[donmeaker]

Washington’s defenses were second to those at Richmond, built by slave labor and at the direction of RE Lee.

[X Fretensis]

Not really. The defenses around Richmond, though extensive, were never fully manned to the extent that the DC works were manned. Of the 63 forts around DC,those facing West and South were fully manned and those to the North and West partially so. About 40,000 men in all were assigned to the DC garrisons. The works around DC contained nearly 800 pieces of artillery. The Confederacy lacked the manpower to garrison their works around Richmond fully. In addition, the DC works contained more artillery that was available to all of the Confederate armies combined. In June of 1864, Lee had to race to the Petersburg fortifications because they were facing 2 Union Corps with a few regiments of local militia. Once Grant’s overland campaign started in 1864, he was allowed to start taking men out of the DC fortifications and assign them to the Army of the Potomac. Also, Lee supervised the construction of part of the Petersburg work in 1861/62. After that he commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. The remainer of the Petersburg and Richmond defenses were built after Lee
had assumed that command.