Where Lee Watched.

[Robert Gray]

An 8-inch Columbiad gun in the Petersburg defenses opposite Fort Sedgwick. When Anthony published this stereo card in 1865 a descriptive note indicated that General Lee had watched Grant's final assault on April 2nd from this battery. The photo appeared again in 1911 in Miller's Photographic History. This time a longer text was supplied with additional details. When Petersburg was evacuated photographers Andrew J. Russell and Thomas C. Roche visited the now deserted Confederate lines and recorded these images. In one of the views Roche can be seen posing by the gun. One has to wonder from whom did these men get the story of Lee's visit. A Confederate straggler or prisoner? Perhaps an interesting footnote to history has been lost. In any case, the unanswered questions make it all the more fascinating.

Photo credits:
Library of Congress (LC-B811-3197, LC-B811-3197A, LC-B8184-10218)
The Photographic History Of The Civil War
Frances T. Miller - Editor in Chief - The Review of Reviews Co. - 1911, Volume 3, Page 294.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

Believe it was shortly after daybreak on April 2, that a mounted Lee left his headquarters at the Turnbull House and crossed the Cox Road to find a vantage point, perhaps like the one highlighted here, to observe the countryside and the Federal VI Corps advance on Hatcher's Run. It was possibly while during this viewing, that Confederate courier, Sgt. George Tucker, arrived and informed Lee that A. P. Hill had just been killed nearby. Apparently, it was on hearing this news that caused Lee to have tears in his eyes and say emotionally at the time, ...'He is now at rest, and we who are left are the ones to suffer.'...