What a meaningful Memorial Day this has been. Since our trip this morning from South Forty Campground near Petersburg, Virginia to Pocohantas State Park, near Chesterfield, Virginia east of Richmond would have taken only half an hour, we headed with the T@B straight to Petersburg National Battlefield Eastern Front Visitors Center. We arrived with plenty of time to explore the battery defenses and visit The Dictator first. Then at the 11 AM Ranger Talk we learned about the history of Petersburg and it’s importance to the Confederate States of America as well as the construction of the Dimmock Line defenses from Ranger Tracy Chernault. Here at Dimmock Battery 5 is where the fighting began in early June 1864. The Siege of Petersburg lasted nine and a half months. It represented the vast majority of the time that General Ulysses S. Grant was in charge of the Union Army and was longest campaign of the American Civil War. We did our best to wrap our heads around the strategy, the sacrifices, the suffering that occurred here. Later in the day we drove most of the narrated battlefield driving tour and visited Poplar Grove National Cemetery, always a sobering experience.
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