"On to Richmond!" was a battle cry heard with chilling frequency during the War Between the States.  Seven Union drives were launched against the capital of the Confederacy.  The North sought the psychological victory of capturing the symbol of southern independence as well as the military advantage of disabling the principal supply depot for the Confederate army.

Two Federal drives nearly succeeded: McClellan's in 1862 and Grant's in 1864.  You can trace them at Richmond National Battlefield Park's Chimborazo Visitor Center with the help of an audio-visual program, exhibits and park rangers.  An annotated park map routes you along the 60-mile battlefield trail; you can rent or buy auto tape tours.

There are five tour stops along the McClellan route (marked in red).  The first is Chickahominy Bluff from which General Lee watched the opening engagement of the Seven Days' campaign.  You can see earthwork fortifications that protected his position.

The next stop is Beaver Dam Creek, a Federal defensive position that was part of the three-mile Union line that Lee tried to break on June 26, 1862.  Along the short trail at Gaines' Mill, you can walk the steep hillside used by the same Union forces who had defended Beaver Dam Creek.  They tried in vain to hold the line against determined Confederate assaults.  A battlefield landmark, the restored Watt House (seen from the exterior only), exemplifies the middle-class farms around which the Seven Days' campaign was fought.

Another stop is Malvern Hill where the last of the battles raged.  So fierce was the fighting that afterward a Confederate officer mourned, "It was not war---it was murder.”

The last stop along the red route is Drewry's Bluff where Fort Darling protected the James River (and thus Richmond).  This Confederate fort even repulsed the Monitor, the formidable Union ironclad.

Only an ardent Civil War buff would want to explore both 1862 and 1864 routes on the same day;  most people return later to cover Grant's drive (the blue route).  If you've stopped before at the Chimborazo Visitor Center, you can begin the blue route at the Cold Harbor Visitor Center where there are picnic facilities.  The facility is staffed daily during the summer months and signs direct you along a one-mile interpretive walking trail or a 1 1/4 mile auto route.   Both take you past well-preserved Civil War trenches that proved impregnable against frontal attack and influenced battlefield tactics.  The nearby Garthright House was used as a field hospital.  It is not open, but the exterior has been restored to look as it did in the 1860s.  Some portions of the house date from the 1700s.

South of Richmond, the action shifts to Fort Harrison where there is another small visitor center open daily in the summer and on weekends in spring and fall.  On occasional summer weekends, Fort Harrison offers living history programs.  Miles of breastworks connected the smaller forts that surrounded Fort Harrison.  A self-guided trail leads you though the fort.  The self-guided driving tour continues to Fort Brady on the James River.

Richmond National Battlefield Park's Chimborazo Visitor Center is open 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.  There is no admission charge.

Directions:  From I-95 northbound use Exit 74C; if you are traveling south, take Exit 74B.  Take East Broad Street to the Chimborazo Visitor Center at 3215 East Broad Street.