Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Petersburg

​PETERSBURG, a city and port of entry of Dinwiddie co., Va.; on the S. bank of the Appomattox river, the Upper Appomattox canal, on the Atlantic Coast Line, the Norfolk and Western, and the Seaboard Air Line railroads; 22 miles S. of Richmond. Here are the Central State Hospital for the Insane, Home for the Sick, and Industrial Institute, libraries, parks, National and State banks, street railroads, electric lights, and daily and weekly newspapers. The handling of cotton and tobacco, with wheat, corn, and general country produce, is the chief business. The city has tobacco factories, cotton factories, flour and grist mills, and silk mills. The so-called siege of Petersburg lasted from June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865; and during its continuance 13 pitched battles were fought in the neighborhood. The intrenchments of Lee and Grant still form conspicuous features in the landscape; Grant's lines extended from the Appomattox to Fort Fisher, and thence ​E. to Fort Bross, a distance of 23 miles. One of the best-known engagements was that of the old crater, to the E. of the city, on Griffith's farm, where a small museum of war relics is exhibited. Pop. (1910) 24,127; (1920) 31,002.