Petersburg’s transportation nexus made it an attractive target for General Ulysses S. Grant in June 1864.
The Petersburg transportation nexus deserves to be one of the facts about the Petersburg campaign. The Confederate commander-in-chief ran out of space north of the James River on his dual mission of crippling General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and capture Richmond. A quick and secret move through "the mighty James" against Petersburg promised to isolate the Confederate capital and put Lee at a serious disadvantage. The city of Petersburg, 24 miles south of Richmond, was the junction point of five railroads that supplied the entire upper James River region. Capturing this important transportation hub would isolate the Confederate capital and force Gen.
Petersburg’s transportation nexus was crucial to the supply of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and the Confederate capital of Richmond. Numerous raids were conducted and battles fought in attempts to cut off the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad. Many of these battles caused the lengthening of the trench lines. The city was the transportation hub connecting Richmond, the Confederate capital, with the rest of the nation. During the Civil War, Northern troops surrounded Petersburg in 1864 beginning the longest siege of any American city, ten months. Petersburg became an increasingly vital road and rail center to the Confederacy. Its capture would certainly lead to the abandonment of Richmond. General Grant designed the Petersburg Campaign to take permanent physical possession of the major transportation links: the Jerusalem and Boydton Plank roads, the Petersburg and City Point, Norfolk and Petersburg, Petersburg and Weldon, and South Side railroads. Over the nine-and-a-half months from June 1864 to April 1865, General Grant attempted to cut these supply lines through the two assaults on Petersburg and the battles at Weldon Railroad, Pebbles Farm, Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, and Five Forks.
