Blandford Church
In Harm’s Way
This church, built circa 1737, was in ruins at the time of the Civil War. Nonetheless, located behind Gracie’s, Colquitt’s and Elliott’s Salients in the Confederate defense lines, the structure served as a temporary field hospital during the Petersburg siege.
After the explosion of a Union mine at The Crater July 30, 1864, Confederate Gen. William Mahone rushed three brigades through here to blunt the Federal advance. Months later, in the early morning of March 25, 1865, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon formed his assaulting columns to attack nearby Union Fort Stedman, opposite Colquitt’s Salient.
After the war, many of the Confederate dead from area battlefields and hospitals were reinterred here in a special section. Of approximately 30,000 soldiers buried here, only 2,025 are known; all are in mass graves. A small section south of the churchyard wall contains the remains of members of the famous New Orleans Washington Artillery who were killed during the siege. After the war, three Confederate generals were buried here: William Mahome, David Weisiger and Cullen Battle.
Between 1904 and 1912, Louis Comfort Tiffany installed fifteen windows in the church, eleven representing states in the former Confederacy, two for border states and the last for the Ladies Memorial Association.
Marker is on Crater Road (U.S. 460), on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
