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The Strategic Situation at Petersburg – June 1, 1864
Petersburg In the Spring of 1864 was one of the most strategic cities in the South. Apart from its manufacturing importance and population (#2 in Virginia behind Richmond, #7 in the entire Confederacy) Petersburg was a hub of vital rail lines that kept alive the capital of the Confederacy and its defending Army of Northern Virginia.
Two were little used by 1864. City Point Railroad ran seven miles to a deepwater port on the James River unused since the Union blockade. The Norfolk & Petersburg connected with the port of Norfolk, in Union hands since 1862. But the Weldon Railroad connected with North Carolina and points south, a rich source of supplies and reinforcements. The Southside Railroad connected to railroads leading to western North Carolina, western Virginia, and Tennessee. And the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad carried much of this traffic north across the Appomattox River and the last twenty miles into Richmond, where by June 1 the men of Robert E. Lee’s army were in trenches just outside of the city.
The Dimmock Line
The Confederacy recognized that it would be critical to defend Petersburg. From August of 1862 until March of 1863 4,000 soldiers and 1,000 slaves constructed a series of 55 artillery emplacements under the supervision of Engineer officer Captain Charles Dimmock. The fortifications had many weak points, greatest of which is that they would require far more troops and guns to man them than the Confederacy usually had available. But even unmanned and without artillery, the Dimmock Line would provide the important core for defending Petersburg that saved the city on several occasions.