As fighting continued around Atlanta and in the Shenandoah Valley, on Monday July 25, 1864 Ulysses Grant ordered the Union Second Corps and two cavalry divisions to the north bank of the James River, moving them closer to Richmond and the few remaining railroads linking Richmond and Petersburg with the rest of the Confederacy. The continuous destruction of the railroads in that area would effectively undermine Robert E. Lee’s control of Petersburg, some twenty-two miles directly south of Richmond. Meanwhile, at Petersburg the tunnel being dug and extended beneath Confederate defensive positions by a unit of Pennsylvania coal miners was being completed; rumors of such an effort by Grant’s army spurred Petersburg’s Confederate defenders, hoping to locate the Union tunnel, to begin counter tunneling efforts of their own.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.