SUVCW #63 CAMP PROJECT

      Col. James D. Brady Camp ^No 63
Department of Maryland
    Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War

Brady Camp Preservation Project: Fort Alexander Hays

The Col. James D. Brady Camp is proud to work to preserve, protect, and
educate the public on the Fort Alexander Hays, the Siege of Petersburg and
the importance of this key segment of the Civil War.

The Brady Camp’s project is the placement of a Virginia Civil War Trails sign
at Fort Alexander Hays which is located on City property along the Flank and
Defense Roads in Petersburg Virginia.

Following a year of successful fundraising, the Civil War Trails Company installed the markers using our text and graphics. At Fort Alexander Hays, it is our plan to preserve the fort to allow future generations to understand and study trench warfare as it evolved during the final months of the Civil War.

Fort Hays CW Trails Sign Dedicated

Progress - Index May 12, 2007

PETERSBURG — Before last July, Fort Hays, located along Flank Road in southern Petersburg, was a dense tangle of trees, briars and other undergrowth.

In July, members of the Col. James D. Brady Camp No. 63 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War began the restoration of the Union fort.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, a restored portion of the fort was dedicated along with a Civil Wars Trails sign with a brief summary of the fort.

Fort Alexander Hays was a part of the siege line extending from the Appomattox River to about the location of the fort, said Chris Calkins, chief of interpretation for the Petersburg National Battlefield.

The string of forts and earthworks found along what is now Flank Road was also to counteract Confederate forces entrenched along what is now South Boulevard and Defense Road, Calkins said.

The fort continued the tradition of Union forts in the Petersburg area that were named after fallen officers.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays was a Pennsylvania native who saw action in the Second Battle of Manassas and Gettysburg before being killed May 5, 1864, during the Battle of the Wilderness outside of Fredericksburg.

Hayes also had a second fort named after him in Kansas. Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., is on a portion of the frontier post named for him.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War were able to raise money for improvements through T-shirt sales and other donations, said Neil Hanlon, commander of the camp.

“You couldn’t see anything in here,” Hanlon said of the fort before they began.

A corner of the earthen fort nearest to Flank Road has been exposed and the surrounding area has been cleared by the organization.

In the 1970s, the land was not incorporated into the National Park Service because it was deemed to have lost its historical integrity, said Bob Kirby,

superintendant of the Petersburg National Battlefield.

“I think it was a travesty for the National Park Service to forgo this property,” Kirby said. He also said that the Petersburg National Battlefield would aid the city as well as restoration partners to continue to preserve the site.

“We are extremely grateful to the renovation team,” said Mayor Annie M. Mickens. She said that City Council has a vision to enhance the historical

aspects of the city and give an accurate portrayal of what took place in the city.

“This history is making us what we will be,” she said.

Mickens said that the ultimate goal is to showcase the city’s historical attributes and the city itself as “The Jewel of Southside Virginia.”

“‘The Jewel of Southside Virginia’ is not a trite phrase,” Kirby said. “We have the real deal, folks.”

• T. DeVon Robinson may be reached at 722-5160 or at trobinson@progress-index.com.

The land on which Fort Hays is built was fought over on June 22, 1864, when the Union army first attempted to cut one of Lee’s vital rail supply lines, the Petersburg Railroad (usually called the Weldon Railroad) located about three miles west. While the Federals were unsuccessful then in what is known as the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, they did gain ground here and began entrenching. Fort Hays was constructed between August 26 and September 7 after the Union victory on August 18–21 in the Second Battle of Weldon Railroad (Globe Tavern). The fort, built to handle ten field guns, held four cannons and a 300-man garrison. Most forts in the Federal siege lines around Petersburg were named posthumously for Union officers who either died in the nearby fighting or during the preceding campaign. Fort Hays was named for Gen. Alexander Hays, a native of Pennsylvania, who graduated from West Point in the class of 1844. He served in the Mexican War and afterward became a construction engineer.

When the Civil War began, he became colonel of the 63rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on September 29, 1862, after suffering a severe wound in the Second Battle of Manassas. Hays rejoined the army in June 1863 and led a II Corps division at Gettysburg with conspicuous gallantry. He was killed on May 5, 1864, west of Fredericksburg in the Battle of the Wilderness near the intersection of Brock Road and Orange Plank Road. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh.

View more photos here.

LEGAL NOTICE: William Rose and Neil Hanlon, principals in the Col James D. Brady Camp 63, have terminated all business ties with Friends of the Petersburg Battlefield, a private enterprise located in Petersburg Virginia.

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