BRCWRT Spring Tour

Saturday - 2 May 2015

Petersburg Breakthrough - Pamplin Park

Petersburg Breakthrough

2 April 1865

Date: 2 May 2015

Cost: $12/person (group rate for Pamplin Park.)   Pay at the Park.

Assembly Location/Time:  7:30 AM Route 234 Commuter lot off of Rt 95

Tour Duration:  Expect to be finished by 5:00 PM

Lunch: At one of the fast-food restaurants in the area.

Exertion: Will be light, all the trails are flat and we won't be doing a whole lot of walking.

Sign Up:  Please sign up for the tour using the link to the left on this page; electronic sign up will also be available the meetings.  There will also be a sign up sheet passed around at the BRCWRT meeting.

Inclement Weather: We will send out a weather cancellation notice via e-mail the morning of the tour.  If you do not have e-mail please call Rob Orrison for an update.

Special Suggestions: Dress according to the weather and be sure to wear a hat and comfortable walking shoes.

Background:  On April 2, 1865 the Union Army of the Potomac assaulted the Confederate fortifications around Petersburg.  Knowing Lee's army was stretched then and dwindled from desertions, Grant knew Lee's lines would break somewhere.  That breakthrough took place west of Petersburg in what is now Pamplin Park.  The tour will include the breakthrough (including newly restored landscape), mortal wounding site of Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill and the popular and award winning National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.  Part of the tour will be led by Edward Alexander of Pamplin Park, who has authored a new book about the events in early April 1865.