Petersburg National Battlefield

Petersburg, Virginia, became the setting for the longest siege in American history when General Ulysses S. Grant failed to capture Richmond in the spring of 1864. The 2,700-acre Petersburg National Battlefield was established to preserve the battlefields where 10 months of trench warfare sapped the strength of General Robert E Lee's Confederate army and led to the fall of Richmond. The park includes miles of original earthworks. Outstanding features are The Crater; Battery Five; Fort Stedman; the site of Fort Morton; City Point; Five Forks Battlefield; and Poplar Grove National Cemetery, where 6,000 Union soldiers are buried.