1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Q07 
ference to the manner in which fowls should be prepared 
for. ami sent to. exhibition, viz.: All fowls should have 
their legs washed clean before they are sent to a show- 
scarf, or ilead skin, should be removed from the comb, 
dry dirt fiom the beak, and stains from the plumage. 
They shouUI, if possible, always be packed in baskets, 
which should be round, high enough for the cocks to 
stand upright in. even when crowing. The baskets should 
be covered with canvas. Fowls sliould be thoroughly 
fed before they leave home for a fair or show, but the 
food must be soft — bread, sopped or steeped, is excellent ; 
hard food is to be avoided, because the digestion will 
have to take place without exercise or gravel. Let birds 
of white plumage run at liberty till wanted to send away. 
Spanish are improved by confinement in a dark place for 
some days before showing, giving them just enough light 
to enable them to pick their food and to perch— they 
should also be littered with straw, as cleanliness has 
much to do with tlie success. Game fowls, it is held, 
should be kept up for a few days and fed on bread, meal, 
barley, and peas ; these latter make the plumage hard, 
but they also have a tendency to fatten, which is unde- 
sirable in games. Wiiite feathered birds, such as Silver 
Spangled Hamburg. Polands. etc., all require washing. 
This is not difficult— put a handful of soda in a bowl of 
warm water ; immerse the fowl entirely ; rinse thorough- 
ly in cold water ; wipe with a flannel and place in a bas- 
ket with straw, before a fire to dry. Wnen fowls return 
from a show looking in perfect health, do nothing ; but 
if the combs are dark, or crops hard, a tablespoonful 
of castor oil may do them good. 
(Editorial Correspondence.) 
Visit to a Virginia Battle Field.— A Guide 
to the CMef Points of Interest. 
Jarratt House, Petersburg; Fa., June 1th, 1865. 
Last July 4th, while engaged with the Sanitary Com- 
mission in caiing for our sick and wounded soldiers, I 
wrote to the readers of the Agriculturist fiom a point 2 
to 3 miles north east of where I now sit. giving an out- 
line map of tlie localities, and, so far as I could then see, 
of the military works around the city. Then I could 
only look over into these streets ; to-day, I am pleasant- 
L — VICINITY OF RICHMOND AND I'ETEKSBUKG. 
ly seated in the heart of the city, with my family and u 
party of friends. Then a hundred thousand men were 
intent upon breaking through the armed forces that met 
them at every point, and the almost unceasing roar of 
deep toned cannon, and the rattle of small arms broke 
upon the ear by day and by night. To-day, only here 
and there will one find an armed man in blue, and none 
in grey, and over the vast charnel field nought but the 
singing of birds, in the few remaining groves, disturbs 
the death-like stillness. Then I wrote, that no other 
spot I had ever seen in this country or in Europe, would 
so well repay a visit Immediately after the war should 
close, as the region around Petersburg. To-day I feel 
this more strongly than then. For three days I have 
wandered among the endless lines of earth-works and 
fortifications that belt Petersburg on all sides but the 
north, and I am sure that no more Intensely interesting 
locality is to be found in the world, when we take into 
account the number of men engaged, the length of time 
they were here, the severity of the almost daily strug- 
gles, and the closing up of the great war, of which the 
final decisive contest was fought just southwest of this 
cily. That is hardly an over-estimate which gives 150 
to 200 miles as the combined lenglh of the earthworks, 
rifie-plts, etc., within ten miles of Petersburg. These 
alone, seen in their present condition, before being 
greatly maried by the elements, are worth a journey of a 
thousand miles . . .Hundreds now come daily, from almost 
all parts of the country, and many thousands will doubt- 
less visit this place the present year, while the locality 
will for many years, if not centuries, be Increasingly at- 
tractive I learn that very few of the present visitors 
see more than a small part of what is to be seen here- 
abouts, because there are no maps or guides to assist them. 
Thus, most examine the *' Mine," Forts Steadman, 
Sedgewick ('* Hell,") and Mahone (" Damnation,") and 
go home without visiting the field of the decisive opera- 
tions on April 1st and 2d, last. At the request of many 
persons here, I will attempt to give a little outline of 
some of the more interesting points. 
The map on this page shows the relative position of 
Petersburg. Richmond, and City Point. The last was 
Gen. Grant's Head-quarters, and the base of supplies for 
the army of the Potomac, during ten months. (For 
description of this map and of the position of Ihe armies, 
incidents, etc., see Agriculturist for August, 1864.) In 
the ma|i on next page, is a general outline of the position 
of forts, etc., around Pe- 
tersburg, prior to April 1, 
this year. This sketch 
is from my own notes 
made white going over 
the ground, without any 
measuring line, or any 
compass save the sun: 
hence the distances, bear* 
ings, and angles, may not 
be entirely accurate, but 
they are sufficiently so, 
to greatly aid the visitor. 
The map is on a scale 
guessed at about one inch 
to the mile. Only some 
principal points are indi- 
cated. There are scores 
of batteries, and hun- 
dreds of short lines, small 
earthworks, and rifle-pits, 
etc., not indicated. Be- 
yond or outside of the 
space covered by the map, 
for miles away, are to be 
found forts, earthworks, 
and scenes of skirmishes 
and pitched battles, as at 
Ream's Station down the 
Weldon railroad, at Five 
Forks several miles south- 
west, and also on the 
Boydton Plank Road, and 
along Hatcher's Run. The 
space covered by the map 
is cut up with lines of 
breastworks, rifle-pits, 
earth-forts, thousands of 
soldiers' huts still stand- 
ing, and almost unending 
lines of abatis (ab-a-tee ). 
These last consist of 
sharpened sticks and tree 
tops placed firmly in the 
ground, and leaning out- 
ward, a few rods in front 
of the main lines and 
around the forts, ar- 
ranged so as to greatly ob- 
struct the approach of an enemy. Most of the abatis 
are bound together by strong wires. They are being 
removed quite rapidly for fire-wood, by the negroes and 
other inhabitants of Petersburg. This, with the 
washing down of the many earth-ridges and rifle-pits 
by rains, and the leveling of others for agricultural pur- 
poses, will materially change the appearance of the 
whole region ere long. The main lines consist chielly 
of lieavy continuous banks of eaith, high enough to 
shield the bodies of the men, too thick to be battered 
down by cannon, and having a ditch on the side next to the 
enemy. Forts and batteries are built at convenient dis- 
tances along tlie lines, to cover the space between 
them, and are usually placed upon knolls, or higher por- 
tions of the ground. Some of the forts are very large 
and well finished, witli bomb-proofs. A bomb-proof is 
usually made thus : a shallow cellar is dug. if the ground 
allow, anil walls of logs are laid &}i to 8 feet high ; long 
log beams are laid across the top, projecting a few feet 
each way ; upon these, a flooring of logs is placed, and 
earth piled over, and also up against the sides, so thick 
as to be impenetrable by shell, thus forming a secure 
retreat. Air and some light enter between the cross- 
beams. These bomb-proofs are of various sizes and 
forms ; one in Fort Wadsworth is about 150 feet long 
and some 12 feet wide inside. Ammunition magazines are 
similarly built. Sometimes the etnth walls of the bomb 
proofs, and of the forts themselves, are kept perpendicu 
lar by means of bags, or baskets of earth, or by fascines 
(bundles of long rods, or sticks bound together). Some 
of the forts are fine specimens of military workmanshij), 
as Fort Fisher, and Forts Wadsworth and Sedgwick. 
The first map shows the general position of the lines 
last July. In August and September, Gen. Grant ad- 
vanced his lines to the Weldon Railroad, and secured a 
second line, curving in north-west at Fort Fisher 
towards the South-side Railroad, which it was very de- 
sirable to reach, and which was so strenuously defended 
by the enemy. (See map IL) This lineWas retained. 
The most interesting points to be examined by the 
transient visitor, are: Fort Gregg, (rebel,) Fort Fisher 
and the tower or observatory (150 feet high) near it. Pop- 
lar Grove Church. Forts Wadsworth, Sedgwick and 
Mahone, the Mine, and Foit Steadman, On horseback, 
one can go the round of all these in a day. following the 
dotted line in the direction of the arrow s , or in the re- 
verse order, beginning at the north-east. But two or 
three days will be far moie satisfactory. I will sketch 
briefly a two-days trip by a party of thirteen of us— two 
ladies, three children of 9 to 14 years, with four men be- 
sides the driver all In a large covered spiing wagon 
and four men on horseback. Outfit: a box of eatables, 
a jug of water and cup, some bags for holding relics, a 
large hatchet, and field glasses to aid the eyes, brought 
from home. Clothing and shoes adapted to rough journey. 
Another valuable adjunct was a package of Daily Papers, 
selected from the home files, containing descriptions at 
the time, of movements and battles occurring at the var- 
ious points to be visited, to be read in connection witli 
the actual examination of the localities. 
First Day's TW;?.— Starting from the Jarratt House 
westward, then deflecting to the left, we passed the noith 
side of the rebel hospitals, as shown on the map, and 
continued west X to )tf raile, until a short turn to the left 
(south) took us nearly to Mr. Green's house. Then 
tuiTiing to the right, and passing by the negro huts, we 
continued west across a brook, and up a hill, going just 
south of Roger A. Prior's residence, situated in the grove 
of trees on the right. Bending to the south south-west, 
we followed a field road to the rebel Fort Gregg, a large 
prominent fort on a hill, K to )i mile from Mr. Prior's 
house. All along the route, so far, and indeed all the 
rest of the way, are seen rifle pits, breastworks, etc. On 
the road west from the hospitals, the chimnies in tlie 
distance (west) inilicate wlvere Gen. Lee's headquarters 
were before the buildings weie burned on the evacua- 
tion. Before reaching Fort Gregg, we see on the left 
the remains of a large dam, built to overflow the Union 
camps, some distance southward.- —Fort Gregg. 
There are two forts of this name, one Union and one 
Rebel. The latter is a point of great interest. Strong as 
it is, it was assaulted and taken by storm on April 2nd. 
Standing on the fort and looking south-east, we see the 
valley through which the heavy assaulting party came 
up amid a tempest of lead and iron. The many Union 
graves in front, and the mounds of rebel dead buried in 
its rear, with the cannon shot and bullet holes in the 
palisades, indicate the severity of the struggle. How 
flesh and blood could have lived through'the Are of can- 
non and musketry, crossed the deep ditch, and climbed 
into the fort we stand on, it is almost impossible to 
conceive. But it was done, and this was one of the 
crowning achievements that secured the evacuation 
of Petersbiirg ami Richmond. One will not soon tire 
here, looking over the wide fields on every side, and 
reading the description rf the assault. Just west of Fort 
