White Oak Road

Dinwiddie County, VA  |  Mar 31, 1865

By late March 1865, the battle lines surrounding Petersburg had extended west into Dinwiddie County. Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant knew his larger army could eventually stretch Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederates to the breaking point. On March 30th, Lee  shifted reinforcements to meet a Federal movement to turn his right flank along the line, placing Maj. Gen. W.H. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry divisions at Five Forks and transferring Maj. Gen. George Pickett’s division from the Bermuda Hundred front to the extreme right. Union Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren pushed the Fifth Corps forward and entrenched a line to cover the Boydton Plank Road from its intersection with Dabney Mill Road south to Gravelly Run. Union Maj. Gen. Romeyn Ayres’s division advanced northwest toward White Oak Road. On March 31st, in combination with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s cavalry thrust via Dinwiddie Court House, Warren directed his corps against the Confederate entrenchments along White Oak Road, hoping to cut Lee’s communications with Pickett at Five Forks. The Union advance was stalled by a crushing counterattack directed by Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson, but Warren’s position stabilized and his soldiers closed on the road by day’s end. This fighting set up the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1st.

All battles of the Appomattox Campaign

White Oak Road
Dinwiddie County, VA  |  Mar 31, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 2,670
Union: 1,870
Confederate: 800
Five Forks
Dinwiddie County, VA  |  Apr 1, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 3,780
Union: 830
Confederate: 2,950
Petersburg Breakthrough
Petersburg, VA  |  Apr 2, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 7,750
Union: 3,500
Confederate: 4,250
Sailor's Creek
Amelia County, Prince Edward County, and Nottoway County, VA  |  Apr 6, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 9,980
Union: 1,150
Confederate: 8,830
High Bridge
Cumberland County, VA  |  Apr 6 - 7, 1865
Result: Inconclusive
Est. Casualties: 947
Union: 847
Confederate: 100
Cumberland Church
Farmville, VA  |  Apr 7, 1865
Result: Confederate Victory
Est. Casualties: 900
Union: 645
Confederate: 255
Appomattox Station
Appomattox County, VA  |  Apr 8, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 1,121
Union: 121
Confederate: 1,000
Appomattox Court House
Appomattox County, VA  |  Apr 9, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Est. Casualties: 652
Union: 152
Confederate: 500

Related Battles

Dinwiddie County, VA | March 31, 1865
Result: Union Victory
Commanders
Forces Engaged
30,000
Union
22,000
Confed.
8,000
Estimated Casualties
2,670
Union
1,870
Confed.
800

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