From the Richmond Commercial Bulletin, 7/7/1865, p. 3, c. 1

THE OLD ARSENAL. – The South bank of the canal in the neighborhood of the Petersburg depot, presents an aspect of desolation truly mournful. A locomotive, burned and battered, and a few dilapidated cars, stand on the track, mournful momentoes of the busy and bustling past. Spectral chimneys tower among the ruins, the ghosts of happy homesteads, and far out in the foaming river the massy piers of the old railroad bridge still stand, but no springing arches span the gulf beneath, no timid traveler gazes from the car windows into the depth profound.

Around the old Confederate Arsenal the bricks have been piled up, and only a few rusty shot and shell, ancient gun barrels and broken fragments of bayonets and sabres, mark the spot where such immense military stores were accumulated, the balance having become the prey of old metal hunters, curiosity seekers, and others of that ilk. All is brick and mortar and ashes and ruin.

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