Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War

By A. Wilson Green
Illustrated, index, notes, 363 pp., 2006. University of Virginia Press, P.O. Box 400318, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4318, $34.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Ethan S. Rafuse
Ethan S. Rafuse is associate professor of military history at the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College. His publications include A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas; George Gordon Meade and the War in the East; and, most recently, McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union.

Review:
With its strategic location at the falls of the Appomattox River and service as the terminus of several railroads that were critical to the Confederate war effort, Petersburg could have hardly avoided playing a notable role in the Civil War.

A prosperous and impressively developed city when the 1860 presidential election resulted in a victory by the candidate that was not even on the ballot in Petersburg, like many communities in the Upper South, the city initially resisted calls for Virginia's secession. But when compromise efforts failed and the North called for troops to crush the rebellion, a dramatic swing in sentiment occurred in the town and it enthusiastically embraced the cause of Southern independence.

Like the rest of the Confederacy, the residents of Petersburg then reaped the whirlwind, enduring economic hardship brought on by shortages and inflation, as well as alarms for its safety whenever perceptive Union strategists recognized the importance of the city and made it a target for operations.

Of course, for over nine months in 1864-65, Petersburg was the focal point of the war in Virginia as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee dueled for control of the city and its vital transportation network. When Petersburg finally fell in April 1865, the surrender of Lee's army and end of the war in the Old Dominion were only a week away.

Despite its importance, Petersburg has always - and understandably - languished in the shadow of the Confederate capital located only a few dozen miles to the north. While numerous studies have been written on Civil War Richmond, the Cockade City has until now been the subject of only one modern study of its wartime experiences.

In Civil War Petersburg, A. Wilson Greene seeks to build on the foundation established in William D. Henderson's 1998 volume in H.E. Howard's Virginia Civil War Battles and Leaders series - and go beyond it - to produce a complete and authoritative study of Petersburg's wartime history. In a thoroughly researched and gracefully written work, Greene achieves his objective in impressive style.

Of course, no one familiar with Greene's previous works and accomplishments as one of the country's leading public historians will be surprised this is the case. Bringing deep knowledge and valuable perspectives gained in the course of his distinguished tenure as executive director of Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg to this effort, Greene goes beyond battles and leaders (although they are by no means slighted) to bring the city's experiences to life in all their dimensions.

He ably describes the social, economic, political and cultural factors and forces that shaped Petersburg before and during the war, and does an excellent job providing the reader with anecdotes that both enliven his narrative and illustrate his points.

Some readers may be disappointed, though, with Greene's decision to end his story in 1865 and not address the course of efforts by Petersburg citizens to resolve the deep and complex problems of race, politics, class and economics they faced during Reconstruction.

Yet, in the final analysis, the book's many fine qualities make it easy to predict that readers will finish it hopeful that a scholar of Greene's caliber will soon produce the definitive multi-volume study of the great 1864-65 campaign for the Cockade City that is conspicuously absent from modern Civil War literature.