A 292-day siege ended in 1865 when Union forces finally captured Petersburg
After nearly ten months of brutal trench warfare, the fall of a vital railroad hub in 1865 signaled the inevitable collapse of the Confederacy and the end of the American Civil War.
The 292-day Siege of Petersburg was not a traditional encirclement but a grueling series of battles and trench construction that foreshadowed the horrors of World War I. By April 2, 1865, Union General Ulysses S. Grant finally broke through the thinning Confederate lines, forcing General Robert E. Lee to abandon the city.
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