Historic Photos of the Siege of Petersburg seeks to show in period photos the time of the 1864-1865 trench warfare known as Siege of Petersburg. The book “recounts this pivotal event in the war through hundreds of historic photographs, [...]. Spotlighted here are many of the soldiers and officers embroiled in the contest, the ingenious fortifications they designed, and the harm they wrought and sustained in their struggle to champion a cause.”

This is a book that would be of interest to a wide audience interested in Petersburg history or the events of the Civil War. The text of the book serves as an introduction and overview to the events of the siege. The well-selected photographs, as the focus of the book, are what make the book so fascinating. All of the photos are captioned, almost all with several sentences or more.

All of the almost 200 photos appear to be in the public domain, with the great majority coming from the Library of Congress and a few sourced from the Library of Virginia. The key sets of images in the book are the collections of the soldiers and the environment of their fortifications and trenches. Also included are portraits of the leaders from both sides of the conflict and street scenes from around Petersburg showing the damaged buildings.

The authors/editors of Historic Photos of the Siege of Petersburg, Emily & John Salmon, have solid credentials: she is a senior copy editor in the Publications and Educational Services Division at the Library of Virginia and co-editor of The Hornbook Of Virginia History, and he is a former archivist at the Library of Virginia. In addition, they have put together a collection of other notable books including The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide, Historic Photos of Richmond, Historic Photos of Gettysburg, and the upcoming Historic Photos of Virginia.

There will be 2 book signings by the authors, Emily & John Salmon, in the Richmond area in June: June 6th, 12:30PM @Fountain Bookstore, and June 14th, 2pm @ Barnes & Noble at Libbie Place.

PHOTO: (FIRST) soldier stands guard at City Point, (SECOND) the Petersburg Express aka the Dictator