Confederate Fort Gregg

On the afternoon of April 2, 1865, after a morning of bludgeoning attacks all along the Petersburg lines, 5,000 Federals advanced against Fort Gregg, where 300 Confederates twice drove them back before the attackers finally reached the parapet and a vicious twenty-minute hand-to-hand battle erupted. When the fighting ended, the Federals held the fort, and only 44 Confederates survived unscathed. With the fall of Fort Gregg and nearby Fort Whitworth, the Confederates withdrew to their last, innermost line, but the two hours gained by the defense of Fort Gregg allowed Lee to evacuate Petersburg safely that night. During the climax of the fight, Confederate cannoneer Pvt. Lawrence Berry fired his cannon despite Union threats to shoot him, and he fell in a blast of Union gunfire.

Virginia · United States