From Cold Harbor to Petersburg
Grant was tantalizingly close to Richmond, as close as McClellan had reached two years before, but he could not beat the Army of Virginia out of its miles of trenches. If Grant was going to capture the Confederate capital he would have to do it some other way. Then Grant pulled off one of the most stunning maneuvers of the war, and if his subordinates had acted well near the end of it — or if the Confederates had reacted less adeptly — Grant might have won the war in the summer of 1864.
In the six weeks from the Battle of the Wilderness on May 4 to the beginning of the siege of Petersburg, casualties to Grant's forces ran to 60,000 or 70,000 men. Although Grant made up the losses with replacements, the toll appalled the North and Grant was heavily criticized.
Rather than besieging Richmond, Grant stealthily withdrew his army and sent them toward the James River. He got much of his army across before Lee could react. The objective was Petersburg on the south side of the Appomattox River. All but one of the railroads coming from the south toward Richmond merged there. If Grant could capture Petersburg, Richmond would have to be abandoned.
The first Federal units to cross the James were meant to speed into Petersburg, which was only lightly defended, but the few Confederates there put up a stiff fight. As more Federals arrived, General Beauregard deftly organized the city's defense and held off the Federals until much of the Army of Northern Virginia could arrive. Three days after beginning to cross the James River, Grant had to admit that his hopes for capturing Petersburg swiftly had failed. He settled in for a siege.
