Campaign for Petersburg

by Richard Wayne Lykes

CONTENTS

[PROLOGUE] 2 [UNION STRATEGY 1864] 5 [STRATEGIC PETERSBURG] 7 [BATTLE OF PETERSBURG] 10 [FIRST UNION ATTEMPT TO ENCIRCLE PETERSBURG] 17 [BATTLE OF THE CRATER] 24 [FIGHT FOR THE WELDON RAILROAD] 36 [UNION ENCIRCLEMENT CONTINUES] 42 [LEE’S LAST GAMBLE] 58 [FIVE FORKS: BEGINNING OF THE END] 64 [FALL OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND] 68

In the final year of the Civil War in the East, the fighting focused upon Petersburg, an important transportation center for Richmond and Lee’s army. For 10 bloody months of combat, both from behind prepared positions and along the main routes of supply, Lee’s ragged Confederates held the city (shown here from north of the Appomattox River) against Grant’s numerically superior Federals. On April 2-3, 1865, Lee was forced to abandon both Petersburg and Richmond. One week later, he surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, dooming the South’s bid for independent existence.