“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend:
Those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
You dig.”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Grant recognized that although he might not be able to take Richmond with frontal assaults, he could cut it off by taking the rail junction city of Petersburg on the Appomattox River to the south. Lee had more forces in North Carolina, so Grant needed to keep them separated. Grant poured troops, mortars and supplies into the area to besiege both cities. And most importantly, Grant ordered his men to dig: new defenses and longer trenches, to close the gap with the enemy. Over the winter, the captured Fort Harrison near Richmond was reinforced, clearly in sight of Confederate defenses, and it became part of a line of forts beginning to surround Richmond.

The photo above shows examples of siege fortifications—including the cannon aimed right at you—near Battery 9, captured by African American troops. Lee desperately counterattacked inflicting the worst single regimental loss of the war, on the First Maine Heavy Artillery, but at the next fort, the Union held. By now, Grant had far more troops here than Lee and was proceeding to cut off both cities and attack them simultaneously. To avoid being surrounded and running out of moves, Lee withdrew from both cities and fled west. Richmond had fallen. Grant pursued to block Lee before he could move south. Now the race is on, and Union cavalry victories at the Five Forks Battlefield to the west mark the beginning of the end. No longer behind defensive walls, Lee heads west across country towards a town called Appomattox.