"The Siege of Petersburg:

Diversity of Perspectives".

Paul Penrod

Al Hahn

Joseph Colby

(front)

Richard Stewart

(back)

Elizabeth Watkins

Evelyn Franklin

Emmanual Dabney

On August 5, 2006 a program was presented by the National Park Service in partnership with the City of Petersburg.  It was titled "The Siege of Petersburg: Diversity of Perspective". This unique program relied upon on local talent who portrayed the lives of locals affected by the Civil War.  They shared their views of the conflict with the audience in first-person voice.  This was a great program that brought to life some of the views held by Petersburg residents while the city was under siege.

Below you can observe these re-enactors as they tell their personal stories and read some of what the Siege was like.

Elizabeth Watkins

Richard Stewart

Emmanual Dabney

Paul Penrod

Evelyn Franklin

Al Hahn

Joseph W. Colby, Sr.

  On the 16th of June, 1864 after numerous attempts by the Union forces to penetrate the Confederate lines failed, the assault against Petersburgs civilians began when a Union Battery of Artillery set it's guns at maximum elevation and sent the first shells into the city.

  This of course panicked some of the noncombatants and they began to leave the city.  A Virginia artilleryman noted on June 20th that it was "very distressing to see the poor women and children leaving."  In late July a correspondent observed that "houses, and even the fields, for miles around Petersburg are filled with women and children and old men who had fled from their homes."  Added a surgeon, "What they live on Heavenly father only knows."

  Yet many others remained behind and learned to cope with Union siege artillery of every type and caliber that ranged the town. (The most photogenic of them was a 13 inch morter known as "The Dictator," which hurled it's 200 pound shells up to two and a half miles.)

  A Confederate cavalryman remarked that "It was really good to see the ladies pass coolly along the streets as though nothing unusual was transpiring while the 160 pound shells were howling like hawks of perdition through the smoky air."

  One hard to miss target for the Union gunners in the forts and the forty-two battery positions located in between them was Petersburg itself.  The city's eastern district suffered the worst damage, and many of the more than 500 buildings hit by Yankee shells were located east of Sycamore Street.  The threat of fire was constant.  Soon after the siege began, Petersburg's Common Councill organized an auxiliary fire brigade to assist the overburdened regular units.  Adding to the danger was the habit of the Federal cannoneers to concentrate their aim on burning structures so that attempts to put out the blaze would be be met with what one firefighter described as a "perfect storm of shot and shell."

Return to Old Towne

  There were ominous portents that the winter of 1864 would be a harsh one for Petersburg's residents.  Heating fuel was in short supply, food prices were going up.  By January merchants were selling flour at $200 per barrel, butter at $6 per pound, wheat at $25 per bushel, and beans at $30 per bushel.  To add to the frustration  the crime rate was increasing.  "Never were robberies so frequent in this community and suburbs," declared the Petersburg Express.

  Adding to the distress was the presence of refugee families, with no local ties.  The city did what it could, but too often need surpassed resources.  One visitor never forgot the sight of "poor women and children compelled to go among the soldiers and beg for bread to eat.........."

Photos by

Ron Roller