Siege of Petersburg
By March 25, 1865, the Siege of Petersburg had on for nine months. After initial battles the siege had settled into trench warfare. There were now a total of about 50 miles of trenches around Petersburg and Richmond. Lee was losing the war of attrition. Lee realized the Union Army around him was growing in size while his was getting smaller. He knew that as soon as Spring brought better weather, there would be a final attack by the Union Army. Lee ordered one of his most trusted generals, John Brown Gordon, to find a weak point in the Union line and attack it. Gordon thought Fort Stedman offered his best chance for success. While it had  high walls and a moat, it formed a narrow gap in the Union line. Also, it was only  from the Confederate line. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Union pickets heard sounds coming from the corn field between the two lines. The sound was Confederate soldiers moving aside the Cheval de frise defenses in preparation for an attack. This was followed by 11,000 rebels who quickly captured  of Union trenches. Union forces quickly arrived to turn back the Confederates to their own lines.