Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion: The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign

25 original maps 36 photos and illustrations 6 x 9

* Introduction by award-winning Petersburg historian Richard J. Sommers
* Based on manuscript sources and extensive research

Six large-scale battles from late March through April 2, 1865, were the culmination of more than nine months of bitter and continuous warfare between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.

The fighting climaxed in the decisive breakthrough by the Union Sixth Corps on April 2, just six miles southwest of Petersburg. This Federal victory forced Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond that night, and to surrender his army just one week later.

Will Greene, executive director of Pamplin Historical Park, which preserves the Breakthrough Battlefield, places these long-neglected battles in strategic context while providing the first tactically-detailed account of the combat on April 2, 1865. A. Wilson Greene is also the author of Whatever You Resolve to Be, a collection of essays on Stonewall Jackson.