Thanks, Chicago Civil War Round Table

I'm grateful to the Chicago Civil War Round Table for a pleasant reception and a good dinner on Friday, May 10, 2019 at the Holiday Inn O'Hare.  The talk I gave was about the 12th Virginia Infantry, the Petersburg Regiment, at the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, June 22-23, 1864.  Congratulations to my teammate from Morgan Park Academy, Jim Cunningham, on being named next year's president of the Chicago Civil War Round Table, the nation's oldest.

Dr. Richard J. Sommers, A Dean of Petersburg Scholars

I was saddened yesterday to learn of the death of Dr. Richard J. Sommers, author of Richmond Redeemed.  He was a dean of Petersburg scholars and his book set the standard for research on the subject.  I only met Dick once, in 1995, when his Harrisburg Civil War Round Table had be out to take them on a tour of the August 1864 battlefields around Petersburg and Richmond.  Before his December operation we corresponded and he gave me some sage advice on the scope of my current project about Grant's second offensive at Petersburg.  He was a real gentleman and I'll miss him.

Kirkland's (Faribault's) Brigade and A. P. Hill's Headquarters, June 22-23, 1864

Girardey, one of Mahone's staff officers, conveyed Mahone's plan to attack II Corps to A. P. Hill at the Davis house around 1 p.m. on June 22, 1864, then proceeded to convey the same to Cadmus Wilcox farther southeast.  William Mahone, Reply to a Communication Published by Gen. S. M. Wilcox in the "New Orleans Times," of January 1st, 1872, Mahone Family Papers; Gordon McCabe to William Mahone, July 17, 1872, Mahone Family Papers. 

Kirkland's brigade (minus 44NC) was at A. P. Hill's HQ at 10:30 p.m. June 22.  OR 51, 2:1025-1026.

Putting these two facts together suggests to me that A. P. Hill's HQ that day was at the Davis house and that was the location of Kirkland's brigade that day and probably the next.  OR 40, 2:376.  The brigade otherwise did not participate in Mahone's mauling of VI Corps on June 23.

The Confederates placed artillery at the Davis house June 21 and August 21, suggesting the site was elevated.  My USGS map is not handy, only a download, but it looks like high ground to me such as would make it suitable for an HQ as well.