By June 1864, when the siege of Petersburg began, the Civil War had lain
heavily on both the North and the South for more than 3 years. Most of
the fighting in the East during this period had taken place on the
rolling Virginia countryside between the opposing capitals of Washington
and Richmond, only 110 miles apart, and all of it had failed to end the
war and bring peace to the land. Various generals had been placed in
command of the Union’s mighty Army of the Potomac and had faced Gen.
Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. So far not one had succeeded
in destroying Lee’s army or in capturing Richmond.
Perhaps Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan had come the closest to success
when, in the late spring and early summer of 1862, his Northern troops
had threatened the Confederate capital, only to be repulsed on its
outskirts. The other Northern commanders who followed McClellan—Pope,
Burnside, Hooker, and Meade—were less successful. Lee had met and turned
aside their drives.
After 36 months of bitter conflict the war in the East seemed, to many
observers, to be far from a final settlement. The failure of Union
forces to deliver a decisive blow against the Army of Northern Virginia
was a source of growing concern in Washington. The Confederacy, for its
part, was no more successful in settling the issue. Attempted invasions
of the Northern States by Lee were turned back at Antietam in September
1862 and at Gettysburg in July 1863.
Farther west the picture was brighter for Northern hopes. In the same
month as the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate stronghold of
Vicksburg, Miss., fell into Union hands. A few days later, Port Hudson,
La., the last remaining stronghold of the Confederacy on the banks of
the Mississippi River, surrendered. Later in 1863, the Union capture of
Chattanooga, Tenn., threw open the gateway to Georgia.
Strategically, despite the stalemate in Virginia, the beginning of 1864
found the Northern armies in a stronger position than the Confederate
military forces. Not only was there a distinct possibility that the
Southern States east of the Mississippi could be split into two parts,
but the greater resources at the command of the Lincoln administration
were beginning to count more heavily with each passing day. All that
seemed to be needed to end the war was an able Union commander who could
marshal the mighty resources of his country for a last tremendous blow
at the South.
[Illustration: _From the Rapidan River to the James, Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant (above), commanding the armies of the United
States, found all his efforts to capture Richmond and destroy the
Confederacy blocked by Gen. Robert E. Lee (below) and his Army of
Northern Virginia. Finally, Grant turned his attention to
Petersburg._]
[Illustration: Gen. Robert E. Lee.]
[Illustration: Campaign Map.]
Union Movements
Confederate Movements
Major Battles and Engagements
WILDERNESS MAY 5-7, 1864
SPOTSYLVANIA MAY 8-19, 1864
COLD HARBOR JUNE 3-13, 1864
PETERSBURG CAMPAIGN JUNE 1864-APRIL 1865
FIVE FORKS APRIL 1, 1865
SAYLER’S CREEK APRIL 6, 1865
Such a man was found in Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the victor at
Vicksburg and Missionary Ridge, who was brought east and, on March 9,
1864, commissioned lieutenant general to be responsible for all the
Union armies. Unlike his predecessor, Henry W. Halleck, Grant decided
not to remain in Washington but chose instead to accompany the Army of
the Potomac, where he would provide general direction to the military
operations but leave the execution of them to that army’s commander,
Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.
[Illustration: _Maj. Gen. George G. Meade commanded the Army of the
Potomac during the 1864-65 Virginia campaign. With General Grant
actively directing most of the military operations, Meade was in the
awkward position of serving much like a corps commander in his own
army. He nevertheless functioned well in this difficult situation._]