Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 17.djvu/409

 Soldiers' Monument, 401

But few of the company are now living, or they would have marched as an organization.

HISTORIC GROUND.

It was a scene not soon to be forgotten. Dear old Blandford, with her tombs and vaults and myriad graves, was a silent witness. Mar- ble shafts reflected the radiance of the June sun as it lowered in the west, and graves that were exquisitely adorned with flowers all added their mute but eloquent tribute ; and as for the future historian — why, there was a brilliant panorama of the brave dead, whose virtues were thus fittingly commemorated. To the right and to the left, to the north and to the douth of the monument were battle-grounds — all eloquent now, though in their plenitude of grain harvest ; not an inch, scarcely, but had been bedewed with blood, not a yard but had marked the life of some gallant soldier. It was hallowed ground, nor could growing wheat and corn and clover hide the blood -spots. In easy sight of the monument is Fort Steadman, on Hare's farm, ren- dered memorable for the capture by the Confederate troops in the assault made by General John B. Gordon in the last days of the war. This was a fort of immense strength and very near the Confederate lines. The assault was one of the most gallant in the annals of the seige. It was successful in the capture of prisoners and guns, but the masses of the enemy beyond were so great that the feeble though brave Confederate force was compelled to yield the advantages they won.


 * hellV and ** damnation.''

To the right on the line of the Jerusalem plank-road and almost within sight of the eye are the sites of the famous Forts " Hell ' ' and stronghold — made famous by the terrible fire of their guns, the valor of their defenders, the many lives sacrificed in assaults and defence — the Gray and the Blue. All around Petersburg, from the river-banks on the east almost to the river-banks on the west, are the dots of the forts along both lines that played important parts in the events that finally ended in the capture of our brave little city. Just beyond the corporate limits of the town on the west stands old Fort Gregg, whose defence by the small band of gallant Mississippians was one of the bravest, most glorious, and most stubborn in the annals of war. Just beyond is the spot where General A. P. Hill fell. But why .speak of special spots of interest when every rod of ground around the city has its incidents of war and is historic ?
 * ' Damnation" — the former a Confederate and the latter a Federal