Lessons in History- A Campaign of Giants–The Battle for Petersburg

A Campaign of Giants—The Battle for Petersburg

Volume 2: From the Crater’s Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill

Saturday, May 16, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Education Gallery (First Floor)
ISBN: 9781469684819

Join The National Civil War Museum for a compelling presentation by prizewinning author A. Wilson Greene, as he discusses the second volume of his acclaimed Petersburg trilogy, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg.

Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War’s longest and among its most complex. In this second of three volumes, Greene examines the critical months from August through October 1864, when Ulysses S. Grant launched three major offensives against Robert E. Lee’s defensive lines protecting Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Following the Battle of the Crater, Union forces continued their relentless pressure. Confederate troops countered each advance and even mounted a dramatic cavalry raid that captured nearly 2,500 cattle from Federal grazing grounds. As winter approached, however, Grant succeeded in seizing a key Confederate supply route and extended his lines to nearly thirty-five miles around Petersburg and Richmond.

Supported by thirty-four detailed maps and enriched by many previously unpublished firsthand accounts from enlisted men and senior officers alike, Greene challenges the common perception of Petersburg as merely a siege. Instead, he reveals a dynamic campaign marked by intense maneuver and combat rivaling any major Civil War operation.

Admission

Admission to the program is free. Regular Museum admission applies for those wishing to tour the National Civil War Museum galleries.

About the Author

A. Wilson Greene spent forty-four years in public history, including twenty-four years working on the Petersburg battlefields. His first volume in this trilogy, From the Crossing of the James to the Crater, was published in 2018. Greene resides in Walden, Tennessee.

2025 Commended – Best Civil War Book, Civil War Monitor