BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Five Forks

VA -- Five Forks:

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Description of Pictures: I read in a recent CWPT newsletter that the Five Forks visitor center had been opened. It was time to see it! Open for less than three months, the first snowfall caused the gutters on one side of the building to fall off.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] 5FORKS_091227_001.JPG	[2] 5FORKS_091227_007.JPG	[3] 5FORKS_091227_015.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. 5FORKS_091227_001.JPG: The Union Cavalry Attacks: "I was exceedingly anxious to attack at once, for the sun was getting low, and we had to fight or go back." -- Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan On March 31, 1865, Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan retreated down this road to Dinwiddie Court House, driven by Pickett's Confederates. On April 1, the Federal cavalrymen returned -- with a vengeance. Late that afternoon, Sheridan deployed his two divisions in a two-mile line on both sides of this road. A half mile in front stood Pickett's men, entrenched around Five Forks. As Warren's Union infantry swept down on Pickett's lines from the east and, eventually, the north, Sheridan's dismounted troopers charged the Confederate works from the south. Outmaneuvered and outnumbered, the Confederates gave way.
2. 5FORKS_091227_015.JPG: The new visitor center
3. 5FORKS_091227_029.JPG: The rain gutter collapsed in the first major snowfall
4. 5FORKS_091227_097.JPG: This isn't a historic structure either. They'll have to have it yanked down at some point.
5. 5FORKS_091227_101.JPG: The Five Forks intersection
6. 5FORKS_091227_114.JPG: The old visitor center used to be here. It was taken down when the new one was built.
7. 5FORKS_091227_118.JPG: Digging In "Hold Five Forks at all hazards…" Just before noon on April 1, 1865, 10,000 Confederates under Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett arrived here at Five Forks. They immediately started digging and by mid-afternoon had constructed a rough earthwork that extended along the White Oak Road for nearly two miles. You are standing at the center of that Confederate line. Weary, wet, and hungry, the Confederates waited – aware that if they yielded, nothing would stand between the Federals and the South Side Railroad, the last supply line into Petersburg. Until 4 p.m. the Confederates waited quietly behind the works. Then they saw them: men in blue, advancing astride the Dinwiddie Road. The rattle of musketry soon signaled the opening of the Battle of Five Forks.
8. 5FORKS_091227_120.JPG: Death of Pegram: Late afternoon, April 1, 1865. Confederate infantrymen waited behind rude, muddy earthworks lining the White Oak Road. Young Colonel William R. J. Pegram tended to his artillery, three guns in this field, three others farther to the west (your right). Then came the Federals. Sheridan's dismounted cavalry attacked frontally. Later, Warren's infantry swept down from the east. After fierce fighting, the Confederate positions around the intersection collapsed. In the melee fell Colonel Pegram, mortally wounded in the side. Just 23 years old, Pegram had survived all of the Army of Northern Virginia's major battles. He died only five miles from his ancestral home, and just nine days short of the war's end. Colonel William R. J. Pegram -- "the boy colonel" -- whom one man described as "the most splendid soldier in all the world." Another considered him, "one of the few men who, I believe, was supremely happy in battle." Pegram fell somewhere near this spot. He died the next day at Ford's Depot, ten miles to the northwest.
9. 5FORKS_091227_135.JPG: (Marble marker at the intersection) Battle of Five Forks: Here at Five Forks on April 1, 1865, 10,000 Confederates, commanded by General Pickett, were overwhelmed by about 50,000 Federal troops led by General Sheridan, thereby opening the way to the Southside Railroad, making further defense of Petersburg and Richmond impossible. Withdrawal to Appomattox followed. Dedicated to the memory of the valiant Dinwiddie soldiers, as well as to all soldiers of the South and North, taking part in this encounter. Presented by the Dinwiddie Confederate Memorial Association and erected by the Dinwiddie Civil War Centennial Commission, April 1, 1965.
10. 5FORKS_091227_140.JPG: (Metal marker at the intersection) Five Forks Battlefield has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935 this site possesses exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States. U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service 1961
11. 5FORKS_091227_163.JPG: One of the residences within pieces of the park boundary
12. 5FORKS_091227_166.JPG: A Final Stand With their left at the Angle crashed and their center near the Five Forks intersection overrun, the Confederates made a final stand here, in and around Gilliam's field. Across the open ground to your right, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer led two Union cavalry brigades in a wild charge against the Confederate right flank. Southern horsemen under Maj. Gen. W.H.F. Lee held off the Federals. Across the road to your left, infantrymen of Brig. Gen. Montgomery Corse's Virginia brigade struggled against an attack by Union infantry moving westward (toward you) along the White Oak Road. Though Corse's troops were overrun, their efforts allowed Pickett's remaining 7,000 men to escape to the north. Pickett's survivors would not rejoin the main Confederate army until three days later at Amelia Court House. The defeat at Five Forks forced Lee to abandon the Petersburg lines – and hence the capital at Richmond. Eight days later, caught in a vise pf Union troops, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House.
13. 5FORKS_091227_178.JPG: The five forks intersection is down the road beyond the treeline
14. 5FORKS_091227_188.JPG: Crawford's Sweep The decisive Union movement at the Battle of Five Forks was, for the Federals, a fortunate mistake. While one Union division struck the Confederate left at the Angle, Brig. Gen. Samuel W Crawford's division passed too far north and missed the Confederate line altogether. Instead, Crawford's lines swept westward to the Confederate rear, cutting the main Confederate escape route here along Fords Road. Crawford then pushed across the fields in front of you, toward the rear of the Confederate lines at Five Forks (to your left). His attack spelled doom for Pickett's command.
15. 5FORKS_091227_199.JPG: The site of the shad bake
16. 5FORKS_091227_276.JPG: The site of the Southside railroad crossing that the Five Forks' Confederates were protecting.
17. 5FORKS_091227_280.JPG: Note the bullet holes in the sign. The yahoos here must drink a fair amount. It's hard to imagine how much damage these bullets can do.
18. 5FORKS_091227_296.JPG: Attack on the Angle: "When we moved toward Five Forks... we were not expecting any attack that afternoon, as far as I know. Our throwing up works and taking position were simply general matters of military precaution." -- Major General Fitzhugh Lee, CSA You are standing on the left (east) flank of the Confederate lines at Five Forks. Here the earthworks turned abruptly northward, forming an angle. Few of the 1,000 North Carolinians gathered behind these trenches on the afternoon of April 1, 1865, expected an attack. Neither did their command, Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett, who had retired to the rear for a lunch of shad. At 4:15pm, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union Fifth Corps swarmed across what were open fields to your right. While two Federal divisions moved too far north and missed the Confederate line altogether, one division of 3,100 men struck the Confederates here. Brig. Gen. Matthew Ransom's North Carolina brigade resisted fiercely. But the Federals rolled forward and vaulted the works. The Confederate line collapsed. The Union success at the Angle initiated the destruction of Pickett's division -- a disaster for Lee's Army of North Virginia. General Philip Sheridan -- his headquarters flag in hand -- joined the Union charge on the angle. Of him, one man wrote, "It would be a sorry soldier who could help following such a leader."
Wikipedia Description: Battle of Five Forks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, during the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle, sometimes referred to as the " Waterloo of the Confederacy," pitted Union Major General Philip H. Sheridan against Confederate Major General George E. Pickett of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Pickett's loss at Five Forks triggered Lee's decision to abandon his entrenchments around Petersburg and begin the retreat that led to his surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9.

Background:

Following the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House on March 31, Pickett learned of reinforcements arriving from the Federal V Corps and wanted to pull back to a position behind Hatcher's Run. However, Lee ordered Pickett to stop short of Hatcher's Run and hold the crossroads of Five Forks with his infantry division and three cavalry divisions. "Five Forks" referred to the intersection of the White Oak Road, Scott's Road, Ford's (or Church) Road, and the Dinwiddie Court House Road. Lee's dispatch stated:

Hold Five Forks at all hazards. Protect road to Ford's Depot and prevent Union forces from striking the Southside Railroad. Regret exceedingly your forces' withdrawal, and your inability to hold the advantage you had gained.

Pickett's troops built a log and dirt defensive line about 1.75 miles (2.8 km) long on the White Oak Road, guarding the two flanks with cavalry. Sheridan's plan of attack was to pressure the entire line lightly with his cavalry troopers, pinning it in position, while he massed all of the V Corps, under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, on the Confederate left flank. Faulty maps and intelligence led Sheridan to believe that the enemy's left flank was much farther east than it actually was.

Muddy roads and tangled underbrush slowed the Union approach, and Warren was not ready to attack until about 4 p.m. Sheridan blamed Warren's personal leadership for the delay. (Sheridan had a poor opinion of Warren from earlier in the campaign and had received confidential permission from Ulysses S. Grant to relieve Warren if he saw fit.) But Sheridan's own cavalry had similar problems and ended up with little action in the battle.

Battle:

Sheridan's attack planned for Warren to advance in a two-division front with the third division following in reserve. The right front division, under Maj. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford, was to strike at an angle near the end of the enemy's works, and the left front, under Maj. Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres, was to strike the line head-on. But because of the faulty intelligence, the real flank was well to the west of where Sheridan thought, so Crawford's division missed the line completely as it moved forward, and Ayres's men were subjected to enfilade fire from the left as they brushed past it.

The two Union divisions floundered in confusion as they frantically attempted to reorient themselves through the heavy thickets of underbrush. The reserve division, under Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin, halted rather than add to the confusion. Warren, who chose to remain in a central location, sent all of his aides galloping off with messages to reorient the attack, but they were ineffective, so he rode out to take personal command. Meanwhile, Sheridan, riding with Ayres's vanguard, personally led the charge that breached the left flank of Pickett's line, an exploit that has been depicted heroically in paintings and lithographs of the era.

As the Confederates attempted to organize a new defensive line, Griffin's division moved in on Ayres's right and attacked. Then Warren ordered Crawford's division to join the fight from the north. Sheridan's cavalry swept around Pickett's right flank but was unable to prevent several Confederates from escaping. However, it was a decisive Union victory, in which nearly a third of Pickett's 9,200 men were casualties.

Aftermath:

Pickett's unfortunate military career suffered another humiliation—he was two miles (3 km) away from his troops at the time of the attack, enjoying a shad bake north of Hatcher's Run with Maj. Gens. Fitzhugh Lee and Thomas L. Rosser. And he had neglected to inform his men of the generals' absence, leaving them leaderless. Atmospheric conditions muffled the sounds of battle sufficiently that Pickett was unaware of the fighting. By the time he returned to the battlefield, it was too late.

The loss of Five Forks threatened Lee’s best escape route, the South Side Railroad. The next morning, Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that Petersburg and Richmond must be evacuated, and Grant launched an all-out assault (the Third Battle of Petersburg) on the thinly manned Confederate entrenchments.

Union Brig. Gen. Frederick Winthrop was killed at Five Forks, and Col. Willie Pegram, a highly regarded Confederate artillery officer, was mortally wounded. Sheridan was dissatisfied with the performance of the V Corps in the approach to Five Forks, and he relieved Warren of his command.

The battlefield is preserved as a unit of Petersburg National Battlefield.
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