CWS The Petersburg Campaign

In mid-1864, to circumnavigate a direct assault on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant set his sights instead on Petersburg—a vital supply hub containing 5 railroad lines only 25 miles south. For nine and a half months, Petersburg fell under siege, as men on both sides huddled in trenches and dodged bullets and mortar shells, their only reprieve "salt pork and corn meal, burned beans, and bad coffee."

In this revised edition of The Petersburg Campaign, author Trudeau details the longest military siege in the history of American warfare, complete with comprehensive troop maps to help readers follow this complex timeline of events. By the time Lee attempted to break the Union stranglehold in March of 1865 with a surprise attack at Fort Stedman, 28,000 of his men suffered causalities, in addition to the Union’s 42,000. It would be Lee’s last offensive move of the war—his final surrender to Grant at Appomattox only a week away.

Collect all National Park Civil War Series books, comprising more than 30 titles. From the first cannons fired at Fort Sumter, to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, this award-winning collection illustrates the full scope of the war with remarkable vividness and accessibility.


Product Details

• Historical nonfiction
• 8"x11", full-color & perfect-bound, 44 pgs.
• Text by Noah Andre Trudeau, maps by George Skoch
• Printed in USA, published by Eastern National