Petersburg National Battlefield and Poplar Grove National Cemetery

The final stop of our national park hopping with Lisa and the kids was to Petersburg, Virginia to go to Petersburg National Battlefield and the Poplar Grove National Cemetery.  

Cierra and Hunter dressed in Civil War Clothing

This was the last part of the Overland Campaign of the Civil War after Grant and Lee left Richmond in June of 1864.  Lee lost the battle in Richmond at Cold Harbor so he changed course and went down to Petersburg and began a 9 1/2 month siege there.  The Overland Campaign aka Grand's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign were a series of battles fought in Virginia.  While Grant suffered severe loss during the campaign, it was a strategic Union victory overall.  Here, in Petersburg, five railroads and key roadways made this location important to the Confederacy so it was Grant's desire to cut these off so supplies could not reach the Confederate Army.  After the 9 1/2 months of the siege, Grant lost 70,000 casualties, many civilians suffered and homes were destroyed, thousands of the US Colored Troops fought here for freedom of their race and finally, the decline of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia all contributed to Grant cutting off all these supplies ensuring the fall of Richmond in April 1865.  Six days later, Lee surrendered and the war ended.

At the Visitor Center, there was an information desk, small bookstore, movie theater and exhibits in the round.  There were also costumes to dress up into and everyone we saw really enjoyed doing that.

The kids loved dressing up!  Cierra looked like a little belle and Hunter...well, he's just a silly one!

The exhibits were interesting.  There weren't many.  Something interesting that this park did was had the exhibits in the round and then placed artifacts strewn around the sandy, soil base making it look like you were walking through a battlefield.

After we left the VC, we walked to a earthen mound and then toured the site via car.  The tour is an 8 stop tour leading from the Easter Front (VC area) toward the Western Front where the Poplar Grove National Cemetery is located.

Stop 1 was at the Visitor Center and called Confederate Battery 5.

This is Stop 3 - Confederate Battery 9

This is Stop 4 - Harrison Creek

This is Stop 8 - The Crater

Soon, we arrived at Poplar Grove National Cemetery, which was stop 2 on the Western Front road.  Poplar Grove is an 1866 establish Union Soldier cemetery for soldiers who died during the Petersburg and Appomattox campaigns.  Lisa & I explained to the kids the sacredness of being in a national cemetery.  They asked a lot of questions about that and were sad to see only numbered graves for many of the stones.  Many US Colored Soldiers (USCS) were also buried in this cemetery.  There were a few Confederate graves also at this cemetery.

Beyond this spot is the markers for the USCS near the buildings at the back of the cemetery.

We enjoyed our day seeing Maggie Walker, Richmond and Petersburg National monuments and learning about more Civil War history.