[Footnote: Grant had arranged, in the general plan of the campaign, for three co-operative movements to attract the attention and divide the strength of the Confederate army before Richmond: 1. General Sigel, with ten thousand men, was to advance up the Shenandoah Valley and threaten the railroad communication with Richmond. He was, however, totally routed at _New Market_ (May 15). General Hunter, who superseded him, defeated the Confederates at _Piedmont_ (June 5), but pushing on to Lynchburg with about twenty thousand men, he found it too strong, and prudently retired into West Virginia. 2. On the night that the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan, General Butler, with thirty thousand men, ascended the James River, under the protection of gunboats, and landed at Bermuda Hundred. After some trifling successes, he was surprised in a dense fog by Beauregard, and driven back into his defences with considerable loss. Beauregard then threw intrenchments across the narrow strip which connects Bermuda Hundred with the main land, and, as Grant tersely said, "hermetically sealed up" the Union force from any further advance. 3. General Sheridan, while the army was at Spottsylvania, passed in the rear of the Confederate position, destroyed miles of railroad, recaptured four hundred prisoners _en route_, and defeated a cavalry force with the loss of their leader, General J. E. B. Stuart, the best cavalry officer in the South.] [Illustration: GRANT'S CAMPAIGN AROUND RICHMOND.] ATTACK ON PETERSBURG.--Grant now rapidly pushed his army over the James, and fell upon Petersburg; but here again Lee was ahead, and the works could not be forced. Grant was therefore compelled to throw up intrenchments and sit down in front of the Confederate lines. The campaign now resolved itself into a siege of Richmond, with Petersburg as its advanced post. _The Effect_.--The campaign had cost the Union army at least seventy thousand men, and the Confederates about forty thousand. [Footnote: The above statement of losses is founded upon the generally-accepted authorities; but Grant has lately asserted that his total loss was only about 39,000, while Southern writers place Lee's at 18,000.] The weakened capabilities of the South were now fairly pitted against the almost exhaustless resources of the North. Grant's plan was to keep constantly hammering Lee's army, conscious that it was the last hope of the Confederacy. The idea of thus annihilating an army was terrible, yet it seemed the only way of closing the awful struggle. THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND continued until the spring campaign of 1865. It was marked by two important events: