, the areas favored for settlement since the earliest days of the Virginia Colony.  The 1859 land tax for the county (PG Co. Land Tax) indicated that 423 of the 923 land tracts (46 %) contained buildings.  A median value between $300 and $399 was indicated; the modal or largest class held dwellings between $100 and $199 in value.

By this standard, the oldest dwellings that stood within the Main Unit were hardly typical for the county as a whole.  The values of the eighteenth-century homes and other buildings of Josiah Jordan ($1575), Charles Friend ($3240), Otway Hare ($1500), and William Byrd Taylor ($2375) were clearly far greater than the county median.  Two other dwellings had been built during the mid-nineteenth century on smaller land tracts: William Gibbons ($1008) and William Griffith ($700).

The African-American slave population constituted the majority of the residents in the some of the counties along the James River, according to data from the 1860 Census (Graham 1861): Charles City (62 %) and Prince George (63 %).  By contrast, smaller relative proportions of slaves were found in Chesterfield County (46 %) along the James to the north, or in Dinwiddie County (48 %) near the piedmont to the west.  As with other forms of wealth, however, the distribution of slaves was very uneven, as indicated by the 1860 personal property tax (PG Co. Personal Property Tax).  Slightly more that one-third of the taxed individuals (382 or 38 %) in the county were slaveholders.  The numbers of adult slaves (i.e., those 12 years of age or older) ranged from one to a total of 148 at the James River plantation of Brandon.  The median was four; the modal class, which consisted of 79 estates, was one adult slave.  Individuals owning between one and five slaves comprised 59 % of the slaveholders; 78 % owned between one and nine slaves.  Once again, the plantations on lands currently within the Main Unit were hardly typical.  The following totals of adult slaves were recorded on the 1860 personal property tax: Jordan (16), Friend (36), Hare (22), and Taylor (18).  Gibbons apparently owned no slaves, Griffith had four adult slaves, and nine adult slaves were found on the James Dunn farm, which also stood on lands now encompassed within the Main Unit.

The implications of these economic data for the archaeological potential of most domestic sites within the Main Unit are clear.  These sites will for the most part provide a perspective on the cultural experiences of the economic elite in ante bellum Virginia society, and of the slave who labored for them.

The domestic tranquility and much of the social order in Southside Virginia was forever changed by the Civil War, particularly the Union siege of Petersburg in 1864 and 1865.  The James River had obviously provided an invasion route into the center of Virginia, as residents of City Point learned during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862.  Southern military planners had recognized the strategic importance of Petersburg as a transportation gateway to Richmond and consequently as a supply center for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.  A ring of 55 earthen fortifications known as the Dimmock line was constructed surrounding Petersburg in 1862 and 1863.  An initial Union attempt to capture Petersburg on June 9,  1864, were repelled by the local defenders of these fortifications (Colston 1887; Kautz 1887).  However, these forts were severely undermanned and presented only slight impediments when the Union Army of the Potomac, under the ultimate command of General Ulysses Grant, arrived on June 15, 1864.  The eastern fortsCi.e., those currently lying within the Main UnitCbut slow Union movement and relatively rapid Confederate response prevented the fall of Petersburg and led to a siege that lasted until early April 1865 (Beauregard 1887).

Confederate and Union forces quickly constructed more formidable lines of infantry trenches and forts for artillery that ultimately stretched in more or less continuous alignments in excess of 20 miles west of Petersburg.  A massive Union supply depot, established at City Point, was supported by extensive shipping traffic coming up the James River from Chesapeake Bay.  The headquarters of General Grant and his staff was established on the grounds around the Eppes home of "Appomattox," which lies within the City Point Unit of Petersburg National Battlefield.  Tons of supplies moved from the depot to the Union siege lines along rail lines using a portion of the Petersburg and City Point Rail Road.

Both armies had to endure exposure to rains and cold winds in open trenches during the winter, but Union soldiers at least were buoyed by adequate supplies of food, clothing, medicine, and ammunition.  The privations of trench life are well-documented in the Official Records reports of General Bushrod Johnson (Blades 1981), who commanded a Confederate divisions in the vicinity of the Crater, a dramatic landscape feature created by the explosion of a powder-filled Union mine in July 1864 (Houghton 1887, Powell 188).  Desertions mounted among the Confederates in February, and by early spring their undermanned lines had been extended too far.  Union forces broke through the Confederate lines at Five Forks in Dinwiddie County on April 1, 1865, and smashed the western side of the defensive trenches a day later (Porter 1887).  The Army of Northern Virginia evacuated Petersburg on the evening of April 2, and surrendered at Appomattox Court House one week later.

Many of the local residents returned to a devastated domestic landscape.  Mrs. Roger Pryor observed the following scene at her home in summer of 1865:

Within was dirt and desolation.  Pieces of fat pork lay on the floor, molasses trickled from the library shelves, where bottles lay uncorked.  Filthy malodorous tin cans were scattered on the floors.  Nothing, not even a tin dipper to drink out of the well, was left in the house, except one chair out of which the bottom had been cut, and one bedstead fastened together with bayonets. (Pryor 1904:30, cited in Henderson 1977:105)

Battle damage and occupation by troops resulted in the destruction of many houses around Petersburg and the rail lines leading to the town; all of the dwellings that stood on lands currently within the Main Unit were destroyed or damaged during the siege.

The Civil War resulted in a change in the social order and in general economic instability.  As the twentieth century commenced, the region's economic prosperity had been restored in various ways.  The tobacco industry remained a major source of employment and income both in and around Petersburg.  The United States Army established Camp Lee east of Petersburg during World War I, and today Fort Lee remains an active base for quartermaster activities.  Trenches constructed for training purposes during World War may be found both on the grounds of Fort Lee and within the Main Unit, and provide an interesting contrast with those surviving from the Civil War.  Population growth has advanced throughout the region and Petersburg remains a major transportation junction, now for interstate highways.  The creation of Petersburg National Military Park—now Petersburg National Battlefield—during the first half of the twentieth century greatly enhanced the appreciation of the region's historic heritage and has drawn increasing numbers of tourists, although Civil War veterans had been returning to the former battlefields since the end of the siege.

Map Chronology

A development of the cultural landscape is documented on a series of historic maps that will be examined in the chronological order.  The earliest detailed map of cultural and natural features relating to the Main Unit is a survey plat on May 1797.  The Civil War resulted in numerous detailed maps, including a Confederate survey in 1863 to illustrate the Dimmock line that also provides considerable detail of the cultural landscape prior to the destruction of farm and plantation buildings during the siege.

Pre-Civil War Maps

The Prince George County Surveyor's Record noted on May 14, 1797, that the boundaries of the estates of "Clermont" and "White Hill," totalling 806 acres, had been surveyed for William Cole and Robert Turnbull.  Both men resided on these estates, which where bounded by the Appomattox River, William Robertson, John Baird, Skipwith Hill, and William Parsons (PGS 1794-1824:22, cited in Weisiger 1986:24).  These estates were owned at the time of the Civil War by Josiah Jordan ("Clermont") and Nathaniel Friend ("White Hill").  Since the northern end of the Main Unit ultimately fell within the confines of these two estates, the 1797 plat sketch has been reproduced herein (Figure 4.2) since it represents the earliest detailed description of the landscape at the north end of the park.

Major features are still visible on the landscape at present:

John County drew "A Map and Profile of City Point" (Couty 1837) in 1837 to illustrate the route of the railroadCthe first in VirginiaCfrom Petersburg to City Point (Figure 4.3).  This map once again provided detail of the north end of the park, specifically the "Natl. Friend" house and grounds, the "Roane" (formerly Cole and later Jordan) house, and the boundary line/road between them.

Civil War Maps

The 1863 Campbell map (O.R. Atlas 1863) indicated the positions of the Confederate earthen fortifications surrounding Petersburg, but gratuitously provided considerable details of the cultural landscape prior to the Civil War siege (Figure 4.4).  These details include plantations and farm houses labelled with owner names, associated field boundaries, roads and railroads, internal features of the towns of Blandford and Petersburg, and natural features such as creeks and topography.  The map of course also indicates the positions of the earliest Civil War earthworks: the Dimmock line of numbered artillery redoubts and disconnected rifle pit trenches.  The map is of immense importance since it documents the rural cultural landscape that had descended from the eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century on the eve of its destruction during the siege.

The July 1864 Union Army Engineer map (O.R. Atlas 1864a) detailed the emergence of the siege lines as well as principal features of the domestic cultural landscape: locations of houseCsome of which such as Taylor were already in ruinsCand roadways that compare favorably with those shown on the 1863 Campbell map (Figure 4.5).  Earthworks and fortifications depicted include the following:

A Union Army Engineer map copied in May 1866 (O.R. Atlas 1866) depicted the "Environs of Petersburg" and the "intrenched lines occupied by the 9th Army Corps" (Figure 4.6).  The map indicated the major Union forts (Stedman, Haskell, and Morton) and smaller batteries distinguished by Roman numerals, as well as limited information on the Rebel lines.  The road and railroad network enables one to related this map to the 1863 and 1864 maps discussed earlier.

The Michler map of 1867 (Michler 1867) provides the most detailed depiction of the landscape after the siege and thus at least potentially indicates the final extent of earthwork construction (Figure 4.7).  Despite the detail, however, it would appear that a certain number of earthworks were not illustrated as will be discussed.  Important information is provided for Confederate works, particularly Colquitt's and (to the south) Elliott's salients.