Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-06-18

PETERSBURG.


PETERSBURG, Va. June LIST, 1879.
To the Editor of the Free Press and Times:
A half day at Petersburg brings up such
a flood of memories that one hardly knows
what to say first. The point first visited
was east of the city, near Gen. Meade's
right. We were surprised to see how gener-
allv the works have been levelled, either
by the plough, rain and wind, or all to-
getber. The prominent forts, oi course,
can be seen The main line has been OBJ
liberated for miles The q Crater" has been
fenced in, and its owner charges % cents
admission. 1t was the most interesting
point of ali. and remains Just as II was lett
after the explosion j uly 30, 1851, except that
i30 bodies were dug out OF a space as large
as the cellar of good sized house. inns
was known a. Rebel Battery No. 5, and
contained eight guns.
The Union forces dag a shaft or tunnel
four and half feet high, three feet wide,
and five hundred and ten feet long, at the
end OF which land forty feet under the re-
bel fbrt) they dug a chamber large enough
| 10 contain eight tons of powder. TINS work
was done nights. by picked body oi men.
tn keen il secret from both armies. But the
| enemy suspected that it might be done, and
thev dug shaft obliquely across ours.
hoping 10 intercept ours, ii indeed We had
one. Their plan would have succeeded but
| for the fact that the bottom ot their shalt
was twenty inches above the top OF ours.
/ In other words, they did not dig deep enough
| 10 hit our siait Ii Is reported mat our
loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was
| 6 .OOO- because Of delay in using the ad-
vantage gained.
We dug up relies here that had escaped
| the ewes of the thousands who had VISITED
there during the past ten years. Our pick
| ct line was Just 65 PAGES from tins rebel
! fort. giving our friends at home some idea
of the close attention We had + pay to busl-
ness when here eleven years ago.
We passed Fort Malone. Fort He'll, Fort
| Domination. and to me the most interesting
in one sense Fort Stevens. This latter Is
five or seven miles southwest of Petersburg,
and was built and picketed. in part, by the
10th Vermont Regiment. 1t Is to-day IN
the very best condition of all the forts that
we saw around either Richmond or Peters
burg, as well "a one of the largest. Corn
and cotton are both growing inside the fort.
The timber to the west and south has been
cut off Two new houses have been built
near IL. In our effort to fad this fort We
were lost and our driver could not tell
where he was Four Of u Nermonters. IN
a hack, lost in the wilderness Ii was a
dense foreStand the colored driver had taken
the wrong road, and soon found himself at
the end OF a path. about five miles from
home. lie knew everything when we start
ed, but as his nice hack went plunging
through swamp and thicket he became
quite sober. We thought 1t fine way To
20 out on picket duty. We would not have
felt 80 merry had We known thar two armed
desperadoes were then being hunted and
pursued in those woods, by "a posse from
! Petersburg But ignorance was bliss
We thought Of sermon that We once
heard OF, from this text Adam. " here
art thou - The three points that the speak
cr made were 1t, All men are SOME
where. 2i, Some men are where they
should not be. ard 81. II they Do not turn
round they will get where they don want
10 ne.
Each Of these three points applied to Us
exactly. especially the thirdly, for We had
started for Fort Hell. Coming cut of the
woods We espied in the distance a coiored
boy. AMI asked him where that place was.
" Lor' mas>a, you done gone by dat long
20" \ lady once visited that fort. picked
some Wild ra-pherries or biao kbcrric- IN IT,
and then told her friends that she 80 diuct
IN Hell, and had blackherrieS for dinner
One TACT at the " Crater deeply i'm
pressed Us. VIZ On the Crater, and around
II for over Il mIle-as far as the eye could
reach.-wcre hundreds yes. thousands oi
peach trees that bear fruit annua.ly They
grew up from stones dropped by the soldiers
eleven wears ago. A, the children Of this
generation gather that fruit, how LITTLE go
they know ct the cost OF that seed How
little can they realize the toll. suffering
blood AID treasure paid for those peach
trees Evans