Defenses at Bermuda Hundred


Organized at Gettysburg, Pa.
September 1, 1864
Mustered into U.S. Service
At Harrisburg, Pa. Sept. 4, 1864.

David Stoops, my cousin was in Company G when they participated in skirmishes near the defenses of Bermuda Hundred  Nov. 17, 18, 19, 20, and 22, 1864. The young men were fresh fodder they only had 70 some days of service under their belts when this engagement took place in November. They had  been mustered into service on Sept 4.
On March 25, 1865... The Confederate target was Fort Stedman. Lee was able to muster from General John B. Gordon’s Second Corps about 11,500 men to carry out this attack.  Gordon commanded the attack. The battle plan was to have a main frontal force attack and capture Fort Stedman. Three smaller forces would continue behind the Federal lines, to capture three forts believed to be just behind the line. From those forts, the Rebs would turn the Union's guns on the Yank's own troops. These actions were all lead to attacks on rebel defenses and finally capturing Petersburg, April 2, 1865. The capture of Petersburg was the final blow to the Confederacy and 7 days later on April 9, 1865 after four years of Civil War, some 630,000 deaths and over a million casualties, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. My Great Grandfather Joseph Mackley was among the assembled troops Appamatox Court House on that fated day.