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.
Union casualties were about 1,000. Confederate killed, wounded or captured numbered around 3,000. These were losses that Lee's army could not afford. Lee wrote Confederate President Jefferson Davis that he could not hold out much longer.
At the Battle of Five Forks, on April 1, 1865, Union General Sheridan's cavalry broke through and flanked the Confederate lines at Petersburg. This set the stage for the final attack. On the morning of April 2, Grant ordered all his troops south of the Appomattox River to charge the Confederate lines. The first success came at the same place where Sheridan had broken through the day before. Union General Horatio Wright's VI Corps quickly overran the Confederate pickets and began a brutal battle that lasted only 20 or 15 minutes. He lost some 2,200 Union solders during this short time period. But the larger numbers of the Union forces finally broke through the rebel line. Most of the Georgians and North Carolinans defending this section surrendered. The breakthrough by the VI Corps was the final straw for Confederate forces defending Petersburg. Lee wired Davis in Richmond that he had to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond and retreat that night. This is also when Lee lost one of his best generals. Coming back from sick leave, riding to the front lines to rally his men, Lieutenant General A. P. Hill was killed by enemy gunfire.
The siege had lasted nine and a half months. There were a combined total of about 70,000 casualties. Richmond fell on April 3, 1865 and six days later, Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.
Arrondissement of Saintes
The arrondissement of Saintes is an arrondissement of France, in the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital is the city of Saintes.
When the Charente-Maritime department was created on 1790, the "arrondissement" of Saintes was part of that original department.
It was the centre of the old province of Saintonge.
It is the largest of the "arrondissements" of the Charente-Maritime department but the third by population. It has an area of , and a population of 128,786 inhabitants for a density of inhabitants/km².
Saintes is in the central part of the department. It is bordered to the north by the "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, to the east by the "arrondissement" of Cognac (Charente department), to the south by the "arrondissement" of Jonzac, to the southwest by the Gironde department (through the Gironde estuary), to the west and northwest by the "arrondissement" of Rochefort.
After the reorganisation of the cantons in France, cantons are not subdivisions of the "arrondissements" so they could have "communes" that belong to different "arrondissements".
In the "arrondissement" of Saintes, there are only two cantons where all their "communes" are in the "arrondissement": the Saint-Porchaire and Saintes cantons. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and "arrondissements":
The "arrondissement" of Saintes has 89 "communes"; they are (with their INSEE codes):
The "communes" with more inhabitants in the "arrondissement" are:
Arrondissement of Saint-Jean-d'Angély
The arrondissement of Saint-Jean-d'Angély is an arrondissement of France, in the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital is the city of Saint-Jean-d'Angély.
When the Charente-Maritime department was created on 1790, the "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély was part of that original department.
On 10 September 1926, the "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, together with Marennes, was eliminated. In 1943, Saint-Jean-d'Angély was made again an "arrondissement".
Saint-Jean-d'Angély is the "arrondissement" of the Charente-Maritime department with fewest people living in it. It has an area of , and a population of 53,336 inhabitants for a density of inhabitants/km².
The "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély is in the northeast of the department, in the historical and geographical region of "Basse Saintonge."
It is bordered to the west by the "arrondissement" of Rochefort, to the south by the "arrondissement" of Saintes, to the east by the Charente department and to the north and northeast by the Deux-Sèvres department.
After the reorganisation of the cantons in France, cantons are not subdivisions of the "arrondissements" so they could have "communes" that belong to different "arrondissements".
In the "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, there are only three cantons. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and "arrondissements":
The "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély has 111 "communes"; they are (with their INSEE codes):
The "communes" with more inhabitants in the "arrondissement" are:
Attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh
In 2015, Islamic extremists killed four bloggers and a publisher in Bangladesh. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists said Bangladesh was the fourth most deadly country for journalists.
In 2013, a local al-Qaeda group called Ansarullah Bengali Team had a list of 84 names of people it wanted silenced. By 2015, 8 of them were dead: Avajit Roy, Rajeeb Haider, Jafar Munshi, Mamun Hossain, Jagatjyoti Talukder, Arif Hossain Dwip, Ziauddin Zakaria Babu and Wasikur Rahman.
Jafar Munshi ( জাফর মুন্সি ) and Anjali Devi ( অঞ্জলী দেবীর ) were killed for supposed "defamation of religion", such as refusing to enforce hijab on students. Some of the people murdered were supporter of the Shahbag movement (শাহবাগ আন্দোলন ) named for the Shahbag (শাহবাগ) district: Ashraful Alam (আশরাফুল আলম ), Arif Raihan Deep (আরিফ রায়হান দীপ ), Nurul Islam Faruki (নুরুল ইসলাম ফারুকী), Jagat Jyoti Talukder (জগৎজ্যোতি তালুকদার ), and Jakaria Babu (জাকারিয়া বাবু ).
Nazimuddin Samad, a law student, was hacked and shot to death on a busy street in Dhaka.
Xulhaz Mannan, editor Of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine was hacked to death.
Rezaul Karim Siddique, English professor was hacked to death in the city of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, after he organized a music school.
Avijit Roy, a writer who started the blog Mukto-Mona, was hacked to death with machetes in Dhaka after a book fair. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, was hurt.
Washiqur Rahman Babu was killed with knives at his house in Dhaka. Police said he wrote about religion on Facebook under the name Washiqur Babu.
Ananta Bijoy Das was a blogger with Avaijit Roy's Mukto-Mona. He was hacked to death with machetes in Sylhet.
Niladri Chakrabarti wrote under the name Niloy Neel. He was killed in his apartment.
Faisal Abedin Deepan was killed in his office. He was a publisher who published Roy's books. Another publisher, Ahmed Rahim Tutal, was attacked, but he lived.