A report on American Civil War, Robert E. Lee and Siege of Petersburg
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general who served the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, during which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army.
- Robert E. LeeThe Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War.
- Siege of PetersburgPetersburg was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond.
- Siege of PetersburgGrant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before the lengthy Siege of Petersburg, which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.
- Robert E. LeeIn 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg.
- American Civil WarThe last significant battles raged around the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond.
- American Civil War12 related topics with Alpha
Ulysses S. Grant
9 linksAmerican military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
As Commanding General, he led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 and thereafter briefly served as Secretary of War.
For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high-casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg.
Overland Campaign
7 linksThe Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, and other forces against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
The resulting siege of Petersburg (June 1864 – March 1865) led to the eventual surrender of Lee's army in April 1865 and the effective end of the Civil War.
Philip Sheridan
7 linksGeneral of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War.
In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
A contrary view has been published by historian Eric J. Wittenberg, who notes that of four major strategic raids (Richmond, Trevilian, Wilson-Kautz, and First Deep Bottom) and thirteen major cavalry engagements of the Overland and Richmond–Petersburg campaigns, only Yellow Tavern can be considered a Union victory, with Haw's Shop, Trevilian Station, Meadow Bridge, Samaria Church, and Wilson-Kautz defeats in which some of Sheridan's forces barely avoided destruction.
Jubal Early
7 linksJubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
Particularly after the death of Gen. Robert E. Lee in 1870, Early delivered speeches establishing the Lost Cause position.
Thus Early commanded the Confederacy's last invasion of the North, secured much-needed funds and supplies for the Confederacy and drawing off Union troops from the siege of Petersburg.
James Longstreet
6 linksJames Longstreet (January 8, 1821 – January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse".
He later returned to the field, serving under Lee in the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign.
Ambrose Burnside
7 linksAmbrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor and industrialist.
After McClellan failed to pursue General Robert E. Lee's retreat from Antietam, Lincoln ordered McClellan's removal on November 5, 1862, and selected Burnside to replace him on November 7, 1862.
After North Anna and Cold Harbor, he took his place in the siege lines at Petersburg.
Battle of Cold Harbor
6 linksThe Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3.
Thousands of Union soldiers were killed or wounded in a hopeless frontal assault against the fortified positions of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army.
In the final stage, Lee entrenched his army within besieged Petersburg before finally retreating westward across Virginia.
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
6 linksThe Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania (or the 19th-century spelling Spottsylvania), was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War.
Following the bloody but inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, Grant's army disengaged from Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army and moved to the southeast, attempting to lure Lee into battle under more favorable conditions.
The armies then faced each other for nine months in the Siege of Petersburg.
George Meade
5 linksGeorge Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.
In 1864–65, Meade continued to command the Army of the Potomac through the Overland Campaign, the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign, and the Appomattox Campaign, but he was overshadowed by the direct supervision of the general-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who accompanied him throughout these campaigns.
Confederate States of America
4 linksUnrecognized breakaway republic in North America that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865.
Unrecognized breakaway republic in North America that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865.
The Confederacy comprised U.S. states that declared secession and warred against the United States (the Union) during the American Civil War.
The most significant capitulation was Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9, after which any doubt about the war's outcome or the Confederacy's survival was extinguished, although another large army under Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston did not formally surrender to William T. Sherman until April 26.
Union offensives continued with Sherman's March to the Sea to take Savannah and Grant's Wilderness Campaign to encircle Richmond and besiege Lee's army at Petersburg.