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After the setback of the Battle of Crater, Grant extended the siege lines south and southwest of the beleaguered city. The front remained stabilized.

After Lee's failed offensive against Fort Stedman in March 1865, Grant seized again the initiatives extending the siege lines farther and farther westward, attempting to outflank Lee's right wing and threaten the Boydton Plank road, until the Confederates defences stretched so far that they could be no more adequately manned.

That led Lee, after the decisive defeat of Five Forks on april 1 and the penetration of the Confederate positions between Petersburg and Five Forks the following day, to order the evacuation of both Petersburg and Richmond to avoid of being encircled.

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12y ago

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