“The Cannons’ Flashes Lit Up the Terrible Scene”

Confederate defenders built gun emplacements called redans at intervals along their lines, each mounting from one to six cannons so that nearly all ground in front of the works could be swept by fire from two redans and turned into a deadly crossfire for attackers. The guns were placed either en barbette on raised platforms above the fortification walls for the widest field of fire or behind embrasures, openings that narrowed the field of fire but gave artillerymen protection. On the morning of April 2, 1865, about twenty Confederate artillery pieces of various types opened fire on the Union Sixth Corps, and evidence indicates that this redan held two powerful 3-inch Ordnance Rifles of the Norfolk (Va.) Light Artillery Blues. The Union Sixth Corps reported capturing twenty Confederate cannons on April 2, including the two 3-inch Ordnance Rifles positioned here.

Virginia · United States