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The Siege of Petersburg – Grant’s Eighth Offensive orientation marker is at Stop Four on the Petersburg National Battlefield Western Front Auto Tour. It is at the parking area, on the east side of 7th Avenue just north of Simpson Road
From the marker:
Siege of Petersburg –
Grant’s Eighth Offensive
April 2-3, 1865 Fall of Petersburg and Richmond
With the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s defense of Petersburg and Richmond had been lost. On April 2, Union General Ulysses S. Grant ordered a general assault against the Petersburg lines and broke through Lee’s defenses west of the city. Only a stand by Confederate troops here at Fort Gregg prevented Union forces from entering the city that night. After dark, Lee ordered the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Though Grant captured the capital of the Confederacy on April 3, he would not rest until Lee’s army had surrendered.
