1865 Slack Manuscript Map of Fort Powhatan / Pocahontas, Virginia (Civil War)

This is an 1865 American Civil War manuscript letter and map of Fort Powhatan, Virginia, written by Abraham Slack, a member of the 38th Regiment, New Jersey Infantry. Consisting of three handwritten pages and a map on a single folded sheet. Slack wrote the letter to his son, John William Slack (1850 - c. 1910). In the letter, Slack describes Fort Powhatan in detail, expresses sympathy for desperate condition of the Confederate forces (and families) across the river, details recent military actions, and advises his son on matters of household management.

The Map

The map is oriented toward the northeast with James River filling the upper half. Wilson's Landing, the site of an important battle at the beginning of the 1864 Overland Campaign, is labeled in the upper right. Fort Powhatan or Fort Pocahontas, situated forty-five feet above the river, overlooks the James from the south. Within the fort, Slack identifies the battery, magazine, company living quarters, the captain's quarters, and the colonel's quarters. The defensive ditches surrounding the fort as well as other fortifications are illustrated. He describes one wall as a 'picket fence of tree tops'. Roads are labeled, including one along the James River. Outside the fort, a 'colored' cavalry camp is noted. The cavalry corral is some distance to the south, next to the camp of the 20th New York I Company. At the bottom of the sheet, Confederate held lands are labeled 'Rebbaldom'.

Transcription of the Letter

The following is a transcription of the letter. All spelling errors are as written in the original.

Fort Powhatton February 5th 1865
John Wm. Slack
Dear Son, I received yours of the first with stamps and pens last evening and was glad to hear that you have got along so well with your money matters, but thought it strange that you did not write to me sooner but I suppose the letter is at Washington waiting for the ice to get out of the Patomac River. The letters are comeing by Anappolis at this time the river here was crowded with floating ice but the boats fought their way through it but it is all most gone in the river but the rebs has had the chills so bad this winter that they have nearly frozen fast and it is a question whether they will ever thaw out again times are getter desparate for them. They suffer from the want of food and cloths, the woman that come to this post in their best clothing are many of them dressed about like the woman that peddle blackburies at Frenchtown they are objects of charity their deslate homes are heart rendering sense and their cries are peas peas peas.

I am well at present and have drawn for you a sketch of our fort which will give you some idea of our situation though it is drawn by observation and not by measurement therefore it is not prefect when it is wether fit to work you had better commence a cellar drain along the south side of the barrick and extend it to the south west corner of the house and it will drain it out. Dig plough deep at the barrick then get some tile and lay part of the way down the drain and the other improvements I will leave at present thinking that times but chang so that half the money will pay the bill set out some treese in front of the house the garden will be back of the house like that of Mr. Staylors if you can get 2 pines along the hill and plant would look very well set them 10 feet from the house probably Mr. A S Harring can do something with the wagons. I will set no price do the best you can with them the new wagon should not be sold for less than 70 dollars though it is worth 100 dollars at this time. You stated that you had some money but I think you should have one bill that I left besids what you wrote about. If you have not got that from Miss Rounwell try and get it.
if Mr Hudnit has not paiud that note of his you can get Mr Britton to assist you and give that to Mr Slater if these are all payed well and good if you come short in the spring I think I can accommodate you if I am paid. If the lot is put out Mr Britton shall have the first offer of it but there will be time to atend to that hereafter in your next letter you may send me 2 darning needles as one is liable to get broke
probably you had better hire a man 1/2 a day to help you with the cellar drain
The Frenchtown boys are all well and in good spirits. There was a sharp contest yester in the after part of the day which lasted part of the night which was renewed for a short time this afternoon. The connonaiding was heavy in the direction of Petersburg the result I have not learned but it is rumered here that the rebs got the worst of it.
yours truly
Abraham Slack

Fort Powhatan or Fort Pocahontas

Fort Powhatan was a fortified hill on the south bank of the James River, at a site known as Windmill Hill. The fortifications were built to protect nearby Richmond, Virginia. The first fort on the site was a two-gun battery called Hood's Battery, built in 1779 during the American Revolutionary War. The British attacked the fort in January 1781 under the command of Benedict Arnold and went on to burn Richmond. A larger fort, named Fort Hood, was built later that year. The federal government replaced Fort Hood in 1808 with Fort Powhatan, which became part of a formal system of fortifications.

Fort Pocahontas during the American Civil War

The area was mostly spared the ravages of the 1862 Peninsular Campaign, but the Confederate Army built a battery here in 186. In 1864, during Grant's Overland Campaign. Fort Powhatan became a critical supply point for the Union Army. Two regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT), commanded by General Benjamin Butler, landed at Wilson's Wharf and Fort Powhatan on May 5, 1864, and without resistance secured the fort. Over the next month, the USCT increased its fortifications and guarded the installation. The presence of USCT at Wilson's Wharf and Fort Powhatan angered Virginians. By May 24th, the Confederates could no longer tolerate the USCT and launched an assault. Led by Confederate Major General Fitzhugh Lee, 2,500 men attacked at noon on the 24th, demanding the fort's surrender. The Union commander refused, and General Lee pursued his attack, which Union forces, composed almost entirely of USCT, successfully repelled. After the attack on May 24, the fortifications were renamed Fort Pocahontas. Several units rotated through garrison duty, including the 38th New Jersey and the 16th New York Heave Artillery Companies E and H. Aside from serving as an important supply depot during the Siege of Petersburg, Fort Pocahontas was a refuge for escaped slaves and as a prison for Confederate sympathizers.

The Siege of Petersburg and the American Civil War

The city of Petersburg, Virginia was the site of the climactic campaign of the American Civil War, but not the final battle. The Union Army under command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, laid siege to the city from June 15, 1864, until April 2, 1865, a total of nine months, two weeks, and two days. Over those months, a series of trenches and forts, continuously expanded to the south, east, and west of the city, eventually reaching over thirty miles. Positions changed hands regularly, as General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army tried to force Confederates into surrendering. Union troops cut all supply lines, which served as the principal supply hub for the Confederate capital of Richmond, about twenty miles to the north. Large battles and small skirmishes were fought and Union forces bombarded Petersburg on a nearly daily basis. Richmond and Petersburg fell within days of one another in April, 1865.

Publication History

This map and letter were composed by Abraham Slack on February 5, 1865, and sent to his son John William Slack. Unique.