Historical Notes
Across the Lines
by Carolyn Reeder

May 5, 1864

Ironclads—Warships armored with milled iron plate and railroad rails were first used in the Civil War. (The famous "Monitor" and "Merrimac" were ironclads.)

Confederacy—The southern states that seceded formed a "confederacy" and were known as the Confederate States of America, or C.S.A.

Riverview—The name of the plantation where Edward's family lived.

The river entrance—For many years, rivers were the highways of the south, and plantation houses faced the river since guests would arrive by boat. After roads were built, guests arrived at "the carriage entrance" with its circular drive. A wide hallway connected the river entrance and the carriage entrance.

Earthworks—Trenches, ditches, and other fortifications dug to protect soldiers defending an area.

City Point—A small peninsula formed where the Appomattox River flows into the James about eight miles northeast of Petersburg. The village of City Point (population about 300 in 1860) and a plantation were on this peninsula, and it also provided a deep-water port for large vessels that couldn't navigate the Appomattox.

free woman—Petersburg had a large population of free Negroes. Some had bought their freedom, some had been freed by their owners, and some were descendants of families with a long history of freedom. Free Negroes often had jobs such as liverymen, barbers, blacksmiths, servants, washerwomen, etc.

"rent out my Negroes"—Slave owners often rented out slaves to work on other farms or in factories, mills, etc. Though the owner was paid for work done by the slaves, some artisan slaves were able to earn overtime pay and buy their freedom and that of their families. (Records have been found that show free blacks owning slaves. In some cases, a free black would buy a relative from his or her owner but would not set the person free because of a state law that required manumitted, or freed, slaves to leave the state within a year of becoming free. In other words, had the relatives been freed, they could not have remained in Virginia, and they were slaves in name only.)

The Next Day

Militia—In every community, citizens formed a militia to protect their homes from attack. In time of war, entire militias joined the army to fight for their country. Paul Revere and the Minute Men were militia members at the time of the Revolutionary War. The Petersburg Grays was one of the militia groups that joined the Confederate Army. (Today we have National Guard units in each state, and members of the National Guard can be "called up" in wartime as well as in civilian emergencies. "Militia" is a term that has fallen into disrepute recently because of unofficial paramilitary groups suspected of planning terrorist acts against the government.)

Stylized drill—There was a formal, multi-step procedure used to load a weapon, and a drill in which the officer gave the command for the entire group to perform each step in sequence was an important part of a soldier's training.

bombproof—A strongly reinforced underground chamber behind the fortifications where soldiers could be safe from enemy shelling.

firing step—a ledge running along the inner wall of the earthworks where soldiers on watch stood to fire at the enemy.

Early June, 1864

prisoner exchanges—During the early part of the war, the two armies either paroled or exchanged their prisoners rather than housing them. Later, the Union army stopped these exchanges, partly because of issues involving captured Negroes. Also, Union leaders knew the Confederacy was literally running out of men to serve in its army, and they hoped that not returning captives would shorten the war by hastening the time when there were no more men to serve. Both sides either built prison camps or turned factory buildings into prisons, and men on both sides suffered greatly as a result of the atrocious conditions. (Andersonville, in Georgia, and Rock Island, in Illinois, were the most notorious of the Civil War prisons.)

deserters—Desertion was a problem in both armies. Draftees and men who had joined the army only for the bounty the U.S. paid at enlistment often deserted the Union army. Confederates deserted because of the pleas of family members who were suffering at home without their aid as well as because they believed the war was lost and their suffering would not result in victory. (To provide an example to other soldiers, both sides executed deserters, usually by hanging, and all the men were required to watch.)

...the Negro soldiers hadn't massacred the family—Many southerners lived in fear of armed Negroes, and their concern had intensified after the 1831 Nat Turner rebellion in which slaves rose up against their owners and killed 55 whites. (Fear of slave uprisings was the origin of the laws that forbade teaching slaves to read, laws that restricted their movement, and the law that required newly freed slaves to leave Virginia within a year.)

June 9, 1864

a small band of Spartans defended a narrow mountain pass against Persian invaders—This refers to an incident in 400 B.C. at the Pass of Thermopylae in Greece.

sabers—Cavalry swords with curved blades.

Contrabands—In May, 1861, Union General Benjamin Butler refused to return to their owner three runaway slaves who had sought refuge at Fort Monroe, Virginia, calling them "contraband of war." As slaves continued to flee their plantations in areas under Union control, the army took responsibility for them, and the word "contraband" came to mean Negroes who had attached themselves to the Union army. Later, these liberated slaves became officially known as "freedmen," but the old name stuck.

free Negroes—See "free woman," above.

Great House—The home of the plantation family, also known as the Big House.

Cold Harbor—Site of a bloody battle (June 1-3, 1864) in which 109,000 Union soldiers under Grant attacked 59,000 entrenched Confederates under Lee. On June 3, in about half an hour, 7000 Union men were mowed down in an assault on the Confederate trenches. (The battlefield is not near an actual harbor. The nearby "crossroads town" that gave the battle its name grew up near an old inn where no hot meals were provided—an inn offering only "cold harbor.")

"Butcher Grant"—Grant's approach to beating Lee seemed to be throwing more and more men into the fight because he had more men. It has been thought that he believed that in the long run this would shorten the war and result in no more deaths than would a longer war. Some historians, though, say that Grant's goal was to confront Lee's outnumbered forces in the open, but that Lee was able to avoid this.

shelter tents—Each soldier carried a canvas rectangle with buttons on one edge and button holes on the opposite edge. Two soldiers would button their canvases together to form a tent which could be supported by a rope or branch.

June 14 & 15, 1864

wagon park—When an army was in camp, its canvas-topped wagons were grouped together, wheel to wheel.

haversack—Shoulder bag in which a soldier carried food and a few personal items that would be needed during a march. (Ideally, knapsacks with other gear were carried in baggage wagons.)

rations—The food issued to soldiers; in the south, this was often hardtack and bacon. (See Hardtack, below)

wagon train—The wagon train followed the army on the advance but preceded it during a retreat. The train included ammunition wagons, baggage wagons, headquarters wagons, ambulance wagons, and equipment for telegraph corps and commissary. The canvas-topped wagons were usually pulled by a team of six mules, with the "teamster" riding on the left wheel mule. An army wagon train often stretched for miles and miles.

"all de South's railroads come through dere"—Five railroads from the south and west converged at Petersburg, bringing supplies for that city and Richmond as well as for the Confederate army. Another rail line went from Petersburg to Richmond to supply that city.

sharpened poles rising diagonally toward him—To slow an enemy charging the earthworks, the defenders erected "abatis," defined as "a defensive obstacle formed by felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy."

gaslight—Petersburg had gas lights beginning in 1851, with gas from the gasworks flowing through pipes to homes that could afford it. The tall chimney of the gasworks was a target of Union artillery.

reinforcements had been rushed to Petersburg from across the Appomattox River—At this time, General Beauregard was operating in the area between Richmond and the Appomattox, concentrating on the Union forces that had been brought up the James in early May while Lee's and Grant's armies faced each other at Cold Harbor. (The Appomattox flowed from an area of Virginia that had escaped the ravages of war, and the river was a highway for farm produce to reach Petersburg. The city was built on the rapids which produced power for flour and textile mills, and the river provided transport for cotton and tobacco that were grown nearby.)

General Grant's Yankee army—Known as the Army of the Potomac, this army had lost many of its officers and enlisted men and was now composed mostly of draftees rather than of the original volunteers.

General Lee's army—Known as the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee's army was composed of men from the other southern states as well as from Virginia. Lee's army of 76,000 (facing Grant's 111,000) was poorly equipped and supplied. Its only advantage was the men's devotion to their leader and the fact that they were defending their homeland.

June 21, 1864

The president had been touring the front line, and the men had met him on the road back to City Point—Lincoln often took a steamboat from Washington to City Point to confer with Grant and look things over. On this occasion, he was returning to the Union headquarters when he met the Negro troops, and he was moved by their desire to see and touch him and his horse. He thanked them for their cheers.

messmates—Men who camped and prepared their meals together. (In some camps, there was a cook and a mess hall; in others, men were issued rations and prepared their own food.)

Mother and Aunt Charlotte are helping at one of the hospitals—Large numbers of local women went to the hospitals set up in their communities to comfort the wounded. Petersburg had a number of hospitals—some of them set up in factory buildings—including one for Union prisoners. (In rural areas, private homes often became field hospitals, and in towns near battlefields, the wounded were often cared for in private homes.)

salt—Salt was in such short supply in the Confederacy that people sometimes resorted to taking up the floors of the smoke house where their meat was cured, soaking the boards and then boiling away the water to obtain whatever salt they could. Salt was sometimes smuggled into Petersburg by visitors returning from Richmond.

carbines—Short-barreled rifles used by cavalrymen.

summer kitchen—Many homes in the south had a separate building where cooking was done in the summer because of the great heat created by the hearth. (This also cut down on the fire hazard.) Often, cooking was done in a basement kitchen during the winter months when the heat would be welcomed.

drought-parched garden—The summer of 1864 was so dry that plants withered and the earth turned to dust. Because of the constant movement of troops and wagons, the air was often filled with dust which seemed to coat everything, indoors and out.

Confederate bills—The Confederate government issued paper money but had no gold to back it up, so inflation was rampant. (People said it took a basket of money to buy a handful of food.) As in the early days of the Virginia colony, tobacco was the medium of exchange. People also resorted to barter.

Early July, 1864

Vicksburg—Control of the Mississippi River was a Union goal, and by late in 1862, only the 200 miles of river near the town of Vicksburg was still in Confederate hands. Vicksburg was located on a bluff that overlooked the river, and after unsuccessful attempts to take the city, General Grant ordered a siege. The city was bombarded with shells, and on the verge of starvation, it fell. With the Mississippi in Union hands, the Confederate states west of the river were isolated from the rest of the Confederacy, and the southern states east of the river were encircled by a Union noose.

"Lots more people have left town"—At the beginning of the siege, many people left Petersburg, some of them fleeing to relatives in untouched areas, some camping a few miles away. (For a radius of five miles around the city, it looked like a giant campground.) Wealthy men sent their families abroad. But as the siege went on, many people who lived out of range of the shelling began to venture back to their homes.

cribbage—A card game for 2 players.

July 30, 1864

crater—Because of the huge hole resulting from the mine explosion, the events of that day became known as the Battle of the Crater. (The crater can still be seen on a tour of the Petersburg National Battlefield, and it is an impressive sight in spite of its softened contours and the grass that has healed the raw wound in the earth.)

contraband camp—The liberated slaves who became the army's responsibility were relegated to contraband or freedmen's camps on the outskirts of the army camp. The contraband camps were crowded and often were breeding grounds for disease.

Aunt Lou—On the plantations, an elderly slave would care for all the slave children while their mothers worked.

"They're our prisoners"—Although the Geneva Convention establishing as international law the humane treatment of prisoners was not yet in effect, it was a matter of honor to treat them decently. (There were "rules" of warfare, such as recognizing a flag of truce, etc.)

prisons—In Petersburg, tobacco warehouses were turned into prisons to hold captives temporarily. (They were later transported to Richmond's Libby prison or other prisons further south.) Because of the manpower shortage, Confederate prison guards were usually old men or young teenaged boys. Food shortages—or difficulty in transporting available food to where it was needed—affected the prisoners as well as the civilians.

August 9, 1864

supply base—Each day, the Union's Army of the Potomac required as much as 100,000 loaves of bread for the men and 600 tons of grain and hay for cavalry horses, mules, and beef cattle as well as military equipment of all kinds. Supplies were shipped to City Point, stored in newly built warehouses, and delivered by the military railroad to men in the camps and on the front line. (One source says that some days as many as 40 steamboats, 75 sailing vessels, and 100 barges would lie at anchor along the mile of wharves at City Point.)

slave quarters—Housing for slaves varied from poorly built windowless shacks to small frame or brick cabins. Usually each shack or cabin had a garden plot. It was in "the quarters" where slaves continued their African culture and had their social life.

explosion—After the war was over, Confederate records showed that the explosion on the munitions barge was an act of sabotage. Lax security at City Point allowed a Confederate agent to carry a bomb onto the munitions barge, claiming that it was a package he needed to deliver to its captain. He left the device, walked off the boat, and rode away.

blacksmith's forge—The small "furnace" where a blacksmith heats the metal he will pound into shape. Besides shoeing horses and mules, blacksmiths repaired wagons, artillery pieces, etc.

Mid-August, 1864

mumblety-peg—A game played by flipping a pocket knife into the ground.

hardtack—A thick, hard cracker issued to soldiers when bread was unavailable. Hardtack usually had to be soaked in coffee or water before it could be eaten. Often it was full of weevils. (The wooden boxes in which the hardtack was delivered became firewood or furniture in the camps. These "cracker boxes" were used to remove the earth from the tunnel the Pennsylvania unit dug from their line to the Confederate line.)

Shenandoah Valley—The Valley was known as "the breadbasket of the Confederacy" because of its production of wheat and other foodstuff for the army. For this reason—and also because it provided an avenue for invasion of the north—the Shenandoah Valley was a strategic target for the Union army.

quartermaster's storehouses—The quartermaster is the officer in charge of supplying all the army's needs for food, clothing, armaments, etc. The Confederate quartermaster requisitioned food from plantation owners, impressed livestock and wagons, and requisitioned the labor of people's slaves to work on fortifications. In theory, the people were to be paid for whatever they supplied to the army, but Confederate money was almost worthless.

President Davis—Jefferson Davis had been a U.S. Secretary of War and a member of the U.S. Congress before the southern states seceded and elected him President of the Confederacy. He was not a popular leader, and he was a bit of a fanatic in his insistence that the South fight to the death. (The newspaper quote Duncan read is part of Davis's answer to Union representatives during peace-feeler negotiations in Richmond in July of 1864.)

Early September, 1864

Lincoln has a good chance of being elected again in November—Because of huge losses on the battlefield and the fact that the Union seemed as far as ever from victory, there was a great war-weariness in the North. A "peace party" had been formed and had nominated as its candidate George McClellan, the popular general that Lincoln had removed from his command because he spent more time preparing for battle than he did fighting. In the late summer of 1864 it seemed almost certain that Lincoln would be defeated, but with the fall of Atlanta, the naval victory in Mobile Bay, and then the victory in the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia, Lincoln was back in favor.

Atlanta—the city was an important manufacturing, supply, and communications center for the Confederacy, and as a result it became a target in Grant's determination to damage the south's ability to make war.

Cavalry patrol—Because of its mobility, the cavalry provided "the eyes and ears of the army" and scouted out movements of the enemy as well as possible routes and stream crossings.

huge hospital complex—The City Point Hospital covered 200 acres and had beds for 10,000 men. It was actually composed of a number of smaller hospitals units with wards that began as wall tents but were replaced by frame buildings.

Freedmen's Aid Society—An organization that provided food, clothing, and other help (including education) to the former slaves.

bakery—Every permanent army camp had a bakery, and the huge bakery at City Point ran 24 hours a day and produced loaves that were sent to camps and trenches on the military railroad, sometimes arriving still warm.

September 5, 1864

army prison yard—Union soldiers who stole, were disorderly, etc., were sent to "the Bull Pen," where conditions were as bad as any prison for the enemy. Drinking water was provided in barrels that had once held salt pork, and desperate prisoners sometimes would pay 25 cents for a canteen of fresh water.

September 17, 1864

C.S.A.—Confederate States of America. This was stamped on army supplies, engraved on soldiers' belt plates, etc., in the same way that we use U.S.A.

cattle raid—Armies had herds of beef cattle to provide meat for the men. These cattle were herded along after the army when it was on the move and were corralled when the army was in camp. Confederate cavalrymen discovered the corrals for the Army of the Potomac, six or so miles behind the Union lines, and found that the herd was not heavily guarded. In a daring raid, the cavalry under Wade Hampton rustled 2500 cattle and took 300 prisoners with only minor casualties.

Late September

officers billeted in the city—Officers often took over a home near a camp or battlefield to use as their headquarters. Enemy officers frequently made the family leave, but if the officers were on "your side," the family would often welcome them and stay. (Sometimes, a southern family welcomed a Union officer into its home as a form of protection.)

October, 1864

extending the Union lines—One of General Grant's tactics was to extend his trenches westward, forcing Lee to do the same. Since Grant had so many more soldiers, he had no problem manning the additional trenches, but Lee had to increase the distance between the soldiers in his dwindling army, and his line was "stretched thin."

military railroad—As the Union extended its lines, it laid track so that all parts of its lines could be easily supplied with food and ammunition and so that men could be moved from the field hospitals to the main hospital at City Point. Part of the original rail line from City Point to Petersburg was used for the military railroad, but because the "gauge," or distance between the rails, was different from that of northern tracks, a crew of workers had to move one rail over a few inches for the entire length of the existing line so that Union trains could be used.

Late November, 1864

day of Thanksgiving for the Yankees—In 1863, President Lincoln revived the custom of proclaiming a national Thanksgiving Day. (It wasn't until 1941 that Congress decreed that the fourth Thursday of November would be Thanksgiving Day.) At intervals, both Lincoln and Davis would declare days of thanksgiving, days of prayer, etc.

Danville—This Virginia city, almost on the North Carolina border, was untouched by the war. Many refugees fled to Danville, and when Richmond fell, the Confederate government fled there, and Danville became for a brief time the Confederacy's capital.

bank notes—The first paper money issued by the United States government was the "greenbacks" that came into use during the Civil War. Before this, paper money was issued by the states or by individual banks. (Because of the scarcity of coins in the army camps, the army issued "scrip"-- paper coupons that had the face value of a coin and could be given as change or used to make purchases.)

wardrobe—Houses at this time often had no closets, so clothing was hung in large, free-standing pieces of furniture called "wardrobes."

Late November-Early December, 1864

winter quarters—The armies wintered over in camps where they built huts to replace their shelter tents. Life in camp was boring, but it was better than spending the winter in the trenches and bombproofs.

Provost Marshal—Head of the "military police." Today we speak of "MPs," but at the time of the Civil War the military police were known as the provost guard.

passes—A soldier had to have a pass giving him permission to leave camp. (This is true in today's military, as well.)

hospital car—Late in the war, seats in some train cars were replaced with tiers of cots so the wounded could be transported to hospitals by rail.

United States Colored Hospital—Segregation was practiced in the Union army, with regiments of United States Colored Troops and a part of the hospital and cemetery at City Point set aside for them. (In the Petersburg hospital where Union prisoners were cared for, white soldiers complained that a Negro soldier was beside them, but the southern hospital workers replied that if they could fight together, they could be cared for together.)

field hospital—Just out of firing range of a battlefield, or at some distance from a permanent camp, field hospitals were set up in large tents or existing buildings and the wounded (or sick) were brought there for treatment. "Out-patients" would return to the battlefield or camp, seriously injured or ill patients would be sent to the general hospitals until they recuperated, and those expected to die would remain at the field hospital. Much as the Red Cross symbol is respected today as marking a noncombat zone, yellow flags, often marked with an H, protected hospitals and hospital trains or ships from hostile fire.

garrison—The soldiers stationed at a fort have "garrison duty." This often monotonous duty was frequently assigned to Negro troops.

sunken way—A maze of passages that linked the forts and trenches with the rear, allowing men (and supply wagons) to move about without being exposed to enemy fire.

mortars—These squat-looking cannon were used to place shells behind the enemy's fortifications.

Mid-December, 1864

First Manassas—The first major battle of the war, fought at a rail junction about 20 miles south of Washington. The Union was so sure it would win that Congressmen and others came out from the city to witness the victory. But the Confederates drove the untried Union troops back, and the road was clogged with buggies of frightened Washingtonians.

Christmastime, 1864

the ravaging of Georgia by General Sherman's army—After the fall of Atlanta, General William Sherman marched his army across a 60-mile wide swath of Georgia, destroying the farms and factories that supplied the south's soldiers. This has often been seen as a depraved army taking vengeance on innocent civilians, but whatever the motives of individual officers and men, it was a military strategy in which "with fewer than 2,200 casualties he [Sherman] destroyed a large portion of the South's remaining war potential in Georgia." Sherman, however, has been criticized for not controlling his troops and for policies that "fostered brigandage." (A Sherman quote from the "Official Records" reads: "...it is useless to occupy it [Georgia]; but the utter destruction of its roads, houses and people will cripple their military resources. . . . I can make the march, and make Georgia howl." Sherman's march through Georgia has been considered the first instance of "total war," in which civilians are made to suffer so that they will exert pressure on their government to stop the fighting.

Battle of Nashville—A decisive Union victory in which three Confederate generals were captured.

Confederates abandoning Savannah—The city of Savannah was the end point of General Sherman's march through Georgia from Atlanta to the sea. The city was evacuated and the Confederate troops withdrew across the Savannah River.

Mid-January, 1865

free schools—Public schools weren't established in Virginia until 1870. Petersburg had a good selection of private schools for boys and also for girls. "Free Schools" were sponsored by wealthier individuals for the children of poor families and for free blacks.

dishonest Confederate officials—Corruption was a problem for both sides during the Civil War. Unscrupulous contractors sold inferior goods to the military, dishonest soldiers assigned to the quartermaster corps appropriated or sold provisions intended for the men, etc.

January 29-February 6, 1865

peace commissioners—Peace overtures were made several times during the war. (At one time, Lincoln wanted the federal government to purchase slaves from their owners and set them free; General George McClellan ran for U.S. president in 1864 on a platform that would restore the Union as it was before secession and allow slavery to continue; and officials in both governments sometimes took it upon themselves to bring about peace negotiations.) In late January of 1865 there was an official meeting, attended by President Lincoln and his secretary of state and by Confederate peace commissioners including the Vice President. The meeting was cordial, but negotiations never actually began because Lincoln was adamant that before there could be peace the Union must be restored, and the Confederate peace commissioners were bound by Jefferson Davis's instructions that the Confederacy must be recognized as an independent country.

"We only have to hold out until they realize they can't beat us"—This is how guerilla movements frustrate powerful enemy armies. (The Viet Cong didn't defeat the U.S. Army, but when it finally became evident that they weren't going to give up, the United States withdrew from Vietnam. In the same way, the Russian and British armies have been worn down by nationalist groups that couldn't win but also couldn't be beaten.)

Mid-February, 1864

"A lot of them wouldn't be fighting at all if they hadn't been drafted, and some of them are fighting to keep the South part of the United States. 'To save the Union,' as they say."—There was no love for black people among the northern soldiers, although there was often respect for their courage in battle. Only a small percentage of the northern soldiers were fighting to free the slaves—primarily some New England and Pennsylvania abolitionists. Most of the soldiers, especially those from the midwestern states, were fighting to restore the Union and put down the rebellion of southern states.

March, 1865

quinine—A medicine used to treat malaria and for fevers in general. (In some units, Union soldiers were issued quinine with their gear.)

pickets—Soldiers were posted around the camps to guard against infiltration by spies and against surprise attack by the enemy. At permanent camps, "picket posts" were established with barriers to protect the pickets from snipers and with awnings to shade them in hot weather. Early in the war, a poem titled "The Picket Guard" was published, telling the story of a young man who was shot down while on picket duty. (The poem began, "All's quiet along the Potomac tonight, Except now and then a stray picket/Is shot, as he walks on his beat to and fro,/By a rifleman hid in the thicket.") It was written in protest of the fact that just below the usual newspaper headline "All's quiet along the Potomac" (a snide reference to General McClellan's lack of action) was an article about a picket who had been shot near the river. The writer was angry that the deaths of ordinary soldiers didn't seem to matter to the government. The poem—later used as the words of a song—caused such an outcry among civilians on both sides that the two armies had to outlaw firing on pickets!

Middle to Late March, 1864

forage wharf—Hay and grain—feed for cavalry horses, mules that pulled the army wagons, and cattle that would be slaughtered to provide meat for the men—were unloaded at the City Point forage wharf. (The munitions wharf received weapons and ammunition, and when it was rebuilt after the terrible explosion on August 9, 1864, it was extended a great distance out into the river, which is wide at that point, to reduce the damage in case there was another explosion.)

April 1-3, 1865

inner line—Behind the trenches that faced the enemy, another defensive line had been established just at the edge of town in case the outer line was breached by the enemy.

General Johnston's army—Joseph Johnston had fought in the western campaigns and at this time commanded an army in North Carolina. (He surrendered to Sherman after Lee's surrender.)

his watch—Wrist watches were not yet in use at the time of this story. A man's watch was usually kept in a small pocket in the front of his vest with the watch chain looping across to another pocket and often secured by a catch or weighted by a pocket knife.

tobacco warehouses—Tobacco leaves were cut and then hung to dry in well-ventilated tobacco barns. When dry, the leaves were pressed into huge barrel-like containers called "hogsheads" and transported to market. Petersburg was an important tobacco market, and the tobacco was stored in huge warehouses there to await shipping. During the war, the warehouses were full because the Union blockade prevented ships from using the James River to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic. (The Confederate government used some of the warehoused tobacco in trade to obtain needed goods from the north. An important army doctor in Petersburg traded government tobacco to get medical supplies from the Union hospitals.)

blockade—To keep the south from raising money to buy weapons in Europe, the Union blockaded southern ports to prevent the export of cotton and tobacco. The blockade also kept both Confederate and European ships from bringing in goods of any kind and caused shortages in everyday goods that lowered morale on the southern homefront by making life difficult, since almost all manufactured goods came from abroad or from northern factories.

parapet—A wall, often of earth, to protect soldiers in their forts.

Sherman's march to the sea—see "the ravaging of Georgia," above.

May, 1865

packet boat—A regularly scheduled boat that carried passengers along an established route.

provisions from the Union commissary—After the fall of Petersburg, the Union army occupied the city. The people were allowed to come to "draw rations" from the commissary. (Throughout the war, in areas controlled by the Union, the local people had often gotten food from the commissaries, sometimes because their own food stores had been taken by foraging soldiers. Also, women with small children were often unable to provide for themselves with their "menfolk" off at war if their slaves had gone over to the Union, as they were often encouraged to do.)