A Final Effort

Desperate to relieve the Union noose strangling Petersburg, on March 25, 1865, General Lee used pre-dawn darkness and stealth to pierce the Union line at Fort Stedman. “We were very much elated at first, as we thought we had won a great victory,” recalled Capt. R.D. Funkhouser of the 4th Virginia. Though initially successful, the attack soon lost momentum as Union reinforcements arrived and counterattacked, driving the Confederates back over and into the fort, where hundreds were killed or captured. Robert E. Lee would never again launch a major offensive, and a week later Petersburg fell.

Petersburg, Virginia · United States