Civil War Siege of Petersburg

Civil War Siege of Petersburg

The battle that came to be known as the Siege of Petersburg took place in a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia. They happened from June 9th 1984 to around March 29th, 1865.

The set of skirmishes and battles occurred over a 30 mile wide area, and it was
different than a typical military siege where a city or group of soldiers is attacked.

In this conflict, the soldiers led by Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant successfully used trench style warfare to attack the region.

The trench type of warfare had been used in many different battles before and after the Siege of Petersburg. The trenches that were installed eventually stretched nearly 30 miles around the south and east part of Petersburg, Virginia. 
The battle was one of several and it involved one of the first large groups of African American soldiers doing battle as soldiers and not as ammo or water carriers, it was historical in that it was one of the first battles where black men fought shoulder to shoulder with regular soldiers. This does not mean it was equality but rather a step forward for African American soldiers on the battle field.

General Grant used the Siege of Petersburg as one of a series of different battles that took place in Virginia to advance slowly the cause of the Union against the Confederated States. It was a stepping off stone and a victory that was important toward the eventual triumph against the Confederacy in the Civil War.

The Siege of Petersburg caused a lot of casualties on both sides, it is believed that June 1864 alone cost 11,386 casualties for the Union Army and about 4,000 deaths for the Confederate Army. Both of the Armies had a large number of deaths
throughout the Civil War but the Siege of Petersburg was one of the more bloody
conflicts of the Civil War.