Caravan Tour Remembers “Battle of Old Men and Young Boys”

“Let the church bells ring! Call out the Militia!”

As the 150th anniversary of one of the most unique events in the history of the City of Petersburg and of the Civil war approaches, Petersburg National Battlefield will host ranger-led caravan tours providing an in-depth study of the June 9, 1864 defense known as the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys. Caravan tours will take place at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. Each will be approximately 90 minutes long.
The tours depart the visitor center of the Eastern Front Unit at 5001 Siege Road and end in Old Town Petersburg. Participants will use their own vehicles to follow the park ranger to little- visited sites of the battle site and the homes and businesses of the citizen soldiers who defended their hometown against Union assault.
On June 9, 1864 Union members of the Petersburg militia were sitting in quiet camp on the Jerusalem Plank Road, now Crater Road, or were at work in the city. They were unaware that Union forces were launching a surprise attack on the City of Petersburg. With most fighting age males already in the army and few Confederate troops in the area, it fell to the young boys and old men to prevent the Union troops from easily capturing the city. On the morning of June 9 church bells signaled the enemy threat and the usual tedium of drill and trench duty suddenly transformed into a life or death struggle that put the future of Petersburg and possibly the future of the Confederate capital and the nascent country in the hands of men and boys considered unfit for active service. The militia with few men and mostly obsolete arms and equipment gamely resisted the attack. Though initially successful, the stalwart defenders of the city were eventually overwhelmed by superior numbers and fire power. They held out long enough for Confederate reinforcements, including “Patients and Penitents” who were discharged sick and walking wounded and freed prisoners from the jail, to arrive and save the day. Soon wagons were delivering dead and wounded militiamen to their homes and to hospitals. Over the next few days the same church bells that summoned them to battle would call mourners to the funerals of the old men and young boys who had given their lives in defense of the city. Many of their comrades were shipped off North to imprisonment.
The tours visit the Dimmock Line sites involved in the battle from Battery 5 to Ft. Mahone, the only monument to the battle, Rives Salient and the site of the “Patients and Penitents” fight and the home site of William C. Bannister who was killed.
The caravan tours are free with admission to the battlefield. Admission is $5 per vehicle, but all valid National Park passes are accepted. There is a ten vehicle limit due to parking limitations. Reservations are required. Please call Park Ranger Randy Watkins at (804) 732-3531 ext. 205 for more information or to make reservations. Follow the instructions on the voice mail message or register by e-mail. E-mail
randolph_watkins@nps.gov and leave your name, best contact telephone number, e-mail address if you use one, the time of the tour for which you wish to register, and the number of people in your party.