Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865

On April 1, 2015, John J. Fox III, will deliver a Banner Lecture entitled "Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865." Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865General Robert E. Lee faced the most monumental crisis of his military career on April 2, 1865. By sunrise that morning, the Union 6th Corps had punched a huge hole in Lee's outer line, southwest of Petersburg. He needed time for reinforcements to arrive from Richmond, but how could his depleted army buy that time? Against overwhelming odds, a handful of Confederates made a suicidal desperate last stand at Fort Gregg. Douglas Southall Freeman called this epic fight “one of the most dramatic incidents of an overwhelming day,” and yet it has been overshadowed by all the other historic events of April 1865. Fourteen Union soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their bravery at Fort Gregg. Many battle-scarred veterans from both sides described this clash as the nastiest of their four-year war experience. John J. Fox III, will tell the story of this long-overlooked battle that took place in the last days of the war in Virginia. Fox, a native of Richmond, graduated from Washington and Lee University before serving on active duty in the U.S. Army for seven years as an armor officer and aviator. He is the author of Red Clay to Richmond: Trail of the 35th Georgia Infantry Regiment (2005), The Confederate Alamo: Bloodbath at Petersburg’s Fort Gregg on April 2, 1865 (2010), and Stuart’s Finest Hour: The Ride Around McClellan, June 1862 (2013). When not writing, Fox is a pilot for American Airlines. The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.