FACING THE ENEMY

as General Ulysses S. Grant’s forces lay siege to Petersburg, Va., Robert E. Lee sought to bolster the reported September 19. “They do not talk so much of the impregnability of their capital, and, conscious of the indefatigable character of the present leader of our armies, have set to work digging with great industry, in hopes of rendering a possible vulnerability indubitably invulnerable.” Less than two weeks later, on September 29, Union troops assaulted and captured Fort Harrison, the strongest fort in the city’s earthen defenses and the only one to be apprehended by Union troops. Union Brig. Gen. Hiram Burnham was killed during the fighting, and Federal troops renamed the fortifications Fort Burnham in his honor. On November 28, 1864, photographer T.C. Roche captured this photograph of the interior of the fort after its occupation by Union troops. Perhaps by accident, he also captured a one-of-a-kind candid view of both Confederate and Union fighting men facing each other on the field of war.