Remembering Oliver Bates at Petersburg - 150 Years Later

This week marks the premier conflict of Union General Ulysses S. Grant's Petersburg Campaign, the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road. This battle marked another costly engagement between the two armies. The 20th Massachusetts Regiment gave exemplary service on this day by holding their position and repelling furhter attacks by Conferate General William Mahone.

My second great-granduncle Oliver Bates served with the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment at Petersburg and was severely wounded while serving on picket duty along the Jerusalem Plank Road. He was wounded in the left leg by an exploding shell and was carried to the Second Division Hospital at City Point where Doctor Nathan Hayward found it necessary to amputate his leg. He was subsequently transported to Slough Barracks Hospital in Alexandria for hospital care.¹

For additional information about Oliver Bates and the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment please visit http://20thmassregt150.blogspot.com.

References:
¹Compiled service record, Oliver S. Bates, Pvt., Co. A, 20th Massachusetts Infantry; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.