The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign: Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion

by A. Wilson Greene

The Petersburg Campaign was what finally did it. After months of relentless conflict throughout 1864, the Confederate army led by General Robert E. Lee holed up in the Virginia city of Petersburg as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's vastly superior forces lurked nearby. The brutal fighting that took place around the city during 1864 and into 1865 decimated both armies as Grant used his manpower advantage to repeatedly smash the Confederate lines, a tactic that eventually resulted in the decisive breakthrough that ultimately doomed the Confederacy. The breakthrough and the events that led up to it are the subject of A. Wilson Greene's groundbreaking book The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign, a significant revision of a much-praised work first published in 2000.

Surprisingly, despite Petersburg's decisive importance to the war's outcome, the campaign has received scant attention from historians.  Greene's book, with its incisive analysis and compelling narrative, changes this, offering readers a rich account of the personalities and strategies that shaped the final phase of the fighting.

Greene's ultimate focus on the climatic engagements of April 2, 1865, the day that Confederate control of Richmond and Petersburg was effectively ended.  The book tells this story from the perspectives of the two army groups that clashed on that day:  the Union Sixth Corps and the Confederate Third Corps. But Greene does more than just recount the military tactics at Petersburg; he also connects the reader intimately with how the war affected society and spotlights the soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, whose experiences defined the outcome. Thanks to his extensive research and consultation of rare source materials, Greene gives readers a vibrant perspective on the campaign that broke the Confederate spirit once and for all.

A. Wilson Greene is president of Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier near Petersburg, Virginia. He also has taught at Mary Washington College and worked for sixteen years with the National Park Service.

Genres: Civil War, History

592 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2000

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first and still definitive account of the attack that shattered Lee's army and started the road to Appomattox. Solid account overall, half of it dealing with the fighting leading up to the breakthrough. A bit dry but well argued all the same.

[Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This history book provides a fuller picture of the final stages of the Petersburg Campaign of 1864/65 that essentially ended the Confederacy. It is an excellent and detailed story that was well researched by the author. This story is definitely told from the perspective of the front-line soldiers who fought here with many references from their diaries, letters, journals and memoirs. While the overall thoughts and plans of the commanding generals is revealed, the emphasis is on the common soldier’s experience. Previous to reading this book, my general knowledge of this campaign was that after the Union’s failed Crater offensive in the summer of 1864, the conquest of Petersburg settled into a long drawn out siege. This book tells the story of a very bloody and decisive offensive that was needed before the Union Army could force the Army of Northern Virginia to abandon Petersburg and Richmond. That offensive was climaxed by the Union Sixth Corp’s offensive against the Confederate Army’s Third Corp on April 2, 1865. As this offensive unfolds the Confederate soldiers were far from a defeated and demoralized army. They especially fought a valiant holding action at Fort Gregg to allow the Army of Northern Virginia the time needed to organize a retreat from Petersburg in the forlorn hope of regrouping in North Carolina, and combining with General Joseph Johnston’s remaining Southern forces. The final stages of the Petersburg Campaign are anything but the story of a long boring siege. This campaign was conducted with courage, bravery and sacrifice on both sides as you’ll discover when you read this book.

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book, well-written and meticulously researched. One of the best books of this type I've ever read. Highly recommended for those interested in a serious and detailed examination of this neglected slice of Civil War history.

[William Olenick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched book on a much forgotten part of the Army of the Potomac last campaign. Mr. Greene being well versed on the whole campaign as he worked at the battlefield park has turned his experience into an easy to digest tale centered on the army's Sixth Corps. Would gladly recommend this to anyone!!!

[Matthew Ericson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Nothing better regarding the action on April 2.