The
Third Battle of Petersburg, also known as the
Breakthrough at Petersburg or the
Fall of Petersburg, was fought on April 2, 1865, south and southwest of
Petersburg, Virginia, at the end of the 292-day
Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (sometimes called the Siege of Petersburg) and in the beginning stage of the
Appomattox Campaign near the conclusion of the
American Civil War. The
Union Army (
Army of the Potomac,
Army of the Shenandoah and
Army of the James) under the overall command of General-in-chief,
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, launched an assault on
General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's Petersburg, Virginia trenches and fortifications after the Union victory at the
Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. As a result of that battle the Confederate right flank and rear were exposed, and the remaining supply lines cut, and the Confederate defenders were reduced by over 10,000 men killed, wounded, taken prisoner or in flight.