Rebel Gun in Front of Fort Hell (April 1865)

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Fort Sumter, dubbed "Fort Hell" by the soldiers, was one of the most advanced points of the United States line, standing boldly forward, and constantly inviting attack. The work is a very irregular one, and is thrown across the Jerusalem Plank Road, one of the most important thoroughfares leading out of Petersburg. It was here, as elsewhere, that only the reckless would dare expose the slightest part of their person for even a second to enemy fire.
Nearly opposite to this work is Fort Mahone, known by the Confederate men as "Fort Damnation." The distance between the main lines here is about fifteen hundred feet, and between the two pickets two hundred, the latter almost as strong as the former.

Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War - Plate 83