Throttling the Confederate capital

In June of 1864, Union forces were settling in around Petersburg, a small city about 20 miles south of the Confederate capital of Richmond. Petersburg was a junction for several east-west and north-south railroad lines, which made it critical for supplying whatever armies the South could still field.

Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been retreating ever since Ulysses S. Grant took command of all US armies and began driving the Army of the Potomac inexorably south. May had seen several costly battles, which would have stopped any previous Union commander. But not Grant.

Sadly, he was still lumbered with political generals—men who’d been appointed commanders because of their political connections, not because of any kind of military skill or training. The initial attempts in early June to take Petersburg and cut the rail lines failed, so the Federals dug in; the lines extended for about 30 miles.

And there they would stay for nine months.