June 21, 1864---Cutting the Confederacy's lifeline

JUNE 21, 1864:           

General Ulysses S. Grant U.S.A. extends his siege lines further around Petersburg by sending the 2^nd and 6^th Corps around the left flank. He tours the Union emplacements accompanied today by a surprise visitor --- President Lincoln. After the bloodletting of the Overland Campaign, Grant now chooses to be content with starving out The Army of Northern Virginia. Grant’s goal is to cut the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, once the longest railroad in the world at 162 miles, and now Petersburg’s lifeline to the rest of the Confederacy.