Visited: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Unfortunately, most of the battlefield sites are only open on the weekend. But the Eastern Front visitor center was open, and in spite of being right next to the city of Petersburg is nicely preserved. There is a short auto tour, which I would recommend.
I was not aware of the siege of Petersburg, which lasted for 9 months, ending effectively with the end of the Civil War (Petersburg and Richmond were abandoned in early April 1865). Perhaps most striking was how badly the Union failed during the siege. They had an opportunity to win decisively early, which they chickened out of. They had an opportunity to win when they set off explosives beneath a key Confederate position, which they failed to take advantage of when they didn't avoid the crater they had just created. Lincoln spent two of the last weeks of his life at Petersburg (at City Point Unit, Grant's headquarters and primary supply point), most notably impacting the agreement that would be reached a week later at Appomattox. Grant get a lot of credit, but his handling of Petersburg was not a high point.
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