First Battle of Petersburg

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Battle of Petersburg


caption=
partof=the American Civil War
date=June 9, 1864
place=Petersburg, Virginia
result=Confederate victory
combatant1= flagicon|USA|1863 United States (Union)
combatant2= flagicon|CSA|1863 CSA (Confederacy)
commander1=Benjamin Butler
commander2=P.G.T. Beauregard
strength1=4,500
strength2=2,500
casualties1=250
casualties2=150

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.

References

* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va098.htm National Park Service battle description]