On Thursday, September 29, 1864 General Ulysses Grant sent the Tenth and Eighteenth Union Corps north of the James River to attack Richmond, Virginia’s outer defenses. Advancing rapidly, 2500 attacking Federals quickly overwhelmed the 200 man, Confederate garrison at Fort Harrison, capturing the strategic position on the James River at Chaffin’s Bluffs. Given Union success against Fort Harrison, Robert E. Lee realized the potential threat to Richmond and ordered a counterattack on September 30. The attack failed, forcing Lee to realign his Confederate defenses farther west between Fort Harrison and Richmond. Fort Harrison, renamed by the North as Fort Burnham to honor Union General Hiram Burnham who died during the Union’s seizure of the earthworks, remained in Union hands until Richmond’s capitulation near the end of the war.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.