"Petersburg: The Wearing down of Lee's Army" Topic

"It is the spring of 1864, and the armies are still in Virginia. The Union Army is once again under a new commander. The newly appointed commander-in-chief is Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Although he is coordinating the strategy of all Union forces throughout the South, Grant chooses to move with General George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac. Meade continues to face a formidable Southern force known as the Army of Northern Virginia, being commanded by General Robert E. Lee.

Until now, the main target of the Union Army has been Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Grant, however, realizes that this horrendous war will not end until Lee's Army is destroyed. The determined general informs Meade that: "Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also…" The plan to overtake Richmond has now taken a back seat to the Union's desire to obliterate Lee's fighting power…"

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Armand

Been tomPetersburg many times since I was stationed at Fort Lee in 1980.

Conducting defensive siege operations when you cannot win is a terrible drain of strength and cohesion in the defenders force.
The CSA may have insisted on Petersburg as a delaying tactic, hopeing for a different outcome in the 1864 election but Vicksburg and Atlanta decimated the CSA force in the Western Theater.

Thanks

Armand