Second Battle of Petersburg | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
![]() The war in Virginia – the 18th Army Corps storming a fort on the right of the Rebel line before Petersburg, June 15, sketch by Edwin Forbes (Dunn House at the Confederate Dimmock Line) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ulysses S. Grant George G. Meade |
Robert E. Lee P. G. T. Beauregard | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army of Northern Virginia | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
13,700–62,000 (reinforcements arrived over four days)[2] | 5,400–38,000[2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
11,386 total | 4,000 total |
The Second Battle of Petersburg, also known as the Assault on Petersburg, was fought June 15–18, 1864, at the beginning of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg). Union forces under Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General George G. Meade attempted to capture Petersburg, Virginia, before General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia could reinforce the city.
The four days included repeated Union assaults against substantially smaller forces commanded by General P. G. T. Beauregard. Beauregard's strong defensive positions and poorly coordinated actions by the Union generals (notably Major General William F. "Baldy" Smith, who squandered the best opportunity for success on June 15) made up for the disparity in the sizes of the armies. By June 18, the arrival of significant reinforcements from Lee's army made further assaults impractical. The failure of the Union to defeat the Confederates in these actions resulted in the start of the ten-month Siege of Petersburg.