EDUCATION Orientation Index Biographies Book List Teachers' Pages History Kids' Pages Research Siege Challenge Unit Information PNB Home

EXPLORING THE STORY   -On Front Line- Near Petersburg Va. June 23rd, 1864 Dear Mother, . . .We remained on the skirmish line all the next day in the broiling sun without anything to shelter us from the sun in little pits about the size of a common grave though not half so well furnished. There we lay and everytime a man Show his head Zip would come a minnie The bullets would just skin the top of the pit that i occupied warning me to keep close to my mother earth which I did you may be sure I thought of you while lying there as to what you would say could you have looked upon me It was a beautiful moon light night everything looked so calm and peaceful overhead It did not seem right that we should be making so much noise and I thought to myself that the same beautiful moon was looking down upon my peaceful home and I must confess I had a strange longing to be there.   Similar letters sent by thousands of soldiers would tell those at home the story of the siege of Petersburg. If you look closely at this story you will find spies with time bombs, enemies playing poker between the lines, acts of heroism and cowardice, men literally fighting for their freedom, a mine explosion, and a type of warfare unlike the first three years of the Civil War.