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 encircled with fortifications blocking all routes of ingress and egress, 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 30 miles (48 km) 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 richmond and petersburg railroad.many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines.lee finally gave into the pressure and abandoned both cities in april 1865, leading to his retreat and surrender at appomattox court house.the siege of petersburg foreshadowed the trench warfare that would  be seen fifty years later in world war i, earning it a prominent position in military history.it also featured the war's largest concentration of african-american troops, who suffered heavy casualties at such engagements as the battle of the crater and chaffin's farm.he devised a coordinated strategy to apply pressure on the confederacy from many points, something president abraham lincoln had urged his generals to do from the beginning of the war.grant put maj. gen. william t. sherman in immediate command of all forces in the west and moved his own headquarters to be with the army of the potomac (still commanded by maj. gen. george g. meade) in virginia, where he intended to maneuver lee's army to a decisive battle; his secondary objective was to capture richmond (the capital of the confederacy), but grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished.his coordinated strategy called for grant and meade to attack lee from the north, while maj. gen. benjamin butler drove toward richmond from the southeast; maj. gen. franz sigel to control the shenandoah valley; sherman to invade georgia, defeat gen. joseph e. johnston, and capture atlanta; brig.gens.george crook and william w. averell to operate against railroad supply lines in west virginia; and maj. gen. nathaniel p. banks to capture mobile, alabama.most of these initiatives failed, often because of the assignment of generals to grant for political rather than military reasons.butler's army of the james bogged down against inferior forces under gen. p.g.t.beauregard before richmond in the bermuda hundred campaign.sigel was soundly defeated at the battle of new market in may and soon afterward he was replaced by maj. gen. david hunter.banks was distracted by the red river campaign and failed to move on to mobile, alabama.however, crook and averell were able to cut the last railway linking virginia and tennessee, and sherman's atlanta campaign was a success, although it dragged on through the fall.on may 4, grant and meade's army of the potomac crossed the rapidan river and entered the area known as the wilderness of spotsylvania, beginning the six-week overland campaign.at the bloody but tactically inconclusive battle of the wilderness (may 5–7) and battle of spotsylvania court house (may 8–21), grant failed to destroy lee's army but, unlike his predecessors, did not retreat after the battles; he repeatedly moved his army leftward to the southeast in a campaign that kept lee on the defensive and moved ever closer to richmond.
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