1864:
June 15-18
Jerusalem Plank Rd.
The Crater
Weldon Railroad
Reams Station
Peebles Farm
Burgess Mill
1865:
Hatcher's Run
Fort Stedman
Lewis Farm
White Oak Road
Five Forks
THE CRATER:
Prelude
After the initial attacks on Petersburg by Union forces ended on June 18, a portion of the IX Corps picket line, built under fire, was established only four hundred feet from Elliot's Salient, part of the main Confederate line. The Federals decided to construct and explode a mine underneath the salient in an attempt to surprise and overwhelm the Confederates and seize the heights above Petersburg and thereby shorten the siege.