The Appomattox Campaign The Appomattox Campaign - Events from
Petersburg to Appomattox March 29 - April 9, 1865 What was to
become the final campaign for Richmond began when the Federal
Army of the Potomac crossed the James River in June 1864. Under
Lieutenant General U.S. Grant's command, Federal troops applied
constant pressure to the Confederate lines around Richmond and
Petersburg. By autumn, three of the four railroads into
Petersburg had been cut. The South Side Railroad remained as the
only means of rail transportation into Confederate lines, and
once severed, the Army of Northern Virginia would have no other
choice but to evacuate the capital city. However, General Robert
E. Lee's concern stretched beyond the Confederate Capitol to
Federal actions elsewhere in the South. By February of 1865, two
Federal armies, one under Major General William T. Sherman and
the other under Major General John M. Schofield, were moving
through the Carolinas. If not stopped, they could sever Virginia
from the rest of the