
Did Meade Begin a Counteroffensive after
... that he wanted to retreat in a council of war held the night before the third and final day of the battle?” “Why didn’t Meade counterattack after the grand assault (Pickett’s Charge) on the battle’s final day?” “Why did Meade permit the Confederate Army to escape across the Potomac into Virginia?” ...
... that he wanted to retreat in a council of war held the night before the third and final day of the battle?” “Why didn’t Meade counterattack after the grand assault (Pickett’s Charge) on the battle’s final day?” “Why did Meade permit the Confederate Army to escape across the Potomac into Virginia?” ...
THE BATTLE OF SAILOR`S CREEK: A STUDY IN LEADERSHIP A
... his forces south and west of Lee’s Army trapping it between Sheridan’s cavalry and George Meade’s Army of the Potomac. After fighting a brutal, close quarters engagement, Union forces captured or killed the majority of two of Lee’s corps, commanded by Richard H. Anderson and Richard S. Ewell, and se ...
... his forces south and west of Lee’s Army trapping it between Sheridan’s cavalry and George Meade’s Army of the Potomac. After fighting a brutal, close quarters engagement, Union forces captured or killed the majority of two of Lee’s corps, commanded by Richard H. Anderson and Richard S. Ewell, and se ...
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CIVIL WAR BATTLES 63
... southeast of Sharpsburg, and here the opposing lines were very close as the Confederates jealously guarded this crossing point. Union reserves consisted of V Corps under the command of Gen. Fitz-John Porter. McClellan’s plan was simple and methodical. He would send his strongest corps, under the com ...
... southeast of Sharpsburg, and here the opposing lines were very close as the Confederates jealously guarded this crossing point. Union reserves consisted of V Corps under the command of Gen. Fitz-John Porter. McClellan’s plan was simple and methodical. He would send his strongest corps, under the com ...
George E. Pickett - Essential Civil War Curriculum
... Pickett’s division was the last to arrive on the field during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Initially, General Robert E. Lee kept them out of the fray while the rest of the Confederates fought in and around the rolling hills that surrounded the town. By the evening of July 2, Lee had d ...
... Pickett’s division was the last to arrive on the field during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Initially, General Robert E. Lee kept them out of the fray while the rest of the Confederates fought in and around the rolling hills that surrounded the town. By the evening of July 2, Lee had d ...
Civil War Driving Guide Page 1
... undertook a flank march to turn Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Petersburg defenses. A steady downpour turned the roads to mud, slowing the advance. On March 31, Maj. Gen. W.H. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry and Pickett’s infantry division attacked Sheridan's Cavalry Corps north and northwest of Dinwiddie Court House ...
... undertook a flank march to turn Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Petersburg defenses. A steady downpour turned the roads to mud, slowing the advance. On March 31, Maj. Gen. W.H. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry and Pickett’s infantry division attacked Sheridan's Cavalry Corps north and northwest of Dinwiddie Court House ...
Driving Tour - Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation
... 1864. The house at the intersection just north marks the approximate location of Clayton’s Store, Sheridan's headquarters. Although Sheridan knew Confederate forces were in the area, he had no idea that two divisions of Southern cavalry, commanded by Gen. Wade Hampton, had camped nearby. Gen. Wesley ...
... 1864. The house at the intersection just north marks the approximate location of Clayton’s Store, Sheridan's headquarters. Although Sheridan knew Confederate forces were in the area, he had no idea that two divisions of Southern cavalry, commanded by Gen. Wade Hampton, had camped nearby. Gen. Wesley ...
Little Round Top - A Sound Strategy, Inc.
... reform their lines, the Maine men worked to bring their wounded within their position. They also threw together small breastworks of wood and stone, none of which were more than 18 inches high. Chamberlain could not fall back, and the regiment’s ammunition was almost gone. He determined that, to s ...
... reform their lines, the Maine men worked to bring their wounded within their position. They also threw together small breastworks of wood and stone, none of which were more than 18 inches high. Chamberlain could not fall back, and the regiment’s ammunition was almost gone. He determined that, to s ...
The Battle of Lewis`s Farm
... Chamberlain - By this point in the war, Joshua L. Chamberlain was well known, almost legendary figure amongst the men of the V Corps. His stand (with the 20th ME) on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and his multiple battle wounds had earned him a hero’s reputation amongst the ranks. Though relativel ...
... Chamberlain - By this point in the war, Joshua L. Chamberlain was well known, almost legendary figure amongst the men of the V Corps. His stand (with the 20th ME) on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and his multiple battle wounds had earned him a hero’s reputation amongst the ranks. Though relativel ...
1863 and the Battle of Mine Run
... Now, for the first time, garners have the opportunity to explore one of the truly great "what-ifs" of the American Civil War the Potomac. The pursuit, if it may be called that, was so desultory that an impatient and frustrated Abraham Lincoln compared it to "an old woman shooing geese across a creek ...
... Now, for the first time, garners have the opportunity to explore one of the truly great "what-ifs" of the American Civil War the Potomac. The pursuit, if it may be called that, was so desultory that an impatient and frustrated Abraham Lincoln compared it to "an old woman shooing geese across a creek ...
Mine Run Campaign - Visit Orange County VA
... Stop 7 – New Hope Church (Mine Run Rd.). This modern structure stands on the same site as a church that was here during the war. After an initial cavalry clash in this vicinity on the 27th, Brigadier General Henry Heth’s Confederate division arrived and occupied the important hill just wet of the ch ...
... Stop 7 – New Hope Church (Mine Run Rd.). This modern structure stands on the same site as a church that was here during the war. After an initial cavalry clash in this vicinity on the 27th, Brigadier General Henry Heth’s Confederate division arrived and occupied the important hill just wet of the ch ...
September - McHenry County Civil War Round Table
... would be carried out by the Army of the James under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler against the Confederate works at Chaffin's Farm. The western attack was to be carried out by the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. David . Gregg with units from the ...
... would be carried out by the Army of the James under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler against the Confederate works at Chaffin's Farm. The western attack was to be carried out by the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. David . Gregg with units from the ...
Battle of Five Forks

The Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, around the road junction of Five Forks, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, during the end of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (sometimes called the Siege of Petersburg) and in the beginning stage of the Appomattox Campaign near the conclusion of the American Civil War. A mobile task force of combined infantry, artillery and cavalry from the Union Army commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan defeated a Confederate States Army combined task force from the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Major General George E. Pickett. The Union force inflicted over 1,000 casualties on the Confederates and took between 2,400 and 4,000 prisoners while seizing Five Forks, the key to control of the South Side Railroad (sometimes shown as Southside Railroad), a vital Confederate supply line to, and retreat line from, Petersburg.The battle was immediately preceded by two battles on March 31, 1865. At the Battle of White Oak Road, infantry of the Union Army's V Corps of the Army of the Potomac pushed back the main line of Confederate defenses on the right flank of the Army of Northern Virginia southwest of Petersburg. The V Corps blocked two important roads as well as taking a better position for an attack on the Confederate line. At the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, Sheridan's cavalry tactically lost a battle to Pickett's combined force but had fewer casualties and averted being dispersed or forced to retreat from the area. At nightfall, Sheridan's troopers still held a defensive line 0.75 miles (1.21 km) north of Dinwiddie Court House.On the night of the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House at about 10:00 p.m., V Corps infantry began to arrive near the battlefield to reinforce Sheridan's cavalry. This threat caused Pickett to retreat about 6 miles (9.7 km) to a modestly fortified line about 1.75 miles (2.82 km) in length approximately half on either side of the junction of White Oak Road, Scott Road and Dinwiddie Court House Road at Five Forks. Pickett's orders from General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, were to defend Five Forks ""at all hazards"" (costs) because of its strategic importance as the key to a supply line and evacuation route.At Five Forks at the beginning of the Union attack about 1:00 p.m., Sheridan hit the front and right flank of the Confederate line with small arms fire from mostly dismounted cavalry troopers of Brigadier General Thomas Devin's and Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer's divisions from mostly wooded positions just outside the Confederate breastworks. This fire pinned down the Confederates while the massed V Corps of infantry, commanded by Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, after about two hours to organize, attacked the Confederate left flank.With Sheridan fretting about the amount of remaining daylight and his cavalry possibly running out of ammunition, the V Corps attacked about 4:15 p.m. Pickett and cavalry commander Major General Fitzhugh Lee were having a late shad bake lunch about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the main Confederate line along White Oak Road in part because they thought Sheridan was unlikely to be organized for an attack that late in the day. An acoustic shadow in the thick woods and heavy, humid atmospheric conditions prevented them from hearing the opening stage of the battle. Pickett and Lee had not told any of the next ranking officers of their absence and that those subordinates, in particular Major General W.H.F. ""Rooney"" Lee, were temporarily in charge.Because of bad information and lack of reconnaissance, two of the Union divisions in the infantry attack did not hit the short Confederate left flank which was about 800 yards (730 m) west of its supposed location, but their movement by chance helped them to roll up the Confederate line by coming at it from the end and rear. The first division in the attack under Brigadier General Romeyn B. Ayres alone overran the short right angled line on the left side of the Confederate main line. Sheridan's personal leadership helped encourage and focus the men. Brigadier General Charles Griffin's division recovered from overshooting the Confederate left and helped roll up additional improvised Confederate defense lines. Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) Samuel Crawford's division swept across north of the main battle but then closed off Ford's Road, swept down to Five Forks and helped disperse the last line of Confederate infantry resistance. The Union cavalry was somewhat less successful as much of the Confederate cavalry escaped while much of the Confederate infantry became casualties or prisoners. Due to more apparent than real lack of speed, enthusiasm and leadership, as well as some past grudges and a personality conflict, Sheridan unfairly relieved Warren of command of V Corps when the successful battle concluded. The Union Army held Five Forks and the road to the South Side Railroad at the end of the battle. Grant ordered an attack all along the line at Petersburg for the next day.Pickett's loss at Five Forks along with the Union breakthrough of the defenses of Petersburg the next day at the Third Battle of Petersburg forced General Lee to abandon his entrenchments and fortifications around Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia and to begin the retreat that led to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865.