Fri, May 15
|Central Penn College Conference Center
The Crossing of the James and the First Petersburg Offensive
Join us on Friday, May 15, for our annual Nye-Sommers Lecture, delivered by one of Dr. Richard J. Sommers’ closest friends, celebrated author and historian A. Wilson Greene, who is coming all the way from Tennessee to honor Dr. Sommers’ memory.
Time & Location
May 15, 2026, 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT
Central Penn College Conference Center, 600 College Hill Rd, Summerdale, PA 17093, USA
Guests
About the event
The Lost Opportunity: Grant's Crossing of the James and the Failures at Petersburg
In June 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant executed one of the Civil War's most spectacular logistical operations—moving his entire army from the Cold Harbor battlefield across the mighty James River under the nose of General Robert E. Lee. It was a masterpiece of military planning and execution that should have sealed the fate of the Confederacy.
Yet Grant and his generals squandered the decisive advantage they had gained. Through a cascade of errors and miscommunications, Union forces failed to capture a vulnerable Petersburg on June 15, 1864—mistakes that led to three more days of brutal, costly combat and condemned both armies to nine additional months of grinding siege warfare.
Join renowned Civil War historian A. Wilson Greene as he examines this critical missed opportunity and explores how tactical failures transformed what should have been a swift…