Gettysburg Semester: Richmond Trip (Cold Harbor & Petersburg)

Our first battlefield on the second day of our Richmond trip was Cold Harbor where we were led by our own Dr. Allen C. Guelzo. We quickly shed our coats in the unseasonable warm weather and followed him on a very nice trail through the woods that covered the former battlefield. Unfortunately, only a very small area of the battlefield remains and that is covered in thick woods. So, while it was nice to walk through the woods, it was very hard to see the battlefield. A good portion of the trenches were preserved in that area, however, so that helped a lot. Dr. Guelzo took us through the battles on June 1 and June 3 that constituted the third thrust of Grant in his Overland Campaign. After walking the trail where the II and VI Union Corps attacked, we headed down a bit farther to where the XVIII Corps attacked. Our final stop was at the only monument on the battlefield, that of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery which constituted the majority of the force attacking on June 1 and took heavy casualties.

After lunch we made our way to Petersburg to cover the final stop of the Overland Campaign. Here the two armies settled into a siege that lasted 9 months and 18 days and sounded the death knell for the Confederacy. At the visitor center we met up with our guide for the afternoon, Randy Watkins. The first thing he did was drill us on the 12-pounder Napoleon outside the visitor center door. We made a lot of mistakes the first time, but by the third try we were making progress! Then we headed to a reconstructed fortification where he drilled us with wooden muskets. It was confusing at first, but a lot of fun! That done we settled down to learn about the siege and its battles.

We went to three different forts along the Union line-Fort Stedman, Fort Wadsworth, and Fort Fisher where battles occurred at different times. The forts are only rows of grassy mounds now, but we could still get a sense of the life led during the siege. Probably the stop that we were all looking forward to most was the Crater. This is where the Union dug a 511-foot tunnel under the Confederate works, filled it with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder, and blew it up killing 318 Confederates and creating a huge crater in the ground. Even though we got stuck in a rainstorm at this stop we were excited to see the reconstructed entrance to the tunnel and then the Crater itself. It doesn't look like much now, just a big grassy depression, but it must have looked amazing when it first happened. Once darkness forced us off the field we said goodbye to Randy and headed off to dinner at the Brickhouse run in Petersburg.

Tomorrow is our last day of the three day tour and we are fittingly covering the last day of the eastern campaign.....Appomattox Court House.