“A siege is an operation that cannot result in disaster.” -Carl von Clausewitz

I have made posts about the characterization of Richmond and Petersburg in 1864. I have never fully believed that it was a “campaign,” at best, it was a “blockade” that was given the incorrect moniker of “siege.” However, after reading over a Campaign of Giants for a second time, I think it was more of a siege than a campaign. It is not the conclusion of the author, A. Wilson Greene. My interpretation will most likely change over time, but despite the partial envelopment of the two cities, the aspects of the tactics looked more similar to a siege than that of a campaign.

There were fixed fortifications the Union army worked against. There were various battles around the two cities, but it was all to cut off their supply lines into the cities. These efforts are similar to many past sieges that used a variety of different means to cut off the besieged city. Oftentimes, it would take months to accomplish. Even Sun Tzu said it took three months to prepare the siege engines and then another three months to cut off the enemy. Technology changed drastically from Sun Tzu’s time, but many fixed fortifications made it impossible for many armies to fully envelop any place in their initial attempts. Take the Eighty Years War, for example; the surrounding terrain of Ostend was marshy and was split by many ravines. Most armies had to build sea walls to reduce a city’s ability to reinforce themselves or gather supplies. Building forts, parallels, and abatis took months to finally capture Ostend. It came at a high cost to the enemy.

How long does a general have to completely invest in a place for it to be considered a siege? Even in the perfect siege of Ath in the Nine Years War, Marshal Sebastien Vauban took a couple of weeks to completely invest in the fort, outnumbering the enemy by 20,000. The enemy never came out to attack from the fortress, but it was a star fort, and it would be poor judgment to come out from such structures. However, Vauban was an expert on siege warfare and enveloped the city through regular approaches and circumvallation. Prince Eugene of Savoy spent several months trying to capture Lille. It was only besieged from the northwestern side with a series of parallels moving toward the enemy walls. Siege cannons were brought up and fired on the city throughout the siege. Even small engagements took place, culminating in the final battle at Wijnendale.

Sieges can involve various engagements around the city. It does not make it a campaign because the main force remained fixed in a single place. The Union army did not envelop the town until April, but their investment led to dried-up Confederate supplies and Union fortifications continually built around Richmond and Petersburg. Confederates could not supply either place. The rebels managed to flee from their open position but did little to run away because Grant had gotten his army between the Army of Northern Virginia and Joseph Johnston. In the case of Grant and Lee at Richmond and Petersburg, it was a siege.

Bodart, G. Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905), (1908).

Churchill, Winston. Marlborough: His Life and Times. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1968.

der Lem, Anton van, Revolt in the Netherlands: The Eighty Years War, 1568-1648. U.K.: Reakton Books, 2019.

Tzu, Sun. Sun Tzŭ on The Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. U.K. 1907.