Robert E. Lee's lines collapsed at Petersburg on this date 157 years ago...

April 2, 1865.

The Army of the Potomac and elements of the Army of the James had been besieging Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, VA since June 1864. Over the course of the next nine month, fighting devolved into trench warfare not that much different from that which would be seen 50 years later in France during World War I. Over the intervening time, forces under the overall command of Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant slowly extended out to the west, cutting the vital railroad lines that supplied the Confederate army and Richmond.

On the morning of March 25, realizing further defense of Petersburg was futile, Lee attempted a breakout with his last offensive of the war at Fort Stedman. After some initial success, a Union counterattack pushed the Confederates back and inflicted 4,000 total casualties on the rebel forces who made the assault. Sensing Lee was at the end of his rope, Grant ordered further assaults made on the far reaches of the western end of Lee's position.

This began the Appomattox Campaign, which saw a breakthrough for the Federals on April 1 with Phil Sherdian's major victory over Confederate forces at the Battle of Five Forks. With the capture of this vital crossroads, Grant now knew the time was ripe for a general assault on Lee's entire front. That assault came on the morning of April 2, 1865.

The Union attack, spearheaded by the VI Corps, began at 4:40 AM. Supported by the XXIV Corps, they achieved a breakthrough almost immediately and began to widen the breach in Lee's lines. By this time, the Confederate army had been reduced in size to some 40,000 men and Lee had few reserves to send to the gaps that were beginning to open up in his defenses. Other attacks by the Union IX Corps threatened Confederate defenses further and Lee realize the gig was up.

He telegraphed Richmond his intentions of withdrawing from Petersburg and retreating to the west, advising Jefferson Davis to evacuate the Confederate capital as it could no longer be defended. By that evening, Petersburg was in Union hands. This came to be known as the Third Battle of Petersburg. Lee lost some 5,000 men killed, wounded, and captured in the action (including the death of Confederate General A.P. Hill) while Grant's forces suffered just under 4,000 total casualties.

The road to Appomattox had officially begun.