In the wake of his defeat at the Battle of Cold Harbor in early June 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant continued pressing south towards the Confederate capital at Richmond. Departing Cold Harbor on June 12, his men stole a march on General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and crossed the James River on a large pontoon bridge. This maneuver led Lee to become concerned that he might be forced into a siege at Richmond. This was not Grant's intention, as the Union leader sought to capture the vital city of Petersburg. Located south of Richmond, Petersburg was a strategic crossroads and railroad hub which supplied the capital and Lee's army. Its loss would make would Richmond indefensible
Petersburg, located in south central Virginia, was the second-largest city in the state at the outset of the War. Originally sharing the conservative political stance of most business-oriented cities in the Upper South, Petersburg's white citizens eagerly embraced the Confederate cause after Virginia's Convention of 1861 voted to secede in April 1861. The city hosted a variety of Confederate installations, particularly hospitals, and served as headquarters for a number of Confederate military departments that bore responsibility for southern Virginia and eastern North Carolina. Petersburg experienced its first nearby combat in the spring of 1864 during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and then became the focal point of the Petersburg Campaign between June 1864 and April 1865. The city capitulated to Union forces on April 3, 1865, initiating the Appomattox Campaign and just six days before Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginiaat Appomattox Court House, ninety miles west of Petersburg
Marching from Cold Harbor, Union General Meade’s Army of the Potomac crossed the James River on transports and a 2,200-foot long pontoon bridge at Windmill Point.
General Butler’s leading elements crossed the Appomattox River and attacked the Petersburg defenses on June 15. The 5,400 defenders of Petersburg under command of Gen. Beauregard were driven from their first line of entrenchments back to Harrison Creek. On June 16, the II Corps captured another section of the Confederate line; on the 17th, the IX Corps gained more ground. Beauregard stripped the Howlett Line (Bermuda Hundred) to defend the city, and Lee rushed reinforcements to Petersburg from the Army of Northern Virginia. The II, XI, and V Corps from right to left attacked on June 18 but was repulsed with heavy casualties. By now the Confederate works were heavily manned and the greatest opportunity to capture Petersburg without a siege was lost.
The stage was set for the battles in and around Petersburg which would become the longest lasting campaign of the War. Besides the attempts to take the city itself, battles and skirmishes for control of supply lines, railroad routes and other critical sites continued for months. Covered in this issue are the summer battles. They occurred on the Jerusalem Plank Road, the Staunton River, at a little church known as Sappony Baptist Church, places called Ream’s Station and Deep Bottom and near a little road house named Globe Tavern. One of the bloodiest engagements occurred when Union soldiers attempted to blow up the Confederate line at Petersburg with mines placed in a tunnel underneath the Confederates. The explosion killed and wounded many Rebels but then the crater created a killing field as Federals swarmed into it and were unable to climb out. The Confederates were able to fire from above and it became a death trap for the Union soldiers. Participants from both sides called it the most frantic and deadly battle they ever witnessed. This battle was so significant that it became known as the Battle of the Crater and is treated as a separate battle from the main Petersburg battles.
June 9-August 25, 1864 Petersburg I Other Names: Old Men and Young Boys
Location: City of Petersburg
Date: June 9, 1864
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Quincy Gillmore [US]; Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
Forces Engaged: 7,000 (US 4,500; CS 2,500)
Estimated Casualties: 120 total
Description: On June 9, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler dispatched about 4,500 cavalry and infantry against the 2,500 Confederate defenders of Petersburg. While Butler’s infantry demonstrated against the outer line of entrenchments east of Petersburg, Kautz’s cavalry division attempted to enter the city from the south via the Jerusalem Plank Road but was repulsed by Home Guards. Afterwards, Butler withdrew. This was called the “battle of old men and young boys” by local residents. On June 14-17, the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River and began moving towards Petersburg to support and renew Butler’s assaults.
