What was the cause of the petersburg cilver war?

Answer 1

From June 12 up to June 14, 1864, by means of a feint towards Richmond, carried on by the V Corps and Wilson's cavalry division , which crossed over the Chickahominy River, Grant managed to make the bulk of his army cross over unopposed both the Chickahominy and the James Rivers, deploying his units for the investment of Petersburg, south of the James.

B) Lee, cheated by Grant's manoeuvre, make the Confederate Army cross the Chickahominy River and deploy about 10 kilometers north of the James, facing east, to cover Richmond. Petersburg would have been immediately taken by assault by the Union Army had the Federals carried the action energetically. That would have probably shortened the duration of the war, due to the inadequate number of Confederate troops manning the defensive line.

But it was not to be due to the excessive caution with which the attackers were advancing, thus allowing the enemy commander General Beauregard to rush reinforcements to the positions, succeeding in preventing the deadly threat.

That led to stabilize the tactical situation and gave the start to a regular Siege of Petersburg and to a consequent war of position characterized by a slow, slight but continuous lengthening of the entrenchments south and then westward:

the Northerners attempting to outflank the enemy defense system and aiming to interrupt the vital railroads securing the flux of supply, indispensable to maintain the Confederates' war effort;

the Southerners managing to stop the menace, extending their net of entrenchments.

Every prolongation of the entrenchment was marked by violent fighting or local battles which cost heavy casualties to both sides, with but no decisive outcome.