Dotted with formidable fortifications such as these, Confederate works
stretched for ten miles around Petersburg. Fort Mahone was situated
opposite the Federal Fort Sedgwick at the point where the hostile lines
converged most closely after the battle of the Crater. Owing to the
constant cannonade which it kept up, the Federals named it Fort Damnation,
while Fort Sedgwick, which was no less active in reply, was known to the
Confederates as Fort Hell. Gracie's salient, further north on the
Confederate line, is notable as the point in front of which General John
B. Gordon's gallant troops moved to the attack on Fort Stedman, the last
desperate effort of the Confederates to break through the Federal cordon.
The views of Gracie's salient show the French form of chevaux-de-frise, a
favorite protection against attack much employed by the Confederates.
[Illustration: AN AFTERNOON CONCERT AT THE OFFICERS' QUARTERS, HAREWOOD
HOSPITAL, NEAR WASHINGTON