Civil War Stop

A final stop on our long drive home from NC in August was to visit a famous Civil War site: Grant's headquarters in Virginia at the end of the war.  Now in Hopewell, VA it was called City Point.

At the end of the Civil War this was the staging area for the battles that brought it all to a close.  Lincoln even came here by boat to go then to see Richmond after it fell to Union forces.

The James River was filled with all kind of vessels then and the shore line was a filled with warehouses and armories.

Now its a bucolic setting.

The visitor center here is in a plantation home once owned by the Eppes family, wealthy and slave owning.  One of the richest families in the South.  Eppes is described as not a strong secessionist but who supported the south and its way of life.

Grant set up his headquarters in a tent on the lawn of the house.  The house was used as the supply headquarters.

This site is part of the. Petersburg National Battlefield Park as you can see from the welcome board.

Inside was a great video explaining the operations here to keep the Union troops outfitted.

It's hard to fathom the activity once at this setting.

Old historical markers outside the parking area tell some of the story.

For anyone interested in Civil War history this is a stop to make.

We stopped in Appomattox in 2015.  Here's a post on that site.