VA-K201 Battery Dantzler

Marker text: BATTERY DANTZLER

A half-mile northeast stands Battery Dantzler, named for Col. Olin Miller Dantzler, 22d South Carolina Infantry (killed in action nearby on 2 June 1864), and constructed in May - June 1864 to block the Union navy's approach to Richmond. The battery anchored the northern end of the earthworks cut across the Bermuda Hundred peninsula from Swift Creek on the south to the James River on the north. Battery Dantzler's artillery included two 7-inch Brooke rifles, two 8-inch smooth-bore Columbiads, and two coastal mortars. The battery operated until 2 April 1865, when it was abandoned and its naval garrison marched with Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia westward to Appomattox Court House.

Department of Historic Resources, 1994