Bibliography of the Siege of Petersburg

The following list is an annotated bibliography of good books on the siege of Petersburg. Feel free to suggest titles to the publisher of the site by sending mail to him at siege1864@aol.com. Special references specific to individual actions are also noted in the relevant articles.

• Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion, by A. Wilson Greene (2000). This is the best book on the siege, and one of the very few works that treats the final operations in any detail. Highly recommended. For a review of this book, click here.
• The Last Citadel, by Noah Andre Trudeau (1991). One of the few modern treatments of the siege, this is spotty in its coverage and I do not agree with much of the slant of the narrative, but it is still a recommended read.
• Out of the Storm, also by Trudeau (1994). This covers several aspects of the last months of the war, and includes coverage of Five Forks that was curiously left out of The Last Citadel.
• The Virginia Campaign of 1864-65, by A. A. Humphreys (1883). This is an outstanding book on the entire last year of the war in the east, but it is especially valuable for its accounts of the siege.
• Death in the Trenches, by William C. Davis (1986). This is the entry on the siege in the Time-Life series and it is one of the most complete accounts of the various actions.
• Pursuit to Appomattox, by Jerry Korn (1987). This is also from the Time-Life series; it covers the 1865 actions of the siege, starting with Second Hatcher's Run.
• The Battle of Five Forks, by Ed Bearss and Chris Calkins (1985). A thorough if somewhat dry account of the final actions of the siege, including Lewis Farm and the Battle of the White Oak Road.
• Richmond Redeemed, by Richard Sommers (1981). This is a lengthy (over 600 pages) and detailed account of the Fort Harrison and Peebles Farm actions. Very dry, but very good.
• The Passing of the Armies, by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1914). Written mostly as an account of the Appomattox Campaign by one of its heroes, Chamberlain also includes a lot of material on the Lewis Farm-White Oak Road-Five Forks battles. Good maps. The style is somewhat over-romantic and lurid.
• The West Point Atlas of the Civil War, by Col. Vincent J. Esposito, editor (1962). The maps here are among the best of the siege, especially in terms of the changing trench lines.
• Wasted Valor, by Thomas Howe (1988). This discusses the initial assaults on the Petersburg lines in mid-June of 1864. Howe does a good job of demonstrating that the Federal assaults were not overly affected by the oft-cited "Cold Harbor Syndrome."
• The Destruction of the Weldon Railroad, by John Horn (1991). This discusses the August offensive against the Weldon Railroad and the associated Deep Bottom effort that preceded it.
• The Battle of the Crater "The Horrid Pit", by Michael Cavanaugh and William Marvel (1989). Perhaps the only modern book-length treatment of the attack after the explosion of the mine.
• Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 5. Originally published in 1906, and reprinted in 1989 by Broadfoot, this volume contains several interesting papers on the original assaults, the Crater, and the operations against the Weldon Railroad.
• Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 6. Originally published in 1906, and reprinted in 1989 by Broadfoot, this volume contains several papers on the final breakthrough of April 2, 1865.
• Civil War - The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society devoted its April, 1998, issue to the siege of Petersburg, and this includes a number of interesting articles covering each of the major actions of the siege.

Finally, it should of course be mentioned that the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, as well as selected articles from the Papers of the Southern Historical Society (both available on CD) are an invaluable resource for all events in the Civil War. The OR volumes relevant to the siege of Petersburg are Vols. XL, XLII, and XLVI. The SHSP has relevant articles scattered throughout.