Siege of Petersburg Online Posts: Week of 7/24/2011

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 unfamiliar with my Siege of Petersburg web page, is on the following:

Reports from the Official Records 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.
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.

The posts appearing this week include Official Records reports from the Army of the James describing fighting at Chaffin’s Bluff in late September 1864 and also at Second Fair Oaks in late October 1864. Maps of the Petersburg, Bermuda Hundred, and Richmond area from the Official Records Atlas,regiments from the divisions of Field and Kershaw from the First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia as well as bibliography pages for books from those regiments, and newspaper entries focusing on the fighting at the First Battle of Deep Bottom on July 27, 1864 which were transcribed by Bryce Suderow. The complete list of posts is displayed below.

Number 314. Petersburg Campaign Reports of Major General Edward O. C. Ord, U. S. Army, commanding Eighteenth Army Corps, of operations August 5 and September 28-29 July 24, 2011

Octave Bruso Diary: Week of July 24, 1864 July 24, 2011

16th GA: Lost Generation: The Life and Death of James Barrow, C.S.A. July 24, 2011

16th GA: Company K, Ramsey Volunteers, the Sixteenth Georgia Infantry Regiment July 24, 2011

16th GA: Howell Cobb’s Confederate Career July 24, 2011

16th Georgia Infantry July 24, 2011

D. No. 2 Siege of Petersburg, VA. From July 9th to July 31st, 1864. Field Battery Constructed Under the Direction of Major J.C. Duane. October 20, 1864. (OR Atlas 104:8) July 24, 2011

Number 315. Petersburg Campaign Report of Bvt. Major General Godfrey Weitzel, U. S. Army, commanding Eighteenth Army Corps, of operations October 27-28 July 25, 2011

Newspaper Article: James Jennings, 56th North Carolina, Company C (The Pasquotank Boys) July 25, 2011

Newspaper Article: Powhatan Beaty, 5th USCT, Co G July 25, 2011

July 30, 1864 New York World: Special Dispatch to the World July 25, 2011

July 31, 1864 New York Times: In Bivouac July 25, 2011