First Battle of Petersburg

In May 1864, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched attacks on Confederate armies across the South and accompanied Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac as it fought Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor. With most of both armies still north of the James River, the Federals made their first attempt to capture Confederate-held Petersburg, but that effort was stopped here. On June 9, 1864, Gen. August V. Kautz led 13,000 Union cavalrymen here with orders to capture and burn the city. Petersburg’s Home Guard, 125 old men and young boys, held them off for two hours but finally retreated, leaving the road to Petersburg open. From Bermuda Hundred, 10 miles northeast on the James River, Confederate Gen. James Dearing rushed cavalry and a battery of artillery commanded by Petersburg resident Edward Graham through the city’s streets. Dearing, having formerly served with the famed New Orleans’ Washington Artillery, placed Graham’s guns on the hills on either side of the road and skillfully directed their fire, halting Kautz’s attack. Dearing then led a cavalry charge that drove the Federals away, saving the city for the Confederates that day. A native of Campbell County, Va., Dearing attended the U.S. Military Academy, resigning to offer his services to his state and the Confederacy. Struck during the fighting at High Bridge on April 6, 1865, three days before Lee surrendered, he died on April 25, and was the last officer in the Army of Northern Virginia to die from combat wounds.

Petersburg, Virginia · United States