The Petersburg Campaign The Siege of Petersburg began on June 12th, 1864 and ended on April 3rd 1865, lasting a total of 292 days. To put the siege into perspective, I have included brief summaries of the Overland Campaign, the Shenandoah Campaign, and the Appomattox Campaign. The struggle for Petersburg has no equal in the entire war. All of the more famous sieges: Vicksburg, Atlanta, and Richmond, were inferior to this siege in terms of the number of battles fought and of lives lost in its defense. Petersburg was the lifeline of Richmond. Railroads from all over the Confederacy led into Petersburg, with one railroad linking Pe