East Hill, also called Bollingbrook, served as quarters for British commanders during the 1781 Virginia campaign. Major General William Phillips and Benedict Arnold stayed there during operations around Petersburg, and Cornwallis later used the property after arriving from North Carolina. On May 10 Lafayette's artillery bombarded the house from across the Appomattox. Phillips, already gravely ill, died there on May 13. Cornwallis is traditionally said to have ordered firing reduced while Phillips was dying, adding a personal episode to the wider struggle for control of Petersburg and its supply routes.

On the hilltop to the south is the site of East Hill, also known as Bollingbrook. There the British General Phillips, Benedict Arnold and Lord Cornwallis stayed in April and May, 1781. The house was bombarded by Lafayette, May 10, 1781. There Phillips died, May 13, 1781.

The event took place within a landscape where roads, bridges, rivers, taverns, farms, workshops, and private houses performed public functions. Military and political leaders depended on printers, laborers, servants, enslaved people, sailors, teamsters, messengers, militia, and local families. Their contributions and losses are often compressed into a marker's brief wording. Examining the location restores the practical scale of movement, supply, communication, and coercion that shaped the Revolution and the early republic.

Although the original structures or terrain may have changed, the marker fixes the history to a specific point. It encourages visitors to compare concise commemoration with the fuller documentary record and to consider how later generations selected events for remembrance. The site's value lies not only in its association with a famous person or date, but also in the way local geography and community resources influenced decisions with consequences far beyond the immediate neighborhood. Seen in broader context, this place demonstrates how large historical outcomes emerged from local choices, routes, resources, conflicts, and acts of endurance. The surviving location gives those relationships a tangible human scale. Seen in broader context, this place demonstrates how large historical outcomes emerged from local choices, routes, resources, conflicts, and acts of endurance. The surviving location gives those relationships a tangible human scale. Seen in broader context, this place demonstrates how large historical outcomes emerged from local choices, routes, resources, conflicts, and acts of endurance. The surviving location gives those relationships a tangible human scale. Seen in broader context, this place demonstrates how large historical outcomes emerged from local choices, routes, resources, conflicts, and acts of endurance. The surviving location gives those relationships a tangible human scale.