Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3.

[340] Army of the Potomac, when led by McClellan and Hooker. It was now in front of a formidable line of redans, redoubts, and infantry parapets, with the outer defenses of abatis, stakes, and chevaux-de-frise, constructed by skillfully-directed labor. This line was nearly forty miles in length, extending from the left bank of the Appomattox, around the western side of Petersburg, and so on to and across the James, to the northeastern side of Richmond. To menace that line, and to keep the defenders within it, required an equally extended and strong line, and this was speedily provided. Re-enforcements swelled the weakened ranks of the Nationals, and strong works were cast up along the front of the whole Confederate line, from the Weldon road to the region of the Chickahominy.

on the night of the 20th of June, Butler, by one of his prompt movements, had thrown the brigade of General Foster across the James River at Deep Bottom, where he formed an intrenched Camp; and this post, within ten miles of Richmond, was immediately connected with the Army at Bermuda hundred by a pontoon bridge, represented in the engraving on the preceding page. There Smith's (Eighteenth) corps was transferred to Bermuda hundred, and thenceforth served with the Army of the James a greater part of the time during the siege. The lodgment of Foster, and the laying of the pontoon bridge at Deep Bottom, provided a way for Grant to move heavy masses quickly to the north side of the James, if desired. This advantage was perceived by Lee, who met it by laying a similar bridge across the River at Drewry's Bluff, by which he could make countervailing movements. By the close of July, a greater portion of that wonderful network of fortifications in front of Petersburg, which commanded the admiration of visitors, was nearly completed, and the Lieutenant-General was in a position to choose his method of warfare, whether by a direct assault, the slower process of a regular siege, or by heavy operations on the flanks of the Confederates.

tail-pieces — Camp Stool.