Initial Assaults: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Petersburg National Battlefield

Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation

The Initial Assaults 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 968-acre Initial Assaults battlefield is located within the park’s Eastern Front unit. The Initial Assaults battlefield landscape was the site of numerous skirmishes on June 15-17, 1864, as part of the four day Second Battle of Petersburg (the last day of the battle, June 18, occurred mainly on the landscape area that would become Fort Stedman, and is addressed in the Fort Stedman CLI). During the Initial Assaults the Union forces drove the Confederates from their positions on the eastern half of the Dimmock Line. The Confederates fell back across Harrison Creek, digging in along the western bank. The Confederate troops then held their hastily constructed Hagood Line (also known as the Second Confederate Line) for just two days. They then fell back again to the Confederate Defensive Siege Line (also known as the Harris Line), which they held for the remaining ten months of the campaign. Portions of these defensive earthworks of the Dimmock Line and Hagood Line remain in the Initial Assaults battlefield and contribute to the significance and integrity of the cultural landscape. While important to the Initial Assaults, the Harris Line is located within the Fort Stedman area, to the west of the Initial Assaults battlefield. Most visitors enter the Initial Assaults battlefield via State Route 36 and proceed on the paved one-way Tour Road (also called Siege Road), beginning at the Eastern Front Visitor Center. The Initial Assaults battlefield includes remnants of the Confederate Dimmock Line, including the earthen defensive structures of Batteries 5 through 13 and the site of the Dictator cannon at Battery 5. Earthen defensive structures, including parapets, trenches, and bombproofs, are covered with vegetation ranging from managed turf to non-historic woodlands. During the Initial Assaults battles and the subsequent siege of Petersburg, the Harrison Creek basin, which bisects the battlefield nor to south, created an obstacle, troop cover, and concealment. The battlefield also includes the longest historic road trace in Petersburg NB, the nearly two-mile-long Prince George Courthouse Road, which is partially incorporated into the Tour Road. Additional historic road traces include the Shand House Road Trace and the Jordan Road Trace. There are also visible remains of a cellar hole and stair ruin from the Friend House, part of the former White Hill plantation. Commemorative features installed between 1912 and 1993 form a layer of development over the 1864- 1865 battlefield landscape, including the Soldier’s Spring Monument. In addition to the Tour Road, parking and pull-off areas, paved walks, and earthen trails provide access through the site. Maintenance and administration buildings for the park are located in both the northern and southern areas of the battlefield

Initial Assaults: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Petersburg National Battlefield

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