Battle of the Five Forks

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Battle of the Five Forks
Part of: American Civil War
Sketch of the battle
Sketch of the battle
date April 1, 1865
place Dinwiddie County , Virginia , USA
output Union victory
Parties to the conflict

United States 35United States United States

States of America Confederate 1865Confederate States of America Confederate States of America

Commander
Troop strength
50,000
about 19,000
losses
830 killed
: 103
wounded: 670
missing / captured: 57
2,950 killed
/ wounded: 545
missing / captured: 2,405

The Battle of Five Forks was a battle of the American Civil War . It took place in Dinwiddie County , Virginia on April 1, 1865 and was the decisive battle of the Appomattox campaign .

Starting position

Immediately after the attack on Fort Stedman was repulsed , the Commander-in-Chief of the US Army , Lieutenant General Grant , ordered Major General Meade to attack the Confederate positions exposed by the troops deployed at Fort Stedman to the west of Petersburg on the Hatchers Run. This was to cut the last line of supply for the Northern Virginia Army and not only encircle General Lee , but also deprive him of the ability to operate in the open.

In fact, General Lee had parts of the III. Corps Lieutenant General AP Hills withdrawn from positions south of the Southside Railroad for the attack on Fort Stedman. After the first successes of Potomac Army on his right wing in the last days of March, he had the Division Major General Pickett's released from the defense of Richmond and used together with three cavalry divisions to reinforce the right flank near the five-pointed Road Cross. Their mission was to hold the crossroads under all circumstances. The intersection was only three miles from the Southside Railroad, along which the Northern Virginia Army had to evade.

The Northern Virginia Army's evasion along the railway line was intended to preserve the army's combat strength. So it was important to General Lee not to let the Potomac Army force action on him while he was evading. On March 30th he ordered Major General Pickett to use force to scout in the direction of Dinwiddie CH.

Philip Sheridan convinced Lt. General Grant on the night of March 31 that an attack on the Five Forks intersection would be worthwhile - even if it were cut off from the Potomac Army, Pickett's division would also be cut off from the Northern Virginia Army. Grant subordinated to him the V Corps under Major General Warren and the II under Major General Humphreys. In the morning Sheridan ordered Brigadier Devin to conduct a violent reconnaissance with his cavalry division in the direction of Five Forks. Pickett thwarted this reconnaissance attempt and attacked to the southeast. The Devins cavalry division had to evade as far as Dinwiddie CH and Sheridan managed to catch Pickett on Boydton Plank Road in the evening thanks to the dismounted deployment of the other two divisions.

To the east of this, in the evening, a reinforced division from Lieutenant General Anderson's rest corps under Lee's personal leadership succeeded in attacking the marching V Corps. This attack could only be repulsed by the divisions of the II Corps marching further east. It was the last successful attack by a large division of the Northern Virginia Army.

weather

From March 30th, it rained continuously in southeastern Virginia. The roads were impassable. The land sank in mud and water, all flowing waters could only be crossed on bridges. The marching soldiers quipped: "When are the gunboats coming ?"

Attack on April 1st

union

Major General Sheridan intended to attack Pickett's positions with the Cavalry Corps head-on and with the V Corps at the same time his left flank and back in the early morning. Warren's V Corps was due to arrive at Dinwiddie CH by midnight. The arrival of the front division was delayed until the morning due to adverse weather conditions and the need to rebuild a bridge over the Gravelly Run. The V Corps was not assembled at Dinwiddie CH until noon and had reached the starting positions on White Oak Road by 4 p.m. Despite the advanced time, Sheridan insisted on carrying out the attack: "The battle must be fought today and won before the sun goes down."

Warren ran two divisions side by side on the Confederate flank. Sheridan's cavalry had cleared the positions too far to the east, so that the two divisions initially fought each other and then went in the wrong directions. Warren personally put the divisions on track and led the division's attack from a central position north of the two attacking divisions. At the same time, the dismounted cavalrymen of the Custers and Devins divisions opened fire on the Confederate positions with their carbines and prevented any movement to shift the center of gravity. The Confederates were pushed westward from their positions by the attacking divisions. When the third infantry division attacked south along Fords Road in their rear, the Confederates initially evaded fighting to the west and then fled to the northwest. Custer's division pursued the fleeing southerners, but was repulsed by Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division .

Confederate

General Lee was disappointed with Pickett's behavior because Pickett had failed to take advantage of his success, dug himself into the Five Forks, and carelessly gave up the initiative he had won. He ordered him to hold the cross in all circumstances. Pickett deployed five infantry brigades on either side of the Fords Road confluence in field fortifications along White Oak Road. The cavalry divisions secured the flanks and the rear space. Pickett was convinced that he could fend off any attack by Union cavalry , especially after his success the previous day. Another infantry approach he'd evaded to Five Forks yesterday had not been reported to him. After no enemy movements had been detected at noon either, Pickett was certain that no more attack would follow today.

Together with Major General Fitzhugh Lee , he accepted an invitation from Major General Rosser to dinner at around 1 p.m. Pickett did not tell anyone about this, so when the attack began no one on staff knew where he was and the division remained leaderless until his return. He did not return to his division until nearly half of his soldiers were killed or captured. It couldn't prevent the orderly evasion from turning into flight. The remnants of the division fled northwest over the Hatchers Run. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division and nightfall prevented complete annihilation.

Aftermath

After the late arrival of the V Corps at Dinwiddie CH, Sheridan had approved a possible replacement of Major General Warren from Lieutenant General Grant because he viewed the delay as a lack of leadership behavior. When Sheridan, who was actually always in the front line, personally drove the soldiers and led them from there, did not find Warren in the two main divisions deployed, he unceremoniously relieved him of his command.

Major General Pickett's brigades and cavalry divisions rallied on the Southside railroad. Pickett had about 2,000 infantry left, and all heavy weapons had been lost. When General Lee heard of the outcome of the battle, he ordered Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee, and Lieutenant General Anderson, to take up positions on the Southside Railroad at Sutherland Station. On the night of April 3, he announced to the Secretary of War the abandonment of the positions from north of Richmond to west of Petersburg and recommended that the government leave Richmond as soon as possible.

Lieutenant General Grant ordered an attack along the entire length of the positions in front of Petersburg the next day.

The battle was the decisive battle of the Appomatox campaign. Grant succeeded in driving a wedge into the defense of the Northern Virginia Army and preventing orderly operations and the necessary supplies. Lee was no longer able to concentrate the army and he had to adjust operations according to the supply situation. Before the most important Confederate army surrendered in Appomattox CH, it took another eight days with heavy fighting and heavy losses.

literature

  • Edwin C. Bearss & Chris Calkins: The Battle of Five Forks. Lynchburg, VA 1985
  • Shelby Foote : The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox . 1974, ISBN 0-394-46512-1 .

Web links

Commons : Battle of the Five Forks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 3, p. 866
  2. ^ Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 3, p. 871
  3. "I regret your forced evasion and your inability to take advantage of the once gained." Shelby Foote, The Civil War Vol. 3, p. 870