Petersburg Courthouse

This photograph of the Petersburg Courthouse was taken in April 1865, just following the Union army's ten-month siege of the city. The end of that siege was marked on April 3 when a regiment of Michigan sharpshooters—the first to enter the city following Confederate general Robert E. Lee's retreat—lowered the Confederate flag from the courthouse and raised the Stars and Stripes. Originally built in 1839, the building still stands today.