December 13, 2014
SCENES FROM REDOUBT NO. 1
Redoubt No. 1, located on Benham Avenue, was the last of the Confederate Army’s five earthen forts to fall. Federal troops enveloped it late in the afternoon of December 15, 1864, attacking from the west and north. The Redoubt’s 150 men and four artillery pieces were no match for the overwhelming tide of blue that swept over them that day.
After the first day’s battle, the redoubt was converted into a field hospital and contemporary artists’ renderings show it flying the yellow hospital flag. BONPS, which owns the property, flew the yellow flag during the December 13 commemoration, during which several Federal reenactors and a Confederate “prisoner of war” imparted their knowledge of the battle and their gear to dozens of visitors.
