Railroad, only to be beaten back by A. P.
Hill and Wade Hampton in a brutal
two-day fight at Peebles’ Farm.
On October 27, Grant’s Second
Corps and part of his Fifth Corps, with
a cavalry screen, reached out even
farther west in an attempt to cut the
Boydton Plank Road, an important
link to the southwest. By exploiting
a gap between the two corps, the
Confederates succeeded in turning
their enemies back, though several
thousand more names were added tothe casualty rolls. Lee desperately
struggled to keep his remaining supply
line, the South Side Railroad, from
being severed.Dark winter days
As winter set in, Lee faced another
worry: desertion. Union pickets knew
that “Johnnie Reb” (the archetypal
Southerner) was waiting for the results
of the presidential election in the
North. After Lincoln prevailed, hope
went out of the Army of Northern
Virginia. Each day for months on
end, the incessant shelling continued.
Nerves were breaking. Self-inflicted
gunshot wounds, and occasional
suicides, were reported. At night,
scores of men disappeared, some
coming into the Union lines to
surrender. A truce was called at
Christmas, and soldiers emerged from
the trenches without fear of snipers.
Robert E. Lee’s winter of discontent
was upon him, and the prospects for
spring looked bleak.That fall, Grant continued his war of
maneuver. On September 29–30, Union
forces took Fort Harrison, a key bastion
in the Richmond defenses. At the same
time, on the other end of the line, a
Union reconnaissance force pushed
3 miles (5km) west of the Weldon
Union artillery shelling
The near-daily bombardment of Petersburg made most
of its citizens refugees. More than 800 buildings were
struck by shells, while many others were hit by
fragments. In spite of this, probably fewer than half a
dozen residents were killed.In the second half of 1864, while generals
Grant and Lee were locked in the Richmond-
Petersburg lines, events elsewhere were
turning the tide for the Union.A ROUND OF UNION VICTORIES
Union successes continued until late in the
year. In December 1864, General George H.
Thomas destroyed the remnants of the
Confederate Army of Tennessee at Franklin
and Nashville 300–301 ❯❯. General William
T. Sherman captured not just Atlanta, but
Savannah as well, at Christmas. This set the
stage for him to lead his victorious troops
to the state where the war had started:
South Carolina 310–11 ❯❯. The destruction
of the capital, Columbia, was another example
of total war.THE ROAD TO APPOMATTOX
The Petersburg stalemate continued until
April 1865, when Grant, having outdug
and outgunned Lee, finally shattered the
Confederate right flank 314–15 ❯❯. This
forced the beleaguered Army of Northern
Virginia out of its entrenchments and onto
the road to Appomattox 316–17 ❯❯.Taunting the enemy
Winslow Homer’s Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before
Petersburg (1864) shows a Confederate soldier standing
on the earthworks taunting Union sharpshooters. On
one such occasion the man was instantly shot.
AFTER