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Photo: clipart.com, NewsRadio WINA
In this segment, Les Sinclair talks with historian Rick Britton about THIS WEEK IN US HISTORY: This week 156 years ago, during the Civil War, the nation witnessed the end of the Petersburg Campaign and the beginning of the Appomattox Campaign. Throughout the 10-month siege of Petersburg, Union Gen. U.S. Grant attempted to stretch the outnumbered defenders, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia—stretch them to the breaking point. By the end of March 1865, the Confederates in the trench lines around Petersburg were 6 to 8 feet apart.
When Grant threatened the extreme Confederate right, Lee sent Maj. Gen. George Pickett there with about 5,500 infantry and cavalry. (Why he sent a second-rate commander is a mystery.)
Five Forks is about 15 miles west of Petersburg. It’s a vital road junction—five roads coming together at one point—it guarded the extreme Confederate right. And most importantly, it guarded the Southside Railroad, Petersburg’s last rail link to the rest of the confederacy.
Grant’s commander at FiveForks was Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, a top-notch officer who was also very aggressive. Sheridan’s force included two Union corps plus cavalry, about 12,000 in all.
After a fight at Dinwiddie Court House (just to the south) on March 31, Pickett withdrew north to Five Forks and dug in. His orders were to defend Five Forks” at all hazards” because of its strategic importance.
Sheridan pursued the following day, April 1. At about 1:00 pm, Sheridan pinned down the front and right flank of the Confederate line with small arms fire, while the massed infantry of the V Corps attacked Pickett’s left. Owing to an ‘acoustic shadow’ in the woods, Pickett and cavalry commander Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee did not hear the opening stage of the battle, and their subordinates could not find them. (Sadly, they were not present at the front with their men. They were a few miles to the rear at a shad bake.)
The Union infantry rolled up the Confederate line, inflicting over 1,000 casualties on the Confederates and capturing up to 4,000 prisoners while seizing Five Forks.
The following day, April 2, Grant launched a major attack against the Petersburg lines . . . and broke through. Lee’s surrender was only one week away.
