“City Point” presented by Jon Vrana February 11, 2009

City Point was a vital factor in Union Gen. Grant’s strategic plan to lay siege of Petersburg and force Gen. Lee to surrender. If Petersburg fell, the Confederate supply lines to Richmond would be severed and Gen. Lee’s Army would either have to come out to fight, be caught in the open, or ultimately surrender. It was a small port town, but from June 1864 when the siege started until May 1865 after Gen. Lee’s surrender, City Point was greatly expanded. At the end of the war, the port facilities included eight wharves on eight acres and the support depot included over 280 buildings, repair shops, seven hospitals, numerous bakeries, and 22 miles of track connecting the wharves to the Union lines. This entire infrastructure was constructed to unload approximately 25 supply ships arriving there daily to provide all the supplies necessary for the Union force of 125,000 men and 65,000 animals. It was an amazing engineering feat and an enormous logistical endeavor, essential to ending the war.
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