Today In Western History: Sheridan Closes In

On this day in 1865, the final offensive of the Army of the Potomac gathers steam when Union General Philip Sheridan moves against the left flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern

US General Philip Sheridan
US General Philip Sheridan

Virginia near Dinwiddie Court House. The limited level action set the stage for the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, on April 1.  This engagement took place at the end of the Petersburg, Virginia, line. For 10 months, the Union had laid siege to Lee’s army at Petersburg, but the trenches stretched all the way to Richmond, some 25 miles to the north. Lee’s thinning army attacked Fort Stedman on March 25 in a futile attempt to break the siege, but the Union line held. On March 29, General Ulysses S. Grant,

Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant, USA
Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant, USA

General-in-Chief of the Union Army and the field commander around Petersburg, began moving his men past the western end of Lee’s line.

Torrential rains threatened to delay the move as. Grant had planned to send Sheridan against the Confederates on March 31, but called off the operation. Sheridan would not be denied a chance to fight, though. “I am ready to strike out tomorrow and go to smashing things!” he told his officers. They en-couraged him to meet with Grant, who consented to begin the move. Near Dinwiddie Court House, Sheridan advanced but was driven back by General George Pickett’s division. Pickett was alerted to the

CSA General George Pickett, sartorial dandy and lowest in his class at West Point,
CSA General George Pickett, sartorial dandy and lowest in his class at West Point,

Union advance, and during the night of March 31, he pulled his men back to Five Forks. This set the stage for a major strike by Sheridan on April 1, when the Yankees crushed the Rebel flank and forced Lee to evacuate Richmond and Petersburg.  The Rebel Confederacy had only a week left to live.

 

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 Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com