Confederate Shell/Grenade Turns Up at Richmond 150 Years Later-- Part 2

In late 1864, Grant and Lee were busily entrenching around Pertersburg, Virginia and Grant determined to make Lee stretch his already hard-pressed lines even further and sent Union troops north of the James River to attack the defenses of Richmond itself.

Eventually the lines of the opposing forces extended 37 miles.

On September 29, 1864 the Union assault occurred in Henrico County and resulted in the capture of Confederate Fort Harrison, but failed to capture Fort Gilmer.  The victories at Fort Harrison and New Market Heights gave Grant a position just a few miles south of Richmond.

On Monday, September 29th, National Park Service rangers and Henrico County Recreation and Parks personnel will conduct tours of the New Market Heights, Fort Harrison and Fort Gilmer battlefields at the exact time events unfolded there 150 years previously.

Then, the next day, September 30th, tours of the next day's unsuccessful Confederate attack to retake Fort Harrison will be given.

--Old Secesh

Confederate Shell/Grenade Turns Up 150 Years Later at Richmond-- Part 1

From the September 24, 2014, National Parks Traveler "150 Years Later, Confederate Shell Turns Up At Richmond National Battlefield Park."

Crews clearing a moat at Fort Gilmer in the park's Fort Harrison Battlefield Unit in preparation for a tour of it on the 150th anniversary (September 29th) of the battle, found a shell thought to be a makeshift hand grenade.  It still had an intact fuse in it and was removed by the County of Henrico Police Bomb Disposal Unit and destroyed at the county's firing range.

The 12-pound explosive shell, one of several that had improvised into a hand grenade and used in the fort's defense.  They were rolled down the front of the fort's earth walls and used against the 7th USCT (United States Colored Troops) in the later stages of the Battle of Fort Harrison.

The Confederate defense of Fort Gilmer was successful and of the 198 members of the 7th USCT who went into the battle, only one returned safely.  The other 197 were either killed, wounded or captured.

--Old Secesh

Fort Harrison-- Richmond, Va.

The September 14th Macon (Ga) Telegraph had an article about Richmond's Fort Harrison by Chuck Meyers.

Fort Harrison and its four sister forts (Johnson, Gilmer, Hoke and Gregg) are part of the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park.

It was built in 1862 and named for Lt. William Harrison, a Confederate engineer, and designed to protect the strategically important Chaffin's Bluff on the James River. An engagement occurred at it September 29, 1864 involving Union General Butler's forces called the Battle of Chaffin's Farm.


BATTLE OF CHAFFIN'S FARM

The actions took place on both Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, 1864 and were a part of the Siege of Petersburg.

On September 29th, 2,500 troops from Union General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James attack and overwhelmed the 200 Confederates under Major Richard Cornelius Taylor and captured the fort.

Union General Hiram Burnham of Maine was killed in the assault and the fort renamed in his honor.

Realizing the fort's importance, the next day, Robert E. Lee ordered a counter attack which failed and the fort remained in Union hands for the rest of the war.

In 1930, a preservation society called the Richmond Parks Corporation built a log cabin at the fort and that remains today as the visitors center.

The fort is in great shape and well worth a visit.

From Wikipedia.

So, old gen. Ben. did have some fort success, certainly not against the one in North Carolina.

The Big Boom Theory. --B-R'er