“A Splendid Charge”

At Petersburg on June 15, 1864, African-American troops recorded their first major success of the war in Virginia. After the capture of Battery 5, some of the 3,500 black troops swept southward, routing Confederates before them. At dusk, they charged on Battery 9 and swarmed over the works. During two hours of fighting on the Dimmock Line that evening, the U.S. Colored Troops captured dozens of Confederates and six cannons.

Virginia · United States