Petersburg (Sieges)

by Bruce L. Brager

Book Overview

The siege of Petersburg, Virginia, was the prime focus of the Union Army in the eastern United States during the last year of the Civil War. Lasting almost a year, the siege was a combination of a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791071006
• ISBN13: 9780791071007
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.5" x 9.7"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

A detailed description of a battle that was a harbinger of the First World War

The siege of Petersburg was the final battle of the American Civil War and nearly everyone who took part in it knew that to be the case. As Brager points out several times, even the foot soldiers understood that if the Union forces were to prevail and take control of Petersburg, the Confederacy would be no more. Sherman had taken Atlanta and had reached the Atlantic and was slowly turning his mighty army northward. Fortunately for the Union side, they had finally settled on a General that knew how to fight and win the war. Ulysses S. Grant was not as imaginative as his counterpart Robert E. Lee, but he understood that he had resources and staying power that Lee lacked. Therefore, he kept the pressure on, wearing down the armies of Lee until there was nothing left. Unfortunately for the Union side, Grant took control of the Army of the Potomac much too late to execute a quick end to the war. The generalship on the side of the Union forces was at times abysmal, some were outright incompetents, others were outright cowards and some were just timid. Had there been an outstanding military leader on the Union side and in command of the Army of the Potomac early in the war, it would not have been a long one. General George McClellan was a case in point; his reluctance to risk making even the slightest error was in fact his greatest error of all. This story opens as the Union siege of Petersburg, Virginia begins in June, 1864 and moves through until the Lee surrender in April, 1865. The lengthy battle was not a siege in the traditional sense, the battle line extended over thirty miles and there was some significant movement of forces. As many historians have pointed out, it was a harbinger of the stationary carnage of the western front in the First World War. If the battle had taken place earlier, before the Confederacy was worn down, it would have been an accurate prelude. Even then, it took nearly a year for the more powerful Union forces to win the battle. This is a book of historical relevance, because it not only describes the battle in detail but from it you can see what was to come. There were opportunities for a quick victory and an end to the war, unfortunately there was no commander on the Union side with the daring to take advantage of it. Those opportunities are explained, along with the specifics as to why they were missed and the reasons why the victory took so long to achieve.