Building Fort Burnham

After capturing Fort Harrison on September 29, men of the 18th Corps concentrated on enlarging the break they had created in the Confederate defenses. Corps commander General E.O.C. Ord fell wounded as some units pushed south toward Fort Hoke, while others assaulted forts Johnson, Gregg, and Gilmer to the north. Confederate defenses stiffened, and the attacks failed to capitalize on the earlier success. Southern infantrymen then began construction of a new line west of Fort Harrison to plug the gap in their defenses and block the direct route to Richmond. The wall of Confederate Fort Harrison ended immediately to the left of this location. In October, Union soldiers enclosed the fort, renamed it Fort Burnham in honor of General Hiram Burnham, and settled in for the winter. The wall built by the Federals to enclose Fort Burnham first used sandbag firing positions as a temporary solution before the fort wall was built up to its present height. Open ground in the distance separated the two armies, with the recently constructed Confederate Fort Beauregard on the distant horizon.

Virginia · United States