The Second Battle of Petersburg (June 15th - 18th, 1864) represented U.S. Grant’s best chance of a significant victory in his 1864 campaigns in Virginia (American Civil War).
The Second Battle of Petersburg (June 15th - 18th, 1864) represented U.S. Grant’s best chance of a significant victory in his 1864 campaigns in Virginia (American Civil War). During May and early June, his armies had been engaged in near constant combat with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. During that period the two armies had moved from the Wilderness area north of Richmond round to Cold Harbor east of the Confederate Capitol. During that time Grant had made repeated attempts to get around Lee’s right wing, and Lee had successfully blocked them all. Grant was hoping to force Lee to fight on open ground, away from his lines of entrenchments, where Grant’s superior numbers should be decisive. After the failure of an attack at Cold Harbor, it became obvious to Grant that he could not achieve his objectives around Richmond. Grant’s predecessors in command of the Army of the Potomac would have withdrawn to the north at this point (if any of them had got this far). Tha...