NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Petersburg National Battlefield Virginia Contact Information For more information about the Petersburg National Battlefield Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or (804) 732-3531 or write to: Superintendent, Petersburg National Battlefield, 5001 Siege Rd, Petersburg, VA 23803 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Petersburg National Battlefield resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. • The longest in both time (9.5 months) and distance (37 miles) combative military front on American soil, the campaign, siege, and defense of Petersburg saw five critical battles (the Second Battle for Petersburg, the Battle of the Crater, the assault on Fort Stedman, Five Forks, and the Third Battle for PETERSBURG NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD Petersburg) that effectively reduced the Confederate Army preserves the historic sites, of Northern Virginia by eliminating its logistical capabilities, structures, and landscapes where and resulted in the evacuation of the Confederate government from its capital, Richmond, Virginia. the Civil War campaign, siege, and defense of Petersburg took place, • Reflecting both the causes and consequences of the Civil and fosters an understanding of War, the Eppes Plantation, upon which more than 100 these events, their causes, impacts, enslaved people worked, in 1864–65 served as the command and legacy to individuals, the headquarters for Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant while he oversaw community, and the nation. all Union Army operations in the final year of the Civil War. • Petersburg National Battlefield protects surviving Union and Confederate trenches, breastworks, and earthen fortifications, an assemblage that stretched along a 37-mile front and reflects the evolution of military strategy and trench warfare technology during the final desperate years of the Civil War. Significance Fundamental Resources and Values • In order to supply and sustain two Union armies of more Fundamental resources and values are those features, systems, than 100,000 soldiers positioned on an operational front processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or encompassing 176 square miles, City Point was transformed other attributes determined to merit primary consideration from a small port town at the confluence of the Appomattox during planning and management processes because they are and James Rivers into the largest logistical support of field essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining operations during the entire Civil War, becoming one of the its significance. busiest seaports and railroad networks in the world at that time. • Siege Landscape • The United States Colored Troops (USCT) engaged in more • City Point active combat throughout the Petersburg Campaign than any other campaign of the war, resulting in 15 of the 16 Medals • Archeological Resources of Honor awarded to American infantrymen during the Civil War being presented to troops for valor during the Siege of • Museum Collections Petersburg. By the end of 1864, the first full USCT Corps was • Poplar Grove National Cemetery formed, representing the largest African American fighting force assembled during the Civil War. • Solemnity of Sites • In the spring of 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spent two Petersburg National Battlefield contains other resources weeks based at City Point touring the Petersburg front, meeting and values that may not be fundamental to the purpose and with Union generals Grant and Sherman, as well as Admiral significance of the park, but are important to consider in Porter, to lay out the framework for the terms of surrender management and planning decisions. These are referred to as for the Confederate armies and the restoration of the United other important resources and values. States of America, and saw firsthand the devastation at both Petersburg and Richmond after these cities fell. • Civil War Monuments • Established in 1866 as one of the earliest national • Appropriate Recreation cemeteries, Poplar Grove National Cemetery honors and • commemorates the ultimate sacrifice and serves as the final Natural Communities resting place of more than 6,000 Union soldiers including African Americans and American Indians who reflect the ethnic diversity of the individuals who fought for the United States during the Civil War. Broad Street Exit 76 5th St 33 Grapevine Bridge exit Exit 360 Fairfield Avenue ad 75 Ro rive Old Hanover ile rt D Exit Road M o e p G in Air 31 Dabbs N r a p 7th House 156 e 195 3rd v i n e R Exit Trent o 74C a House d Main St 25th St Exit 195 64 Exit 197 Meadow R oad Exit Seven Pines 200 60 National Cemetery Richmond National W ill Cemetery iam sb ur Exit 28 g R oad 33 60 156 295 5 D a rb 1 yt ow 301 n R o a d N 895 Ch e arle w s City Road RICHMOND M Darbytown Road a Osborne Turnpike Exit 25 r k e t R o a d Da rb yt ow n R oa d Battlefield Description95 Park Road Mill Road 150 5 Exit 67 Exit 22 Fussell’s New Market Mill Heights Long Bridge Road J e f F f o Petersburg National Battlefield commemorates the siege and e Fort Harrison u r Establishedr in 1926 to preserve the lands where these final M s National Cemetery il o Chaffin’s e n W Drewry’s Farm Fort D N e a e w s v Bluff Harrison Creek t i e s Richmond National r Richmond National M n battles for control of the city of Petersburg that occurred H desperate months of the CivilBattlefield War Park unfolded, Petersburga National i g Battlefield Park r k h d e w K a t ings Ro R 656 land u a R y n o a d during the final years of the Civil War. As Confederate forces BattlefieldBellwood Roadprotects more than 2,650 acres in and around the V a r in a R 5 o a Deep Bottom d prepared to defend the Confederate capital of Richmond, Lt. city of Petersburg. Because of the complexity Henrico and County Park length of the 613 H Pams o Willis Road k Ave e Fort - B Stevens Exit 64 r a Chesterfield d General Ulysses S. Grant realized that the key to capturing the y siege, park lands are spread over a large geographic area and County Park R o a d city lay in controlling supply lines from the neighboring city of are managed as five administrativeFort units: the Eastern Front, the Brady Petersburg. In an effort to take Petersburg, a pitched battle was Western Front, Five Forks, Poplar Grove National Cemetery, 288 Half-Way House Exit 615 fought on June 15–18, 1864, but Federal forces were unable to and Grant’s Headquarters62 at City Point. These units are linked Dutch Gap Chesterfield 732 County Park rout the Confederate defenders, resulting in a stalemate and together by a 33-mile-long tour route that allowsJ visitors to 616 A 295 M O ld 1 S Battery Dantzler E 301 t beginning the 9.5 months siege of Petersburg. a Chesterfield explore the historic sites of the Petersburg CampaignS and g e County Park Trent’s Reach R R d I Chester Exit V 61 Bermuda Triangle E connect to the historicRoad events of the Civil War and Rthe sacrifices Hundred Ro As Union and Confederate armies dug into their positions, a Ware Bottom ad Spring Road made during the nine and one-half months siege of Petersburg. 608 732 Parker’s Battery RICHMOND & PETERSBURG RAILROAD Richmond National Bermuda Hundred network of earthworks, trenches, and fortifications took shape Battlefield Park Exit 15 Landing on the landscape east, south, and southwest of Petersburg. 827 S 10 E M R ine A E Numerous attempts to break the siege resulted in some of the L J V tt I e R wl Point of Rocks o Chesterfield Grant’s Headquarters bloodiest battles of the entire war as Union forces tightened H County Park BERMUDA at City Point Point of HUNDRED Rocks Appomattox Grant’s Cabin Plantation Pecan Avenue Exit Cedar their grip on Petersburg. Finally, on April 1, 1865, the Union Lane 58 Weston Manor Broadway 10th victory at the Battle of Five Forks cut off the last Confederate Landing City Point National Cemetery Appomattox St 21st Ave 6th HOPEWELL R a Broadway n 15th Ave d o Main St Main lp h Ro supply line, the South Side Railroad. Followed the next day Ave a d 156 10 95 e 156 k riv e R chill D e ur r h E C C n by the final breakthrough assault, Petersburg fell into Union o t t f V s i n I i w W S 295 R Fort Clifton Colonial Heights hands, and resulted in the immediate evacuation of Richmond. X 156 City Park O T T A 36 M O SOUTH SIDE RAILROAD EXTENSION P Oaklawn Boulevard P A City of Hopewell Visitor Center Exit 9 COLONIAL Baylor’s Farm Exit 54 HEIGHTS J e f f Temple Avenue e r s o n P a r k Eastern Front 144 R o Visitor Center FORT LEE a d Battery 5 Violet Bank Puddledock Civil War Rd U.S. Army Women’s Museum 645 Museum U.S. Army Quartermaster Washington St Museum 36 VIRGINIA STATE Fort 36 Siege Encampment Ettrick UNIVERSITY Stedman Exhibit 602 e Meade Station Home Front H Colquitt’s n Picnic i R a iver Ro see detail map at left area L ad Salient r Hickory Hill r 109 is k Road Blandford o c 301 n C r o Exit 52 Church and e e m Cemetery k t ee m tr i n S Wythe Street to D ing The 600 k sh e Wa Crater re C 142 Park Headquarters 1 PETERSBURG c i o d d h a a o o Exit o R R Sycamore St R 50 708 x 460 a r if e l t a n u 85 a H R r t CENTRAL an C n 226 STATE te u Fort HOSPITAL ie L Gowen Monument d Fort Mahone oa Fort Fort SOUTH SIDEx R RAILROAD Whitworth Pennsylvania Co Walker Sedgwick Exit 63 Exit 65 Monument Fork Inn d South Blv Sutherland’s Simp Fort Gregg Battery son Defense Tavern R Fort Lee Road Pegram oad Road W Lee Park Fort Davis e d W Petersburg A.P.