Battle of Petersburg I

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Battle of Petersburg
Part of American Civil War
Date June 9, 1864
Location Petersburg, Virginia
Result Confederate victory
Combatants
United States of America Confederate States of America
Commanders
Benjamin Butler P.G.T. Beauregard
Strength
4,500 2,500
Casualties
250 150
Richmond–Petersburg Campaign
1st Petersburg – 2nd Petersburg – Jerusalem Plank Road – Staunton River Bridge – Sappony Church – 1st Ream's Station – 1st Deep Bottom – Crater – 2nd Deep Bottom – Globe Tavern – 2nd Ream's Station – Chaffin's Farm – Peebles' Farm – Darbytown & New Market Roads – Darbytown Road – Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road – Boydton Plank Road – Hatcher's Run – Fort Stedman

The First Battle of Petersburg was an unsuccessful Union assault against the city of Petersburg, Virginia, June 9, 1864, during the American Civil War. Due to the rag-tag group of defenders involved, it is sometimes known as the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys.

On June 9, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee were engaged in the Overland Campaign, facing each other in their trenches after the bloody Battle of Cold Harbor. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler was bottled up in the Bermuda Hundred area to the east of Richmond, Virginia, attempting to distract Lee by attacking Richmond. Butler realized that Richmond was supplied by railroads that converged in the city of Petersburg, to the south, and that taking Petersburg would cripple Lee's supply lines.

Butler dispatched about 4,500 cavalry and infantry against the 2,500 Confederate defenders of Petersburg. While Butler's infantry demonstrated against the outer line of entrenchments east of Petersburg, Brig. Gen. August Kautz's cavalry division attempted to enter the city from the south via the Jerusalem Plank Road, but was repulsed by Home Guards, manned almost exclusively by teenagers and elderly men. Afterwards, Butler withdrew. On June 14 to June 17, Grant and the Army of the Potomac slipped away from Lee and crossed the James River. They began moving towards Petersburg to support and renew Butler's assaults. The Second Battle of Petersburg and the Siege of Petersburg would soon follow.

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