Old photos: National Archives; Tombstone photo: Hoag Levins. While the fighting of the Civil War raged across the whole lower half of the country, one of its primary focuses was the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., and the nearby critical railroad bridges and hub facilities at Petersburg. The final collapse and occupation of Richmond by Union troops was a closing act of the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers, including Pvt. Christopher Hill of the 99th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, were ultimately involved in battles across all of eastern central Virginia to isolate and finally crush the Petersburg and Richmond defenses. The photos above show the destroyed rail bridges, trench lines, fortifications and dead from those battles. ~ ~ ~ March 24, 2004 | All Rights Reserved © 2004, HistoricCamdenCounty.com