Fort Stedman: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Petersburg National Battlefield

Hanna, Jennifer

The Fort Stedman battlefield landscape is part of Petersburg National Battlefield (NB), a unit of the National Park Service (NPS) located in south-central Virginia, in the City of Petersburg and in Prince George County. The 2,659-acre park was established in 1926 to commemorate the campaign, siege, and defense of Petersburg in 1864 and 1865, and to preserve the breastworks, earthworks, walls, and other defenses or shelters used by the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Petersburg NB comprises separate geographical areas or units that form a semicircle to the east, south, and west of Petersburg, including Grant’s Headquarters at City Point, the Eastern Front, the Western Front, and the Five Forks Battlefield. The 135-acre Fort Stedman battlefield is within the park’s Eastern Front unit. The Fort Stedman battlefield landscape was the site of skirmishes on June 18, 1864, the final day of the four-day Second Battle of Petersburg (the first days of the battle, June 15-17, occurred mainly on the landscape area known as the Initial Assaults battlefield, and is addressed in the Initial Assaults CLI). The Initial Assaults pitted the larger Union army against substantially smaller Confederate forces, but this disparity was made up by the Confederates strong defensive positions and poorly coordinated actions by the Union generals. By June 18, the arrival of significant reinforcements from Lee’s army made further assaults impractical. The failure of the Union to defeat the Confederates in these actions resulted in the start of the ten-month Siege of Petersburg. During the battle of Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865, Confederate forces advanced on the Federal forces. Though early in the battle the Confederates were able to capture Federal Batteries X, XI, XII, and Fort Stedman, the second phase of the Confederate attack did not go as planned and the Federal forces were able to reclaim their former ground, including Fort Stedman. The battle marked the last offensive by the Army of Northern Virginia; Lee had planned to evacuate Petersburg since February but had been delayed by muddy roads. During the afternoon following the battle, the Union II and VI corps took advantage of the thinned defenses in their fronts, seizing sections of Confederate picket lines that proved valuable in launching the final attacks of the Petersburg Campaign. Most visitors enter Fort Stedman via the park’s paved one-way Tour Road (also called Siege Road) east from the Initial Assaults battlefield. The Fort Stedman battlefield includes remnants of Confederate Defensive Siege Line including Colquitt’s Salient, Gracie’s Salient and Gracie’s Dam, as well as remnants from the Union Siege Line including Fort Stedman, Federal Battery XI and Fort Haskell. Unnamed remnant entrenchments also extend along Tour Road between Federal Battery XI and Fort Haskell. Earthen defensive structures, including parapets, trenches, and bombproofs, are covered with vegetation ranging from managed turf to non-historic woodlands. During the battle of Fort Stedman and throughout the siege of Petersburg, the Poor Creek basin, which parallels the Harris Line along the western edge of the Fort Stedman CLI project area north to south, created an obstacle, troop cover, and concealment. Fields and meadows surrounding Fort Stedman and Fort Haskell contribute to the integrity of the battlefield, as does the woodland within the Poor Creek corridor. The battlefield includes a segment of the historic road trace, Prince George Courthouse Road, which also extends into the Initial Assaults battlefield CLI project area. Commemorative features installed between 1894 and 1912 form a layer of development over the 1864–1865 battlefield landscape, and include the First Maine Heavy Artillery Monument, the Third Division IX Corps Monument, Colquitt’s Salient Marker and Gracie’s Salient Marker. In addition to the Tour Road, parking and pull-off areas, paved walks, and earthen trails provide access through the site.

Fort Stedman: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Petersburg National Battlefield

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