These well-made protections of sharpened spikes, as formidable as the
pointed spears of a Roman legion, are _chevaux-de-frise_ of the
Confederates before their main works at Petersburg. They were built after
European models, the same as employed in the Napoleonic wars, and were
used by both besiegers and besieged along the lines south of the
Appomattox. Those shown in this picture were in front of the entrenchments
near Elliott's salient and show how effectually it was protected from any
attempt to storm the works by rushing tactics on the part of the Federal
infantry. Not far from here lies the excavation of the Crater.
[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON, C. S. A.]
To this gallant young Georgia officer, just turned thirty-three at the
time, Lee entrusted the last desperate effort to break through the
tightening Federal lines, March 25, 1865. Lee was confronted by the
dilemma of either being starved out of Petersburg and Richmond, or of
getting out himself and uniting his army to that of Johnston in North
Carolina to crush Sherman before Grant could reach him. Gordon was to
begin this latter, almost impossible, task by an attack on Fort Stedman,
which the Confederates believed to be the weakest point in the Federal
fortifications. The position had been captured from them in the beginning,
and they knew that the nature of the ground and its nearness to their own
lines had made it difficult to strengthen it very much. It was planned to
surprise the fort before daylight. Below are seen the rabbit-like burrows
of Gracie's Salient, past which Gordon led his famished men. When the
order came to go forward, they did not flinch, but hurled themselves
bravely against fortifications far stronger than their own. Three columns
of a hundred picked men each moved down the slope shown on the left and
advanced in the darkness against Stedman. They were to be followed by a
division. Through the gap which the storming parties were expected to open
in the Federal lines, Gordon's columns would rush in both directions and a
cavalry force was to sweep on and destroy the pontoon bridges across the
Appomattox and to raid City Point, breaking up the Federal base. It was no
light task, for although Fort Stedman itself was weak, it was flanked by
Battery No. 10 on the right and by Battery No. 11 on the left. An
attacking party on the right would be exposed to an enfilading fire in
crossing the plain; while on the left the approach was difficult be cause
of ravines, one of which the Confederate engineers had turned into a pond
by damming a creek. All night long General Gordon's wife, with the brave
women of Petersburg, sat up tearing strips of white cloth, to be tied on
the arms of the men in the storming parties so that they could tell friend
from foe in the darkness and confusion of the assault. Before the
sleep-dazed Federals could offer effective resistance, Gordon's men had
possession of the fort and the batteries. Only after one of the severest
engagements of the siege were the Confederates driven back.
[Illustration: GRACIE'S SALIENT--AFTER GORDON'S FORLORN HOPE HAD CHARGED]