The Killing Fields

Approaching from the James River, Union soldiers of Stannard's division suffered their greatest loss while crossing the open ground behind this position as Confederate cannon along the wall tore gaps in the attacking formations. Those who survived used the slopes for protection before climbing up and over Fort Harrison's wall. After the attack, killed and wounded soldiers covered the ground between the fort and the camera position, and by the time the photograph was taken Federal soldiers had already begun demolishing the old Confederate wall, which had been almost twice as tall as it appears today. William S. Hubbell of the 21st Connecticut Infantry recalled the men responding to their officers' call, pouring over the edge of the ditch into the dry moat, scrambling up the bank on hands and knees, on bayonets thrust into the clay, and on each other's shoulders, then mounting the parapet, pausing amid fierce musketry on its crest, and finally pushing across the parade ground.

Virginia · United States