Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864

Chapter 3. Union Reconnaissance on the Darbytown Road (October 13)

74 richmond must fall in the wake of lee’s failure at the new Market Road on october 7 and the sporadic fighting outside Petersburg the next day, the appetite for combat diminished on all sides. Though Butler still hoped for further operations, grant showed little interest. Thus, the army of the James went to work bolstering its positions. The tenth Corps troops strengthened their trenches along the new Market Road, the same front they had ably defended on Friday.1 Union engineers constructed a redoubt near the Clyne House just to the north of new Market Road.2 Federal soldiers also bolstered trenches and added bombproofs in and around Fort Harrison , renamed Fort Burnham after a Union officer killed in the September assault.3 across the lines, Confederates also improved defenses, activity that would soon precipitate yet more combat near the darbytown Road. “scattered shorter lines in many places” For the Confederates, recent battles had reshaped the defensive front. in early october , First Corps artillery chief, Porter alexander, tried to make sense of the new position by studying the trenches in Henrico County. What he found was not encouraging . vague and inaccurate Confederate military maps offered little help to commanders trying to deploy their men. on the ground, the fortifications themselves were “more or less scattered shorter lines in many places,” lacking the continuity necessary for adequate defense. on Sunday, the 9th, alexander inspected the works. That afternoon, he returned to Richmond and consulted with chief of the Confederate engineer Bureau Jeremy gilmer. The two pored over maps, with alexander penciling in forts and ditches. after reviewing the maze of trenches and roads east of Richmond, alexander identified an opportunity. Though Fort Harrison’s loss handed the enemy large portions of the old exterior line, the artillerist believed he could neatly suture the tear by constructing a new line connecting the works at Fort gilmer north to the old exterior line near the darbytown and Charles City roads. He brought this plan 74 Chapter 3 Union Reconnaissance on the darbytown Road (october 13) • union reconnaissance on the darbytown road 75 to lee, who approved it immediately. on Sunday evening, directions went out to the rebel engineers, and work began the next day.4 The rebel infantrymen pitched in. after the october 7 debacle, Hoke and Field had pulled their divisions behind Cornelius Creek, a small stream running northeast from Fort gilmer. on Monday the 10th, the infantry commanders brought their men forward to help construct alexander’s new line.5 on that chilly morning , Confederate spades broke through the frost-covered grass and into the soil.6 By Wednesday the 12th, the engineers had traced the full extent of the new defenses stretching from Fort gilmer, northeasterly to the Charles City Road.7 This new creation eventually included redans for gun platforms, cleared fields of fire several hundred yards in front of the works, and v-shaped pits for pickets beyond the main line.8 Confederate soldiers were not the only men wielding the spades and picks on the new trenches. Following Fort Harrison’s capture, rebel authorities had scoured Richmond for civilians to fill existing works and to build new ones. Confederate provost officials seized men off the street and sent them to the front. officials also mobilized clerks and other workers from Richmond’s militia units. John B. Jones, a well-known antebellum writer serving as a clerk in the War department, reported that the unpopular dragnet sent many of “the most ultra and uncompromising secessionists” into hiding.9 Though many unhappy clerks manned the trenches, much of the manpower for the new fortifications probably came from slaves. over the course of the conflict, the Confederate government tapped liberally into this labor force to erect defenses. earlier in the war, the Confederate Congress began to allow authorities to impress slaves into duty as military laborers, much to the irritation of some slave owners.10 The government used these men to construct trenches at Richmond, Petersburg, and elsewhere. in the fall of 1864, Robert e. lee asked officials in Richmond for slaves to help his army.11 With the crisis at Fort Harrison, he requested additional slave labor. in the wake of his request, provost officials seized blacks from the Richmond streets even before such measures had been officially sanctioned.12 “A practice justified by no rule of war” along with rebel soldiers, office clerks, and slaves, another group of men toiled away at alexander’s project. on...