Petersburg • East • Southeast • West • Monuments • Markers • Facts • Timeline
By early February of 1865 the Siege of Petersburg had dragged on for eight months.The earthworks of the two armies stretched for miles across the Virginia countryside, ending about six miles southwest of Petersburg. A little farther west Boydton Plank Road – today’s US Highway 1 – came into Petersburg from the southwest, and a short distance to the north the Southside Railroad carried the last rail link to the hungry Confederates.
Grant had repeatedly tried to outflank the Confederate lines and cut the supply lines, but these last two still eluded him. So in spite of snow and sleet that draped the trees with ice (but firmed up the muddy roads) Grant decided to try again. Gregg’s Cavalry division would sweep the road of the traffic that Grant though was there. Humphreys’ Second Corps and Warren’s Fifth Corps would take up protective positions between the cavalry and the Confederate defenses.
The Southerners did not know the Union infantry was just a shield. The situation looked like a repeat of the attack in the fall that had almost broken through to the railroad. Taking no chances, Lee scraped together a force of 14,000 men to counterattack.
They fought back and forth for three days. In the end there had been almost no traffic on the road to sweep up, but the Union infantry would not be forced back. They dug in, three miles closer to the vital railroad that kept Petersburg and Richmond alive. And there were 1,100 fewer Confederates to man the ever-lengthening defensive lines.