VALIANT SACRIFICE

ROM JUNE 15 TO JUNE 18, 1864, just days after its devastating defeat at Cold Harbor, Va., the Army of the Potomac made several attempts to storm the Confederate defenses at Petersburg, hoping to capture the key railroad town south of Richmond and avoid a long and costly siege. Repeated, often uncoordinated Yankee assaults over those four days, in what is known as the Second Battle of Petersburg, failed woefully—resulting in nearly 11,500 total Union casualties to only 4,000 Confederate. Petersburg would stay in Rebel control for