THE last days of 1864 closed with the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James maintaining the siege about Petersburg. Nearly every hour of the day and night the air was filled with the roar of siege cannons and mortars. Brady and Gardner had several of their cameras at the siege of Petersburg. Many rare negatives are to-day witnesses of this great event. The picture shown on this page was taken during the siege. It shows the thirteen-inch "Dictator," known as the "Petersburg Express," mounted on a flat freight car made strong for this purpose. It was on the military railroad outside of Petersburg and moved continually along the line, throwing its huge death-dealing bombs into the city. Some of the mortars were mounted on very strong, special-made cars, protected with roofs of railroad iron. Grant's line was twenty-five miles long, but with its parallels extending over ninety miles. The two forts nearest the city of Petersburg were known by the soldiers as Fort Hell and Fort Damnation. From their casemates the movements of the soldiers of the beleaguered city were distinctly visible. The guns of these two advanced forts were never silent. At nightfall, the pickets, with one hundred and fifty rounds of ball cartridges, left for the outposts, and many of them never returned. The night was made hideous by the roar of huge siege guns, the sudden crashes of musketry and the crack of rifle shells. The openings of the breastworks were so filled with shot during this siege that in time of truce the soldiers would dig the narrow openings out with their fingers. On the next page is shown a photograph taken April 2, 1865, in Confederate trenches at Petersburg just after their capture by the daring Union troops. [Illustration: GENERALS HANCOCK, BARLOW, BIRNEY AND GIBBON] [Illustration: SIEGE OF PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA--PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN JUST BEFORE ITS FALL IN 1865] [Illustration: RAILROAD BATTERY IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG DURING SIEGE] [Illustration: EARTHWORKS IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG--FEDERAL LINES AT FORT MORTON] [Illustration: DEAD CONFEDERATES IN TRENCHES AT PETERSBURG] DEEDS of valor on the battlefield have been sung from the earliest ages, but there is no epoch in the world's history when men have shown more magnificent courage, or greater devotion to principle, than in the Civil War of the United States. The days of ancient knighthood never saw more gallant fighters, no lancer ever met a worthier foe. It was the grandest spectacle of heroism that eyes have ever witnessed. At the battle-front, in prison pit, in hospital, or wounded on the field--no men ever endured more intense suffering.