City Point’s Rails And Waterways
Tools of War for General Grant
City Point...tells more about how war is conducted than many battlefields. It demonstrates how Union forces used rivers and railroads to deliver the tools of war directly to the troops in the field. – Robert Black, The Harrisburg PA Patriot News
The significance of the City Point logistical operation in the Civil War cannot be overstated. Besides being headquarters for the United States Armies, City Point was the supply base for the Union forces fighting at Petersburg and Richmond. Immediately upon their arrival the 900-member United States Railroad Construction Corps began building the warehouses and wharves needed for supplies and war material needed for the 100,000 soldiers in the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James.
The City Point Railroad, built in 1838, was repaired and eventually extended south and west of Petersburg. City Point once again had a rail link to Petersburg, except it now linked the military supply depot with soldiers on the fron lines. In just twenty-two days the army had completed the first stage of the railroad and had the trains operating on a full schedule. At Petersburg, victory rode the rails.
Marker is on Pecan Avenue west of Prince Henry Avenue, on the left when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
