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Petersburg National Battlefield Union soldiers sitting in camp
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A Mere Question of Time

Dear Mother, we remained in the broiling sun in little pits the size of a common grave though not half so well furnished. There we lay and every time a man show his head zip would come a minnie." This pressure was central to a soldier's experience in a 292 day siege. Here, Union forces slowly cut off Petersburg from the world and brought the fall of the Confederacy.
 
Seacoast mortar known as the Dictator.

History

Explore the people and events that shaped the siege which led to the fall of the capital of the Confederacy and the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee's army.

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Park ranger talking to a group of children.

Educators

Petersburg National Battlefield provides curriculum-based programming that gives students an on-hands opportunity to learn, among other topics, about life in the trenches, Civil War medicine, and civilians on the battlefields. All of this with a unique Siege of Petersburg perspective.

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Civil War Coehorn mortar

Kids' Pages

Do you have what it takes to be a web ranger? Do you know what a mortar is or what it looks like? What would it be like to a soldier here at the siege? Find out here!

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Write to

Petersburg National Battlefield
5001 Siege Road
Petersburg, Virginia 23803

E-mail Us

Phone

Visitor Information
(804) 732-3531 ext. 200

Fax

(804) 732-0835

Climate

Summer: humid and hot. Highs in the mid 90s. Winter: mild and cool. Highs in mid 40s. Occasional snow.
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Blandford Church and Cemetery, 1865.

Did You Know?
Those who died on the battlefields around Petersburg were left where they were originally buried until after the Civil War. From 1866-69 most Union dead were buried at Poplar Grove National Cemetery while thousands of Confederate dead were buried at the historic Blandford Cemetery. (Petersburg NB)
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Last Updated: February 16, 2012 at 13:49 MST

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