The Last Citadel is the only full-length treatment of the most extensive military operation of the Civil War -- the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, which by its bloody end had added more than 70,000 casualties to the war's total. Because it lay astride five major railroad lines that supplied Richmond, the Confederate capital, Petersburg was key to the war effort in the East. With the same dogged determination that had seen him through the Overland campaign, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fixed his sights on the capture of the city. His Confederate counterpart Gen. Robert E. Lee, was equally determined that Petersburg would not fall. Noah Andre Trudeau's compelling account of the siege of Petersburg is told largely through the words of the men and women who were there, including officers, common soldiers, and the town's citizens. What emerges is an epic story rich in human incident and adventure. - Back cover.