Most of General Grant’s major offensives were launched southwest and west of Petersburg from September 1864 to April 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. Important actions at Peebles Ranch, Burgess' Mill, Hatcher's Run, White Oak Road, Five Forks, and the Breakthrough targeted Lee's remaining supply lines - the Boydton Plank Road and the Southside Railroad - which ultimately brought success to the Confederacy. General Grant's major offensives are to surround Petersburg and cut off Lee's supply route to the south. As he attacks Petersburg, other Union troops simultaneously attack Richmond, which strains the Confederacy to the breaking point. Instead of fighting Lee in a frontal assault as he did at Cold Harbor, Grant continued to force Lee to expand his defenses south and west of Petersburg, allowing him to capture the routes. General Grant's major offensives are the fact that cannot be ignored in the list of facts about the Petersburg campaign.
After Grant's many efforts, the Union Army under Thomas's command was able to crush the Confederate John Bell Hood's attack at Nashville. General Grant's major offensives made Lee's forces at Petersburg the only significant obstacle left to Union victory. A Confederate division remained in Petersburg, while most of Grant's force pushed west, preventing Lee from turning south to join Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston's force in North Carolina. Finally, on April 9, 1865, Grant cornered his enemies at Appomattox Court House and met with Lee that afternoon to signal the surrender of the main Confederate army. The events at Appomattox hastened the surrender of other Confederate forces, making Operation Petersburg the closest cause to the end of the war.
