Are you looking for information on the Siege of Petersburg, also more accurately known as the Petersburg Campaign or (completely incorrectly) as the Battle of Petersburg? The Siege of Petersburg Online, a web site devoted to the Civil War Siege of Petersburg, hopes to bring you the very best information on this campaign on the web. If you are new to the Siege of Petersburg and want an overview, please read the introduction below.

The Siege of Petersburg

Overview

The Siege of Petersburg occurred during the American Civil War from June 1864 to April 1865. Union forces under Ulyssess S. Grant were opposed by Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee. The Confederates defended a lengthy line to protect two important Virginia cities, Petersburg and Richmond. Richmond was the capital, and the heart, of the Confederacy. The Tredegar Iron Works was a major producer of cannon and other necessary items of war. If Richmond fell, the war would be much closer to ending. Petersburg was equally important by this date, connecting Richmond directly with the rest of the Confederacy. Three railroads radiated out from Petersburg to the south, providing Richmond with necessary supplies. If Petersburg fell, Richmond would fall, and that is ultimately what happened.

Why Was Petersburg Not a True Siege?

Dictionary.com defines the term siege as "the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible." The fighting which occurred around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia from June 1864 to April 1865 was not a true siege in the technical sense of the term because the Confederate forces were not fully invested, or encircled, within those cities. Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces always had a large escape path open to the north and west. In fact, when Lee was forced to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond in early April 1865, his forces moved off to the west, just north of the Appomattox River, keeping Grant's forces at bay for a time prior to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Why Do You Still Use the Term "Siege of Petersburg"?

The Siege of Petersburg Online continues to use "Siege of Petersburg" prominently because, quite frankly, it is by far the most popular term used to describe this particular Civil War campaign. If I used the more proper "Petersburg Campaign" or "Richmond-Petersburg Campaign" to describe the fighting, fewer people would be able to find The Siege of Petersburg Online. All three terms can be and are used interchangeably on this site.

Why is the Siege of Petersburg Important?

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Which Battles Were Fought During the Siege of Petersburg?

There were numerous battles, almost all smaller than the large Eastern Theater Civil War battles which preceded them, but still very bloody in their own right. Benjamin Butler's Army of the James launched an abortive attack on Petersburg at The Battle of Old Men and Young Boys in what is sometimes referred to as Butler's Offensive on June 9, 1864. The Siege of Petersburg proper started after the Army of the Potomac crossed the James soon after, and one naming convention (used here at Beyond the Crater) lists nine offensives by Grant's combined U.S. armies on Richmond and Petersburg. For a complete list of battles fought during the Siege of Petersburg, broken down by offensive, see below:

Butler’s Petersburg Offensive

• The First Battle of Petersburg: June 9, 1864

First Offensive

• The Second Battle of Petersburg: June 15-18, 1864

Second Offensive

• The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road: June 21-24, 1864

Wilson-Kautz Raid

• The Battle of Staunton River Bridge: June 25, 1864

• The First Battle of Reams Station: June 29, 1864

Third Offensive

• The First Battle of Deep Bottom: July 27-29, 1864

• The Battle of the Crater: July 30, 1864

Fourth Offensive

• The Second Battle of Deep Bottom: August 14-20, 1864

• The Battle of Globe Tavern: August 18-21, 1864

• The Second Battle of Reams Station: August 25, 1864

The Beefsteak Raid

Fifth Offensive

• The Battle of New Market Heights: September 29, 1864

• The Battle of Fort Harrison: September 29-30, 1864

• The Battle of Peebles Farm: September 30-October 2, 1864

• The Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads: October 7, 1864

Sixth Offensive

• The Battle of Boydton Plank Road (First Hatcher’s Run): October 27, 1864

• The Second Battle of Fair Oaks: October 27-28, 1864

Stony Creek Raid

Seventh Offensive

• The Battle of Hatcher’s Run: February 5-7, 1865

The Battle of Fort Stedman Eighth Offensive

• The Battle of Quaker Road: March 29, 1865

• The Battle of White Oak Road: March 31, 1865

• The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House: March 31, 1865

• The Battle of Five Forks: April 1, 1865

Ninth Offensive

• The Breakthrough: April 2, 1865

• The Ninth Corps Final Assaults: April 2, 1865

• The Battle of Sutherland’s Station: April 2, 1865

• Fort Whitworth and Fort Gregg: April 2, 1865

What Kind of Information On the Siege of Petersburg Is Located at Beyond the Crater?

Beyond the Crater has an ever expanding amount of information on the Siege of Petersburg:

Siege of Petersburg Diary Entries and Letters from Soldiers Who Participated in the Petersburg Campaign
Official Records of the Siege of Petersburg from The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.

Siege of Petersburg Battle Summaries Give Brief Overviews of Key Battles During the Siege of Petersburg

Siege of Petersburg Articles from Primary Sources such as Battles & Leaders and the Southern Historical Society Papers
Siege of Petersburg Orders of Battle covering each of the nine offensives during the Petersburg Campaign

Siege of Petersburg Maps and corresponding Battles Such as the Battle of Petersburg and many others
Newspaper Articles on the Siege of Petersburg from Various Northern and Southern Newspapers
A Chronological Today in the Petersburg Campaign series Which Looks at Each Day of the Siege of Petersburg

Wargaming the Siege of Petersburg Contains Scenarios from Charge and Zouave Civil War wargaming magazines
and many more items pertaining to the Siege of Petersburg or the battles and expeditions which occurred between mid-June 1864 and April 2, 1865.

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