Siege of Petersburg

The Siege of Petersburg (also Richmond-Petersburg Campaign) was a military operation during the American War of Secession that took place east, south, and west of Petersburg, Virginia from June 9, 1864 to March 25, 1865. The term Siege of Petersburg has come to be used, although Petersburg was neither surrounded by enemy forces nor cut off from any supplies. Nor did the campaign consist entirely of attacks against Petersburg. After nine months of trench warfare, the Northern Virginia Army could no longer hold its overstretched and thinned lines, leading to the collapse of the front and evasion during the subsequent Appomattox campaign.

After Cold Harbor, the campaign showed again what it would be like in the trenches of the Western Front of World War I fifty years later.

Strategy and tactics

In 1864, the Lincoln administration desperately needed a success. Therefore, in March, the president appointed Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant as commander-in-chief of the army. He ordered offensives in all theaters of war. He intended to end the war before the end of November 1864. For this purpose he especially let attack the two large Confederate armies in order to prevent them from reinforcing each other and thus to crush them. The western attack wedge was aimed at the Atlantic coast through Georgia via Atlanta, the other through eastern Virginia via Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, to the North Carolina border. Both attack wedges were to unite further south, ending the war. He entrusted his friend Sherman with the conduct of operations in the western theater of the war. He himself made his headquarters 'in the field' with the Army of the Potomac. From there he directly influenced the operations of the Potomac, James and Shenandoah armies.

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In the three-month overland campaign, Grant repeatedly tried to outflank the Northern Virginia Army under General Robert E. Lee on the left, but never succeeded. The Overland Campaign ended with the Battle of Cold Harbor, June 3-12, 1864.

In early May 1864, the James Army attacked across the Bermuda-Hundred Peninsula, intending to assault the fortifications of Richmond. Thus Lee was to be forced to reinforce General Beauregard south of Richmond by troops of the Army of Northern Virginia. The offensive had stalled no later than May 20, 1864, because of vigorous resistance by Confederate troops under Beauregard.

Commander

The main players on the Union side were Lieutenant General Grant, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army, and Major Generals Meade, Butler, and Sheridan as Commander in Chief of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James and as Commanding General of the Cavalry Corps.

·         Commander-in-Chief and Commanding Generals of the Union

While the campaign was still in progress, Grant relieved Benjamin Franklin Butler of his command and replaced him with Major General Edward Otho Cresap Ord. Grant rarely interfered with the operational command of the army commanders, but reserved the right to assign what he considered to be urgent tasks to one or another corps.

The commander-in-chief of the Army of Northern Virginia was General Robert E. Lee. General P.G.T. Beauregard made a significant contribution to the defense of Petersburg. Two other important commanding generals of Lee during the Richmond-Petersburg campaign were Lieutenant General A.P. Hill and Major General Gordon.

·         Commander in Chief and Commanding Generals of the Army of Northern Virginia

Terrain and operational plan

The terrain east and southeast of Richmond was characterized by the Chickahominy and James Rivers and the intervening marshes. The roads leading to Richmond provided opportunities for movement regardless of the weather, and New Market Heights, which extended east of the James to near Richmond, provided opportunities for approach and emplacement. The Bermuda-Hundred Peninsula between Appomattox and James was partially cultivated. Petersburg was Virginia's second largest city at this time and an important railroad and road junction. No less than five railroads ran through the city and across the Appomattox. The city was protected by several developed defensive lines to the east and south. The terrain south and west of Petersburg was crisscrossed by many small watercourses that could only be crossed on bridges during high water.

As early as June 5, Grant informed his chief of staff, Halleck, that he intended to capture Petersburg to cut off supplies to the Northern Virginia Army and the Confederate government at Richmond. On June 12, he broke off the Battle of Cold Harbor and again attempted to outflank the Northern Virginia Army on the left. Crossing a 640-yard pontoon bridge and proceeding by sea across the York and James to City Point, Virginia, he initially routed the Army of the Potomac across the James, unnoticed by Lee.

Grant's goal was to disrupt the five railroad lines. In the first section of the campaign, he attempted to capture the town and railroad bridges across the Appomattox. As the campaign progressed, the Union would disrupt one railroad line after another. To do this, Grant moved farther and farther south and west. The soldiers expanded the positions they reached into field fortifications.

Since General Lee had internalized the advantage of defending from field fortifications during the Overland Campaign, the Northern Virginia Army also constructed field fortifications in the face of Grant's attacking forces.

The campaign consisted of mobile battles at the extreme end of the front and individual frontal attacks from field fortification to field fortification. Within the field fortifications, trench warfare prevailed.

Initial attacks on Petersburg

First Battle for Petersburg (June 9, 1864)

The James Army's Bermuda Hundred campaign, under the overall command of Major General Butler, had stalled shortly after it began. Grant, unconvinced of Butler's military prowess, likened the situation of the James Army to the contents of a corked bottle. Major General Butler was looking for a way to restore his reputation as a political general. He therefore ordered Petersburg to be attacked, as this would require Southern troops to be withdrawn from his front and would allow the James army to move again against Richmond.

Around Petersburg, the Confederates had already laid strong field fortifications during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. The front line received the name of the responsible officer - Dimmock. It was 16 km long and protected Petersburg to the east and south.

On June 8, 4,500 men-two infantry and one cavalry brigade-crossed the Appomattox. The infantry was to attack the Dimmock Line from the east, the cavalry simultaneously from the south along the Jerusalem Plank Road. The approach of all brigades was delayed by Confederate field posts. The joint attack was thus prevented. After some skirmishing, the commander of the infantry decided to call off the attack.

The cavalry met a company of Virginian militia with some guns. The militia consisted of many old and very young soldiers. That is why the battle was named the battle of the old men and young boys. After nearly two hours, the Northern cavalry managed to break through. Meanwhile, the Southerners had brought battle-hardened replacements from Richmond to Petersburg. The commander of the Northern cavalry broke off the engagement and moved out with the infantry across the Appomattox.

Confederate casualties were 75 soldiers, Union 52.

Second Battle of Petersburg (15-18 June 1864)

Grant so well concealed the abandonment of the Battle of Cold Harbor beginning on 12 June that General Lee did not believe the Army of the Potomac would move south again until 17 June. Grant ordered Butler on 14 June to reinforce the XVIII Corps (his corps) and instructed the commanding general of the corps to attack and capture Petersburg by the same route taken by the detachments of the James Army six days earlier. The strength of the corps was 16,000 troops.

Beauregard had 2,200 troops at his disposal under the leadership of Brigadier General Henry A. Wise', a former governor of Virginia, which he deployed to the northeast of the Dimmock Line. Facing the James Army on the Bermuda Hundred Peninsula, he deployed 3,200 men. The space between each infantryman in the Dimmock line was about ten feet, which was really unacceptable at the time. Smith began the attack by crossing the Appomattox at dusk on June 15. The attack was successful, throwing the Confederates back from the Dimmock line to a width of about five and a half miles to another fortification along Harrison Creek. Despite this success, Smith decided not to continue the attack until dusk. The commanding general of II Corps, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, although senior in rank and known to be eager to attack, also accepted Smith's decision.

Beauregard, in the absence of any instructions from Richmond, withdrew 3,200 men from the Bermuda-Hundred front. Butler, with James's army, did not take advantage of this opportunity to improve his reputation either and remained inactive. By the morning of the next day Beauregard had 14,000 troops at his disposal in positions east of Petersburg. He was faced, since by now Major General Ambrose Everett Burnside's IX Corps had also crossed the James, by 50,000 Union soldiers. Major General Hancock led all three corps in an attack against the field fortifications late that afternoon. Despite some initial success, the Union forces' attacks were repulsed. The three corps dug in near the Confederate field fortifications.

On 17 June, the Union corps attacked in an uncoordinated manner. This resulted in some success, but mostly ended in the initial positions after counterattacks. Beauregard had the pioneers build new field fortifications west of the Dimmock line, which the Confederates manned on the night of June 18. General Lee, now also realizing Grant's intent, ordered two divisions to reinforce Beauregard's troops, so that by the morning of June 18 the Confederates had 20,000 troops.

The commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac reached the area east of Petersburg on the night of June 18 and ordered a four-corps attack at dawn. Completely surprised by the abandonment of the Dimmock line, all attacks failed against the new Confederate field fortifications. One of the heavy fortress artillery regiments reassigned to infantry, the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, lost 632 of 900 soldiers. The savior of the left wing of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, Colonel Chamberlain, was also seriously wounded.

Meanwhile, the main forces of the Army of Northern Virginia had also reached Petersburg.

After all efforts to attack failed, Major General Meade ordered the Army of the Potomac to build field fortifications. In the four days, the Army of the Potomac suffered 11,386 casualties and the Confederates 4,000.

Second Battle for Petersburg red: Confederate troops purple: prepared Confederate field fortifications blue: Union troops