History of Petersburg, Virginia facts for kids
The city of Petersburg, Virginia, in the United States, has a long and interesting history. It started as a modern settlement in the 1600s. Petersburg officially became a city in 1748. During the American Revolutionary War, British soldiers took over the city. Later, it became a popular place for many free blacks (African Americans who were not enslaved) in Virginia. It also grew into an important center for railroads. By 1860, Petersburg was the second-largest city in Virginia.
From 1864 to 1865, during the American Civil War, the city faced a long attack called the Siege of Petersburg. When the city finally fell, it led to the end of the Civil War just two weeks later. After the war, Petersburg continued to be a place where many newly freed African Americans settled. In the mid-1900s, Petersburg was a key location for the Civil Rights Movement.
Contents
Petersburg's Early History: Native Americans
Long before European settlers arrived, people lived in the Petersburg area. In 2006, archaeologists found proof of Native American settlements on Pocahontas Island. These settlements date back to 6500 B.C., which is a very long time ago! Different groups of native people lived here for thousands of years.
When English settlers came to Virginia in 1607, the Appamatuck tribe lived in this region. They were an important part of the Powhatan Confederacy. Their leaders were King Coquonosum and his sister, Queen Opossunoquonuske. This tribe, who spoke an Algonquian language, had a town near what is now Petersburg.
Colonial Petersburg: A New Settlement
English colonists founded and settled Petersburg. By 1635, they had claimed land along the Appomattox River. In 1646, the Virginia Colony built Fort Henry near the Appamatuck town. From this fort, explorers like Col. Abraham Wood set out to explore lands to the west, even reaching the Appalachian Mountains.
Around 1675, Peter Jones, who was Abraham Wood's son-in-law, opened a trading post near the fort. This place became known as Peter's Point. The Bolling family, who were important tobacco farmers and traders, also lived in the area. In 1733, Col. William Byrd II planned a city at Peter's Point and named it Petersburgh. The Virginia government officially made Petersburg and nearby Blandford into towns on December 17, 1748.
During the American Revolutionary War, the British tried to take control of the area. The Battle of Blanford happened in 1781, just east of Petersburg. American soldiers retreated across the Appomattox River, removing parts of the bridge to slow down the British. Even though the British took Blandford and Petersburg, they didn't win a major advantage in the war. British forces surrendered at Yorktown soon after.
Petersburg Before the Civil War
After the Revolutionary War, Petersburg grew by adding nearby towns like Blandford and Pocahontas in 1784. By 1790, Petersburg had 2,828 people, making it one of the larger settlements in the country.
In the years after the war, many Virginia slaveholders freed their enslaved people. This was inspired by the idea of equality from the Revolution. The number of free African Americans in Virginia increased a lot between 1782 and 1810. Many of these free people of color moved to Petersburg because there were jobs available. They started important churches like First Baptist (1774) and Gillfield Baptist Church (1797). These were some of the first black churches in the nation.
The main area where free African Americans lived was Pocahontas Island. This area was important for the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. The Pocahontas Island Historic District is now a protected historical site. The Pocahontas Island Black History Museum, opened in 2003, shares the history of African Americans in the area.
Petersburg's port became a busy center for processing cotton, tobacco, and metal. The city became an important industrial hub in Virginia, which was mostly an agricultural state.
During the War of 1812, Petersburg residents formed the Petersburg Volunteers. They fought bravely at the Siege of Fort Meigs in 1813. President James Madison called Petersburg the "Cockade of the Union" because of the special badges the Volunteers wore.
In 1815, a large fire destroyed much of the city's business area. However, Petersburg rebuilt and improved. The city paved its streets starting in 1813 and built a canal to bypass the Appomattox Falls. Then came railroad lines, connecting Petersburg to Richmond, Farmville, Lynchburg, and Weldon, North Carolina. By 1858, a line to the ocean port of Norfolk was finished.
By 1851, Petersburg had gas lighting, and by 1857, a new water system. These improvements helped attract businesses, especially those making tobacco products, but also cotton and flour mills.
Petersburg During the Civil War
When the American Civil War began in 1861, Petersburg was Virginia's second-largest city. About half of its 18,266 people were black. A large number, 3,224, were free African Americans who had moved to the city for work. Petersburg had the highest percentage of free African Americans of any city in the Confederacy. Many lived on Pocahontas Island, which is now a historic district.
Petersburg was very important strategically during the Civil War. The city provided soldiers and artillery units to the Confederate Army. In April 1861, over 300 free African Americans from Petersburg volunteered to build defenses in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 1864, Petersburg became a target for Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The many railroads in Petersburg made it a vital supply line for Richmond, the Confederate capital. The rail depot on Pocahontas Island was a key point for moving Confederate troops and supplies.
.jpg)
After losing a battle at Cold Harbor, Grant moved his army south to Petersburg. He wanted to cut off the rail lines into Petersburg, which would stop supplies from reaching Richmond. On June 9, Union troops attacked the Dimmock Line, a series of defenses built to protect Petersburg. The Confederate defenders were greatly outnumbered. When Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard told General Robert E. Lee that he was facing almost the entire Union Army, Lee arrived with his famous Army of Northern Virginia. This started the 292-day Siege of Petersburg. Lee knew the South could not win a long siege.
The trenches on the east side of Petersburg were very close. A Union soldier, who was a coal miner in his civilian life, suggested digging a tunnel under the Confederate defenses to blow them up. His commander, Colonel Henry Pleasants, liked the idea, and Grant approved it. On July 30, the explosives in the tunnel were set off. However, due to mistakes by Union leaders, the Union forces suffered a terrible defeat at the Battle of the Crater, with over 4,000 casualties. This battle was shown in the movie Cold Mountain. By the end of the war, the city was surrounded by many fortifications.
In early April 1865, Union troops finally reached the railroad lines to Weldon, North Carolina and the Southside Railroad. With these vital supply lines cut, the Confederate forces had to retreat, ending the siege with a Union victory.
The fall of Petersburg meant that Richmond could no longer be defended. Lee tried to lead his men south, but he was surrounded and forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The siege of Petersburg set a new example for warfare. During World War I, armies in Europe used trenches extensively, similar to what was seen in Petersburg.
.jpg)
Petersburg After the Civil War
After the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau helped establish new services for freedmen (newly freed African Americans). This included a mental health hospital. In 1870, the state government made it an official state institution. The government also created Virginia's first system of free public education.
Many freedmen moved to Petersburg after the war to find work and escape white control in rural areas. They found many churches, businesses, and organizations started by free African Americans, which brought new energy to the city. In 1874, James M. Wilkerson Sr. started a funeral company that is still in business today. It is one of the oldest black-owned businesses in the United States. Even though laws were passed in the 1870s to create racial segregation, African Americans in Petersburg continued to build their own businesses and community groups.
In the 1880s, a group of black Republicans and white Populists held power in the state government. This led to two important public institutions in Petersburg. In 1882, the state founded Virginia State University in nearby Ettrick. It was one of the first public four-year historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic. John Mercer Langston, a national political leader, became the college's first president. In 1888, Langston was elected to the US Congress, becoming the first African American from Virginia to do so in almost a century.
Also in 1882, the state government moved the mental health facility to a new campus. This is where the present-day Central State Hospital is located.
Petersburg in the 1900s
Petersburg faced challenges in the 1900s because of its small size and closeness to Richmond. Richmond grew to be the main city in the region as industries changed.
World Wars brought major federal institutions to Petersburg, creating local jobs. After World War I began, the US Army built Camp Lee for training soldiers. It was used again during World War II. In 1950, the camp became Fort Lee, and new buildings were added for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Center and School.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Virginia's government passed Jim Crow laws, which enforced racial segregation. They also made changes to the constitution that stopped most African Americans and many poor white people from voting. Without the right to vote, people lost many of their rights as citizens. The white government also spent less money on services and schools for black communities.
After serving in WWII, many African Americans pushed for equal rights, an end to segregation, and the right to vote. Even after many black people moved to northern cities for jobs, Petersburg was 40 percent black in 1960. These citizens were not allowed to use public spaces and facilities freely. Major black churches, like First Baptist and Gillfield Baptist, became the heart of the Civil Rights Movement in Petersburg.
Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, the pastor of Gillfield Baptist Church, was friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. In 1957, they helped start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an important group for the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Walker also started the Petersburg Improvement Association (PIA). According to King's friends, Petersburg played an important role, like a guide, for the national civil rights struggle. King visited the city several times, and some of his top assistants were recruited from Petersburg.
African Americans in Petersburg worked to end segregation in public schools and facilities. Through sit-ins at the bus terminal in 1960, the PIA convinced the president of the Bus Terminal Restaurants to desegregate lunch counters in Petersburg and other cities. However, Virginia officials strongly resisted school integration. For example, the school board of nearby Prince Edward County closed public schools for five years, starting in 1959, rather than integrate them.
In the 1950s, Petersburg became the southern end of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, which was built before the U.S. Interstate Highway System.
In 1958, Petersburg was named an "All American City" for its good quality of life. In 1970, Carrie E. Miles became the first African-American woman to serve on the Petersburg Public Schools Board of Education since the Reconstruction era. Businesses and industries did well until the early 1980s. Then, changes in the economy caused many jobs to leave the city, similar to what happened in other older industrial cities. The growth of highways and suburbanization after the war also caused problems. Many middle-class families moved to newer homes in the suburbs or to nearby Richmond, where the economy was growing. Some companies moved their factories to other states or even out of the country where wages were lower. Without enough jobs and with fewer middle-class residents, the city's progress slowed down.
The declining economy led to more competition and racial tensions from 1968 to 1980. After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Petersburg was the first city to make his birthday a holiday, which is now a national holiday. The city tried to annex (add) large parts of Dinwiddie and Prince George Counties in the early 1970s. However, the expected industrial growth in these new areas did not happen. In 1985, city leaders could not convince Brown & Williamson, a major tobacco company and employer, to stay. The company moved to Macon, Georgia, because the city council raised taxes on tools and machinery.
In 1989, negotiations to build a new regional mall in Petersburg failed. Many remaining stores moved to the new Southpark Mall in nearby Colonial Heights. Like many other cities after the war, suburban growth caused retail businesses to leave the downtown area. The downtown, once lively, declined in the late 1900s due to changes in industries and the loss of jobs and customers.
Petersburg in the 2000s
In the early 2000s, Petersburg leaders began to highlight its historical and industrial sites. The city also has access to a wide transportation network. As of 2007, Petersburg continued to change as a small city, with its commercial activities evolving. Downtown Petersburg, known as Old Towne, started to experience a rebirth. The Army has greatly expanded its activities at nearby Fort Lee, which is home to the United States Army's Sustainment Center of Excellence and other important Army branches.
