Siege and Breakthrough at Petersburg During the 292-day Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (
Siege of Petersburg) Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant had to conduct a campaign of
trench warfare and attrition in which the Union forces tried to wear down the less numerous Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, destroy or cut off sources of supply and supply lines to Petersburg and Richmond, and extend the defensive lines which the outnumbered and declining Confederate force had to defend to the breaking point. After the
Battle of Hatcher's Run on February 5–7, 1865, extended the armies' lines another , Lee had few reserves after manning the lengthened Confederate defenses. Lee knew he must soon move part or all of his army from the Richmond and Petersburg lines, obtain food and supplies at
Danville, Virginia, or possibly
Lynchburg, Virginia, and join General
Joseph E. Johnston's force opposing Major General
William T. Sherman's army in North Carolina. Lee thought that if the Confederates could quickly defeat Sherman, they might turn back to oppose Grant before he could combine his forces with Sherman's. After the Confederate defeats at the
Battle of Fort Stedman and Jones's Farm on March 25, 1865, Lee knew that Grant would soon move against the only remaining Confederate supply lines to Petersburg, the
South Side Railroad and the Boydton Plank Road to Petersburg, which also might cut off all routes of retreat from Richmond and Petersburg. After an offensive begun on the night of March 28–March 29, 1865, that included the
Battle of Lewis's Farm,
Battle of White Oak Road and the
Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, Grant's Union Army broke the
Confederate States Army defenses of
Petersburg, Virginia, at the
Battle of Five Forks on April 1 and the
Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2. After sustaining about 800 casualties and losing between 2,400 and 4,000 men who were captured, the remaining Confederates retreated from the strategic Five Forks crossroads to Ford's Station, or Ford's Meeting House, on the South Side Railroad. At the Third Battle of Petersburg, four Confederate brigades stood west of Hatcher's Run and due east of Five Forks along White Oak Road where it is met by Claiborne Road. The attack against these brigades by
II Corps of the Army of the Potomac under the command of Maj. Gen.
Andrew A. Humphreys sent the Confederates into retreat to Sutherland's Station, or Sutherland's Depot, on the South Side Railroad. Confederate Maj. Gen.
Henry Heth, who succeeded to corps command upon the death in action of Lt. Gen.
A. P. Hill on April 1, organized a defense with these brigades but left them under the command of Brig. Gen.
John R. Cooke as Heth returned to Petersburg. At the
Battle of Sutherland's Station, a Union Army division under the command of
Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles broke up the last defense of the
South Side Railroad on the afternoon of April 2, cutting off that railroad as a supply line or route of retreat for the Confederates. The initial attack by a single Union brigade against a hastily fortified line was repulsed with heavy losses. As a result of the Confederate defeat, the South Side Railroad, the Confederates' last supply line, was cut and General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had to abandon Petersburg and Richmond and flee westward. Much of the Army of Northern Virginia, along with Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, were able to escape from Petersburg and Richmond just ahead of the Union troops entering those cities on April 3 because Confederate rear guard forces, especially at
Forts Gregg and Whitworth,
Fort Mahone and the Battle of Sutherland's Station, fought desperate delaying actions on April 2 to give most of the Confederates a head start on Union Army pursuers. General Lee first planned to reunite the four columns of his army which left Petersburg and Richmond and to resupply the army at
Amelia Court House, Virginia, southwest of Richmond. Lee's men left their positions in Petersburg and Richmond with only one day's rations. Lee expected to find a supply train of rations that he had ordered brought to Amelia Court House to meet the army. Most of Lee's army marched west on routes north of the
Appomattox River, but the remnants of the divisions of Maj. Gen.
George Pickett and of Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson, the latter of which included the brigades of Confederate
Brig. Gens. Henry A. Wise,
William Henry Wallace and
Young Marshall Moody, along with cavalry corps commander Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, whose division was under the command of Colonel Thomas Munford, and the division of Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee following as a rear guard moved on the Namozine Road, south of the river. While most of Lee's army had an effective one-day head start on their flight from Richmond and Petersburg, the advance Union Army cavalry and infantry corps commanded by Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan were able to keep Lee's forces to their north by pursuing them on a parallel course to their south. Union cavalry harassed and skirmished with Confederate units almost from the outset of the Confederate army's march from Petersburg. Confederate rear guard dismounted cavalry units often paused to block the roads from pursuing Union cavalry. As early as the evening of April 2, Confederate cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee detected units of the Union cavalry division of Brig. Gen.
Thomas Devin in pursuit and had Bushrod Johnson's infantry throw up a series of breastworks along the Namozine Road in order to repulse the Union riders. On April 3, 1865, advance units of the Union cavalry fought with rear guard Confederate cavalry at Willicomack Creek and the Battle of Namozine Church. In the early morning of April 3, at a ford on
Namozine Creek, regiments from the 2d brigade, under the command of Colonel William Wells, of Custer's 3rd cavalry division, which had taken over the advance pursuit, threatened the rear guard of Rooney Lee's column. That rear guard was the cavalry brigade of Brig. Gen. William P. Roberts and a few infantry units. counterattacked the 8th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment of Wells's brigade, commanded by Maj. James Bliss, as they reached the Namozine Church Then, Fitzhugh Lee and his cousin, "Rooney" Lee, second son of Gen. Robert E. Lee, separated their cavalry commands and continued their retreat. lost 95 Federal cavalrymen killed and wounded in the engagement. Total Confederate losses are not known, but Custer's men were able to capture many of the Confederates. They took 350 prisoners, 100 horses and an artillery piece while initially clearing the road as far as the Namozine Church. Johnson reported 15 wounded from his division. After the battle, Namozine Church served as a
field hospital and later as Maj. Gen. Sheridan's temporary headquarters. ==Aftermath==