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"...a mere question of time"

The greatest problems for Lee's army in the winter of 1864-65 were sickness and disease, as well as lack of food and proper shelter for the cold winter months. Morale faltered as hunger pangs took on greater importance and desertion greatly increased, particularly among units from Georgia and South Carolina concerned about suffering caused by Sherman's "March to the Sea" and then into the heart of South Carolina. The Federals did not suffer nearly as much as their foes: Supplies arrived daily; many cabins, some elaborate, were built by the soldiers behind their line; and entertainment was occasionally imported or invented. One unit formed its own theater troupe. A U.S. Military Railroad line was built from City Point to speed the movement of supplies along the extensive line of Federal trenches.

By February 1865, Grant was on the move again, looking to advance to and beyond the Boydton Plank Road. The advance began on February 5 and fighting again took place along Hatcher's Run. Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg's Union cavalry reached but could not maintain their toehold on Boydton Plank Road. After three days of battling in the bitter cold, soldiers of Warren's V Union Corps who had crossed Hatcher's Run were recalled. The Confederate major general John Pegram—who on January 19, 1865, had married the vivacious belle of Richmond society, Hetty Cary—was killed in the action. General Lee was compelled at the same time to extend his increasingly dwindling force another two miles to prevent the Union forces from perfecting their investment of Petersburg.

By March the situation had turned from bad to worse for the Confederacy. Not only was Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman advancing through North Carolina to coordinate his "army group" with Grant's, the last great Confederate port on the Atlantic, Wilmington, had been occupied on February 22, five weeks after the fall of Fort Fisher (see Fort Fisher, North Carolina). At the same time, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was sweeping through the Piedmont with his cavalry after crushing the last of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Shenandoah Valley force at Waynesboro on March 2. Rebel hopes for a negotiated end to the war were dissolved after a February 3, 1865, meeting of senior Confederate officials with President Lincoln at Hampton Roads, Virginia (see Hampton Roads). Lee, after conferring with President Davis in Richmond, ordered an attack at Petersburg to cover his evacuation of Petersburg and rapid march to North Carolina to join with the forces of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and then give battle to Sherman's "army group."

To lead the attack, Lee selected Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon, a former Georgia lawyer who had established himself as one of the South's most capable fighting generals. Gordon reconnoitered the Federal lines and determined the best place for an attack was at Fort Stedman, near the Military Railroad, the Federal army's main supply route. If Grant contracted his lines to protect the railroad, Lee could send several divisions to aid Johnston; if the attack failed, the resulting uproar would buy the Army of Northern Virginia time to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond in an orderly fashion.

Gordon worked out the details of the March 25 attack. Teams of pioneers would cut their way through the obstacles fronting the fort while three companies of volunteers posing as deserters would subdue the pickets and surprise the fort's defenders. The assault got under way at four A.M. and was initially successful. Fort Stedman and nearby batteries were captured with many of the defenders roused from their sleep only to find themselves taken prisoner. The three companies spearheading the attack rushed ahead to cut telegraph wires and disrupt the military railroad. But as the Rebel infantry divisions filed through and began fanning out to capture batteries along the Federal line, resistance stiffened. Union defenders of Fort Haskell, south of Battery XII and north of Battery XIII, stood tall and hurled the Rebels back. Those Confederates who pushed behind the lines had difficulty finding their objectives and were met by artillery fire and rallying infantry near the old Dimmock line in the Federal rear.

The Rebels were rolled back to the area of Fort Stedman, where at seven-thirty A.M. they were attacked by a fresh division under Brig. Gen. John F. Hartranft. The Confederates resisted the attack but by then Lee had sent an order for Gordon to withdrawal. Many Confederates surrendered when the ground between the lines was raked by Federal artillery fire, blocking their escape. The attack on Fort Stedman was a disaster for the Rebels as counterattacking the Federals restored their line and inflicted prohibitive heavy casualties on Lee's veterans. Worse, VI Corps soldiers in the Fort Fisher sector advanced and seized the Confederate picket line, giving them a springboard from which they scored a massive breakthrough on April 2. Lee began to make plans for evacuating Petersburg.

Even as Lee was making preparations to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond, Grant was making plans to complete the investment of the Confederate army. The day before the attack on Fort Stedman, Grant ordered the Army of the Potomac II and V corps to concentrate along Hatcher's Run. Maj. Gen. Edward 0. C. Ord with three Army of the James infantry divisions was to cross the James and occupy the earthworks on the left of Wright's VI Corps from which the II and V corps were withdrawn. Grant's intent was to turn Lee's right flank beyond where his entrenchments terminated northeast of Dinwiddie Court House and east of Five Forks' strategic crossroads. On March 26, Sheridan arrived at Petersburg with his victorious cavalry force of 10,000 after the completion of their destructive march from the Shenandoah Valley. He joined his cavalry with the other commands assigned to the expedition. Grant placed Sheridan in charge of the four-division mounted force.

The "win-the-war" offensive began on March 29 with the II and V corps, Army of the Potomac, moving out along with Sheridan's cavalry. Sheridan's vanguard reached Dinwiddie Court House by dark, but heavy rains bogged down the troopers, as well as the infantry. Robert E. Lee meanwhile rushed Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and three mounted divisions and Maj. Gen. George Pickett's reinforced infantry division to Five Forks to protect the crossroads that led to the Southside Railroad and Lee's line of retreat. On March 31, Pickett attacked Sheridan's horsemen in the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, and, though the Rebels gained ground, Sheridan called up Custer's division and at dark still clung to the village. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's V Corps, after a day-long fight with Confederate infantry at White Oak Road, was ordered to report to Sheridan. Pickett pulled back to Five Forks and had his men throw up breastworks. Lee, disappointed to hear that Pickett did not hold his advanced position near Dinwiddie Court House, ordered Five Forks held at all costs.

The Confederates' defensive position fronted White Oak Road, covered the intersection, and anchored its left at the "return," a 200-yard breastwork forming a right angle to their main line of resistance. The rain stopped on April 1. Toward afternoon, Pickett, convinced that the Federals would not attack that day, accepted an invitation of cavalry general Thomas Rosser to a shad bake north of Hatcher's Run which Fitzhugh Lee also attended. At four P.M. Sheridan attacked, his dismounted cavalry occupying the attention of the Confederates positioned behind breastworks fronting White Oak Road east and west of Five Forks, while Warren's three infantry divisions advanced on and overwhelmed the Rebel brigade holding the "return." As Pickett raced back to the front line, Col. Willie Pegram, the younger brother of John Pegram, killed at Hatcher's Run, protected the center of the line with his artillery. Pegram was killed and by the time Pickett returned, his command was disintegrating—the Federal infantry swept across Ford Road and captured more than 3,200 prisoners before the battle ended at dusk. Total Federal casualties were less than 1,000.

The Battle of Five Forks is considered the Waterloo of the Confederacy. It broke the back of the Army of Northern Virginia and hastened the evacuation of Petersburg and the fall of Richmond. The battle convinced Grant to abandon completing an investment of the city in favor of an all-out attack on the Petersburg works set for four-forty A.M., April 2.

The general assault on Petersburg was ordered for dawn the next day, Sunday, April 2. A signal gun began the attack at four-forty A.M., but heavy fog kept fighting localized until seven A.M. By that time the Federals had made major gains. Maj. Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps, forming on the ground seized on March 25, advanced and scored a massive breakthrough along the front a mile north of Fort Fisher and swept across Boydton Plank Road. Confederate Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill was killed while rallying his forces in vain. Only stubborn resistance of Rebels at Forts Gregg and Baldwin (Whitworth) prevented Federal troops of Maj. Gen. John Gibbon's corps from spilling into the streets of Petersburg from the west. Farther east, the defenders of Fort Mahone prevented a breakthrough southeast of Petersburg. The death stand of the defenders of Fort Gregg allowed Lee to form a last-ditch defense along parts of the inner defense line behind Rohoic Creek west of the city. As he organized the withdrawal of his forces to the north, he sent word to President Davis in Richmond that the capital must be evacuated (see The Fall of Richmond).

The Confederates, of whom about 28,000 remained in Petersburg on the evening of April 2, successfully withdrew across the Appomattox River and marched west on roads to Amelia Court House. Grant was prepared to renew the assault the next morning, but by three A.M., the Federals learned that the city had been evacuated by Rebel troops and an hour later Petersburg fell. By eight A.M. Richmond had surrendered also. Leaving occupation forces in Petersburg and Richmond, Grant and the rest of the Federal army headed west to intercept the Army of Northern Virginia in its flight toward North Carolina.

Five Forks Waterloo of the Confederacy. Alexander. In this book on the Battle of Five Forks, the author juxtaposes the story of the battle, which he tells through narrative, letters and journal entries, with his own impressions, viewing the South through Northern eyes. In addition, he views contemporary American society through the story of the Civil War and specifically through the story of Five Forks.

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