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The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia , fought from June 15 , 1864 , to March 25 , 1865 , 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 fully surrounded and all supply lines are cut off. It was ten 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 around the eastern and southern outskirts of the city. Petersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee 's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond . Lee finally yielded to the overwhelming pressure—the point at which supply lines were finally cut and a true siege would have begun—and abandoned both cities in April 1865, leading to his retreat and surrender in the Appomattox Campaign . The Siege of Petersburg foreshadowed the trench warfare that would be common in World War I , earning it a prominent position in military history. It also featured the largest concentration of African American troops employed in the war, who suffered heavy casualties at such engagements as the Battle Of The Crater and Chaffin's Farm . BACKGROUND Petersburg, a prosperous city of 18,000, was a supply center for the Confederate capital of Richmond, given its strategic location just south of the city, 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 Railroad s. The taking of Petersburg by Union forces would make it impossible for Robert E. Lee to continue defending Richmond. The battle for the city began shortly after the Union defeat at Cold Harbor . Grant decided to take Richmond through Petersburg, and he began positioning the Union army on June 15 by slipping away from Lee and crossing the James River. This represented a change of strategy from that of the preceding Overland Campaign . There, 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. OPPOSING FORCES 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:
The Army of the James included:
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 . Lee's Confederate force consisted of his own Army Of Northern Virginia and a scattered, disorganized group of 10,000 boys and men defending Richmond under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. The Army of Northern Virginia was organized into five Corps:
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 would be expanded and reorganized to consist of the divisions of Maj. Gens. Hoke and Bushrod Johnson .) 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.Davis, pp. 18, 49, 64. 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.Eicher, p. 806. The Confederate army, by contrast, had difficulty replacing men lost through battle, disease, and desertion. BATTLES, 1864 |
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