The
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. Although it is more popularly known as the
Siege of Petersburg, it was not a classic military
siege, in which a city is usually surrounded and all supply lines are cut off, nor was it strictly limited to actions against Petersburg. The campaign consisted of nine months of
trench warfare in which
Union forces commanded by
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Petersburg unsuccessfully and then constructed trench lines that eventually extended over from the eastern outskirts of
Richmond, Virginia, to around the eastern and southern outskirts of Petersburg. Petersburg was crucial to the supply of
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the
Confederate capital of Richmond. Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the railroad supply lines through Petersburg to Richmond, and many of these caused the lengthening of the trench lines, overloading dwindling Confederate resources.