Siege of Petersburg

June 9, 1864 – April 2, 1865 · Eastern Theater

Phases

1. 1Jun 15–18 — The Open DoorJune 15–18, 1864
2. 2Jul 30 — The CraterJuly 30, 1864 — 4:44 AM to 1:00 PM
3. 3Aug–Mar — Strangling the RailroadsAugust 1864 – March 1865
4. 4Apr 1 — Five ForksApril 1, 1865
5. 5Apr 2–3 — BreakthroughApril 2–3, 1865

June 15–18, 1864

Grant’s crossing of the James catches Lee blind — for two days Petersburg, junction of every railroad feeding Richmond, is held by Beauregard with 2,200 men against 16,000. Smith’s corps overruns a mile of the Dimmock Line at dusk on the 15th, then halts. Beauregard scrapes together miracles for three more days as attacks stall; by the time Meade’s full army assaults on the 18th, Lee’s veterans are filing into the works. Four days cost 11,000 casualties and the trenches close like a jaw.

• ➤Smith’s XVIII Corps — Overruns the Dimmock Line — then halts at dusk with the city open
• ●Beauregard’s 2,200 — then Lee’s army fills the works
• ●Petersburg — every railroad to Richmond runs through it