Battle of Petersburg April 25 1781 Artillery Position Marker

On 25 Apr. 1781, Maj. Gen. Friedrich von Steuben’s 1,000 Virginia militiamen, driven from the eastern edge of Blandford, established a strong defensive line along the western summit (now Madison Street) above Lieutenant Run valley. Maj. Gen. William Phillips’s British force occupied this ridge from here to the Appomattox River. After several unsuccessful infantry attacks, Phillips placed four artillery pieces here and fired on the American line. Facing this threat, and with American ammunition running low, von Steuben decided that any further defense of Petersburg would be futile and ordered a general retreat toward the Pocahontas Bridge to the north.