An Archaeological Overview and Assessment of the
Main Unit, Petersburg National Battlefield, Virginia

Chapter Five:  A Summary of Historic Sites and Earthworks (Part C)

Southeastern Area Earthworks and Sites

Dunn house site: As mentioned in Chapter Four, little historical information related to the Dunn house was discovered.  The dwelling stood between Dimmock batteries 10 and 11 (Figure 5.3).  Exotic yucca plants grow on the site today, but no physical trace of the house is visible.  The structure was not shown on the 1894 USGS map (Figure 4.8) and, as will be discussed, the site was developed as an encampment area for Camp Lee.  If the house survived the Civil War, therefore, it was probably removed during World War I if not before.  The World War I activities on the site have most likely disturbed earlier archaeological deposits and spatial patterns.

Gibbons house site:  It would appear that the Gibbons house was erected in 1856 and occupied for less than a decade prior to its destruction during the Civil War siege.  The farm and three structures were marked "Gibbon" on the 1863 Campbell map (Figure 4.4).  The site was labeled "Ruins" on the 1864 Union Engineers map (Figure 4.5).  Three structures or ruins are indicated on the Michler map (Figure 5.3) but no name is attributed to the site.  The 1942 Master Plan map (Figure 4.13) indicates that a boxwood nursery was located on the property.  The impact of post-Civil War activity has yet to be assessed, but if the Gibbons site was abandoned after the siege the archaeological deposits would preserve a rarely encountered record of a very brief occupation span during the mid-nineteenth century.  Since the Gibbons farm was smaller and economically more modest than the older plantations closer to the Appomattox River, the value of the Gibbons site as a reflection of a smaller slave-holding farm should be recognized.

Dimmock Battery 10 (site): The original Dimmock line work (Figure 5.3) was an irregular one of angles and 7 gun positions, most of which faced eastward (Plate 5.7).  The site was impacted by the construction of a roadway extending south from the Jordan's Point and Prince George Court House roads in the twentieth century.  No obvious indication of the battery was found on the surface.

Dimmock Battery 11 (site): The original battery was shown east of the Dunn house on the 1864 Union Engineers map (Figure 4.5) and contained 3 gun positions (Plate 5.9) facing northeastward to provide a flank defense against attacks along the Prince George Court House Road.  As in the case of Battery 10, no surface indication of Battery 11 was found, probably due to subsequent development of the area as a World War I encampment.

Dimmock Battery 12: The original work was a 2-gun battery facing eastward above the ravine of a tributary flowing westward to Harrison Creek (Plates 5.9 and 5.10).  The battery and associated trenches are indicated on the 1935 topographic map (Figure 4.11).  The parapet and frontal ditch of the battery stand approximately 150 feet south of Harrison Creek Trail and approximately 70 feet east of Attack Road Trail, the latter a twentieth-century road trace.  The earthworks are heavily eroded.  The connecting rifle pit trench with Battery 13, well preserved in places, extends westward to cover the ravine.

Dimmock Battery 13: The original work was a 3-gun battery facing eastward (Plates 5.9 and 5.11).  The earthwork is not shown on the 1935 topographic map (Figure 4.11) since it lay on private land (Hickory Hill Farm) that was later acquired by the NPS.  The remains of the earthen parapet and frontal ditch stand north of a twentieth-century house and west of Attack Road Trail.  The parapet and ditch are heavily eroded, and the interior shows no definition of the original gun platforms.  A trace of the rifle pit trench extending southward toward Battery 14 (Figure 4.5 and Plate 5.12) is well preserved in places.  Since the orientation differs somewhat from that shown on historic maps, it is possible that this trench does not relate to the original Dimmock fortifications.

Union encampment areas: The Knowles map (Figure 5.2) indicates the encampment area of the 209th Pennsylvania Regiment south of the Dunn house between the Dimmock line and Harrison Creek.  Although no specific traces of the encampment were identified on the surface, this area was partially impacted by the World War I Camp Lee encampment.