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Siege of Petersburg

January 20, 2023

For the American Revolutionary War battle known as the "Battle of Petersburg", see Battle of Blandford. For the World War II battle, see Siege of Leningrad.

The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865,[5] during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the siege of Petersburg, it was not a classic military siege, in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off, nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg. The campaign consisted of nine months of trench warfare in which Union forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over 30 miles (48 km) from the eastern outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg. Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond. Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. Many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines.

Siege of Petersburg
Part of the American Civil War

The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg. In the foreground, the figure on the right is Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac.[1]
DateJune 9, 1864 – March 25, 1865
(9 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Petersburg, Virginia
Result Union victory
Belligerents
 United States  Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Ulysses S. Grant
George Meade
Benjamin Butler		 Robert E. Lee
P. G. T. Beauregard
Units involved
Army of Northern Virginia
Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia
Strength
125,000 60,000[2] (estimate)
Casualties and losses
42,000[3] (estimate) 28,000[3] (estimate)
25,000 desertions[4]

Lee finally gave into the pressure and abandoned both cities in April 1865, leading to his retreat and surrender at Appomattox Court House. The siege of Petersburg foreshadowed the trench warfare that was common in World War I, earning it a prominent position in military history. It also featured the war's largest concentration of African-American troops, who suffered heavy casualties at such engagements as the Battle of the Crater and Chaffin's Farm.

Background

Military situation

Main article: Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
Further information: American Civil War
 
Fredericksburg, Virginia; May 1863. Soldiers in the trenches. Trench warfare would appear again more infamously in World War I

In March 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and was given command of the Union Army. He devised a coordinated strategy to apply pressure on the Confederacy from many points, something President Abraham Lincoln had urged his generals to do from the beginning of the war. Grant put Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his own headquarters to be with the Army of the Potomac (still commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade) in Virginia, where he intended to maneuver Lee's army to a decisive battle; his secondary objective was to capture Richmond (the capital of the Confederacy), but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. His coordinated strategy called for Grant and Meade to attack Lee from the north, while Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler drove toward Richmond from the southeast; Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to control the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; Brig. Gens. George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama.[6]

Most of these initiatives failed, often because of the assignment of generals to Grant for political rather than military reasons. Butler's Army of the James bogged down against inferior forces under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard before Richmond in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Sigel was soundly defeated at the Battle of New Market in May and soon afterward he was replaced by Maj. Gen. David Hunter. Banks was distracted by the Red River Campaign and failed to move on Mobile. However, Crook and Averell were able to cut the last railway linking Virginia and Tennessee, and Sherman's Atlanta Campaign was a success, although it dragged on through the fall.[7]

On May 4, Grant and Meade's Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River and entered the area known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania, beginning the six-week Overland Campaign. At the bloody but tactically inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–7) and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 8–21), Grant failed to destroy Lee's army but, unlike his predecessors, did not retreat after the battles; he repeatedly moved his army leftward to the southeast in a campaign that kept Lee on the defensive and moved ever closer to Richmond. Grant spent the remainder of May maneuvering and fighting minor battles with the Confederate army as he attempted to turn Lee's flank and lure him into the open. Grant knew that his larger army and base of manpower in the North could sustain a war of attrition better than Lee and the Confederacy could. This theory was tested at the Battle of Cold Harbor (May 31 – June 12) when Grant's army once again came into contact with Lee's near Mechanicsville. He chose to engage Lee's army directly, by ordering a frontal assault on the Confederate fortified positions on June 3. This attack was repulsed with heavy losses. Cold Harbor was a battle that Grant regretted more than any other and Northern newspapers thereafter frequently referred to him as a "butcher". Although Grant suffered high losses during the campaign—approximately 50,000 casualties, or 41%—Lee lost even higher percentages of his men—approximately 32,000, or 46%—losses that could not be replaced.[8]

On the night of June 12, Grant again advanced by his left flank, marching to the James River. He planned to cross to the south bank of the river, bypassing Richmond, and isolate Richmond by seizing the railroad junction of Petersburg to the south. While Lee remained unaware of Grant's intentions, the Union army constructed a pontoon bridge 2,100 feet (640 m) long and crossed the James River on June 14–18. What Lee had feared most of all—that Grant would force him into a siege of Richmond—was poised to occur. Petersburg, a prosperous city of 18,000, was a supply center for Richmond, given its strategic location just south of Richmond, its site on the Appomattox River that provided navigable access to the James River, and its role as a major crossroads and junction for five railroads. Since Petersburg was the main supply base and rail depot for the entire region, including Richmond, the taking of Petersburg by Union forces would make it impossible for Lee to continue defending Richmond (the Confederate capital). This represented a change of strategy from that of the preceding Overland Campaign, in which confronting and defeating Lee's army in the open was the primary goal. Now, Grant selected a geographic and political target and knew that his superior resources could besiege Lee there, pin him down, and either starve him into submission or lure him out for a decisive battle. Lee at first believed that Grant's main target was Richmond and devoted only minimal troops under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard to the defense of Petersburg.[9]

Opposing forces

Union

Further information: Union order of battle at Second Petersburg, Union order of battle at First Deep Bottom, Union order of battle at the Crater, Union order of battle at Globe Tavern, Union order of battle at Chaffin's Farm, Union order of battle at Boydton Plank Road
Key Union commanders

At the beginning of the campaign, Grant's Union forces consisted of the Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and the Army of the James, under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler.

The Army of the Potomac included:[10]

The Army of the James included:[14]

On December 3, 1864, the racially integrated X Corps and XVIII Corps were reorganized to become the all-white XXIV Corps and the all-black (officers excepted) XXV Corps.[15]

Grant made his headquarters in a cabin on the lawn of Appomattox Manor, the home of Dr. Richard Eppes and the oldest home (built in 1763) in what was then City Point, but is now Hopewell, Virginia.

Confederate

Further information: Confederate order of battle
Key Confederate commanders

Lee's Confederate force consisted of his own Army of Northern Virginia, as well as a scattered, disorganized group of 10,000 men defending Richmond under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. Many of the men under Beauregard's command consisted of soldiers who were either too young or too old to fight in the Army of Northern Virginia, or men who had been discharged from Lee's army due to wounds that rendered them unfit for service. The Army of Northern Virginia was initially organized into four corps:[16]

Beauregard's Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia had four depleted divisions commanded by Maj. Gens. Robert Ransom Jr., Robert F. Hoke, and William H. C. Whiting, and Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt. (Later in the campaign, Beauregard's department was expanded and reorganized to consist of the divisions of Maj. Gens. Hoke and Bushrod Johnson).[19]

Comparison between Union and Confederate armies

Grant's armies were significantly larger than Lee's during the campaign, although the strengths varied. During the initial assaults on the city, 15,000 Federal troops faced about 5,400 men under Beauregard. By June 18, the Federal strength exceeded 67,000 against the Confederate 20,000. More typical of the full campaign was in mid-July, when 70,000 Union troops faced 36,000 Confederates around Petersburg, and 40,000 men under Butler faced 21,000 around Richmond.[20] The Union Army, despite suffering horrific losses during the Overland Campaign, was able to replenish its soldiers and equipment, taking advantage of garrison troops from Washington, D.C., and the increasing availability of African-American soldiers. By the end of the siege, Grant had 125,000 men to begin the Appomattox Campaign.[21] The Confederate army, in contrast, had difficulty replacing men lost through battle, disease, and desertion. As a result of this severe lack of manpower facing the Confederates, when Beauregard's men occupied the trenches around the city, there were gaps in the line of up to 5 feet (1.5 m) between men.[22]

Role of African Americans

 
A portion of the 4th USCT Infantry

At the siege of Petersburg in June 1864, enslaved African Americans worked on digging trenches and other manual labor on behalf of the Confederacy, while African Americans fought in the Union Army of the Potomac as soldiers of the United States Colored Troops.[23]

In Petersburg

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Virginia had a black population of about 549,000. This meant that of the Confederacy's total black population, one in six blacks lived in Virginia. Of those African Americans in Virginia 89% were slaves. In Petersburg about half the population was black of which nearly 35% were free. Petersburg was considered to have the largest number of free blacks of any Southern city at that time. Many of the freedmen prospered there as barbers, blacksmiths, boatmen, draymen, livery stable keepers, and caterers.[23]

Serving the Confederacy

When Petersburg became a major supply center for the newly formed Confederacy and its nearby capital in Richmond, both freedmen and slaves were employed in various war functions, one of which was working for the numerous railroad companies that operated in and out of the city. In 1862 Captain Charles Dimmock used freedmen and slave labor to construct a ten-mile long defensive line of trenches and batteries around the city.[23]

Once the siege began in June, African Americans continued working for the Confederacy. In September, General Robert E. Lee asked for an additional 2,000 blacks to be added to his labor force. On January 11, 1865 General Robert E. Lee wrote the Confederate Congress urging them to pass pending legislation to arm and enlist black slaves in exchange for their freedom. On March 13, the Confederate Congress passed legislation to raise and enlist companies of black soldiers.[23] The legislation was then promulgated into military policy by Davis in General Order No. 14 on March 23.[24] The emancipation offered, however, was still reliant upon one's master agreement; "no slave will be accepted as a recruit unless with his own consent and with the approbation of his master by a written instrument conferring, as far as he may, the rights of a freedman".[24]

Serving the Union

During the war a total of nearly 187,000 African Americans served in the Union Army. Of those the greatest concentration of U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) was at Petersburg. In the initial assault upon the city on June 15, a division of USCTs in the XVIII Corps helped capture and secure a section of the Dimmock Line. The other division at Petersburg was with the IX Corps and it fought in the Battle of the Crater, July 30.[23]

In December, all the United States Colored Troops around Petersburg were incorporated into three divisions and became the XXV Corps of the Army of the James.[25] It was the largest black force assembled during the war and varied between 9,000 and 16,000 men. Overall in the Petersburg Campaign USCTs would participate in 6 major engagements and earn 15 of the 25 total {https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/history/honoring-the-african-american-recipients-of-the-civil-war} Medals of Honor that were awarded to African American soldiers in the Civil War.[23]

At City Point

African Americans served in varying capacities at the Union supply base at City Point. They served as pickets, railroad workers, and laborers "discharging the ships, wheeling the dirt, sawing the timber and driving the piles." Many also worked at the Depot Field Hospital as cooks.[23]

Initial attempts to capture Petersburg

Butler's assault (June 9)

Further information: First Battle of Petersburg
 
Richmond–Petersburg Theater, fall 1864
  Confederate
  Union

While Lee and Grant faced each other after Cold Harbor, Benjamin Butler became aware that Confederate troops had been moving north to reinforce Lee, leaving the defenses of Petersburg in a vulnerable state. Sensitive to his failure in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, Butler sought to achieve a success to vindicate his generalship. He wrote, "the capture of Petersburg lay near my heart."[26]

Petersburg was protected by multiple lines of fortifications, the outermost of which was known as the Dimmock Line, a line of earthworks and trenches 10 miles (16 km) long, with 55 redoubts, east of the city. The 2,500 Confederates stretched thin along this defensive line were commanded by a former Virginia governor, Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise. Despite the number of fortifications, because of a series of hills and valleys around the outskirts of Petersburg there were several places along the outer defenses where cavalry could easily ride through undetected until they reached the inner defenses of the city.[27]

Butler's plan was formulated on the afternoon of June 8, calling for three columns to cross the Appomattox and advance with 4,500 men. The first and second consisted of infantry from Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore's X Corps and U.S. Colored Troops from Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hinks's 3rd Division of XVIII Corps, which was to attack the Dimmock Line east of the city. The third was 1,300 cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. August Kautz, who were to sweep around Petersburg and strike it from the southeast. The troops moved out on the night of June 8, but made poor progress. Eventually the infantry crossed by 3:40 a.m. on June 9 and by 7 a.m., both Gillmore and Hinks had encountered the enemy, but stopped at their fronts. Gillmore told Hinks that he would attack but that both of the infantry columns should await the cavalry assault from the south.[28]

Kautz's men did not arrive until noon, however, having been delayed en route by numerous enemy pickets. They assaulted the Dimmock Line where it crossed the Jerusalem Plank Road (present-day U.S. Route 301, Crater Road). The Confederates' Battery 27, also known as Rives's Salient, was manned by 150 militiamen commanded by Maj. Fletcher H. Archer. Kautz first launched a probing attack, then paused. His main attack was by the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry against the Home Guard, a group consisting primarily of teenagers, elderly men, and some wounded soldiers from city hospitals. The Home Guards retreated to the city with heavy losses, but by this time Beauregard had been able to bring reinforcements from Richmond to bear, which were able to repulse the Union assault. Kautz, hearing no activity on Gillmore's front, presumed that he was left on his own and withdrew. Confederate casualties were about 80, Union 40. Butler was furious with Gillmore's timidity and incompetence and arrested him. Gillmore requested a court of inquiry, which was never convened, but Grant later reassigned him and the incident was dropped.[29]

Meade's assaults (June 15–18, 1864)

Further information: Second Battle of Petersburg
 
Siege of Petersburg, assaults on June 15–18

Grant selected Butler's Army of the James, which had performed poorly in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, to lead the expedition toward Petersburg. On June 14 he directed Butler to augment the XVIII Corps, commanded by Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, to a strength of 16,000 men, including Kautz's cavalry division, and use the same route employed in the unsuccessful attacks of June 9. Since Beauregard had insufficient men available to defend the entire Dimmock Line, he concentrated 2,200 troops under Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise in the northeastern sector. Even with this concentration, infantrymen were spaced an unacceptable 10 feet (3.0 m) apart. His remaining 3,200 men were facing Butler's army at Bermuda Hundred.[30]

Baldy Smith and his men crossed the Appomattox shortly after dawn on June 15. Kautz's cavalry, leading the advance, encountered an unexpected stronghold at Baylor's farm northeast of Petersburg. Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hinks's men launched two attacks on the Confederates and captured a cannon, but the overall advance was delayed until early afternoon. Smith started his attack after delaying until about 7 p.m., deploying a strong skirmish line that swept over the earthworks on a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) front, causing the Confederates to retreat to a weaker defensive line on Harrison's Creek. Despite this initial success and the prospect of a virtually undefended city immediately to his front, Smith decided to wait until dawn to resume his attack. By this time Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, the II Corps commander, had arrived at Smith's headquarters. The normally decisive and pugnacious Hancock, who outranked Smith, was uncertain of his orders and the disposition of forces, and uncharacteristically deferred to Smith's judgment to wait.[31]

Beauregard wrote later that Petersburg "at that hour was clearly at the mercy of the Federal commander, who had all but captured it." But he used the time he had been granted to good advantage. Receiving no guidance from Richmond in response to his urgent requests, he unilaterally decided to strip his defenses from the Howlett Line, which was bottling up Butler's army in Bermuda Hundred, making the divisions of Maj. Gens. Robert Hoke and Bushrod Johnson available for the new Petersburg defensive line. Butler might have used this opportunity to move his army between Petersburg and Richmond, which would have doomed the Confederate capital, but he once again failed to act.[32]

By the morning of June 16, Beauregard had concentrated about 14,000 men in his defensive line, but this paled in comparison to the 50,000 federals that now faced him. Grant had arrived with Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's IX Corps, addressed the confusion of Hancock's orders, and ordered a reconnaissance for weak points in the defensive line. Hancock, in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac until Maj. Gen. George G. Meade arrived, prepared Smith's XVIII corps on the right, his own II Corps in the center, and Burnside's IX Corps on the left. Hancock's assault began around 5:30 p.m. as all three corps moved slowly forward. Beauregard's men fought fiercely, erecting new breastworks to the rear as breakthroughs occurred. Upon the arrival of General Meade, a second attack was ordered and Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow led his division forward. Although Barlow's men managed to capture their objectives, a counterattack drove them back, taking numerous Union prisoners. The survivors dug in close to the enemy works.[33]

June 17 was a day of uncoordinated Union attacks, starting on the left flank where two brigades of Burnside's IX Corps under Brig. Gen. Robert B. Potter stealthily approached the Confederate line and launched a surprise attack at dawn. Initially successful, it captured nearly a mile of the Confederate fortifications and about 600 prisoners, but the effort eventually failed when Potter's men moved forward to find another line of entrenchments. IX Corps assaults at 2 p.m., led by the brigade of Brig. Gen. John F. Hartranft, and in the evening, by Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie's division, both failed.[34]

During the day, Beauregard's engineers had laid out new defensive positions a mile to the west of the Dimmock Line, which the Confederates occupied late that night. Robert E. Lee had systematically ignored all of Beauregard's pleas for reinforcements until now, but dispatched two divisions of his men, exhausted from the Overland Campaign, to Petersburg, beginning at 3 a.m. on June 18. With the arrival of Lee's two divisions, under Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw and Charles W. Field, Beauregard had over 20,000 men to defend the city, but Grant's force had been augmented by the arrival of Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps and 67,000 Federals were present.[35]

On the morning of June 18, Meade went into a rage directed at his corps commanders because of his army's failure to take the initiative and break through the thinly defended Confederate positions and seize the city. He ordered the entire Army of the Potomac to attack the Confederate defenses. The first Union attack began at dawn, started by the II and XVIII Corps on the Union right. The II Corps was surprised to make rapid progress against the Confederate line, not realizing that Beauregard had moved it back the night before. When they encountered the second line, the attack immediately ground to a halt and the corps suffered under heavy Confederate fire for hours.[36]

By noon, another attack plan had been devised to break through the Confederate defenses. However, by this time, elements of Lee's army had reinforced Beauregard's troops. By the time the Union attack was renewed, Lee himself had taken command of the defenses. Maj. Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's division of the IX Corps led the renewed attack but it suffered significant losses in the marsh and open fields crossed by Taylor's Branch. Warren's V Corps was halted by murderous fire from Rives's Salient, an attack in which Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commanding the 1st Brigade, First Division, V Corps, was severely wounded. At 6:30 p.m., Meade ordered a final assault, which also failed with more horrendous losses. One of the leading regiments was the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, which lost 632 of 900 men in the assault, the heaviest single-battle loss of any regiment during the entire war.[37]

Having achieved almost no gains from four days of assaults, and with Lincoln facing re-election in the upcoming months in the face of a loud public outcry against the casualty figures, Meade ordered his army to dig in, starting the ten-month siege. During the four days of fighting, Union casualties were 11,386 (1,688 killed, 8,513 wounded, 1,185 missing or captured), Confederate 4,000 (200 killed, 2,900 wounded, 900 missing or captured).[38]

Initial attempts to cut the railroads (June 21–30)

After failing to capture Petersburg by assault, Grant's first objective was to secure the three remaining open rail lines that served Petersburg and Richmond: the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad; the South Side Railroad, which reached to Lynchburg in the west; and the Weldon Railroad, also called the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, which led to Weldon, North Carolina, and the Confederacy's only remaining major port, Wilmington, North Carolina. Grant decided on a wide-ranging cavalry raid (the Wilson–Kautz Raid)[39] against the South Side and Weldon railroads, but he also directed that a significant infantry force be sent against the Weldon closer to his current position. Meade selected the II Corps, still temporarily commanded by Birney,[40] and Wright's VI Corps.[41]

Jerusalem Plank Road (June 21–23)

Further information: Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road
 
Siege of Petersburg, movements against the railroads and A.P. Hill's counterattack, June 21–22

On June 21, elements of the II Corps probed toward the railroad and skirmished with Confederate cavalry. By the morning of June 22, a gap opened up between the two corps. While the II Corps moved forward, the VI Corps encountered Confederate troops from Maj. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox's division of Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's corps and they began to entrench rather than advance. Brig. Gen. William Mahone observed that the gap between the two Union corps was widening, creating a prime target. Mahone had been a railroad engineer before the war and had personally surveyed this area south of Petersburg, so he was familiar with a ravine that could be used to hide the approach of a Confederate attack column. At 3 p.m., Mahone's men emerged in the rear of the II Corps division of Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, catching them by surprise, and Barlow's division quickly collapsed. The division of Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, which had erected earthworks, was also surprised by an attack from the rear and many of the regiments ran for safety. The II Corps troops rallied around earthworks that they had constructed on the night of June 21 and stabilized their lines. Darkness ended the fighting.[42]

On June 23, the II Corps advanced to retake its lost ground, but the Confederates had pulled back, abandoning the earthworks they had captured. Under orders from General Meade, the VI Corps sent out a heavy skirmish line after 10 a.m. in a second attempt to reach the Weldon Railroad. Men from Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Grant's 1st Vermont Brigade had begun tearing up the track when they were attacked by a larger force of Confederate infantry. Numerous Vermonters were taken prisoner and only about half a mile of track had been destroyed when they were chased away. Meade was unable to urge Wright forward and called off the operation. Union casualties were 2,962, Confederate 572.[43] The battle was inconclusive, with advantages gained on both sides. The Confederates were able to retain control of the Weldon Railroad. The Federals were able to destroy a short segment of the Weldon before being driven off, but more importantly, the siege lines were stretched further to the west.[44]

Wilson–Kautz Raid (June 22 – July 1)

Further information: Wilson–Kautz Raid, Battle of Staunton River Bridge, Battle of Sappony Church, and First Battle of Ream's Station
 
Wilson–Kautz Raid, June 22 – July 1

In parallel to Birney's and Wright's infantry action at the Jerusalem Plank Road, Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson was ordered by Meade to conduct a raid destroying as much track as possible south and southwest of Petersburg. Grant considered Wilson's 3rd Division of the Cavalry Corps too small to conduct the operation alone—particularly since Meade required Wilson to leave 1,400 men behind for picket duty—so he directed Butler to contribute Brig. Gen. August Kautz's small division (2,000 troopers) to the effort. Early on the morning of June 22, 3,300 men,[45] and 12 guns organized into two batteries, departed Mount Sinai Church and began to destroy railroad track and cars of the Weldon Railroad at Reams Station,[46] 7 miles (11 km) south of Petersburg. Kautz's men moved to the west to Ford's Station and began destroying track, locomotives, and cars on the South Side Railroad.[47]

On June 23, Wilson proceeded to the junction of the Richmond and Danville Railroad at Burkeville, where he encountered elements of Rooney Lee's cavalry between Nottoway Court House and Black's and White's (modern-day Blackstone). The Confederates struck the rear of his column, forcing Col. George A. Chapman's brigade to fend them off. Wilson followed Kautz along the South Side Railroad, destroying about 30 miles (50 km) of track as they went. On June 24, while Kautz remained to skirmish around Burkeville, Wilson crossed over to Meherrin Station on the Richmond and Danville and began destroying track.[48]

On June 25, Wilson and Kautz continued tearing up track south to the Staunton River Bridge at Roanoke Station (modern-day Randolph), where they encountered approximately 1,000 "Old Men and Boys" (the Home Guard), commanded by Capt. Benjamin L. Farinholt dug in with earthworks and prepared artillery positions at the bridge. The Battle of Staunton River Bridge was a minor affair in which Kautz attempted multiple frontal assaults against the Home Guard, but his men never came closer than 80 yards (73 m). Lee's cavalry division closed on the Federals from the northeast and skirmished with Wilson's rear guard. Casualties on the Union side amounted to 42 killed, 44 wounded, and 30 missing or captured; Confederate losses were 10 killed and 24 wounded. Kautz's men gave up and retreated to the railroad depot at 9 p.m. Despite these relatively minor losses, the two Union cavalry generals decided to abandon their mission, leaving the Staunton River bridge intact and having inflicted only minor damage on the railroads.[49]

Commanders of the Wilson–Kautz Raid

As Wilson and Kautz turned back to the east after their defeat at Staunton River Bridge, Rooney Lee's cavalry pursued and threatened their rear. Meanwhile, Robert E. Lee ordered Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry, which had been engaged with Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry at the Battle of Trevilian Station on June 11–12, to join the pursuit and attack Wilson and Kautz. Before leaving on his raid, Wilson had received assurances from Meade's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys, that the Army of the Potomac would be immediately taking control of the Weldon Railroad at least as far south as Reams Station, so Wilson decided that would be an appropriate place to return to Union lines. The Union defeat at Jerusalem Plank Road made those assurances inoperable. Wilson and Kautz were surprised on the afternoon of June 28 when they reached Stony Creek Station, 10 miles (16 km) south of Reams, as hundreds of Hampton's cavalrymen (under Brig. Gen. John R. Chambliss) and infantry blocked their path. In the Battle of Sappony Church, Wilson's men tried to break through but had to fall back when Confederate Brig. Gen. Matthew C. Butler and Thomas L. Rosser threatened to envelop Wilson's left flank. Kautz's division, following Wilson's, took a back road in the direction of Reams Station and was attacked by Rooney Lee's division late in the day. The Union cavalrymen were able to slip out of the trap under the cover of darkness and rode north on the Halifax Road for the supposed security of Reams Station.[50]

 
"Dictator" siege mortar on the U.S. Military Railroad at Petersburg

In the First Battle of Reams Station on June 29, Kautz approached Reams Station from the west expecting to find the friendly infantry promised by Humphreys but found Confederate infantry instead—Mahone's division blocking the approaches to the Halifax Road and the railroad behind well-constructed earthworks. Kautz's attack by the 11th Pennsylvania and the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry along the Depot Road was unsuccessful and Mahone counterattacked against the flank of the Pennsylvanians. On the Stage Road to the north of the station, the brigades of Brig. Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax and Williams C. Wickham maneuvered around the 2nd Ohio Cavalry and 5th New York Cavalry, turning the Federal left flank. Wilson sent a messenger north who was able to slip through the Confederate lines and urgently requested help from Meade at City Point. Meade alerted Wright to prepare to move his entire VI Corps to Reams Station, but he realized that it would take too long on foot and requested help from Sheridan's cavalry as well. Sheridan demurred, complaining of the effect on his "worn-out horses and exhausted men." After the war, arguments persisted between Sheridan and Wilson about whether the former had adequately protected the raiders from the Confederate cavalry of Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee. Sheridan did reach Reams Station by 7 p.m., only to find that the VI Corps infantry had in fact arrived but that Wilson and Kautz had departed.[51]

Caught in a trap without the promise of immediate aid, the Wilson–Kautz raiders burned their wagons and destroyed their artillery pieces and fled to the north before the reinforcements arrived. They lost hundreds of men as prisoners in what was called "a wild skedaddle." At least 300 escaped slaves who had joined the Union cavalrymen during the raid were abandoned during the retreat. The raiders reentered Federal lines around 2 p.m. on July 1. They had destroyed 60 miles (97 km) of track, which took the Confederates several weeks to repair, but it came at the cost of 1,445 Union casualties, or about a quarter of their force (Wilson lost 33 killed, 108 wounded, and 674 captured or missing; Kautz lost 48 killed, 153 wounded, and 429 captured or missing). Although Wilson counted the raid as a strategic success, Ulysses S. Grant reluctantly described the expedition as a "disaster."[52]

First Battle of Deep Bottom (July 27–29)

Further information: First Battle of Deep Bottom
 
First Battle of Deep Bottom, July 27–29

In preparation for the forthcoming Battle of the Crater, Grant wanted Lee to dilute his forces in the Petersburg trenches by attracting them elsewhere. He ordered Hancock's II Corps and two divisions of Sheridan's Cavalry Corps to cross the river to Deep Bottom by pontoon bridge and advance against the Confederate capital. His plan called for Hancock to pin down the Confederates at Chaffin's Bluff and prevent reinforcements from opposing Sheridan's cavalry, which would attack Richmond if practicable. If not—a circumstance Grant considered more likely—Sheridan was ordered to ride around the city to the north and west and cut the Virginia Central Railroad, which was supplying Richmond from the Shenandoah Valley.[53]

When Lee found out about Hancock's pending movement, he ordered that the Richmond lines be reinforced to 16,500 men. Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw's division and brigades from Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's division moved east on New Market Road and took up positions on the eastern face of New Market Heights. Hancock and Sheridan crossed the pontoon bridge starting at 3 a.m., July 27. The II Corps took up positions on the east bank of Bailey's Creek, from New Market Road to near Fussell's Mill. Sheridan's cavalry captured the high ground on the right, overlooking the millpond, but they were counterattacked and driven back. The Confederate works on the west bank of Bailey's Creek were formidable and Hancock chose not to attack them, spending the rest of the day performing reconnaissance.[54]

While Hancock was stymied at Bailey's Creek, Robert E. Lee began bringing up more reinforcements from Petersburg, reacting as Grant had hoped. He assigned Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson to take command of the Deep Bottom sector and sent in Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's infantry division and Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's cavalry division. Troops were also hurriedly detailed from the Department of Richmond to help man the trenches.[55]

On the morning of July 28, Grant reinforced Hancock with a brigade of the XIX Corps. Sheridan's men attempted to turn the Confederate left, but their movement was disrupted by a Confederate attack. Three brigades attacked Sheridan's right flank, but they were unexpectedly hit by heavy fire from the Union repeating carbines. Mounted Federals in Sheridan's reserve pursued and captured nearly 200 prisoners.[56]

No further combat occurred and the expedition against Richmond and its railroads was terminated on the afternoon of July 28. Satisfied that the operation had distracted sufficient Confederate forces from his front, General Grant determined to proceed with the assault against the Crater on July 30.[57]

Union casualties at the First Battle of Deep Bottom were 488 (62 killed, 340 wounded, and 86 missing or captured); Confederate casualties were 679 (80 killed, 391 wounded, 208 missing or captured).[58]

The Crater (July 30)

Further information: Battle of the Crater
 
Siege of Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, July 30

Grant wanted to defeat Lee's army without resorting to a lengthy siege—his experience in the siege of Vicksburg told him that such affairs were expensive and difficult on the morale of his men. Lt. Col. Henry Pleasants, commanding the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's IX Corps, offered a novel proposal to solve Grant's problem. Pleasants, a mining engineer from Pennsylvania in civilian life, proposed digging a long mine shaft underneath the Confederate lines and planting explosive charges directly underneath a fort (Elliott's Salient) in the middle of the Confederate First Corps line. If successful, Union troops could drive through the resulting gap in the line into the Confederate rear area. Digging began in late June, creating a mine in a "T" shape with an approach shaft 511 feet (156 m) long. At its end, a perpendicular gallery of 75 feet (23 m) extended in both directions. The gallery was filled with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder, buried 20 feet (6.1 m) underneath the Confederate works.[59]

Burnside had trained a division of United States Colored Troops (USCT) under Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero to lead the assault. Two regiments were to leave the attack column and extend the breach by rushing perpendicular to the crater, while the remaining regiments were to rush through, seizing the Jerusalem Plank Road. Burnside's two other divisions, made up of white troops, would then move in, supporting Ferrero's flanks and race for Petersburg itself. However, the day before the attack, Meade, who lacked confidence in the operation, ordered Burnside not to use the black troops in the lead assault, claiming that if the attack failed black soldiers would be killed needlessly, creating political repercussions in the North. Burnside protested to General Grant, who sided with Meade. When volunteers were not forthcoming Burnside selected a replacement white division by having the three commanders draw lots. Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie's 1st Division was selected, but he failed to brief the men on what was expected of them and was reported during the battle to be drunk, well behind the lines, and providing no leadership. (Ledlie was later dismissed for his actions during the battle.)[60]

 
Sketch of the explosion seen from the Union line.

At 4:44 a.m. on July 30, the charges exploded in a massive shower of earth, men, and guns. A crater (still visible today) was created, 170 feet (52 m) long, 60 to 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. The blast destroyed the Confederate fortifications in the immediate vicinity, and instantly killed between 250 and 350 Confederate soldiers. Ledlie's untrained white division was not prepared for the explosion, and reports indicate they waited ten minutes before leaving their own entrenchments. Once they had wandered to the crater, instead of moving around it as the black troops had been trained to do, they moved down into the crater itself. Since this was not the planned movement, there were no ladders provided for the men to use in exiting the crater. The Confederates, under Maj. Gen. William Mahone, gathered as many troops together as they could for a counterattack. In about an hour's time, they had formed up around the crater and began firing rifles and artillery down into it, in what Mahone later described as a "turkey shoot". The plan had failed, but Burnside, instead of cutting his losses, sent in Ferrero's men. Now faced with considerable flanking fire, they also went down into the crater, and for the next few hours, Mahone's soldiers, along with those of Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson and artillery, slaughtered the men of the IX Corps as they attempted to escape from the crater. Some Union troops eventually advanced and flanked to the right beyond the Crater to the earthworks and assaulted the Confederate lines, driving the Confederates back for several hours in hand-to-hand combat. Mahone's Confederates conducted a sweep out of a sunken gully area about 200 yards (180 m) from the right side of the Union advance. This charge reclaimed the earthworks and drove the Union force back towards the east.[61]

Grant wrote that, "It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war."[62] Union casualties were 3,798 (504 killed, 1,881 wounded, 1,413 missing or captured), Confederate casualties were approximately 1,500 (200 killed, 900 wounded, 400 missing or captured). Many of these losses were suffered by Ferrero's division of the USCT. Burnside was relieved of command.[63]

Second Deep Bottom (August 14–20)

Further information: Second Battle of Deep Bottom
 
Second Battle of Deep Bottom, August 14–20

On the same day the Union failed at the Crater, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early was burning the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, as he operated out of the Shenandoah Valley, threatening towns in Maryland and Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia. Robert E. Lee was concerned about actions that Grant might take against Early and sent the infantry division of Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw from Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson's corps and the cavalry division commanded by Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee to Culpeper, Virginia, where they could either provide aid to Early or be recalled to the Richmond-Petersburg front as needed. Grant misinterpreted this movement and assumed that Anderson's entire corps had been removed from the vicinity of Richmond, leaving only about 8,500 men north of the James River. He determined to try again with an advance toward the Confederate capital led by Hancock. This would either prevent reinforcements from aiding Early or once again dilute the Confederate strength in the defensive lines around Petersburg.[64]

On August 13, the X Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. David B. Birney, and Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg's cavalry division crossed pontoon bridges from Bermuda Hundred to Deep Bottom. The II Corps crossed by steamships the night of August 13–14. Birney's X Corps troops successfully pushed aside pickets on the Kingsland Road, but were stopped by the fortifications on New Market Heights. The II Corps units moved slowly into position, suffering numerous deaths from heat stroke.[65]

It was not until midday on August 14 that the Union made contact with the Confederates, manning rifle pits on the Darbytown Road just north of the Long Bridge Road. The Union generals were surprised at the Confederate strength. On the right, a full Confederate division commanded by Maj. Gen. Charles W. Field was dug in. Chaffin's Bluff was defended by a division under Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox and reinforcements were arriving. Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow's 10,000 men in two divisions of II Corps attacked Fussell's Mill. They were able to drive away two Confederate cavalry regiments at the mill, but they were repulsed by Brig. Gen. George T. Anderson's brigade. When Field took Anderson's brigade from his right flank, it weakened the line in front of Birney's corps, which moved forward and occupied some of the Confederate entrenchments and captured four guns.[66]

Although the Union attacks had been generally unsuccessful, they had some of the effect Grant desired. Lee became convinced that the threat against Richmond was a serious one and he dispatched two infantry brigades of Maj. Gen. William Mahone's division and the cavalry divisions of Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton and W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee. Hancock ordered Birney's corps to make a night march to join Barlow's end of the line. Birney's movement was delayed by difficult terrain for most of August 15 and Hancock's plan for an attack was abandoned for the day.[67]

On August 16, Gregg's cavalry swept to the right and rode northwest on the Charles City Road toward Richmond. They found Rooney Lee's cavalry division blocking the road and a full day of fighting resulted. Confederate Brig. Gen. John R. Chambliss was killed during the fighting. The infantrymen of the X Corps had a better start to the day, as Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry's division broke through the Confederate line. Wright's Brigade was hit hard and retreated, opening a significant gap. The heavily wooded terrain prevented Birney and Hancock from understanding that they had reached a position of advantage and they were unable to exploit it before Field rearranged his lines to fill the gap and drive back the Federals.[68]

Lee planned a counterattack against the Union right for 11 a.m. on August 18, but it was poorly coordinated and made no significant gains. On the night of August 20, Hancock withdrew his force back over the James. Union casualties were approximately 2,900 men, some due to heat stroke. Confederate casualties were 1,500.[69]

Operations against the Weldon Railroad

Globe Tavern (August 18–21)

Further information: Battle of Globe Tavern
 
Siege of Petersburg, capture of the Weldon Railroad, August 18–19

While the II Corps fought at Deep Bottom, Grant planned another attack against the Weldon. He chose Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps to lead the operation. Grant was encouraged by a message he received August 17 from President Abraham Lincoln:

I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.[70]

Grant remarked to his staff, "The President has more nerve than any of his advisors."[70]

At dawn on August 18, Warren advanced to the south and reached the railroad at Globe Tavern around 9 a.m. Parts of the division under Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin began to destroy the track while a brigade from Brig. Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres's division formed in line of battle and moved north to block any Confederate advance from that direction. Ayres encountered Confederate troops at about 1 p.m. and Warren ordered the division under Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford to move forward on Ayres's right in an attempt to outflank the Confederate left. A.P. Hill sent three brigades to meet the advancing Union divisions. At about 2 p.m. they launched a strong attack and pushed the Union troops back to within less than a mile of Globe Tavern. Warren counterattacked and regained his lost ground. His men entrenched for the night.[71]

Reinforcements arrived during the night—the Union IX Corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, Rooney Lee's Confederate cavalry division and three infantry brigades from Mahone's division. In the late afternoon of August 19, Mahone launched a flanking attack that found a weak spot in Crawford's line, causing hundreds of Crawford's men to flee in panic. Heth launched a frontal assault against the center and left, which was easily repulsed by Ayres's division. The XI Corps counterattacked and fighting ended at dusk. On the night of August 20–21, Warren pulled his troops back two miles (3 km) to a new line of fortifications, which were connected with the main Union lines on the Jerusalem Plank Road. The Confederates attacked at 9 a.m. on August 21, with Mahone striking the Federal left and Heth the center. Both attacks were unsuccessful against the strong entrenchments and resulted in heavy losses. By 10:30 a.m., the Confederates withdrew.[72]

Union casualties at Globe Tavern were 4,296 (251 killed, 1,148 wounded, 2,897 missing/captured), Confederate 1,620 (211 killed, 990 wounded, 419 missing/captured).[73] The Confederates had lost a key section of the Weldon Railroad and were forced to carry supplies by wagon 30 miles (48 km) from the railroad at Stony Creek up the Boydton Plank Road into Petersburg. This was not yet a critical problem for the Confederates. A member of Lee's staff wrote, "Whilst we are inconvenienced, no material harm is done us." Grant was not entirely satisfied with Warren's victory, which he rightly characterized as wholly defensive in nature.[74]

Globe Tavern was the first Union victory of the campaign.

Second Reams Station (August 25)

Further information: Second Battle of Ream's Station

General Grant wanted the Weldon closed permanently, destroying 14 miles (23 km) of track from Warren's position near Globe Tavern as far south as Rowanty Creek (about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Stony Creek). He assigned the operation to Hancock's II Corps, which was in the process of moving south from their operation at Deep Bottom. He chose Hancock's corps because Warren was busy extending the fortifications at Globe Tavern, although his selection was of troops exhausted from their efforts north of the James and their forced march south without rest. Grant augmented Hancock's corps with Gregg's cavalry division. Gregg's division departed on August 22 and, after driving off Confederate pickets, they and the II Corps infantry division commanded by Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles destroyed the railroad tracks to within 2 miles (3.2 km) of Reams Station. Early on August 23, Hancock's other division, commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, occupied Reams Station, taking up positions in earthworks that had been constructed by the Union cavalry during the Wilson–Kautz Raid in June.[75]

Robert E. Lee considered that the Union troops at Reams Station represented not only a threat to his supply line, but also to the county seat of Dinwiddie County; if Dinwiddie Court House were to fall, the Confederates would be forced to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond because it represented a key point on the army's potential retreat route. He also saw an opportunity—that he could impose a stinging defeat on the Union Army not long before the presidential election in November. Lee ordered Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill to take the overall command of an expedition that included 8–10,000 men—both cavalry and infantry.[76]

Maj. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox's division assaulted the Union position at about 2 p.m. on August 25. Despite launching two attacks, Wilcox was driven back by Miles's division, which was manning the northern part of the earthworks. To the south, Gibbon's division was blocking the advance of Hampton's cavalry, which had swept around the Union line. Confederate reinforcements from Heth's and Mahone's divisions arrived while the Confederate artillery softened up the Union position. The final attack began around 5:30 p.m. against Miles's position and it broke through the northwest corner of the Union fortifications. Hancock desperately galloped from one threatened point to the next, attempting to rally his men. As he witnessed the men of his once proud corps reluctant to retake their positions from the enemy, he remarked to a colonel, "I do not care to die, but I pray God I may never leave this field." By this time, Hampton's cavalry was making progress against Gibbon's infantry to the south, launching a surprise dismounted attack that caused many of Gibbon's men to flee or surrender. This allowed Hampton to flank Miles. Hancock ordered a counterattack, which provided time to allow for an orderly Union withdrawal to Petersburg after dark.[77]

Union casualties at Reams Station were 2,747 (the II Corps lost 117 killed, 439 wounded, 2,046 missing/captured; the cavalry lost 145), Confederate 814 (Hampton's cavalry lost 16 killed, 75 wounded, 3 missing; Hill's infantry 720 total).[78] Although the Confederates had won a clear victory and had humiliated the veterans of II Corps, they had lost a vital piece of the Weldon Railroad and from this point on they were able to transport supplies by rail only as far north as Stony Creek Depot, 16 miles (26 km) south of Petersburg. From that point, supplies had to be unloaded and wagon trains had to travel through Dinwiddie Court House and then on the Boydton Plank Road to get the supplies into Petersburg. The South Side Railroad was the only railroad left to supply Petersburg and Lee's army.[79]

Beefsteak Raid (September 14–17)

Further information: Beefsteak Raid

On September 5, a scout attached to the Jeff Davis Legion, Sgt. George D. Shadburne, gave a report to Wade Hampton on his reconnaissance behind the Union lines. At about 5 miles east of Grant's headquarters at City Point, a supply depot at Coggins Point on the James River, he found "3,000 beeves [beef cattle], attended by 120 men and 30 citizens, without arms." Just two days earlier, Robert E. Lee had suggested to Hampton that Grant's rear area was "open to attack." On September 14, while Grant was in the Shenandoah Valley conferring with Sheridan, Hampton led about 4,000 men in four brigades southwest from Petersburg along the Boydton Plank Road and followed a looping course through Dinwiddie Court House, Stony Creek Station, and by early morning on September 15 had crossed Blackwater Swamp at Cook's Bridge. At 12 a.m. on September 16, Hampton launched an attack in three columns: Rooney Lee's division on the left against the Union troops camped at Prince George Court House, the brigade of Brig. Gen. James Dearing on the right against Cocke's Mill, and the brigade of Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Rosser and a detachment under Lt. Col. Lovick P. Miller in the center to seize the cattle herd. The surprise attacks met only minimal resistance and by 8 a.m., Hampton's men were driving 2,486 cattle south toward Cook's Bridge. A Union attempt by 2,100 cavalrymen under Brig. Gen. Henry Davies Jr., to intercept the Confederates and their prize was unsuccessful and Hampton retraced his steps back to Petersburg, turning the cattle over to the Confederate commissary department. For days, the Confederate troops feasted on beef and taunted their Union counterparts across the lines. A visitor to Grant's headquarters asked the general, "When do you expect to starve out Lee and capture Richmond?" Grant replied, "Never, if our armies continue to supply him with beef cattle."[80]

Union offensives, late September

New Market Heights (September 29–30)

Further information: Battle of Chaffin's Farm

During the night of September 28–29, Butler's Army of the James crossed the James River to assault the Richmond defenses north of the river. The columns attacked at dawn. After initial Union successes at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison, the Confederates rallied and contained the breakthrough. Lee reinforced his lines north of the James and, on September 30, he counterattacked unsuccessfully. The Federals entrenched, and the Confederates erected a new line of works cutting off the captured forts. As Grant anticipated, Lee shifted troops to meet the threat against Richmond, weakening his lines at Petersburg.[81]

Peebles Farm (September 30 – October 2)

Further information: Battle of Peebles's Farm

In combination with Butler's offensive north of the James River, Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg. Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke, two divisions of the V Corps under Warren, and Gregg's cavalry division were assigned to the operation. On September 30, the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads. The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer, flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line. Late afternoon, Confederate reinforcements arrived, slowing the Federal advance. On October 1, the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by A.P. Hill. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Gershom Mott's division, the Federals resumed their advance on October 2, captured Fort MacRae (which was lightly defended) and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles' and Pegram's Farms. With these limited successes, Meade suspended the offensive. A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram's Farm.[82]

Actions near Richmond, October

Darbytown and New Market Roads (October 7)

Further information: Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads

Responding to the loss of Fort Harrison and the increasing Federal threat against Richmond, Gen. Robert E. Lee directed an offensive against the Union far right flank on October 7. After routing the Federal cavalry from their position covering Darbytown Road, Field's and Hoke's divisions assaulted the main Union defensive line along New Market Road and were repulsed. The Federals were not dislodged, and Lee withdrew into the Richmond defenses.[83]

Darbytown Road (October 13)

Further information: Battle of Darbytown Road

On October 13, Union forces advanced to find and feel the new Confederate defensive line in front of Richmond. While mostly a battle of skirmishers, a Federal brigade assaulted fortifications north of Darbytown Road and was repulsed with heavy casualties. The Federals retired to their entrenched lines along New Market Road.[84]

Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road (October 27–28)

Further information: Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road

In combination with movements against the Boydton Plank Road at Petersburg, Benjamin Butler attacked the Richmond defenses along Darbytown Road with the X Corps. The XVIII Corps marched north to Fair Oaks where it was soundly repulsed by Field's Confederate division. Confederate forces counterattacked, taking some 600 prisoners. The Richmond defenses remained intact. Of Grant's offensives north of the James River, this was repulsed most easily.[85]

Boydton Plank Road (October 27–28)

Further information: Battle of Boydton Plank Road
 
Siege of Petersburg, actions on October 27

Directed by Hancock, divisions from three Union corps (II, V, and IX) and Gregg's cavalry division, numbering more than 30,000 men, withdrew from the Petersburg lines and marched west to operate against the Boydton Plank Road and South Side Railroad. The initial Union advance on October 27 gained the Boydton Plank Road, a major campaign objective. But that afternoon, a counterattack near Burgess' Mill spearheaded by Henry Heth's division, and Wade Hampton's cavalry isolated the II Corps and forced a retreat. The Confederates retained control of the Boydton Plank Road for the rest of the winter. It marked the last battle for Hancock, who resigned from field command because of wounds sustained at Gettysburg.[86]

Hatcher's Run (February 5–7, 1865)

Further information: Battle of Hatcher's Run

On February 5, 1865, Gregg's cavalry division rode out to the Boydton Plank Road via Ream's Station and Dinwiddie Court House in an attempt to intercept Confederate supply trains. Warren's V Corps crossed Hatcher's Run and took up a blocking position on the Vaughan Road to prevent interference with Gregg's operations. Two divisions of the II Corps under Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys shifted west to near Armstrong's Mill to cover Warren's right flank. Late in the day, John B. Gordon attempted to turn Humphrey's right flank near the mill but was repulsed. During the night, the Federals were reinforced by two divisions. On February 6, Gregg returned to Gravelly Run on Vaughan Road from his unsuccessful raid and was attacked by elements of Brig. Gen. John Pegram's Confederate division. Warren pushed forward a reconnaissance in the vicinity of Dabney's Mill and was attacked by Pegram's and Mahone's divisions. Pegram was killed in the action. Although the Union advance was stopped, the Federals extended their siegeworks to the Vaughan Road crossing of Hatcher's Run.[87]

Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Stedman (March 25)

Further information: Battle of Fort Stedman
 
Siege of Petersburg, actions preceding Five Forks

By March, Lee's army was weakened by desertion, disease, and shortage of supplies and he was outnumbered by Grant by about 125,000 to 50,000. Lee knew that an additional 50,000 men under Sheridan would be returning soon from the Shenandoah Valley and Sherman was marching north through the Carolinas to join Grant as well. Lee had Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon plan a surprise attack on the Union lines that would force Grant to contract his lines and disrupt his plans to assault the Confederate works (which, unbeknownst to Lee and Gordon, Grant had already ordered for March 29). The attack would be launched with almost half of Lee's infantry from Colquitt's Salient against Fort Stedman, and Gordon had hopes that he could drive into the Union rear area as far as City Point.[88]

Gordon's attack started at 4:15 a.m. Lead parties of sharpshooters and engineers masquerading as deserting soldiers headed out to overwhelm Union pickets and to remove obstructions that would delay the infantry advance. They were followed by three groups of 100 men assigned to storm the Union works and stream back into the Union rear area. Brig. Gen. Napoleon B. McLaughlen rode to Fort Haskell, just to the south of Battery XII, which he found to be ready to defend itself. As he moved north, he ordered Battery XII to open fire on Battery XI and a reserve infantry regiment briefly re-captured Battery XI. Assuming that he had sealed the only breach in the line, McLaughlen rode into Fort Stedman and began giving orders to the men. He suddenly realized that they were Confederates and they realized he was a Union general, capturing him.[89]

Gordon soon arrived at Fort Stedman and found his attack had so far exceeded his "most sanguine expectations." Within minutes, Batteries X, XI, and XII and Fort Stedman had been seized, opening a gap nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) long in the Union line. Gordon turned his attention to the southern flank of his attack and Fort Haskell. The Confederate artillery from Colquitt's Salient began bombarding Fort Haskell and the Federal field artillery returned fire, along with the massive siege guns in the rear.[90]

Gordon's attack began to flounder. His three 100-man detachments were wandering around the rear area in confusion and many had stopped to satisfy their hunger with captured Federal rations, as the main Union defense force began to mobilize. Maj. Gen. John G. Parke of the IX Corps acted decisively, ordering the reserve division under Brig. Gen. John F. Hartranft to close the gap. Hartranft organized defensive forces that completely ringed the Confederate penetration by 7:30 a.m., stopping it just short of the military railroad depot. The Union artillery, aware that Confederates occupied the batteries and Fort Stedman, launched punishing fire against them. By 7:45 a.m., 4,000 Union troops under Hartranft were positioned in a semicircle of a mile and a half, and counterattacked, causing heavy casualties to the now-retreating Confederates.[91]

The attack on Fort Stedman had no impact on the Union lines. The Confederate Army was forced to set back its own lines, as the Union attacked further down the front line. To give Gordon's attack enough strength to be successful, Lee had weakened his own right flank. The II and VI Corps seized much of the entrenched Confederate picket line southwest of Petersburg, but found the main line still well manned. This Union advance prepared the ground for Grant's breakthrough attack in the Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2, 1865.[92]

Union casualties in the Battle of Fort Stedman were 1,044 (72 killed, 450 wounded, 522 missing or captured), Confederate casualties a considerably heavier 4,000 (600 killed, 2,400 wounded, 1,000 missing or captured).[93] But more seriously, the Confederate positions were weakened. After the battle, Lee's defeat was only a matter of time. His final opportunity to break the Union lines and regain the momentum was gone.[92]

Aftermath

 
Grant's final assaults and Lee's retreat (start of the Appomattox Campaign)

After nearly ten months of siege, the loss at Fort Stedman was a devastating blow for Lee's army, setting up the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1, the Union breakthrough at Petersburg on April 2, the surrender of the city of Petersburg at dawn on April 3, and Richmond that same evening.

After his victory at Five Forks, Grant ordered an assault along the entire Confederate line beginning at dawn on April 2. Parke's IX Corps overran the eastern trenches but were met with stiff resistance. At 5:30 a.m. on April 2, Wright's VI Corps made a decisive breakthrough along the Boydton Plank Road line. While riding between the lines to rally his men, A.P. Hill was shot and killed by two Union soldiers. Wright's initial breakthrough was halted mid-day at Fort Gregg. Gibbon's XXIV Corps overran Fort Gregg after a strong Confederate defense. This halt in the advance into the city of Petersburg allowed Lee to pull his forces out of Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2, and head for the west in an attempt to meet up with forces under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina. The resulting Appomattox Campaign ended with Lee's surrender to Grant on April 9 at Appomattox Court House.

Richmond–Petersburg was a costly campaign for both sides. The initial assaults on Petersburg in June 1864 cost the Union 11,386 casualties, to approximately 4,000 for the Confederate defenders. The casualties for the siege warfare that concluded with the assault on Fort Stedman are estimated to be 42,000 for the Union and 28,000 for the Confederates.[94]

  •  

    Fascine Trench Breastworks, Petersburg, Va. – NARA – 524792. Although identified as Confederate Trenches this is actually Union Fort Sedgwick aka "Fort Hell" which was opposite Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damnation"[95]

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    Union Army 9th Corps attacking Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damanation" sketch by Alfred Ward.

  •  

    Confederate artilleryman killed during the final Union assault against the trenches at Petersburg. Photo by Thomas C. Roche, April 3, 1865.[96][97] Although prints of this picture list it as being taken at Ft Mahone, historians at the "Petersburg Project" believe it was taken at Confederate Battery 25[98]

  •  

    Smoke is still rising from the ruins of Richmond, Virginia after surrendering on April 3, 1865 following the Union victory at the siege of Petersburg. Union cavalry mounts with carbines visible are hitched in the foreground.

Classifying the campaigns

Military historians do not agree on precise boundaries between the campaigns of this era. This article uses the classification maintained by the U.S. National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program.[99]

An alternative classification is maintained by West Point; in their Atlas of American Wars (Esposito, 1959), the siege of Petersburg ends with the Union assault and breakthrough of April 2. The remainder of the war in Virginia is classified as "Grant's Pursuit of Lee to Appomattox Court House (3–9 April 1865)".[100] Trudeau's Last Citadel conforms to this classification.[101]

Battlefield preservation

The various historic sites and battlegrounds related to the siege of Petersburg are spread out across a vast area in the Petersburg vicinity. These sites and battlefields are primarily preserved by the National Park Service as the Petersburg National Battlefield, which features 13 separate sites on a 33-mile driving tour. The park's primary sections are the City Point Unit, where Grant had his headquarters; the Eastern Front battlefield, which features the Crater and the main visitor center; the Five Forks battlefield and the Poplar Grove National Cemetery. The siege-ending "Breakthrough" battlefield is preserved as Pamplin Historical Park, a privately owned park open to the public. In addition, the Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved 121 acres (0.49 km2) of battlefield land in four transactions since 2005, including a 33-acre parcel where Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill was killed on April 2, 1865.[102]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Miller, et al., vol. 3, p. 186.
  2. ^ William Marvel, Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002, 208.
  3. ^ a b Chris Calkins. "Petersburg". Civil War Trust. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  4. ^ Earl Hess, In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009, 280.
  5. ^ "Civil War Battle Summaries by Campaign". American Battlefield Protection Program. National Park Service. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Welsh, p. 96; Eicher, pp. 661, 691–92; Davis, p. 18; Salmon, p. 251; Fuller, pp. 207–08.
  7. ^ Eicher, pp. 680–82, 691–93; Davis, p. 18; Hattaway and Jones, pp. 517–26; Fuller, pp. 207–08, 229–30.
  8. ^ Welsh, pp. 96, 101; Eicher, pp. 663–87; Hattaway and Jones, pp. 540–46, 552–67, 577–80; Salmon, pp. 251–58; Bonekemper, p. 190.
  9. ^ Welsh, pp. 102, 118; Davis, pp. 34–36; Welcher, p. 994; Eicher, p. 687; Hattaway and Jones, pp. 588–591; Salmon, pp. 395–96.
  10. ^ Trudeau, pp. 486–92.
  11. ^ Trudeau, p. 489.
  12. ^ Trudeau, p. 490.
  13. ^ Trudeau, p. 491.
  14. ^ Trudeau, pp. 492–95.
  15. ^ Trudeau, p. 485.
  16. ^ Trudeau, pp. 495–501; Welsh, p. 118.
  17. ^ Trudeau, p. 227.
  18. ^ Trudeau, p. 501.
  19. ^ Eicher, p. 680.
  20. ^ Davis, pp. 18, 49, 64.
  21. ^ Eicher, p. 806.
  22. ^ Welsh, p. 118.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g NPS March 6, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ a b Official Records, Series IV, Vol. III, pg. 1161–62
  25. ^ Welcher, p. 504.
  26. ^ Salmon, p. 395; Davis, p. 27.
  27. ^ Kennedy, p. 352; Welsh, p. 118; Salmon, pp. 401–03.
  28. ^ Davis, pp. 27–31; Kennedy, p. 352; Salmon, p. 401.
  29. ^ Davis, p. 33; Kennedy, p. 352; Salmon, p. 403.
  30. ^ Trudeau, pp. 38–39; Davis, pp. 37–39.
  31. ^ Trudeau, pp. 37–45, 51; Davis, pp. 39–44; Salmon, pp. 403–05.
  32. ^ Fuller, p. 226; Davis, p. 43.
  33. ^ Davis, pp. 44–45; Trudeau, pp. 47–48; Welsh, p. 120.
  34. ^ Davis, pp. 45–46; Salmon, p. 405; Trudeau, pp. 48–49.
  35. ^ Davis, pp. 46–50; Salmon, pp. 405–06; Trudeau, pp. 51–53.
  36. ^ Welsh, p. 121; Davis, pp. 46–50; Salmon, pp. 405–06; Trudeau, pp. 51–53.
  37. ^ Welsh, p. 121; Davis, pp. 49–52; Eicher, p. 690; Salmon, p. 406; Trudeau, pp. 53–54.
  38. ^ Bonekemper, p. 313. The author presents casualty figures from a wide variety of sources and provides his best estimate. Trudeau, p. 55, agrees with the 4,000 Confederate losses, but cites Union killed and wounded at 8,150, with an additional 1,814 missing. Kennedy, p. 353, cites 9,964–10,600 for the Union, 2,974–4,700 for the Confederates; Salmon, p. 406, cites 8,150 Federal and 3,236 Confederate casualties; Welsh, p. 122, provides the breakdown of the 4,000 Confederate casualties.
  39. ^ Salmon, p. 406, considers the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road to be the initial action of the Wilson–Kautz raid of June 22–30, but this is not a convention widely accepted by other historians.
  40. ^ Trudeau, p. 65. Despite Hancock's incapacitation, he chose to accompany the column.
  41. ^ Salmon, p. 406; Trudeau, p. 63–65.
  42. ^ Kennedy, pp. 353–54; Eicher, p. 690; Trudeau, pp. 69–74; Salmon, pp. 406–08.
  43. ^ Kennedy, 354. Trudeau, p. 78, lists the Union II Corps casualties as 650 killed and wounded, 1,742 captured; VI Corps casualties as 150. on the Confederate side, Trudeau, p. 80, lists Mahone's casualties as 421, Wilcox's 151.
  44. ^ Kennedy, p. 354; Trudeau, pp. 80–81.
  45. ^ Longacre, p. 289; Salmon, 397; Kennedy, p. 303, and Salmon, p. 410, cite 5,500 men.
  46. ^ Located at the currently unincorporated community of Reams, Virginia, this railroad station is referred to variously as Reams, Ream's, and Reams's Station.
  47. ^ Salmon, p. 397; Longacre, pp. 287–89; Starr, pp. 179–81.
  48. ^ Longacre, p. 289; Starr, pp. 181–91.
  49. ^ Salmon, pp. 411–13; Longacre, pp. 289–90; Starr, pp. 191–93.
  50. ^ Salmon, pp. 414–15; Longacre, pp. 290–91; Starr, pp. 193–96.
  51. ^ Salmon, pp. 414–15; Starr, pp. 197–204.
  52. ^ Longacre, pp. 292–93; Salmon, pp. 415–16; Starr, pp. 203–07. Casualty figures are from Starr. Kennedy, p. 355, cites the total of 1,445. Salmon claims 1,800.
  53. ^ Davis, 69–70; Salmon, p. 416; Horn, p. 102.
  54. ^ Horn, p. 103; Salmon, pp. 416–18.
  55. ^ Horn, p. 107.
  56. ^ Davis, p. 70; Salmon, p. 418; Horn, pp. 107–08.
  57. ^ Horn, p. 108.
  58. ^ Bonekemper, p. 314. Salmon, p. 418, estimates 488 Union, 650 Confederate. Horn, p. 108, estimates 488 Union, 700 Confederate. Kennedy, p. 355, estimates 1,000 total.
  59. ^ Eicher, pp. 720–21; Davis, pp. 67–69, 72; Trudeau, pp. 99–105; Kennedy, p. 355; Salmon, pp. 418–20; Welsh, p. 122.
  60. ^ Trudeau, pp. 106–07; Eicher, p. 721; Salmon, pp. 420–21; Davis, p. 74; Kennedy, p. 355; Welsh, p. 122.
  61. ^ Davis, pp. 75–88; Trudeau, pp. 109–26; Salmon, pp. 420–21; Eicher, pp. 721–22; Welsh, p. 122.
  62. ^ Kennedy, p. 356.
  63. ^ Bonekemper, p. 315. Trudeau, p. 127 cites 3,798 Union, 1,491 Confederate (361 killed, 727 wounded, 403 missing or captured). Davis, p. 89, cites 3,500 Union casualties, 1,500 Confederate. Eicher, p. 723, cites 4,400 total casualties. Kennedy, p. 356, and Salmon, p. 421, cite 3,798 Union casualties, 1,491 Confederate.
  64. ^ Davis, p. 95; Trudeau, pp. 142–43.
  65. ^ Trudeau, pp. 147–52; Horn, pp. 120, 127; Davis, pp. 95–97; Salmon, p. 423.
  66. ^ Horn, pp. 127–28; Trudeau, pp. 151–52; Davis, pp. 97–98; Salmon, p. 423.
  67. ^ Trudeau, pp. 153–54; Davis, p. 98; Horn, p. 128; Salmon, p. 423.
  68. ^ Trudeau, pp. 154–57; Horn, pp. 129–31; Kennedy, pp. 356–57; Davis, p. 99; Salmon, p. 423.
  69. ^ Kennedy, p. 357; Trudeau, pp. 160–61, 164, 170; Horn, pp. 131–32; Davis, p. 99; Salmon, p. 424. Casualty figures from Bonekemper, p. 314. Trudeau, p. 170, estimates 2,901 Union, 1,000 Confederate. Salmon, p. 418, and Kennedy, p. 357, estimate 2,900 Union, 1,300 Confederate. Horn, p. 108, estimates 2,901 Union, 1,500 Confederate.
  70. ^ a b Trudeau, p. 159.
  71. ^ Davis, p. 101; Trudeau, pp. 162–63; Salmon, p. 424.
  72. ^ Trudeau, pp. 164–73; Salmon, pp. 424–25; Davis, pp. 101–04; Eicher, p. 725.
  73. ^ Bonekemper, p. 316. Kennedy, p. 360, and Salmon, p. 426, estimate 4,455 Union, 1,600 Confederate. Horn, p. 140, estimates 4,279 Union, about 2,300 Confederates. Eicher cites Union losses as 926 killed and wounded, 2,810 missing or captured.
  74. ^ Davis, p. 104; Trudeau, p. 173.
  75. ^ Horn, p. 141; Trudeau, pp. 176–79, 182; Kennedy, p. 360; Salmon, pp. 426–27.
  76. ^ Trudeau, pp. 179, 181–86; Salmon, p. 428; Davis, p. x; Horn, p. 141.
  77. ^ Salmon, p. 428; Horn, pp. 141–50; Calkins, np.; Kennedy, pp. 360–62; Trudeau, pp. 183–88; Davis, pp. 105–09.
  78. ^ Trudeau, p. 189. Kennedy, p. 362, cites 2,742 Union casualties, 814 Confederate. Salmon, p. 428, cites 2,700 Union casualties, about 2,000 of which were captured, and "about 800" Confederate. Eicher, p. 725, cites Union casualties of 2,372 (with "many" prisoners), Confederate 720. Horn, p. 151, cites "more than 2,700" Union, 720 Confederate. Davis, p. 109, cites 2,400 Union casualties, 2,150 of which were prisoners.
  79. ^ Trudeau, p. 190; Calkins, np.; Kennedy, p. 362.
  80. ^ Trudeau, pp. 195–201; Davis, pp. 110–15.
  81. ^ NPS, Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights.
  82. ^ NPS, Peebles Farm.
  83. ^ NPS, Darbytown and New Market Roads.
  84. ^ NPS, Darbytown Road.
  85. ^ NPS, Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road.
  86. ^ NPS, Boydton Plank Road.
  87. ^ NPS, Hatcher's Run.
  88. ^ Salmon, p. 448; Korn, pp. 33–34; Greene, pp. 108–12; Horn, p. 209; Trudeau, pp. 333–36.
  89. ^ Trudeau, pp. 337–42; Salmon, p. 450; Korn, pp. 34–36.
  90. ^ Korn, pp. 36–38; Trudeau, pp. 342–43.
  91. ^ Korn, pp. 38–39; Horn, pp. 214–16; Greene, p. 114; Salmon, p. 450; Trudeau, pp. 348–49.
  92. ^ a b Horn, pp. 215–16; Salmon, pp. 467–68.
  93. ^ Bonekemper, p. 319. Kennedy, p. 373, and Salmon, p. 450, estimate 1,017 Union, 2,681 Confederate (including 1,949 prisoners). Horn, p. 216, estimates 2,087 Union, "about 4,000" Confederate. Korn, p. 39, estimates 1,000 Union (half taken prisoner), 3,500 Confederate (1,900 prisoners). Greene, pp. 114–15, estimates 1,000 Union (more than half taken prisoner), 2,700–4,000 Confederate.
  94. ^ Bonekemper, p. 323.
  95. ^ Civil War talk Forum
  96. ^ Frassanito, p. 360.
  97. ^ See website Petersburg Project on location of Many of the Roche photographs at Petersburg April 1865
  98. ^ Dead Artilleryman comments Petersburg Project
  99. ^ NPS campaigns 2005-04-09 at the Wayback Machine. The references by Kennedy and Salmon also use this classification.
  100. ^ Esposito, maps 138–44.
  101. ^ Trudeau, pp. 355–98.
  102. ^ [1] American Battlefield Trust "Saved Land" webpage. Accessed May 29, 2018.

References

  • Bonekemper, Edward H., III. A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant's Overlooked Military Genius. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2004. ISBN 0-89526-062-X.
  • Chick, Sean Michael. The Battle of Petersburg, June 15–18, 1864. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books, 2015. ISBN 978-1612347127
  • Davis, William C., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1986. ISBN 0-8094-4776-2.
  • Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
  • Esposito, Vincent J. West Point Atlas of American Wars. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1959. OCLC 5890637. The collection of maps (without explanatory text) is available online at the West Point website.
  • Frassanito, William A. Grant and Lee: The Virginia Campaigns 1864–1865. New York: Scribner, 1983. ISBN 0-684-17873-7.
  • Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C. Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957. ISBN 0-253-13400-5.
  • Greene, A. Wilson. The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57233-610-0.
  • Hattaway, Herman, and Archer Jones. How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983. ISBN 0-252-00918-5.
  • Hess, Earl. In the Trenches at Petersburg: Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 2009.
  • Horn, John. The Petersburg Campaign: June 1864 – April 1865. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Publishing, 1999. ISBN 978-1-58097-024-2.
  • Kennedy, Frances H., ed. The Civil War Battlefield Guide. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
  • Lankford, Nelson. Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital. New York: Viking, 2002. ISBN 0-670-03117-8.
  • Longacre, Edward G. Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8117-1049-1.
  • Marvel, William. Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox.Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 2002.
  • Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Robert S. Lanier, and James Verner Scaife, eds. The Photographic History of the Civil War. 10 vols. New York: Review of Reviews Co., 1911. ISBN 0-7835-5726-4.
  • Salmon, John S. The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.
  • Sommers, Richard J. Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981. ISBN 0-385-15626-X. Note: Despite the broad title, Sommer's work covers only those battles between September 29 and October 2, 1864.
  • Starr, Stephen Z. The Union Cavalry in the Civil War. Vol. 2, The War in the East from Gettysburg to Appomattox 1863–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. ISBN 978-0-8071-3292-0.
  • Trudeau, Noah Andre. The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864 – April 1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8071-1861-3.
  • Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army, 1861–1865 Organization and Operations. Vol. 1, The Eastern Theater. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-253-36453-1.
  • Welsh, Douglas. The Civil War: A Complete Military History. Greenwich, CT: Brompton Books Corporation, 1981. ISBN 1-890221-01-5.
  •   This article incorporates public domain material from Civil War Battle Summaries by Campaign (Eastern Theater). National Park Service.

Further reading

  • Bearss, Edwin C., with Bryce A. Suderow. The Petersburg Campaign. Vol. 1, The Eastern Front Battles, June–August 1864. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2012. ISBN 978-1-61121-090-3.
  • Bearss, Edwin C., with Bryce A. Suderow. The Petersburg Campaign. Vol. 2, The Western Front Battles, September 1864 – April 1865. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2014. ISBN 978-1-61121-104-7.
  • Bowery, Charles R. Jr., and Ethan S. Rafuse. Guide to the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign. U.S. Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2014. ISBN 978-0-7006-1960-3.
  • Greene, A. Wilson. A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg. Vol. 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. ISBN 978-1-4696-3857-7.
  • Rhea, Gordon C. On to Petersburg: Grant and Lee, June 4–15, 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0-8071-6747-2. online review
  • Tidball, John C. The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865. Westholme Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-1594161490.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siege of Petersburg.
  • Petersburg Campaign in Encyclopedia Virginia
  • The Battle of Petersburg: Battle maps, history articles, photos, and preservation news (Civil War Trust)
  • Siege of Petersburg Online
  • Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier includes a presentation of the breakthrough at Boydton Line and other museum exhibits.
  • VI Corps breakthrough at Petersburg

Coordinates: 37°13′03″N 77°22′38″W / 37.2176°N 77.3771°W / 37.2176; -77.3771

January 20, 2023
siege, petersburg, american, revolutionary, battle, known, battle, petersburg, battle, blandford, world, battle, siege, leningrad, richmond, petersburg, campaign, series, battles, around, petersburg, virginia, fought, from, june, 1864, march, 1865, during, ame. For the American Revolutionary War battle known as the Battle of Petersburg see Battle of Blandford For the World War II battle see Siege of Leningrad The Richmond Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg Virginia fought from June 9 1864 to March 25 1865 5 during the American Civil War Although it is more popularly known as the siege of Petersburg it was not a classic military siege in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg The campaign consisted of nine months of trench warfare in which Union forces commanded by Lt Gen Ulysses S Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over 30 miles 48 km from the eastern outskirts of Richmond Virginia to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen Robert E Lee s army and the Confederate capital of Richmond Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines Siege of PetersburgPart of the American Civil WarThe Dictator siege mortar at Petersburg In the foreground the figure on the right is Brig Gen Henry J Hunt chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac 1 DateJune 9 1864 March 25 1865 9 months 2 weeks and 2 days LocationPetersburg VirginiaResultUnion victoryBelligerents United States Confederate StatesCommanders and leadersUlysses S Grant George Meade Benjamin ButlerRobert E Lee P G T BeauregardUnits involvedArmy of the Potomac Army of the JamesArmy of Northern VirginiaDepartment of North Carolina and Southern VirginiaStrength125 00060 000 2 estimate Casualties and losses42 000 3 estimate 28 000 3 estimate 25 000 desertions 4 Lee finally gave into the pressure and abandoned both cities in April 1865 leading to his retreat and surrender at Appomattox Court House The siege of Petersburg foreshadowed the trench warfare that was common in World War I earning it a prominent position in military history It also featured the war s largest concentration of African American troops who suffered heavy casualties at such engagements as the Battle of the Crater and Chaffin s Farm Contents 1 Background 1 1 Military situation 2 Opposing forces 2 1 Union 2 2 Confederate 2 3 Comparison between Union and Confederate armies 3 Role of African Americans 3 1 In Petersburg 3 2 Serving the Confederacy 3 3 Serving the Union 3 4 At City Point 4 Initial attempts to capture Petersburg 4 1 Butler s assault June 9 4 2 Meade s assaults June 15 18 1864 5 Initial attempts to cut the railroads June 21 30 5 1 Jerusalem Plank Road June 21 23 5 2 Wilson Kautz Raid June 22 July 1 6 First Battle of Deep Bottom July 27 29 7 The Crater July 30 8 Second Deep Bottom August 14 20 9 Operations against the Weldon Railroad 9 1 Globe Tavern August 18 21 9 2 Second Reams Station August 25 10 Beefsteak Raid September 14 17 11 Union offensives late September 11 1 New Market Heights September 29 30 11 2 Peebles Farm September 30 October 2 12 Actions near Richmond October 12 1 Darbytown and New Market Roads October 7 12 2 Darbytown Road October 13 12 3 Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road October 27 28 13 Boydton Plank Road October 27 28 14 Hatcher s Run February 5 7 1865 15 Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Stedman March 25 16 Aftermath 17 Classifying the campaigns 18 Battlefield preservation 19 See also 20 Notes 21 References 22 Further reading 23 External linksBackground EditMilitary situation Edit Main article Eastern Theater of the American Civil War Further information American Civil War Fredericksburg Virginia May 1863 Soldiers in the trenches Trench warfare would appear again more infamously in World War I In March 1864 Ulysses S Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and was given command of the Union Army He devised a coordinated strategy to apply pressure on the Confederacy from many points something President Abraham Lincoln had urged his generals to do from the beginning of the war Grant put Maj Gen William T Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his own headquarters to be with the Army of the Potomac still commanded by Maj Gen George G Meade in Virginia where he intended to maneuver Lee s army to a decisive battle his secondary objective was to capture Richmond the capital of the Confederacy but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished His coordinated strategy called for Grant and Meade to attack Lee from the north while Maj Gen Benjamin Butler drove toward Richmond from the southeast Maj Gen Franz Sigel to control the Shenandoah Valley Sherman to invade Georgia defeat Gen Joseph E Johnston and capture Atlanta Brig Gens George Crook and William W Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia and Maj Gen Nathaniel P Banks to capture Mobile Alabama 6 Most of these initiatives failed often because of the assignment of generals to Grant for political rather than military reasons Butler s Army of the James bogged down against inferior forces under Gen P G T Beauregard before Richmond in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign Sigel was soundly defeated at the Battle of New Market in May and soon afterward he was replaced by Maj Gen David Hunter Banks was distracted by the Red River Campaign and failed to move on Mobile However Crook and Averell were able to cut the last railway linking Virginia and Tennessee and Sherman s Atlanta Campaign was a success although it dragged on through the fall 7 On May 4 Grant and Meade s Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River and entered the area known as the Wilderness of Spotsylvania beginning the six week Overland Campaign At the bloody but tactically inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness May 5 7 and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House May 8 21 Grant failed to destroy Lee s army but unlike his predecessors did not retreat after the battles he repeatedly moved his army leftward to the southeast in a campaign that kept Lee on the defensive and moved ever closer to Richmond Grant spent the remainder of May maneuvering and fighting minor battles with the Confederate army as he attempted to turn Lee s flank and lure him into the open Grant knew that his larger army and base of manpower in the North could sustain a war of attrition better than Lee and the Confederacy could This theory was tested at the Battle of Cold Harbor May 31 June 12 when Grant s army once again came into contact with Lee s near Mechanicsville He chose to engage Lee s army directly by ordering a frontal assault on the Confederate fortified positions on June 3 This attack was repulsed with heavy losses Cold Harbor was a battle that Grant regretted more than any other and Northern newspapers thereafter frequently referred to him as a butcher Although Grant suffered high losses during the campaign approximately 50 000 casualties or 41 Lee lost even higher percentages of his men approximately 32 000 or 46 losses that could not be replaced 8 On the night of June 12 Grant again advanced by his left flank marching to the James River He planned to cross to the south bank of the river bypassing Richmond and isolate Richmond by seizing the railroad junction of Petersburg to the south While Lee remained unaware of Grant s intentions the Union army constructed a pontoon bridge 2 100 feet 640 m long and crossed the James River on June 14 18 What Lee had feared most of all that Grant would force him into a siege of Richmond was poised to occur Petersburg a prosperous city of 18 000 was a supply center for Richmond given its strategic location just south of Richmond its site on the Appomattox River that provided navigable access to the James River and its role as a major crossroads and junction for five railroads Since Petersburg was the main supply base and rail depot for the entire region including Richmond the taking of Petersburg by Union forces would make it impossible for Lee to continue defending Richmond the Confederate capital This represented a change of strategy from that of the preceding Overland Campaign in which confronting and defeating Lee s army in the open was the primary goal Now Grant selected a geographic and political target and knew that his superior resources could besiege Lee there pin him down and either starve him into submission or lure him out for a decisive battle Lee at first believed that Grant s main target was Richmond and devoted only minimal troops under Gen P G T Beauregard to the defense of Petersburg 9 Opposing forces EditUnion Edit Further information Union order of battle at Second Petersburg Union order of battle at First Deep Bottom Union order of battle at the Crater Union order of battle at Globe Tavern Union order of battle at Chaffin s Farm Union order of battle at Boydton Plank Road Key Union commanders Lt Gen Ulysses S Grant Maj Gen George G Meade Maj Gen Benjamin ButlerAt the beginning of the campaign Grant s Union forces consisted of the Army of the Potomac under Maj Gen George G Meade and theArmy of the James under Maj Gen Benjamin Butler The Army of the Potomac included 10 II Corps under Maj Gen Winfield S Hancock including the divisions of Maj Gens David B Birney and John Gibbon and Brig Gen Francis C Barlow V Corps under Maj Gen Gouverneur K Warren including the divisions of Brig Gens Charles Griffin Romeyn B Ayres Samuel W Crawford and Lysander Cutler VI Corps under Maj Gen Horatio G Wright including the divisions of Brig Gens David A Russell Thomas H Neill and Truman Seymour The VI Corps was on detached service in the Shenandoah Valley from mid July to early December 1864 11 IX Corps under Maj Gen Ambrose Burnside including the divisions of Brig Gens James H Ledlie Robert B Potter Orlando B Willcox and Edward Ferrero the latter division being manned by United States Colored Troops Maj Gen John G Parke replaced Burnside after the Battle of the Crater 12 Cavalry Corps under Maj Gen Philip H Sheridan including the divisions of Brig Gens Alfred T A Torbert David McM Gregg and James H Wilson Sheridan and much of his command were on detached service in the Shenandoah Valley from mid July 1864 to late March 1865 Upon their return Sheridan often referred to his Cavalry Corps as the Army of the Shenandoah reflecting their role in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 13 The Army of the James included 14 X Corps under Brig Gen Alfred H Terry including the divisions of Brig Gens Robert S Foster and Adelbert Ames XVIII Corps under Maj Gen William F Baldy Smith including the divisions of Brig Gens William T H Brooks John H Martindale and Edward W Hinks the latter also a USCT division XXIV Corps under Maj Gen Edward O C Ord including the divisions of Brig Gen Robert S Foster Maj Gen Thomas M Harris and Brig Gen Charles Devens XXV Corps under Maj Gen Godfrey Weitzel including the divisions of Brig Gens Charles J Paine William Birney and Edward A Wild Cavalry Division under Brig Gen August Kautz On December 3 1864 the racially integrated X Corps and XVIII Corps were reorganized to become the all white XXIV Corps and the all black officers excepted XXV Corps 15 Grant made his headquarters in a cabin on the lawn of Appomattox Manor the home of Dr Richard Eppes and the oldest home built in 1763 in what was then City Point but is now Hopewell Virginia Confederate Edit Further information Confederate order of battle Key Confederate commanders Gen Robert E Lee Gen P G T Beauregard Lt Gen James Longstreet Lt Gen Richard S Ewell Lt Gen A P Hill Lt Gen Richard H AndersonLee s Confederate force consisted of his own Army of Northern Virginia as well as a scattered disorganized group of 10 000 men defending Richmond under Gen P G T Beauregard Many of the men under Beauregard s command consisted of soldiers who were either too young or too old to fight in the Army of Northern Virginia or men who had been discharged from Lee s army due to wounds that rendered them unfit for service The Army of Northern Virginia was initially organized into four corps 16 First Corps under Lt Gen Richard H Anderson including the divisions of Maj Gens George E Pickett Charles W Field and Joseph B Kershaw Lt Gen James Longstreet returned from medical leave and resumed command of the corps on October 19 17 Anderson was given command of the new Fourth Corps which included the division of Maj Gen Bushrod R Johnson 18 Second Corps under Lt Gen Jubal A Early was detached on June 12 for operations in the Shenandoah Valley and played no direct role in the defense of Petersburg Third Corps under Lt Gen A P Hill including the divisions of Maj Gens Henry Heth and Cadmus M Wilcox and Brig Gen William Mahone Cavalry Corps under Maj Gen Wade Hampton including the divisions of Maj Gens Fitzhugh Lee and W H F Rooney Lee Beauregard s Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia had four depleted divisions commanded by Maj Gens Robert Ransom Jr Robert F Hoke and William H C Whiting and Brig Gen Alfred H Colquitt Later in the campaign Beauregard s department was expanded and reorganized to consist of the divisions of Maj Gens Hoke and Bushrod Johnson 19 Comparison between Union and Confederate armies Edit Grant s armies were significantly larger than Lee s during the campaign although the strengths varied During the initial assaults on the city 15 000 Federal troops faced about 5 400 men under Beauregard By June 18 the Federal strength exceeded 67 000 against the Confederate 20 000 More typical of the full campaign was in mid July when 70 000 Union troops faced 36 000 Confederates around Petersburg and 40 000 men under Butler faced 21 000 around Richmond 20 The Union Army despite suffering horrific losses during the Overland Campaign was able to replenish its soldiers and equipment taking advantage of garrison troops from Washington D C and the increasing availability of African American soldiers By the end of the siege Grant had 125 000 men to begin the Appomattox Campaign 21 The Confederate army in contrast had difficulty replacing men lost through battle disease and desertion As a result of this severe lack of manpower facing the Confederates when Beauregard s men occupied the trenches around the city there were gaps in the line of up to 5 feet 1 5 m between men 22 Role of African Americans Edit A portion of the 4th USCT Infantry At the siege of Petersburg in June 1864 enslaved African Americans worked on digging trenches and other manual labor on behalf of the Confederacy while African Americans fought in the Union Army of the Potomac as soldiers of the United States Colored Troops 23 In Petersburg Edit At the beginning of the American Civil War Virginia had a black population of about 549 000 This meant that of the Confederacy s total black population one in six blacks lived in Virginia Of those African Americans in Virginia 89 were slaves In Petersburg about half the population was black of which nearly 35 were free Petersburg was considered to have the largest number of free blacks of any Southern city at that time Many of the freedmen prospered there as barbers blacksmiths boatmen draymen livery stable keepers and caterers 23 Serving the Confederacy Edit When Petersburg became a major supply center for the newly formed Confederacy and its nearby capital in Richmond both freedmen and slaves were employed in various war functions one of which was working for the numerous railroad companies that operated in and out of the city In 1862 Captain Charles Dimmock used freedmen and slave labor to construct a ten mile long defensive line of trenches and batteries around the city 23 Once the siege began in June African Americans continued working for the Confederacy In September General Robert E Lee asked for an additional 2 000 blacks to be added to his labor force On January 11 1865 General Robert E Lee wrote the Confederate Congress urging them to pass pending legislation to arm and enlist black slaves in exchange for their freedom On March 13 the Confederate Congress passed legislation to raise and enlist companies of black soldiers 23 The legislation was then promulgated into military policy by Davis in General Order No 14 on March 23 24 The emancipation offered however was still reliant upon one s master agreement no slave will be accepted as a recruit unless with his own consent and with the approbation of his master by a written instrument conferring as far as he may the rights of a freedman 24 Serving the Union Edit During the war a total of nearly 187 000 African Americans served in the Union Army Of those the greatest concentration of U S Colored Troops USCT was at Petersburg In the initial assault upon the city on June 15 a division of USCTs in the XVIII Corps helped capture and secure a section of the Dimmock Line The other division at Petersburg was with the IX Corps and it fought in the Battle of the Crater July 30 23 In December all the United States Colored Troops around Petersburg were incorporated into three divisions and became the XXV Corps of the Army of the James 25 It was the largest black force assembled during the war and varied between 9 000 and 16 000 men Overall in the Petersburg Campaign USCTs would participate in 6 major engagements and earn 15 of the 25 total https www cmohs org news events history honoring the african american recipients of the civil war Medals of Honor that were awarded to African American soldiers in the Civil War 23 At City Point Edit African Americans served in varying capacities at the Union supply base at City Point They served as pickets railroad workers and laborers discharging the ships wheeling the dirt sawing the timber and driving the piles Many also worked at the Depot Field Hospital as cooks 23 Initial attempts to capture Petersburg EditButler s assault June 9 Edit Further information First Battle of Petersburg Richmond Petersburg Theater fall 1864 Confederate Union While Lee and Grant faced each other after Cold Harbor Benjamin Butler became aware that Confederate troops had been moving north to reinforce Lee leaving the defenses of Petersburg in a vulnerable state Sensitive to his failure in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign Butler sought to achieve a success to vindicate his generalship He wrote the capture of Petersburg lay near my heart 26 Petersburg was protected by multiple lines of fortifications the outermost of which was known as the Dimmock Line a line of earthworks and trenches 10 miles 16 km long with 55 redoubts east of the city The 2 500 Confederates stretched thin along this defensive line were commanded by a former Virginia governor Brig Gen Henry A Wise Despite the number of fortifications because of a series of hills and valleys around the outskirts of Petersburg there were several places along the outer defenses where cavalry could easily ride through undetected until they reached the inner defenses of the city 27 Butler s plan was formulated on the afternoon of June 8 calling for three columns to cross the Appomattox and advance with 4 500 men The first and second consisted of infantry from Maj Gen Quincy A Gillmore s X Corps and U S Colored Troops from Brig Gen Edward W Hinks s 3rd Division of XVIII Corps which was to attack the Dimmock Line east of the city The third was 1 300 cavalrymen under Brig Gen August Kautz who were to sweep around Petersburg and strike it from the southeast The troops moved out on the night of June 8 but made poor progress Eventually the infantry crossed by 3 40 a m on June 9 and by 7 a m both Gillmore and Hinks had encountered the enemy but stopped at their fronts Gillmore told Hinks that he would attack but that both of the infantry columns should await the cavalry assault from the south 28 Kautz s men did not arrive until noon however having been delayed en route by numerous enemy pickets They assaulted the Dimmock Line where it crossed the Jerusalem Plank Road present day U S Route 301 Crater Road The Confederates Battery 27 also known as Rives s Salient was manned by 150 militiamen commanded by Maj Fletcher H Archer Kautz first launched a probing attack then paused His main attack was by the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry against the Home Guard a group consisting primarily of teenagers elderly men and some wounded soldiers from city hospitals The Home Guards retreated to the city with heavy losses but by this time Beauregard had been able to bring reinforcements from Richmond to bear which were able to repulse the Union assault Kautz hearing no activity on Gillmore s front presumed that he was left on his own and withdrew Confederate casualties were about 80 Union 40 Butler was furious with Gillmore s timidity and incompetence and arrested him Gillmore requested a court of inquiry which was never convened but Grant later reassigned him and the incident was dropped 29 Meade s assaults June 15 18 1864 Edit Further information Second Battle of Petersburg Siege of Petersburg assaults on June 15 18 Grant selected Butler s Army of the James which had performed poorly in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign to lead the expedition toward Petersburg On June 14 he directed Butler to augment the XVIII Corps commanded by Brig Gen William F Baldy Smith to a strength of 16 000 men including Kautz s cavalry division and use the same route employed in the unsuccessful attacks of June 9 Since Beauregard had insufficient men available to defend the entire Dimmock Line he concentrated 2 200 troops under Brig Gen Henry A Wise in the northeastern sector Even with this concentration infantrymen were spaced an unacceptable 10 feet 3 0 m apart His remaining 3 200 men were facing Butler s army at Bermuda Hundred 30 Baldy Smith and his men crossed the Appomattox shortly after dawn on June 15 Kautz s cavalry leading the advance encountered an unexpected stronghold at Baylor s farm northeast of Petersburg Brig Gen Edward W Hinks s men launched two attacks on the Confederates and captured a cannon but the overall advance was delayed until early afternoon Smith started his attack after delaying until about 7 p m deploying a strong skirmish line that swept over the earthworks on a 3 5 mile 5 6 km front causing the Confederates to retreat to a weaker defensive line on Harrison s Creek Despite this initial success and the prospect of a virtually undefended city immediately to his front Smith decided to wait until dawn to resume his attack By this time Maj Gen Winfield S Hancock the II Corps commander had arrived at Smith s headquarters The normally decisive and pugnacious Hancock who outranked Smith was uncertain of his orders and the disposition of forces and uncharacteristically deferred to Smith s judgment to wait 31 Beauregard wrote later that Petersburg at that hour was clearly at the mercy of the Federal commander who had all but captured it But he used the time he had been granted to good advantage Receiving no guidance from Richmond in response to his urgent requests he unilaterally decided to strip his defenses from the Howlett Line which was bottling up Butler s army in Bermuda Hundred making the divisions of Maj Gens Robert Hoke and Bushrod Johnson available for the new Petersburg defensive line Butler might have used this opportunity to move his army between Petersburg and Richmond which would have doomed the Confederate capital but he once again failed to act 32 By the morning of June 16 Beauregard had concentrated about 14 000 men in his defensive line but this paled in comparison to the 50 000 federals that now faced him Grant had arrived with Maj Gen Ambrose Burnside s IX Corps addressed the confusion of Hancock s orders and ordered a reconnaissance for weak points in the defensive line Hancock in temporary command of the Army of the Potomac until Maj Gen George G Meade arrived prepared Smith s XVIII corps on the right his own II Corps in the center and Burnside s IX Corps on the left Hancock s assault began around 5 30 p m as all three corps moved slowly forward Beauregard s men fought fiercely erecting new breastworks to the rear as breakthroughs occurred Upon the arrival of General Meade a second attack was ordered and Brig Gen Francis C Barlow led his division forward Although Barlow s men managed to capture their objectives a counterattack drove them back taking numerous Union prisoners The survivors dug in close to the enemy works 33 June 17 was a day of uncoordinated Union attacks starting on the left flank where two brigades of Burnside s IX Corps under Brig Gen Robert B Potter stealthily approached the Confederate line and launched a surprise attack at dawn Initially successful it captured nearly a mile of the Confederate fortifications and about 600 prisoners but the effort eventually failed when Potter s men moved forward to find another line of entrenchments IX Corps assaults at 2 p m led by the brigade of Brig Gen John F Hartranft and in the evening by Brig Gen James H Ledlie s division both failed 34 During the day Beauregard s engineers had laid out new defensive positions a mile to the west of the Dimmock Line which the Confederates occupied late that night Robert E Lee had systematically ignored all of Beauregard s pleas for reinforcements until now but dispatched two divisions of his men exhausted from the Overland Campaign to Petersburg beginning at 3 a m on June 18 With the arrival of Lee s two divisions under Maj Gen Joseph B Kershaw and Charles W Field Beauregard had over 20 000 men to defend the city but Grant s force had been augmented by the arrival of Maj Gen Gouverneur K Warren s V Corps and 67 000 Federals were present 35 On the morning of June 18 Meade went into a rage directed at his corps commanders because of his army s failure to take the initiative and break through the thinly defended Confederate positions and seize the city He ordered the entire Army of the Potomac to attack the Confederate defenses The first Union attack began at dawn started by the II and XVIII Corps on the Union right The II Corps was surprised to make rapid progress against the Confederate line not realizing that Beauregard had moved it back the night before When they encountered the second line the attack immediately ground to a halt and the corps suffered under heavy Confederate fire for hours 36 By noon another attack plan had been devised to break through the Confederate defenses However by this time elements of Lee s army had reinforced Beauregard s troops By the time the Union attack was renewed Lee himself had taken command of the defenses Maj Gen Orlando B Willcox s division of the IX Corps led the renewed attack but it suffered significant losses in the marsh and open fields crossed by Taylor s Branch Warren s V Corps was halted by murderous fire from Rives s Salient an attack in which Col Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain commanding the 1st Brigade First Division V Corps was severely wounded At 6 30 p m Meade ordered a final assault which also failed with more horrendous losses One of the leading regiments was the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment which lost 632 of 900 men in the assault the heaviest single battle loss of any regiment during the entire war 37 Having achieved almost no gains from four days of assaults and with Lincoln facing re election in the upcoming months in the face of a loud public outcry against the casualty figures Meade ordered his army to dig in starting the ten month siege During the four days of fighting Union casualties were 11 386 1 688 killed 8 513 wounded 1 185 missing or captured Confederate 4 000 200 killed 2 900 wounded 900 missing or captured 38 Initial attempts to cut the railroads June 21 30 EditAfter failing to capture Petersburg by assault Grant s first objective was to secure the three remaining open rail lines that served Petersburg and Richmond the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad the South Side Railroad which reached to Lynchburg in the west and the Weldon Railroad also called the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad which led to Weldon North Carolina and the Confederacy s only remaining major port Wilmington North Carolina Grant decided on a wide ranging cavalry raid the Wilson Kautz Raid 39 against the South Side and Weldon railroads but he also directed that a significant infantry force be sent against the Weldon closer to his current position Meade selected the II Corps still temporarily commanded by Birney 40 and Wright s VI Corps 41 Jerusalem Plank Road June 21 23 Edit Further information Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road Siege of Petersburg movements against the railroads and A P Hill s counterattack June 21 22 On June 21 elements of the II Corps probed toward the railroad and skirmished with Confederate cavalry By the morning of June 22 a gap opened up between the two corps While the II Corps moved forward the VI Corps encountered Confederate troops from Maj Gen Cadmus Wilcox s division of Lt Gen A P Hill s corps and they began to entrench rather than advance Brig Gen William Mahone observed that the gap between the two Union corps was widening creating a prime target Mahone had been a railroad engineer before the war and had personally surveyed this area south of Petersburg so he was familiar with a ravine that could be used to hide the approach of a Confederate attack column At 3 p m Mahone s men emerged in the rear of the II Corps division of Brig Gen Francis C Barlow catching them by surprise and Barlow s division quickly collapsed The division of Brig Gen John Gibbon which had erected earthworks was also surprised by an attack from the rear and many of the regiments ran for safety The II Corps troops rallied around earthworks that they had constructed on the night of June 21 and stabilized their lines Darkness ended the fighting 42 On June 23 the II Corps advanced to retake its lost ground but the Confederates had pulled back abandoning the earthworks they had captured Under orders from General Meade the VI Corps sent out a heavy skirmish line after 10 a m in a second attempt to reach the Weldon Railroad Men from Brig Gen Lewis A Grant s 1st Vermont Brigade had begun tearing up the track when they were attacked by a larger force of Confederate infantry Numerous Vermonters were taken prisoner and only about half a mile of track had been destroyed when they were chased away Meade was unable to urge Wright forward and called off the operation Union casualties were 2 962 Confederate 572 43 The battle was inconclusive with advantages gained on both sides The Confederates were able to retain control of the Weldon Railroad The Federals were able to destroy a short segment of the Weldon before being driven off but more importantly the siege lines were stretched further to the west 44 Wilson Kautz Raid June 22 July 1 Edit Further information Wilson Kautz Raid Battle of Staunton River Bridge Battle of Sappony Church and First Battle of Ream s Station Wilson Kautz Raid June 22 July 1 In parallel to Birney s and Wright s infantry action at the Jerusalem Plank Road Brig Gen James H Wilson was ordered by Meade to conduct a raid destroying as much track as possible south and southwest of Petersburg Grant considered Wilson s 3rd Division of the Cavalry Corps too small to conduct the operation alone particularly since Meade required Wilson to leave 1 400 men behind for picket duty so he directed Butler to contribute Brig Gen August Kautz s small division 2 000 troopers to the effort Early on the morning of June 22 3 300 men 45 and 12 guns organized into two batteries departed Mount Sinai Church and began to destroy railroad track and cars of the Weldon Railroad at Reams Station 46 7 miles 11 km south of Petersburg Kautz s men moved to the west to Ford s Station and began destroying track locomotives and cars on the South Side Railroad 47 On June 23 Wilson proceeded to the junction of the Richmond and Danville Railroad at Burkeville where he encountered elements of Rooney Lee s cavalry between Nottoway Court House and Black s and White s modern day Blackstone The Confederates struck the rear of his column forcing Col George A Chapman s brigade to fend them off Wilson followed Kautz along the South Side Railroad destroying about 30 miles 50 km of track as they went On June 24 while Kautz remained to skirmish around Burkeville Wilson crossed over to Meherrin Station on the Richmond and Danville and began destroying track 48 On June 25 Wilson and Kautz continued tearing up track south to the Staunton River Bridge at Roanoke Station modern day Randolph where they encountered approximately 1 000 Old Men and Boys the Home Guard commanded by Capt Benjamin L Farinholt dug in with earthworks and prepared artillery positions at the bridge The Battle of Staunton River Bridge was a minor affair in which Kautz attempted multiple frontal assaults against the Home Guard but his men never came closer than 80 yards 73 m Lee s cavalry division closed on the Federals from the northeast and skirmished with Wilson s rear guard Casualties on the Union side amounted to 42 killed 44 wounded and 30 missing or captured Confederate losses were 10 killed and 24 wounded Kautz s men gave up and retreated to the railroad depot at 9 p m Despite these relatively minor losses the two Union cavalry generals decided to abandon their mission leaving the Staunton River bridge intact and having inflicted only minor damage on the railroads 49 Commanders of the Wilson Kautz Raid Brig Gen James H Wilson Brig Gen August KautzAs Wilson and Kautz turned back to the east after their defeat at Staunton River Bridge Rooney Lee s cavalry pursued and threatened their rear Meanwhile Robert E Lee ordered Maj Gen Wade Hampton s cavalry which had been engaged with Maj Gen Philip H Sheridan s cavalry at the Battle of Trevilian Station on June 11 12 to join the pursuit and attack Wilson and Kautz Before leaving on his raid Wilson had received assurances from Meade s chief of staff Maj Gen Andrew A Humphreys that the Army of the Potomac would be immediately taking control of the Weldon Railroad at least as far south as Reams Station so Wilson decided that would be an appropriate place to return to Union lines The Union defeat at Jerusalem Plank Road made those assurances inoperable Wilson and Kautz were surprised on the afternoon of June 28 when they reached Stony Creek Station 10 miles 16 km south of Reams as hundreds of Hampton s cavalrymen under Brig Gen John R Chambliss and infantry blocked their path In the Battle of Sappony Church Wilson s men tried to break through but had to fall back when Confederate Brig Gen Matthew C Butler and Thomas L Rosser threatened to envelop Wilson s left flank Kautz s division following Wilson s took a back road in the direction of Reams Station and was attacked by Rooney Lee s division late in the day The Union cavalrymen were able to slip out of the trap under the cover of darkness and rode north on the Halifax Road for the supposed security of Reams Station 50 Dictator siege mortar on the U S Military Railroad at Petersburg In the First Battle of Reams Station on June 29 Kautz approached Reams Station from the west expecting to find the friendly infantry promised by Humphreys but found Confederate infantry instead Mahone s division blocking the approaches to the Halifax Road and the railroad behind well constructed earthworks Kautz s attack by the 11th Pennsylvania and the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry along the Depot Road was unsuccessful and Mahone counterattacked against the flank of the Pennsylvanians On the Stage Road to the north of the station the brigades of Brig Gen Lunsford L Lomax and Williams C Wickham maneuvered around the 2nd Ohio Cavalry and 5th New York Cavalry turning the Federal left flank Wilson sent a messenger north who was able to slip through the Confederate lines and urgently requested help from Meade at City Point Meade alerted Wright to prepare to move his entire VI Corps to Reams Station but he realized that it would take too long on foot and requested help from Sheridan s cavalry as well Sheridan demurred complaining of the effect on his worn out horses and exhausted men After the war arguments persisted between Sheridan and Wilson about whether the former had adequately protected the raiders from the Confederate cavalry of Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee Sheridan did reach Reams Station by 7 p m only to find that the VI Corps infantry had in fact arrived but that Wilson and Kautz had departed 51 Caught in a trap without the promise of immediate aid the Wilson Kautz raiders burned their wagons and destroyed their artillery pieces and fled to the north before the reinforcements arrived They lost hundreds of men as prisoners in what was called a wild skedaddle At least 300 escaped slaves who had joined the Union cavalrymen during the raid were abandoned during the retreat The raiders reentered Federal lines around 2 p m on July 1 They had destroyed 60 miles 97 km of track which took the Confederates several weeks to repair but it came at the cost of 1 445 Union casualties or about a quarter of their force Wilson lost 33 killed 108 wounded and 674 captured or missing Kautz lost 48 killed 153 wounded and 429 captured or missing Although Wilson counted the raid as a strategic success Ulysses S Grant reluctantly described the expedition as a disaster 52 First Battle of Deep Bottom July 27 29 EditFurther information First Battle of Deep Bottom First Battle of Deep Bottom July 27 29 In preparation for the forthcoming Battle of the Crater Grant wanted Lee to dilute his forces in the Petersburg trenches by attracting them elsewhere He ordered Hancock s II Corps and two divisions of Sheridan s Cavalry Corps to cross the river to Deep Bottom by pontoon bridge and advance against the Confederate capital His plan called for Hancock to pin down the Confederates at Chaffin s Bluff and prevent reinforcements from opposing Sheridan s cavalry which would attack Richmond if practicable If not a circumstance Grant considered more likely Sheridan was ordered to ride around the city to the north and west and cut the Virginia Central Railroad which was supplying Richmond from the Shenandoah Valley 53 When Lee found out about Hancock s pending movement he ordered that the Richmond lines be reinforced to 16 500 men Maj Gen Joseph B Kershaw s division and brigades from Maj Gen Cadmus M Wilcox s division moved east on New Market Road and took up positions on the eastern face of New Market Heights Hancock and Sheridan crossed the pontoon bridge starting at 3 a m July 27 The II Corps took up positions on the east bank of Bailey s Creek from New Market Road to near Fussell s Mill Sheridan s cavalry captured the high ground on the right overlooking the millpond but they were counterattacked and driven back The Confederate works on the west bank of Bailey s Creek were formidable and Hancock chose not to attack them spending the rest of the day performing reconnaissance 54 While Hancock was stymied at Bailey s Creek Robert E Lee began bringing up more reinforcements from Petersburg reacting as Grant had hoped He assigned Lt Gen Richard H Anderson to take command of the Deep Bottom sector and sent in Maj Gen Henry Heth s infantry division and Maj Gen W H F Rooney Lee s cavalry division Troops were also hurriedly detailed from the Department of Richmond to help man the trenches 55 On the morning of July 28 Grant reinforced Hancock with a brigade of the XIX Corps Sheridan s men attempted to turn the Confederate left but their movement was disrupted by a Confederate attack Three brigades attacked Sheridan s right flank but they were unexpectedly hit by heavy fire from the Union repeating carbines Mounted Federals in Sheridan s reserve pursued and captured nearly 200 prisoners 56 No further combat occurred and the expedition against Richmond and its railroads was terminated on the afternoon of July 28 Satisfied that the operation had distracted sufficient Confederate forces from his front General Grant determined to proceed with the assault against the Crater on July 30 57 Union casualties at the First Battle of Deep Bottom were 488 62 killed 340 wounded and 86 missing or captured Confederate casualties were 679 80 killed 391 wounded 208 missing or captured 58 The Crater July 30 EditFurther information Battle of the Crater Siege of Petersburg Battle of the Crater July 30 Grant wanted to defeat Lee s army without resorting to a lengthy siege his experience in the siege of Vicksburg told him that such affairs were expensive and difficult on the morale of his men Lt Col Henry Pleasants commanding the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry of Maj Gen Ambrose E Burnside s IX Corps offered a novel proposal to solve Grant s problem Pleasants a mining engineer from Pennsylvania in civilian life proposed digging a long mine shaft underneath the Confederate lines and planting explosive charges directly underneath a fort Elliott s Salient in the middle of the Confederate First Corps line If successful Union troops could drive through the resulting gap in the line into the Confederate rear area Digging began in late June creating a mine in a T shape with an approach shaft 511 feet 156 m long At its end a perpendicular gallery of 75 feet 23 m extended in both directions The gallery was filled with 8 000 pounds of gunpowder buried 20 feet 6 1 m underneath the Confederate works 59 Burnside had trained a division of United States Colored Troops USCT under Brig Gen Edward Ferrero to lead the assault Two regiments were to leave the attack column and extend the breach by rushing perpendicular to the crater while the remaining regiments were to rush through seizing the Jerusalem Plank Road Burnside s two other divisions made up of white troops would then move in supporting Ferrero s flanks and race for Petersburg itself However the day before the attack Meade who lacked confidence in the operation ordered Burnside not to use the black troops in the lead assault claiming that if the attack failed black soldiers would be killed needlessly creating political repercussions in the North Burnside protested to General Grant who sided with Meade When volunteers were not forthcoming Burnside selected a replacement white division by having the three commanders draw lots Brig Gen James H Ledlie s 1st Division was selected but he failed to brief the men on what was expected of them and was reported during the battle to be drunk well behind the lines and providing no leadership Ledlie was later dismissed for his actions during the battle 60 Sketch of the explosion seen from the Union line At 4 44 a m on July 30 the charges exploded in a massive shower of earth men and guns A crater still visible today was created 170 feet 52 m long 60 to 80 feet 24 m wide and 30 feet 9 1 m deep The blast destroyed the Confederate fortifications in the immediate vicinity and instantly killed between 250 and 350 Confederate soldiers Ledlie s untrained white division was not prepared for the explosion and reports indicate they waited ten minutes before leaving their own entrenchments Once they had wandered to the crater instead of moving around it as the black troops had been trained to do they moved down into the crater itself Since this was not the planned movement there were no ladders provided for the men to use in exiting the crater The Confederates under Maj Gen William Mahone gathered as many troops together as they could for a counterattack In about an hour s time they had formed up around the crater and began firing rifles and artillery down into it in what Mahone later described as a turkey shoot The plan had failed but Burnside instead of cutting his losses sent in Ferrero s men Now faced with considerable flanking fire they also went down into the crater and for the next few hours Mahone s soldiers along with those of Maj Gen Bushrod Johnson and artillery slaughtered the men of the IX Corps as they attempted to escape from the crater Some Union troops eventually advanced and flanked to the right beyond the Crater to the earthworks and assaulted the Confederate lines driving the Confederates back for several hours in hand to hand combat Mahone s Confederates conducted a sweep out of a sunken gully area about 200 yards 180 m from the right side of the Union advance This charge reclaimed the earthworks and drove the Union force back towards the east 61 Grant wrote that It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the war 62 Union casualties were 3 798 504 killed 1 881 wounded 1 413 missing or captured Confederate casualties were approximately 1 500 200 killed 900 wounded 400 missing or captured Many of these losses were suffered by Ferrero s division of the USCT Burnside was relieved of command 63 Second Deep Bottom August 14 20 EditFurther information Second Battle of Deep Bottom Second Battle of Deep Bottom August 14 20 On the same day the Union failed at the Crater Confederate Lt Gen Jubal A Early was burning the town of Chambersburg Pennsylvania as he operated out of the Shenandoah Valley threatening towns in Maryland and Pennsylvania as well as the District of Columbia Robert E Lee was concerned about actions that Grant might take against Early and sent the infantry division of Maj Gen Joseph B Kershaw from Lt Gen Richard H Anderson s corps and the cavalry division commanded by Maj Gen Fitzhugh Lee to Culpeper Virginia where they could either provide aid to Early or be recalled to the Richmond Petersburg front as needed Grant misinterpreted this movement and assumed that Anderson s entire corps had been removed from the vicinity of Richmond leaving only about 8 500 men north of the James River He determined to try again with an advance toward the Confederate capital led by Hancock This would either prevent reinforcements from aiding Early or once again dilute the Confederate strength in the defensive lines around Petersburg 64 On August 13 the X Corps commanded by Maj Gen David B Birney and Brig Gen David McM Gregg s cavalry division crossed pontoon bridges from Bermuda Hundred to Deep Bottom The II Corps crossed by steamships the night of August 13 14 Birney s X Corps troops successfully pushed aside pickets on the Kingsland Road but were stopped by the fortifications on New Market Heights The II Corps units moved slowly into position suffering numerous deaths from heat stroke 65 It was not until midday on August 14 that the Union made contact with the Confederates manning rifle pits on the Darbytown Road just north of the Long Bridge Road The Union generals were surprised at the Confederate strength On the right a full Confederate division commanded by Maj Gen Charles W Field was dug in Chaffin s Bluff was defended by a division under Maj Gen Cadmus M Wilcox and reinforcements were arriving Brig Gen Francis C Barlow s 10 000 men in two divisions of II Corps attacked Fussell s Mill They were able to drive away two Confederate cavalry regiments at the mill but they were repulsed by Brig Gen George T Anderson s brigade When Field took Anderson s brigade from his right flank it weakened the line in front of Birney s corps which moved forward and occupied some of the Confederate entrenchments and captured four guns 66 Although the Union attacks had been generally unsuccessful they had some of the effect Grant desired Lee became convinced that the threat against Richmond was a serious one and he dispatched two infantry brigades of Maj Gen William Mahone s division and the cavalry divisions of Maj Gen Wade Hampton and W H F Rooney Lee Hancock ordered Birney s corps to make a night march to join Barlow s end of the line Birney s movement was delayed by difficult terrain for most of August 15 and Hancock s plan for an attack was abandoned for the day 67 On August 16 Gregg s cavalry swept to the right and rode northwest on the Charles City Road toward Richmond They found Rooney Lee s cavalry division blocking the road and a full day of fighting resulted Confederate Brig Gen John R Chambliss was killed during the fighting The infantrymen of the X Corps had a better start to the day as Brig Gen Alfred H Terry s division broke through the Confederate line Wright s Brigade was hit hard and retreated opening a significant gap The heavily wooded terrain prevented Birney and Hancock from understanding that they had reached a position of advantage and they were unable to exploit it before Field rearranged his lines to fill the gap and drive back the Federals 68 Lee planned a counterattack against the Union right for 11 a m on August 18 but it was poorly coordinated and made no significant gains On the night of August 20 Hancock withdrew his force back over the James Union casualties were approximately 2 900 men some due to heat stroke Confederate casualties were 1 500 69 Operations against the Weldon Railroad EditGlobe Tavern August 18 21 Edit Further information Battle of Globe Tavern Siege of Petersburg capture of the Weldon Railroad August 18 19 While the II Corps fought at Deep Bottom Grant planned another attack against the Weldon He chose Gouverneur K Warren s V Corps to lead the operation Grant was encouraged by a message he received August 17 from President Abraham Lincoln I have seen your despatch expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are Neither am I willing Hold on with a bulldog grip and chew and choke as much as possible 70 Grant remarked to his staff The President has more nerve than any of his advisors 70 At dawn on August 18 Warren advanced to the south and reached the railroad at Globe Tavern around 9 a m Parts of the division under Brig Gen Charles Griffin began to destroy the track while a brigade from Brig Gen Romeyn B Ayres s division formed in line of battle and moved north to block any Confederate advance from that direction Ayres encountered Confederate troops at about 1 p m and Warren ordered the division under Brig Gen Samuel W Crawford to move forward on Ayres s right in an attempt to outflank the Confederate left A P Hill sent three brigades to meet the advancing Union divisions At about 2 p m they launched a strong attack and pushed the Union troops back to within less than a mile of Globe Tavern Warren counterattacked and regained his lost ground His men entrenched for the night 71 Reinforcements arrived during the night the Union IX Corps under Maj Gen John G Parke Rooney Lee s Confederate cavalry division and three infantry brigades from Mahone s division In the late afternoon of August 19 Mahone launched a flanking attack that found a weak spot in Crawford s line causing hundreds of Crawford s men to flee in panic Heth launched a frontal assault against the center and left which was easily repulsed by Ayres s division The XI Corps counterattacked and fighting ended at dusk On the night of August 20 21 Warren pulled his troops back two miles 3 km to a new line of fortifications which were connected with the main Union lines on the Jerusalem Plank Road The Confederates attacked at 9 a m on August 21 with Mahone striking the Federal left and Heth the center Both attacks were unsuccessful against the strong entrenchments and resulted in heavy losses By 10 30 a m the Confederates withdrew 72 Union casualties at Globe Tavern were 4 296 251 killed 1 148 wounded 2 897 missing captured Confederate 1 620 211 killed 990 wounded 419 missing captured 73 The Confederates had lost a key section of the Weldon Railroad and were forced to carry supplies by wagon 30 miles 48 km from the railroad at Stony Creek up the Boydton Plank Road into Petersburg This was not yet a critical problem for the Confederates A member of Lee s staff wrote Whilst we are inconvenienced no material harm is done us Grant was not entirely satisfied with Warren s victory which he rightly characterized as wholly defensive in nature 74 Globe Tavern was the first Union victory of the campaign Second Reams Station August 25 Edit Further information Second Battle of Ream s Station General Grant wanted the Weldon closed permanently destroying 14 miles 23 km of track from Warren s position near Globe Tavern as far south as Rowanty Creek about 3 miles 4 8 km north of the town of Stony Creek He assigned the operation to Hancock s II Corps which was in the process of moving south from their operation at Deep Bottom He chose Hancock s corps because Warren was busy extending the fortifications at Globe Tavern although his selection was of troops exhausted from their efforts north of the James and their forced march south without rest Grant augmented Hancock s corps with Gregg s cavalry division Gregg s division departed on August 22 and after driving off Confederate pickets they and the II Corps infantry division commanded by Brig Gen Nelson A Miles destroyed the railroad tracks to within 2 miles 3 2 km of Reams Station Early on August 23 Hancock s other division commanded by Brig Gen John Gibbon occupied Reams Station taking up positions in earthworks that had been constructed by the Union cavalry during the Wilson Kautz Raid in June 75 Robert E Lee considered that the Union troops at Reams Station represented not only a threat to his supply line but also to the county seat of Dinwiddie County if Dinwiddie Court House were to fall the Confederates would be forced to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond because it represented a key point on the army s potential retreat route He also saw an opportunity that he could impose a stinging defeat on the Union Army not long before the presidential election in November Lee ordered Lt Gen A P Hill to take the overall command of an expedition that included 8 10 000 men both cavalry and infantry 76 Maj Gen Cadmus M Wilcox s division assaulted the Union position at about 2 p m on August 25 Despite launching two attacks Wilcox was driven back by Miles s division which was manning the northern part of the earthworks To the south Gibbon s division was blocking the advance of Hampton s cavalry which had swept around the Union line Confederate reinforcements from Heth s and Mahone s divisions arrived while the Confederate artillery softened up the Union position The final attack began around 5 30 p m against Miles s position and it broke through the northwest corner of the Union fortifications Hancock desperately galloped from one threatened point to the next attempting to rally his men As he witnessed the men of his once proud corps reluctant to retake their positions from the enemy he remarked to a colonel I do not care to die but I pray God I may never leave this field By this time Hampton s cavalry was making progress against Gibbon s infantry to the south launching a surprise dismounted attack that caused many of Gibbon s men to flee or surrender This allowed Hampton to flank Miles Hancock ordered a counterattack which provided time to allow for an orderly Union withdrawal to Petersburg after dark 77 Union casualties at Reams Station were 2 747 the II Corps lost 117 killed 439 wounded 2 046 missing captured the cavalry lost 145 Confederate 814 Hampton s cavalry lost 16 killed 75 wounded 3 missing Hill s infantry 720 total 78 Although the Confederates had won a clear victory and had humiliated the veterans of II Corps they had lost a vital piece of the Weldon Railroad and from this point on they were able to transport supplies by rail only as far north as Stony Creek Depot 16 miles 26 km south of Petersburg From that point supplies had to be unloaded and wagon trains had to travel through Dinwiddie Court House and then on the Boydton Plank Road to get the supplies into Petersburg The South Side Railroad was the only railroad left to supply Petersburg and Lee s army 79 Beefsteak Raid September 14 17 EditFurther information Beefsteak Raid On September 5 a scout attached to the Jeff Davis Legion Sgt George D Shadburne gave a report to Wade Hampton on his reconnaissance behind the Union lines At about 5 miles east of Grant s headquarters at City Point a supply depot at Coggins Point on the James River he found 3 000 beeves beef cattle attended by 120 men and 30 citizens without arms Just two days earlier Robert E Lee had suggested to Hampton that Grant s rear area was open to attack On September 14 while Grant was in the Shenandoah Valley conferring with Sheridan Hampton led about 4 000 men in four brigades southwest from Petersburg along the Boydton Plank Road and followed a looping course through Dinwiddie Court House Stony Creek Station and by early morning on September 15 had crossed Blackwater Swamp at Cook s Bridge At 12 a m on September 16 Hampton launched an attack in three columns Rooney Lee s division on the left against the Union troops camped at Prince George Court House the brigade of Brig Gen James Dearing on the right against Cocke s Mill and the brigade of Brig Gen Thomas L Rosser and a detachment under Lt Col Lovick P Miller in the center to seize the cattle herd The surprise attacks met only minimal resistance and by 8 a m Hampton s men were driving 2 486 cattle south toward Cook s Bridge A Union attempt by 2 100 cavalrymen under Brig Gen Henry Davies Jr to intercept the Confederates and their prize was unsuccessful and Hampton retraced his steps back to Petersburg turning the cattle over to the Confederate commissary department For days the Confederate troops feasted on beef and taunted their Union counterparts across the lines A visitor to Grant s headquarters asked the general When do you expect to starve out Lee and capture Richmond Grant replied Never if our armies continue to supply him with beef cattle 80 Union offensives late September EditNew Market Heights September 29 30 Edit Further information Battle of Chaffin s Farm During the night of September 28 29 Butler s Army of the James crossed the James River to assault the Richmond defenses north of the river The columns attacked at dawn After initial Union successes at New Market Heights and Fort Harrison the Confederates rallied and contained the breakthrough Lee reinforced his lines north of the James and on September 30 he counterattacked unsuccessfully The Federals entrenched and the Confederates erected a new line of works cutting off the captured forts As Grant anticipated Lee shifted troops to meet the threat against Richmond weakening his lines at Petersburg 81 Peebles Farm September 30 October 2 Edit Further information Battle of Peebles s Farm In combination with Butler s offensive north of the James River Grant extended his left flank to cut Confederate lines of communication southwest of Petersburg Two divisions of the IX corps under Maj Gen John G Parke two divisions of the V Corps under Warren and Gregg s cavalry division were assigned to the operation On September 30 the Federals marched via Poplar Spring Church to reach Squirrel Level and Vaughan Roads The initial Federal attack overran Fort Archer flanking the Confederates out of their Squirrel Level Road line Late afternoon Confederate reinforcements arrived slowing the Federal advance On October 1 the Federals repulsed a Confederate counterattack directed by A P Hill Reinforced by Maj Gen Gershom Mott s division the Federals resumed their advance on October 2 captured Fort MacRae which was lightly defended and extended their left flank to the vicinity of Peebles and Pegram s Farms With these limited successes Meade suspended the offensive A new line was entrenched from the Federal works on Weldon Railroad to Pegram s Farm 82 Actions near Richmond October EditDarbytown and New Market Roads October 7 Edit Further information Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads Responding to the loss of Fort Harrison and the increasing Federal threat against Richmond Gen Robert E Lee directed an offensive against the Union far right flank on October 7 After routing the Federal cavalry from their position covering Darbytown Road Field s and Hoke s divisions assaulted the main Union defensive line along New Market Road and were repulsed The Federals were not dislodged and Lee withdrew into the Richmond defenses 83 Darbytown Road October 13 Edit Further information Battle of Darbytown Road On October 13 Union forces advanced to find and feel the new Confederate defensive line in front of Richmond While mostly a battle of skirmishers a Federal brigade assaulted fortifications north of Darbytown Road and was repulsed with heavy casualties The Federals retired to their entrenched lines along New Market Road 84 Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road October 27 28 Edit Further information Battle of Fair Oaks amp Darbytown Road In combination with movements against the Boydton Plank Road at Petersburg Benjamin Butler attacked the Richmond defenses along Darbytown Road with the X Corps The XVIII Corps marched north to Fair Oaks where it was soundly repulsed by Field s Confederate division Confederate forces counterattacked taking some 600 prisoners The Richmond defenses remained intact Of Grant s offensives north of the James River this was repulsed most easily 85 Boydton Plank Road October 27 28 EditFurther information Battle of Boydton Plank Road Siege of Petersburg actions on October 27 Directed by Hancock divisions from three Union corps II V and IX and Gregg s cavalry division numbering more than 30 000 men withdrew from the Petersburg lines and marched west to operate against the Boydton Plank Road and South Side Railroad The initial Union advance on October 27 gained the Boydton Plank Road a major campaign objective But that afternoon a counterattack near Burgess Mill spearheaded by Henry Heth s division and Wade Hampton s cavalry isolated the II Corps and forced a retreat The Confederates retained control of the Boydton Plank Road for the rest of the winter It marked the last battle for Hancock who resigned from field command because of wounds sustained at Gettysburg 86 Hatcher s Run February 5 7 1865 EditFurther information Battle of Hatcher s Run On February 5 1865 Gregg s cavalry division rode out to the Boydton Plank Road via Ream s Station and Dinwiddie Court House in an attempt to intercept Confederate supply trains Warren s V Corps crossed Hatcher s Run and took up a blocking position on the Vaughan Road to prevent interference with Gregg s operations Two divisions of the II Corps under Maj Gen Andrew A Humphreys shifted west to near Armstrong s Mill to cover Warren s right flank Late in the day John B Gordon attempted to turn Humphrey s right flank near the mill but was repulsed During the night the Federals were reinforced by two divisions On February 6 Gregg returned to Gravelly Run on Vaughan Road from his unsuccessful raid and was attacked by elements of Brig Gen John Pegram s Confederate division Warren pushed forward a reconnaissance in the vicinity of Dabney s Mill and was attacked by Pegram s and Mahone s divisions Pegram was killed in the action Although the Union advance was stopped the Federals extended their siegeworks to the Vaughan Road crossing of Hatcher s Run 87 Confederate breakout attempt at Fort Stedman March 25 EditFurther information Battle of Fort Stedman Siege of Petersburg actions preceding Five Forks By March Lee s army was weakened by desertion disease and shortage of supplies and he was outnumbered by Grant by about 125 000 to 50 000 Lee knew that an additional 50 000 men under Sheridan would be returning soon from the Shenandoah Valley and Sherman was marching north through the Carolinas to join Grant as well Lee had Maj Gen John B Gordon plan a surprise attack on the Union lines that would force Grant to contract his lines and disrupt his plans to assault the Confederate works which unbeknownst to Lee and Gordon Grant had already ordered for March 29 The attack would be launched with almost half of Lee s infantry from Colquitt s Salient against Fort Stedman and Gordon had hopes that he could drive into the Union rear area as far as City Point 88 Gordon s attack started at 4 15 a m Lead parties of sharpshooters and engineers masquerading as deserting soldiers headed out to overwhelm Union pickets and to remove obstructions that would delay the infantry advance They were followed by three groups of 100 men assigned to storm the Union works and stream back into the Union rear area Brig Gen Napoleon B McLaughlen rode to Fort Haskell just to the south of Battery XII which he found to be ready to defend itself As he moved north he ordered Battery XII to open fire on Battery XI and a reserve infantry regiment briefly re captured Battery XI Assuming that he had sealed the only breach in the line McLaughlen rode into Fort Stedman and began giving orders to the men He suddenly realized that they were Confederates and they realized he was a Union general capturing him 89 Gordon soon arrived at Fort Stedman and found his attack had so far exceeded his most sanguine expectations Within minutes Batteries X XI and XII and Fort Stedman had been seized opening a gap nearly 1 000 feet 300 m long in the Union line Gordon turned his attention to the southern flank of his attack and Fort Haskell The Confederate artillery from Colquitt s Salient began bombarding Fort Haskell and the Federal field artillery returned fire along with the massive siege guns in the rear 90 Gordon s attack began to flounder His three 100 man detachments were wandering around the rear area in confusion and many had stopped to satisfy their hunger with captured Federal rations as the main Union defense force began to mobilize Maj Gen John G Parke of the IX Corps acted decisively ordering the reserve division under Brig Gen John F Hartranft to close the gap Hartranft organized defensive forces that completely ringed the Confederate penetration by 7 30 a m stopping it just short of the military railroad depot The Union artillery aware that Confederates occupied the batteries and Fort Stedman launched punishing fire against them By 7 45 a m 4 000 Union troops under Hartranft were positioned in a semicircle of a mile and a half and counterattacked causing heavy casualties to the now retreating Confederates 91 The attack on Fort Stedman had no impact on the Union lines The Confederate Army was forced to set back its own lines as the Union attacked further down the front line To give Gordon s attack enough strength to be successful Lee had weakened his own right flank The II and VI Corps seized much of the entrenched Confederate picket line southwest of Petersburg but found the main line still well manned This Union advance prepared the ground for Grant s breakthrough attack in the Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2 1865 92 Union casualties in the Battle of Fort Stedman were 1 044 72 killed 450 wounded 522 missing or captured Confederate casualties a considerably heavier 4 000 600 killed 2 400 wounded 1 000 missing or captured 93 But more seriously the Confederate positions were weakened After the battle Lee s defeat was only a matter of time His final opportunity to break the Union lines and regain the momentum was gone 92 Aftermath Edit Grant s final assaults and Lee s retreat start of the Appomattox Campaign After nearly ten months of siege the loss at Fort Stedman was a devastating blow for Lee s army setting up the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1 the Union breakthrough at Petersburg on April 2 the surrender of the city of Petersburg at dawn on April 3 and Richmond that same evening After his victory at Five Forks Grant ordered an assault along the entire Confederate line beginning at dawn on April 2 Parke s IX Corps overran the eastern trenches but were met with stiff resistance At 5 30 a m on April 2 Wright s VI Corps made a decisive breakthrough along the Boydton Plank Road line While riding between the lines to rally his men A P Hill was shot and killed by two Union soldiers Wright s initial breakthrough was halted mid day at Fort Gregg Gibbon s XXIV Corps overran Fort Gregg after a strong Confederate defense This halt in the advance into the city of Petersburg allowed Lee to pull his forces out of Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2 and head for the west in an attempt to meet up with forces under the command of General Joseph E Johnston in North Carolina The resulting Appomattox Campaign ended with Lee s surrender to Grant on April 9 at Appomattox Court House Richmond Petersburg was a costly campaign for both sides The initial assaults on Petersburg in June 1864 cost the Union 11 386 casualties to approximately 4 000 for the Confederate defenders The casualties for the siege warfare that concluded with the assault on Fort Stedman are estimated to be 42 000 for the Union and 28 000 for the Confederates 94 Fascine Trench Breastworks Petersburg Va NARA 524792 Although identified as Confederate Trenches this is actually Union Fort Sedgwick aka Fort Hell which was opposite Fort Mahone aka Fort Damnation 95 Union Army 9th Corps attacking Fort Mahone aka Fort Damanation sketch by Alfred Ward Confederate artilleryman killed during the final Union assault against the trenches at Petersburg Photo by Thomas C Roche April 3 1865 96 97 Although prints of this picture list it as being taken at Ft Mahone historians at the Petersburg Project believe it was taken at Confederate Battery 25 98 Smoke is still rising from the ruins of Richmond Virginia after surrendering on April 3 1865 following the Union victory at the siege of Petersburg Union cavalry mounts with carbines visible are hitched in the foreground Classifying the campaigns EditMilitary historians do not agree on precise boundaries between the campaigns of this era This article uses the classification maintained by the U S National Park Service s American Battlefield Protection Program 99 An alternative classification is maintained by West Point in their Atlas of American Wars Esposito 1959 the siege of Petersburg ends with the Union assault and breakthrough of April 2 The remainder of the war in Virginia is classified as Grant s Pursuit of Lee to Appomattox Court House 3 9 April 1865 100 Trudeau s Last Citadel conforms to this classification 101 Battlefield preservation EditThe various historic sites and battlegrounds related to the siege of Petersburg are spread out across a vast area in the Petersburg vicinity These sites and battlefields are primarily preserved by the National Park Service as the Petersburg National Battlefield which features 13 separate sites on a 33 mile driving tour The park s primary sections are the City Point Unit where Grant had his headquarters the Eastern Front battlefield which features the Crater and the main visitor center the Five Forks battlefield and the Poplar Grove National Cemetery The siege ending Breakthrough battlefield is preserved as Pamplin Historical Park a privately owned park open to the public In addition the Civil War Trust a division of the American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 121 acres 0 49 km2 of battlefield land in four transactions since 2005 including a 33 acre parcel where Confederate Gen A P Hill was killed on April 2 1865 102 See also Edit American Civil War portalBibliography of Ulysses S Grant Armies in the American Civil War Battles of the American Civil WarNotes Edit Miller et al vol 3 p 186 William Marvel Lee s Last Retreat The Flight to Appomattox Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 2002 208 a b Chris Calkins Petersburg Civil War Trust Retrieved September 27 2013 Earl Hess In the Trenches at Petersburg Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 2009 280 Civil War Battle Summaries by Campaign American Battlefield Protection Program National Park Service Retrieved December 12 2016 Welsh p 96 Eicher pp 661 691 92 Davis p 18 Salmon p 251 Fuller pp 207 08 Eicher pp 680 82 691 93 Davis p 18 Hattaway and Jones pp 517 26 Fuller pp 207 08 229 30 Welsh pp 96 101 Eicher pp 663 87 Hattaway and Jones pp 540 46 552 67 577 80 Salmon pp 251 58 Bonekemper p 190 Welsh pp 102 118 Davis pp 34 36 Welcher p 994 Eicher p 687 Hattaway and Jones pp 588 591 Salmon pp 395 96 Trudeau pp 486 92 Trudeau p 489 Trudeau p 490 Trudeau p 491 Trudeau pp 492 95 Trudeau p 485 Trudeau pp 495 501 Welsh p 118 Trudeau p 227 Trudeau p 501 Eicher p 680 Davis pp 18 49 64 Eicher p 806 Welsh p 118 a b c d e f g NPS Archived March 6 2005 at the Wayback Machine a b Official Records Series IV Vol III pg 1161 62 Welcher p 504 Salmon p 395 Davis p 27 Kennedy p 352 Welsh p 118 Salmon pp 401 03 Davis pp 27 31 Kennedy p 352 Salmon p 401 Davis p 33 Kennedy p 352 Salmon p 403 Trudeau pp 38 39 Davis pp 37 39 Trudeau pp 37 45 51 Davis pp 39 44 Salmon pp 403 05 Fuller p 226 Davis p 43 Davis pp 44 45 Trudeau pp 47 48 Welsh p 120 Davis pp 45 46 Salmon p 405 Trudeau pp 48 49 Davis pp 46 50 Salmon pp 405 06 Trudeau pp 51 53 Welsh p 121 Davis pp 46 50 Salmon pp 405 06 Trudeau pp 51 53 Welsh p 121 Davis pp 49 52 Eicher p 690 Salmon p 406 Trudeau pp 53 54 Bonekemper p 313 The author presents casualty figures from a wide variety of sources and provides his best estimate Trudeau p 55 agrees with the 4 000 Confederate losses but cites Union killed and wounded at 8 150 with an additional 1 814 missing Kennedy p 353 cites 9 964 10 600 for the Union 2 974 4 700 for the Confederates Salmon p 406 cites 8 150 Federal and 3 236 Confederate casualties Welsh p 122 provides the breakdown of the 4 000 Confederate casualties Salmon p 406 considers the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road to be the initial action of the Wilson Kautz raid of June 22 30 but this is not a convention widely accepted by other historians Trudeau p 65 Despite Hancock s incapacitation he chose to accompany the column Salmon p 406 Trudeau p 63 65 Kennedy pp 353 54 Eicher p 690 Trudeau pp 69 74 Salmon pp 406 08 Kennedy 354 Trudeau p 78 lists the Union II Corps casualties as 650 killed and wounded 1 742 captured VI Corps casualties as 150 on the Confederate side Trudeau p 80 lists Mahone s casualties as 421 Wilcox s 151 Kennedy p 354 Trudeau pp 80 81 Longacre p 289 Salmon 397 Kennedy p 303 and Salmon p 410 cite 5 500 men Located at the currently unincorporated community of Reams Virginia this railroad station is referred to variously as Reams Ream s and Reams s Station Salmon p 397 Longacre pp 287 89 Starr pp 179 81 Longacre p 289 Starr pp 181 91 Salmon pp 411 13 Longacre pp 289 90 Starr pp 191 93 Salmon pp 414 15 Longacre pp 290 91 Starr pp 193 96 Salmon pp 414 15 Starr pp 197 204 Longacre pp 292 93 Salmon pp 415 16 Starr pp 203 07 Casualty figures are from Starr Kennedy p 355 cites the total of 1 445 Salmon claims 1 800 Davis 69 70 Salmon p 416 Horn p 102 Horn p 103 Salmon pp 416 18 Horn p 107 Davis p 70 Salmon p 418 Horn pp 107 08 Horn p 108 Bonekemper p 314 Salmon p 418 estimates 488 Union 650 Confederate Horn p 108 estimates 488 Union 700 Confederate Kennedy p 355 estimates 1 000 total Eicher pp 720 21 Davis pp 67 69 72 Trudeau pp 99 105 Kennedy p 355 Salmon pp 418 20 Welsh p 122 Trudeau pp 106 07 Eicher p 721 Salmon pp 420 21 Davis p 74 Kennedy p 355 Welsh p 122 Davis pp 75 88 Trudeau pp 109 26 Salmon pp 420 21 Eicher pp 721 22 Welsh p 122 Kennedy p 356 Bonekemper p 315 Trudeau p 127 cites 3 798 Union 1 491 Confederate 361 killed 727 wounded 403 missing or captured Davis p 89 cites 3 500 Union casualties 1 500 Confederate Eicher p 723 cites 4 400 total casualties Kennedy p 356 and Salmon p 421 cite 3 798 Union casualties 1 491 Confederate Davis p 95 Trudeau pp 142 43 Trudeau pp 147 52 Horn pp 120 127 Davis pp 95 97 Salmon p 423 Horn pp 127 28 Trudeau pp 151 52 Davis pp 97 98 Salmon p 423 Trudeau pp 153 54 Davis p 98 Horn p 128 Salmon p 423 Trudeau pp 154 57 Horn pp 129 31 Kennedy pp 356 57 Davis p 99 Salmon p 423 Kennedy p 357 Trudeau pp 160 61 164 170 Horn pp 131 32 Davis p 99 Salmon p 424 Casualty figures from Bonekemper p 314 Trudeau p 170 estimates 2 901 Union 1 000 Confederate Salmon p 418 and Kennedy p 357 estimate 2 900 Union 1 300 Confederate Horn p 108 estimates 2 901 Union 1 500 Confederate a b Trudeau p 159 Davis p 101 Trudeau pp 162 63 Salmon p 424 Trudeau pp 164 73 Salmon pp 424 25 Davis pp 101 04 Eicher p 725 Bonekemper p 316 Kennedy p 360 and Salmon p 426 estimate 4 455 Union 1 600 Confederate Horn p 140 estimates 4 279 Union about 2 300 Confederates Eicher cites Union losses as 926 killed and wounded 2 810 missing or captured Davis p 104 Trudeau p 173 Horn p 141 Trudeau pp 176 79 182 Kennedy p 360 Salmon pp 426 27 Trudeau pp 179 181 86 Salmon p 428 Davis p x Horn p 141 Salmon p 428 Horn pp 141 50 Calkins np Kennedy pp 360 62 Trudeau pp 183 88 Davis pp 105 09 Trudeau p 189 Kennedy p 362 cites 2 742 Union casualties 814 Confederate Salmon p 428 cites 2 700 Union casualties about 2 000 of which were captured and about 800 Confederate Eicher p 725 cites Union casualties of 2 372 with many prisoners Confederate 720 Horn p 151 cites more than 2 700 Union 720 Confederate Davis p 109 cites 2 400 Union casualties 2 150 of which were prisoners Trudeau p 190 Calkins np Kennedy p 362 Trudeau pp 195 201 Davis pp 110 15 NPS Chaffin s Farm and New Market Heights NPS Peebles Farm NPS Darbytown and New Market Roads NPS Darbytown Road NPS Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road NPS Boydton Plank Road NPS Hatcher s Run Salmon p 448 Korn pp 33 34 Greene pp 108 12 Horn p 209 Trudeau pp 333 36 Trudeau pp 337 42 Salmon p 450 Korn pp 34 36 Korn pp 36 38 Trudeau pp 342 43 Korn pp 38 39 Horn pp 214 16 Greene p 114 Salmon p 450 Trudeau pp 348 49 a b Horn pp 215 16 Salmon pp 467 68 Bonekemper p 319 Kennedy p 373 and Salmon p 450 estimate 1 017 Union 2 681 Confederate including 1 949 prisoners Horn p 216 estimates 2 087 Union about 4 000 Confederate Korn p 39 estimates 1 000 Union half taken prisoner 3 500 Confederate 1 900 prisoners Greene pp 114 15 estimates 1 000 Union more than half taken prisoner 2 700 4 000 Confederate Bonekemper p 323 Civil War talk Forum Frassanito p 360 See website Petersburg Project on location of Many of the Roche photographs at Petersburg April 1865 Dead Artilleryman comments Petersburg Project NPS campaigns Archived 2005 04 09 at the Wayback Machine The references by Kennedy and Salmon also use this classification Esposito maps 138 44 Trudeau pp 355 98 1 American Battlefield Trust Saved Land webpage Accessed May 29 2018 References EditBonekemper Edward H III A Victor Not a Butcher Ulysses S Grant s Overlooked Military Genius Washington DC Regnery 2004 ISBN 0 89526 062 X Chick Sean Michael The Battle of Petersburg June 15 18 1864 Lincoln NE Potomac Books 2015 ISBN 978 1612347127 Davis William C and the Editors of Time Life Books Death in the Trenches Grant at Petersburg Alexandria VA Time Life Books 1986 ISBN 0 8094 4776 2 Eicher David J The Longest Night A Military History of the Civil War New York Simon amp Schuster 2001 ISBN 0 684 84944 5 Esposito Vincent J West Point Atlas of American Wars New York Frederick A Praeger 1959 OCLC 5890637 The collection of maps without explanatory text is available online at the West Point website Frassanito William A Grant and Lee The Virginia Campaigns 1864 1865 New York Scribner 1983 ISBN 0 684 17873 7 Fuller Maj Gen J F C Grant and Lee A Study in Personality and Generalship Bloomington Indiana University Press 1957 ISBN 0 253 13400 5 Greene A Wilson The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion Knoxville University of Tennessee Press 2008 ISBN 978 1 57233 610 0 Hattaway Herman and Archer Jones How the North Won A Military History of the Civil War Urbana University of Illinois Press 1983 ISBN 0 252 00918 5 Hess Earl In the Trenches at Petersburg Field Fortifications and Confederate Defeat Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 2009 Horn John The Petersburg Campaign June 1864 April 1865 Conshohocken PA Combined Publishing 1999 ISBN 978 1 58097 024 2 Kennedy Frances H ed The Civil War Battlefield Guide 2nd ed Boston Houghton Mifflin Co 1998 ISBN 0 395 74012 6 Lankford Nelson Richmond Burning The Last Days of the Confederate Capital New York Viking 2002 ISBN 0 670 03117 8 Longacre Edward G Lincoln s Cavalrymen A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac Mechanicsburg PA Stackpole Books 2000 ISBN 0 8117 1049 1 Marvel William Lee s Last Retreat The Flight to Appomattox Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press 2002 Miller Francis Trevelyan Robert S Lanier and James Verner Scaife eds The Photographic History of the Civil War 10 vols New York Review of Reviews Co 1911 ISBN 0 7835 5726 4 Salmon John S The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide Mechanicsburg PA Stackpole Books 2001 ISBN 0 8117 2868 4 Sommers Richard J Richmond Redeemed The Siege at Petersburg Garden City NY Doubleday 1981 ISBN 0 385 15626 X Note Despite the broad title Sommer s work covers only those battles between September 29 and October 2 1864 Starr Stephen Z The Union Cavalry in the Civil War Vol 2 The War in the East from Gettysburg to Appomattox 1863 1865 Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press 1981 ISBN 978 0 8071 3292 0 Trudeau Noah Andre The Last Citadel Petersburg Virginia June 1864 April 1865 Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press 1991 ISBN 0 8071 1861 3 Welcher Frank J The Union Army 1861 1865 Organization and Operations Vol 1 The Eastern Theater Bloomington Indiana University Press 1989 ISBN 0 253 36453 1 Welsh Douglas The Civil War A Complete Military History Greenwich CT Brompton Books Corporation 1981 ISBN 1 890221 01 5 This article incorporates public domain material from Civil War Battle Summaries by Campaign Eastern Theater National Park Service Further reading EditBearss Edwin C with Bryce A Suderow The Petersburg Campaign Vol 1 The Eastern Front Battles June August 1864 El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2012 ISBN 978 1 61121 090 3 Bearss Edwin C with Bryce A Suderow The Petersburg Campaign Vol 2 The Western Front Battles September 1864 April 1865 El Dorado Hills CA Savas Beatie 2014 ISBN 978 1 61121 104 7 Bowery Charles R Jr and Ethan S Rafuse Guide to the Richmond Petersburg Campaign U S Army War College Guides to Civil War Battles Lawrence University Press of Kansas 2014 ISBN 978 0 7006 1960 3 Greene A Wilson A Campaign of Giants The Battle for Petersburg Vol 1 From the Crossing of the James to the Crater Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press 2018 ISBN 978 1 4696 3857 7 Rhea Gordon C On to Petersburg Grant and Lee June 4 15 1864 Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press 2017 ISBN 978 0 8071 6747 2 online review Tidball John C The Artillery Service in the War of the Rebellion 1861 1865 Westholme Publishing 2011 ISBN 978 1594161490 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siege of Petersburg Petersburg Campaign in Encyclopedia Virginia The Battle of Petersburg Battle maps history articles photos and preservation news Civil War Trust Siege of Petersburg Online Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier includes a presentation of the breakthrough at Boydton Line and other museum exhibits VI Corps breakthrough at Petersburg Coordinates 37 13 03 N 77 22 38 W 37 2176 N 77 3771 W 37 2176 77 3771 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Siege of Petersburg amp oldid 1134207883, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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