April 2, 1865, proved to be the day of decision at Petersburg.
Highlighted during the day of the decision at Petersburg, the Confederate 6th Corps broke through the Confederate defenses southwest of the city, and Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that an evacuation was required for Richmond and Petersburg that night. Fierce fighting for the remainder of the day allowed the besieged Confederates to maintain their internal defenses until nightfall enabled their successful withdrawal. Lee hoped to be able to reach General Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina to continue the war. As much larger Union forces attacked the lines, the Confederate defenders' desperate defenders thwarted the Confederate breakthrough long enough for Confederate government officials and most troops to The remaining Confederate troops, including local defenders and some Confederate Navy personnel, fled Petersburg and the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia, during the night of 2–3 April. Commander of the Southern Army Corps, Lieutenant General A.P. Hill was killed in the fighting. The day of the decision in Petersburg is one of the facts about the Petersburg campaign.
The day of decision at Petersburg is named after the Third Battle of Petersburg, also known as the Petersburg Breakthrough or the Fall of Petersburg, which took place on April 2, 1865, to the south and southwest Petersburg, Virginia, at the end of the 292-day Petersburg Campaign and in the early stages of the Appomattox Campaign near the end of the American Civil War. The Union Army (Potomac Army, Shenandoah Army, and James Army) under the joint command of Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, launched an assault on the Army trenches and fortifications. General Robert E. Lee's Union of Northern Virginia after the Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. The outcome of that battle was Confederate right flanks and rear exposed. The remaining supply lines were cut and the Confederate defenses were reduced by more than 10,000 killed, wounded, taken prisoner, or fled.
