Sad Reunion

Confederate Brig. Gen. John R. Chambliss Jr., commander of a cavalry brigade, was killed near here after trying to rally his men on 16 Aug. 1864, during the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. Union Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg rode by and recognized Chambliss, with whom he had attended West Point in the early 1850s. Gregg secured some of Chambliss's personal items for the fallen man’s family. He also found in Chambliss’s pocket a detailed map of the fortifications around Richmond, which was later copied and distributed to Union officers. The two armies exchanged the dead from their lines on 17 Aug., and Chambliss’s body was sent to his widow in Hicksford, Virginia (now Emporia).

Department of Historic Resources, 2016