Description: |
With Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1, Grant and Meade ordered a general assault against the
Petersburg lines by II, IX, VI and XXIV Corps on April 2. A heroic defense of Fort Gregg by a handful of Confederates
prevented the Federals from entering the city that night. Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill was killed trying to reach his troops in the
confusion. After dark, Lee ordered the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Grant had achieved one of the major
military objectives of the war: the capture of Petersburg, which led to the fall of Richmond, the Capitol of the
Confederacy. |