Siege of Petersburg Online Posts: Week of 7/10/2011

This weekly series looks at the posts which have appeared over the last 7 days at The Siege of Petersburg Online: Beyond the Crater. It’s a way to show TOCWOC readers what I’ve been doing over at my other Civil War site.

Most of my focus right now, to set the stage for those wholly unfamiliar with my Siege of Petersburg web page, is on the following:

Reports of Union and Confederate commanders on operations during the Siege of Petersburg from August 1-December 31, 1864, all coming from Volume XLII, Part 1 (Serial Number 87). Volume XL, Part 1 (Serial Number 80) is complete at this time and hope to begin work on Volume XLVI, Part 1 (Serial Number 95) on October 1, 2011. This volume encompasses Petersburg from January 1-April 3, 1865 and the Appomattox Campaign.
A weekly post on the diary entries of Octave Bruso. Bruso was a member of the 50th New York Engineers and was present throughout the Siege of Petersburg.
Maps from the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records. I have identified Siege of Petersburg, Bermuda Hundred Campaign, and Appomattox Campaign maps from the 100+ plates in the OR Atlas and I’m slowly posting these to the site.
In the background, I’m also working on two items which will pay dividends down the road. First, I’m working on documenting the weapons on hand for each Union regiment on June 30, 1864 from NARA Microfilm M1281, Roll 7. This is a tedious process but one which tells me the types and numbers of small arms carried by almost every Union regiment on hand near Richmond and Petersburg on June 30, 1864. These were quarterly returns, reported on the last day of the quarter, so this specific roll looks at the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 1864 (April-June and July-September). When I finish this roll, I’ll move on to Roll 8, containing ordnance returns from 1865. Later I’ll move on to the artillery and cavalry, each on its own roll. Second, I’ve been patiently going through the regimental histories listed at the Library of Congress site as well as the Civil War Unit Bibliographies at the USAHEC site in order to find as many books, articles, essays, and other items on regiments, batteries, battalions, and companies which fought at Petersburg as possible. Many of these books are freely available at places like Google Books or Archive.org. If you’re interested in a specific unit, check out my Union Units Bibliography and Confederate Units Bibliography spreadsheets.

This week’s posts focused on Official Records reports from the Army of the James as well as many maps from the Official Records Atlas. You’ll also notice a BTC Notes entry, where I read a book or the later chapters of a book and take notes on information which will help me to fill out the rest of The Siege of Petersburg Online site. A perfect example is the 106th Pennsylvania unit page new this week. If you inspect the notes on the 106th Pennsylvania’s unit page, one of many “home bases” for units which participated in the Siege of Petersburg on this site, you will see many pieces of information on the page were taken directly from the BTC Notes entry on a regimental history of the 106th which also appeared this week. Also note that on every single unit page at this site, you can browse all of the articles, posts, and pages with information pertaining to the unit. This includes reports from the Official Records, bibliography pages for any books or articles on the unit, accounts of various battles and skirmishes from members of the regiment, diary entries, letters, and much more. If you are interested in specific regiments, these unit pages will become a wealth of information on the unit’s role in the Siege of Petersburg.

Number 300. Petersburg Campaign Reports of Colonel Ulysses Doubleday, Forty-fifth U. S. Colored Troops, commanding Second Brigade, of operations October 13 and 27-29 July 10, 2011

Octave Bruso Diary: Week of July 10, 1864 July 10, 2011

Number 301. Petersburg Campaign Reports of Lieutenant Colonel Henry C. Ward, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Colored Infantry,of operations September 29-30 and October 13 July 11, 2011

High Bridge and Farmville, VA 1867 (OR Atlas 78:4) July 11, 2011

Review: The Soul of a Soldier: The True Story of a Mounted Pioneer in the Civil War July 11, 2011

100th New York Infantry July 11, 2011

Number 302. Petersburg Campaign Report of Captain Frederick E. Camp, Twenty-ninth Connecticut Colored Infantry, of operations October 27-28 July 12, 2011

BTC Notes: History of the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers July 12, 2011

106th Pennsylvania Infantry July 12, 2011

Petersburg Mine Explosion July 30, 1864 (OR Atlas 78:5) July 12, 2011

Number 303. Petersburg Campaign Reports of Major George E. Wagner, Eighth U. S. Colored Troops, of operations August 14-21, September 28-30, and October 13 July 13, 2011

Map of the Environs of Petersburg, VA from the Appomattox River to Fort Howard, Showing the Positions of the Entrenched Lines Occupied by the Ninth Army Corps, A.P., During the Siege (OR Atlas 79:1) July 13, 2011