The Peninsula Campaign Part 9- A Civil War Traveler Goes to Yorktown?

Yorktown is best known for the role the area played in the Revolutionary War and Washington’s victory over Cornwallis. But what many visitors do not realize is that there was another siege of Yorktown during the Civil War and there are many sites on the battlefield that were involved in the war.

Maps of the Confederate and Union lines from the Atlas of the Official Records are shown below.

**Both lines Confederate in red and Union in blue**

**Confederate Line around the city- although these were originally created during the Revolutionary War Magruder repaired them for use in the Civil War**

Cornwallis’ Cave- 37.2351771, -76.5050403. Legend has it that Cornwallis hid in this cave to avoid the bombardment during the Siege of Yorktown during the Revolutionary War leading to the cave’s name. However, it is unclear whether this is actually true. The cave was used by Confederate forces to store ammunition. They cut these small rectangular areas into the wall of the cave to install support beams for a plank roof.

**You can see three rectangular recesses cut into the wall** **on the center left side of the image**

The Visitor Center- 1000 Colonial National Historic Parkway has two small exhibits on the Civil War and some relics from the battlefield.

**Case of Civil War relics from the battlefield**

The Inner Line from the Revolutionary War Tour Stop A (British Inner Defense Line) was reconstructed by General John Magruder for use during the Civil War.

Inner line seen from the Yorktown side

The Inner wall seen from the Union side

Surrender Field- Most people as they walk from the parking lot to the exhibit interpreting Surrender Field and the captured British cannon there do not realize that they are walking right past part of McClellan’s Battery #6 on the right side of the walkway.

Battery #6

The Moore House- 228 Nelson Road. The house was between Confederate lines in Yorktown and the Union line on Wormley Creek and was severely damaged by cannon fire. Later foraging soldiers stripped away the siding and any usable wood for fuel.