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Historic Sites Confederate Earthworks

  • Address
    Rt. 58 near Danville Public Works Building
    Danville, VA 24541
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    Danville
    Locality
    Danville City
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President Jefferson Davis was an experienced military man, having graduated from West Point and served in various Indian Wars and the Mexican War. The day after arriving in Danville, April 4, 1865, he toured outlying earthen fortifications with Post Commander Robert Withers, who two years earlier directed the construction of rifle pits and redoubts to protect the town against would-be liberators of Federal prisoners. Since the Dan River was considered to be the town's principal northern defense, most earthworks followed a line just east of town (on Route 58 near Danville Public Works) running west beyond the town's southern border (to a point near the present George Washington High School at Central Blvd. and Memorial Drive). Davis ordered that these defenses, which he judged woefully inadequate, be strengthened. Soldiers, citizens, free blacks and numerous slaves from the surrounding countryside provided labor to improve these defenses. The largest and best preserved of these structures, which served as redoubts or observations posts, remain intact just east of Danville's surrender site on the Danville Public Works complex

Region

Southern Virginia

Last Updated: 05/11/2016

What's Nearby

  • Danville Farmer's Market
    Danville Farmer's Market
    The Crossing at the Dan
    Danville, VA 24541
    0 MI
  • Steaks on the Square
    Steaks on the Square
    635 Main Street
    Danville, VA 24541
    0.05 MI
  • 750 Main Street Historic Marker
    750 Main Street Historic Marker
    750 Main Street
    Danville, VA 24541
    0.08 MI
  • Rippe's and Rippe's Furs
    Rippe's and Rippe's Furs
    559 Main Street
    Danville, VA 24541
    0.09 MI
  • Rippe's Shoes
    Rippe's Shoes
    563 Main Street
    Danville, VA 24541
    0.09 MI

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    • Historic Sites
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