Battle of Lewis's Farm

The Battle of Lewis's Farm (also known as Quaker Road, Military Road, or Gravelly Run) was fought on March 29, 1865, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia near the end of the American Civil War. In climactic battles at the end of the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign, usually referred to as the Siege of Petersburg, starting with Lewis's Farm, the Union Army commanded by Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant dislodged the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee from defensive lines at Petersburg, Virginia and the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Many historians and the United States National Park Service consider the Battle of Lewis's Farm to be the opening battle of the Appomattox Campaign, which resulted in the surrender of Lee's army on April 9, 1865.In the early morning of March 29, 1865, two corps of the Union Army of the Potomac, the V Corps (Fifth Corps) under Major General Gouverneur K. Warren and the II Corps (Second Corps) under Major General Andrew A. Humphreys, moved to the south and west of the Union line south of Petersburg toward the end of the Confederate line. The Confederate defenses were manned by the Fourth Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson. The corps only included the division of Major General Bushrod Johnson.Turning north and marching up the Quaker Road toward the Confederate line, Warren's lead brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Joshua Chamberlain, engaged three brigades of Johnson's division at the Lewis Farm. Reinforced by a four-gun artillery battery and later relieved by two large regiments from the brigade commanded by Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Edgar M. Gregory, the Union troops ultimately forced the Confederates back to their defenses and captured an important road junction. Chamberlain was wounded and narrowly escaped capture. Union Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Alfred L. Pearson was awarded the Medal of Honor 32 years later for his heroic actions at the battle.Casualties were nearly even at 381 for the Union and 371 for the Confederates, but as the battle ended, Warren's corps held an important objective, a portion of the Boydton Plank Road at its junction with the Quaker Road. Within hours, Major General Philip Sheridan's cavalry corps, which was still acting apart from the Army of the Potomac as the Army of the Shenandoah, occupied Dinwiddie Court House. This action also severed the Boydton Plank Road. The Union forces were close to the Confederate line and poised to attack the Confederate flank, the important road junction of Five Forks and the two Confederate railroad lines to Petersburg and Richmond that remained open to the two cities.On April 2–3, 1865, the Confederates evacuated Petersburg and Richmond and began to move to the west. After a number of setbacks and mostly small battles, but including a significant Confederate defeat at the Battle of Sailor's Creek on April 6, 1865, Lee surrendered his army to Grant and his pursuing Union Army on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Lynchburg, Virginia. By the end of June 1865, all Confederate armies had surrendered and the Confederacy's government had collapsed.