Defending Richmond

From the war's beginning, Confederate authorities struggled with how to defend Richmond, which lay vulnerable to approaches from every direction. Engineers eventually devised an integrated series of earthen fortifications, with the Exterior Line nearly encircling the city, while the Interior Line of individual forts and the Intermediate Line were later mostly consumed by Richmond's growth. The simple artillery positions that stood here in June 1862 evolved over time into more sophisticated permanent defenses, and this stronger position proved valuable in 1864 when, before dawn on May 12, Union cavalry in General Philip H. Sheridan's raid against Richmond approached the city near here but were driven away from Richmond by vigilant gunners on this bluff firing cannon into the Chickahominy River valley.

East Highland Park, Virginia · United States