Sixth Corps breakthrough at Boydton Plank Road Line After careful planning during the two preceding days, Wright had chosen to attack the Confederate line from the Jones house to the left end of his line opposite Union Forts Fisher and Welch. The land between the lines of the two armies was clear of trees and had few natural obstacles except for some marshes near the left end of Wright's line. To the right of the point of attack were inundated areas and strong defenses near the Lead Works. The Confederates had batteries sited every few hundred yards along their line. After the Battle of Jones's Farm, from the advanced position of the Union line, Union Brigadier General (Brevet Major General)
Lewis A. Grant of Getty's division saw a ravine which cut through the Confederate line. When the day of the attack arrived, Grant's
1st Vermont Brigade would have its left on the ravine and other units would be guided by the position of that brigade. During the attack, only small garrisons were left in the Union forts and trenches. Forming for mass attack just behind the Union picket line, Wright's entire corps was placed in a wedge formation about wide. Despite the close formation, brigades were to keep intervals between them and the lines in each brigade were to be kept at least 50 paces apart. The VI Corps was in high spirits after the success of the
Valley Campaigns under Maj. Gen.
Philip Sheridan, but the enlisted men were nervous about this attack; not realizing just how thin the Confederate lines had become. They knew only that they were being asked to attack trench lines that they had always assumed to be impregnable. Believing that the assault would end in a disaster similar to
Cold Harbor ten months earlier, many men wrote down their names and home addresses on pieces of paper and pinned them to their shirts so their bodies could be identified afterwards. The Union attackers assembled in the dark only about from the Confederate picket line and from the Confederate main line. The Union force took some casualties, including Brigadier General Lewis Grant who suffered a severe head wound and had to relinquish command to Lieutenant Colonel Amasa S. Tracy. Two regimental commanders in Colonel
Thomas W. Hyde's brigade were mortally wounded. Seymour's division was hard hit by shooting from Confederate pickets who had been provoked by firing from nearby Union outposts. The
1st Vermont Brigade, with Colonel Amasa Tracy commanding in lieu of the wounded Lewis Grant, led the assault. Sharpshooters also were deployed with the attackers. A staff officer had to hail Colonel Tracy of the Vermont Brigade to begin the attack. The attack started in such dim light that the men still could not see much beyond the extent of their own company. The Confederate line in front of the attackers was defended by Brigadier General James H. Lane's North Carolina brigade, with sharpshooters from Brigadier General Samuel McGowan's South Carolina brigade manning the picket line. On Lane's left was Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas's Georgia brigade and part of Brigadier General William MacRae's North Carolina brigade was on his right. The Confederate picket line was overwhelmed quickly by the Union attackers. The Confederate main line was reached through openings cut away by the pioneers and existing openings left by Confederates to provide access to the front. Despite being disorganized by the need to deal with the obstructions, the Vermonters rushed over the Confederate defenses, forcing many defenders, probably from the
18th North Carolina Infantry Regiment and the 37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, to surrender. He was soon followed by Lieutenant
Robert Pratt and about 50 other men. Gould suffered three severe bayonet and sword wounds, including two to his head, but a rifle pointed at him point blank misfired. Gould later received the Medal of Honor. Soon after Gould's rescue, Lieutenant Pratt of the 5th Vermont Infantry and several other men captured the battery. The 3rd New York Independent Battery of Captain
William A. Harn entered the captured works behind the infantry and put nearby Confederate artillery out of action within a few minutes. To the right of the ravine, the main attack of the Vermont Brigade soon expanded the breach in the Confederate works. While the Vermont Brigade breached the Confederate line on the left flank of the Union attack, to their right Colonel Thomas W. Hyde's brigade became disorganized in the darkness. Ultimately the men who maintained the attack and reached the fortifications jumped over the works and broke the Confederate line. To the right of Hyde's brigade, Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General)
James M. Warner's brigade's lead regiment, the
102nd Pennsylvania Infantry, became disoriented in the near darkness and over the swampy ground after taking the rifle pits. Just after Colonels Tracy's and Hyde's men had broken the Confederate line, the
139th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment under Major James McGregor closed the gap with the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry and moved forward with some of their men and the
93rd Pennsylvania Infantry. Major James A. Weston later wrote that his 33rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment amounted to a mere skirmish line and was overcome by sheer force of numbers, although McGregor wrote that the Confederates appeared glad to surrender when the Pennsylvanians reached their line. Thicker, more secure abatis and sharpened stakes slowed Wheaton's division's advance. The Massachusetts sharpshooters were able to suppress Confederate fire to allow the pioneers to open gaps in the obstructions. The pickets in the rifle pits quickly surrendered. Rhodes and several men ran forward and jumped into the ditch in front of the line just as Lane's and Thomas's troops opened fire. He turned toward the earthworks, along with the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, to support the advance of other brigades. His flanking maneuver contributed to the capture of the sector of line that was attacked by Wheaton's other brigades. To the right of Penrose's brigade, Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General)
Joseph Hamblin's brigade had the longest distance to cross before reaching the Confederate line, which was held at that point by Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas's Georgia brigade. The attack was covered by sharpshooters led by Captain James T. Stuart from the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, who were armed with Spencer repeating rifles. Unlike the other brigades of Wheaton's division, Hamblin's brigade did not need to engage in hand-to-hand combat to overcome the defenders, many of whom were retreating from flank fire from Union soldiers in adjacent Confederate trenches that already had been occupied. Wheaton's advance had been supported by important counter-battery work by a section of
Battery H, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery.
Seymour's attack On the left of the Sixth Corps' formation, Truman Seymour's division, led by Colonel
J. Warren Keifer's brigade, dispersed MacRae's North Carolina brigade. Keifer directed his leading regiment to pass through an opening in the obstructions which Union soldiers had spotted earlier. Keifer's front ranks drove through the Confederate pickets with unloaded rifles and moved toward the abatis in front of the main line. After breaking the abatis, pieces of which Keifer's men used to bridge the moat in front of the works, Keifer's regiments quickly drove off the 28th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, captured 10 pieces of artillery, a large number of prisoners, three battle flags and Major General
Henry Heth's headquarters flag. Colonel William S. Truex led the rest of Seymour's division against the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, the 52nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment and a six-gun artillery battery on the far left of the VI Corps assault. The Union men came under heavy fire as they moved forward and all five regiments became mixed as they advanced in the near darkness, but the Confederates held their fire when their own pickets began to flee toward the main line. The outnumbered North Carolina soldiers were overwhelmed by the Union force, led by the
10th Vermont Infantry Regiment.
A.P. Hill killed After the initial breakthrough, stragglers from Wright's corps continued heading straight forward toward the South Side Railroad while most of the VI Corps troops turned to the left. After meeting with Lee, Hill immediately mounted his horse and rode off with Colonel
Charles S. Venable of Lee's staff, who was sent to find out the situation at the front, Tucker and Private William H. Jenkins. As the party rode along, another courier, Percy G. Hawes, joined the party, but Jenkins was sent back to Lee's headquarters with two Union prisoners. Hill's party all began to warn Hill about continuing as the situation appeared to be increasingly dangerous. West of the Boydton Plank Road, two stragglers from the
138th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, Corporal John W. Mauk and Private Daniel Wolford, stumbled upon Hill and Tucker as they rode through woods parallel to the Boydton Plank Road. Hill demanded their surrender, but the Union soldiers took aim, fired and killed him. Tucker escaped and rode back to Lee to report Hill's death. Screened by men of the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment armed with Spencer repeating rifles, several regiments of Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Joseph Hamblin's brigade, including the 119th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment and the
65th New York Infantry, advanced to the right (north). These regiments drove Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas's Georgia brigade back toward the inner defenses of Petersburg. Army of the Potomac commander Major General
George Meade had not given Major General Wright specific orders to govern his actions after a breakthrough, telling him only to be guided by the situation developed by the operations of other divisions. By 9:00 a.m., Wright realized that there was little more his corps could do at the Hatcher's Run end of the line and that Humphrey's II Corps was moving against this sector of the Confederate line in any event. At about the same time, Thomas Harris's brigade learned of Wright's general advance. When the XXIV Corps followed the VI Corps' advance, Major General Ord sent an engineer, Lieutenant Colonel Peter S. Michie, to find a location for a defensive line in the event the Confederates counterattacked. Instead, Michie ordered Ord's troops forward when he saw the VI Corps' accomplishment, leading to the meeting of Ord and Gibbon with Wright.
Counterattack, withdrawal Confederates from Brigadier General
William R. Cox's Brigade of Major General
Bryan Grimes's Division of the Second Corps held the Confederate line to the east of the broken Confederate main line. Except for Colonel Joseph Hamblin's brigade holding the captured sector of the line, the VI Corps had turned to the southwest so Cox's brigade was not immediately attacked nor did Cox counterattack Hamblin. When Brigadier General Lane withdrew from his position, he met Major General Cadmus Wilcox near
Fort Gregg. Wilcox insisted on attempting to reclaim the Confederate lines or at least to block a further breakthrough. About 15 minutes thereafter, Gibbon's XXIV Corps advanced toward the Church Road line and Forts Gregg and Whitworth. An immediate attack by the lead brigade from Brigadier General Robert S. Foster's division under the command of Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General)
Thomas O. Osborn recaptured the line and two cannons. The defenders from Lane's and Thomas's brigades in the newly formed line and the Mississippi brigade of Brigadier General
Nathaniel H. Harris, who had moved in front of the forts, retreated toward Forts Gregg and Whitworth. Fort Whitworth (also known at various times as Fort Baldwin, Fort Anderson, and Fort Alexander) was to the north of Fort Gregg. Although Fort Whitworth was larger, it was deteriorated in part due to the removal of wood for firewood by some of the same Confederate troops now sent to defend it who were camped nearby during the winter. Harris's brigade, with some of Longstreet's troops from the Richmond defenses following closely behind, was sent to reinforce Lane's and Thomas's remaining troops in an effort by the Confederates to hold the Dimmock Line from the Appomattox River to Battery No. 45. Nathaniel Harris later commented that his disposition of men on the undulating ground must have misled the Union commanders about the size of his force because they slowly and carefully formed two lines of battle before advancing. To buy time for reinforcements from Major General Charles W. Field's division of Longstreet's corps to arrive and take positions on the Dimmock Line, Nathaniel Harris's brigade along with detachments from Thomas's and Lane's brigades made a stand at Forts Gregg and Whitworth while other Confederate units pulled back to or arrived at the main works. Nathaniel Harris personally commanded the 19th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and the
48th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and a few artillerymen, totaling about 200 men, in Fort Whitworth. The defenders of the forts collected and loaded extra rifles and positioned extra ammunition along the walls in preparation for the attack. Led by the brigade of Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Thomas O. Osborn and two regiments of the brigade of Colonel George B. Dandy of Brigadier General Robert S. Foster's division, the Union force formed on a low ridge south of the fort as soon as they arrived and then promptly proceeded with the assault. Soldiers of the
67th Ohio Infantry Regiment reached the ditch first but could not work their way around to the rear entrance due to the water in the ditch. The
62nd Ohio Infantry Regiment lost many men in their advance and struggled to gain footholds in the muddy ditch to climb the parapet. As Osborn's and Dandy's men were stymied in front of Fort Gregg, Brigadier General Foster sent two of Colonel Fairchild's regiments forward, merely for them also to get stuck in the muddy ditch. With Foster's brigades unable to take the fort, Brigadier General John W. Turner's Independent Division's (Second Division's) First Brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Potter and Second Brigade under Colonel William B. Curtis pushed up. They attacked the forts simultaneously and many of the men also ended up stuck in the ditch. A total force of 4,000 men had attacked Fort Gregg, struggling for up to a half-hour to gain entry as the defenders threw "dirt, stones and various kinds of missiles," including rolled artillery shells, across the parapet onto their heads. The defenders were ready for the Union men to scale the walls and killed or wounded many of the first attackers as they came to the top of the parapet. Soon the flags of the
12th West Virginia Infantry Regiment and
39th Illinois Infantry Regiment reached the top of the walls, inspiring more men to follow. The 25 Mississippians who were detailed to defend Fort Gregg's palisaded gate in the rear were outnumbered by the Union soldiers who were able to get to the back of the fort and they became worn down by casualties. Attackers were able to gain entry to the fort from the rear at the same time that a large number of Union soldiers finally managed to gain the top of the parapet. Soldiers of the 12th West Virginia Infantry Regiment were the first to cross into the fort after their flag had been planted at the top of the wall. After several bayonet charges, the Union attackers finally carried the works by sheer force of numbers and, after desperate hand-to-hand combat, forced the surviving defenders to surrender. As the assault on Fort Gregg concluded, Turner's Third Brigade under Brigadier General Thomas M. Harris attacked Fort Whitworth, where Confederate Brigadier General Nathaniel Harris was in command. Thomas Harris's troops fired into Fort Whitworth but did not try to storm it during the battle for Fort Gregg. As the battle for Fort Gregg was ending, Wilcox had ordered the defenders to retreat from Fort Whitworth. Only 69 or 70 Confederates were left to surrender by the time Brigadier General Thomas Harris's men finally charged Fort Whitworth and easily entered it, finding only two dead and two wounded Confederate soldiers with those who were left to surrender. About 15 other Confederate prisoners were taken outside the fort. Yet, the defenders of Forts Gregg and Whitworth bought some valuable time which allowed Field's division and a few other defenders to occupy the Dimmock Line defenses. As Confederate reinforcements arrived, Field's division of Longstreet's corps, two brigades from Gordon's corps and some of General Wilcox's men occupied the main Confederate works on the Dimmock Line. Getty determined to attack the 13 guns that were turned against his division from that location. Getty's first attack was turned back by heavy canister fire from the 13 guns. Getty then directed Colonel Edwards brigade to attack the artillery with an assault on its right flank while Colonel Hyde's brigade would attack on the left and front. Field's division occupied the Dimmock Line as the Confederate artillerists fled the Turnbull House, while General Lee also rode from the Turnbull House to the protection of the Dimmock Line as VI Corps infantrymen approached close enough to see him leave. After the Confederates evacuated Edge Hill, it was occupied by five VI Corps brigades that evening. Mott's division from the II Corps filled in on the Whitworth farm after Seymour's division was sent that evening to reinforce Parke's IX Corps. At the urging of Getty's staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel
Hazard Stevens, Colonel Hyde and Colonel Penrose of the New Jersey Brigade led their men toward the newly arrived Confederates with the intention of attacking them. The Union commanders reconsidered after Penrose was knocked from his horse when a bullet struck his belt buckle.
Lee advises of withdrawal When General Robert E. Lee learned of the VI Corps breakthrough, he notified Confederate President Jefferson Davis that he would be forced to abandon Richmond and Petersburg and head toward Danville that night. Initially, Lee sent a telegram to Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge which stated: Breckinridge received the telegram at 10:40 a.m. and forwarded it to Davis, who received it while on the way to a worship service at
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond. Facing Parke was a strong Confederate position along the Jerusalem Plank Road dominated by Fort Mahone (strengthened from the former Battery 29 and named after Major General
William Mahone; also known as "Fort Damnation"), covered by batteries in six redoubts and manned by the forces of Major General John B. Gordon. The Confederates had built a strong secondary line about behind their main line. Union Fort Sedgwick was about from Fort Mahone. Although lightly manned, the positions between Batteries 25 and 30, especially Fort Mahone (Battery 29), where Parke was to attack, had been considerably strengthened since their initial construction. On the night of April 1, 1865 at 11:00 p.m., Parke sent men from Brigadier General
Simon G. Griffin's brigade of Brigadier General (Brevet Major General)
Robert B. Potter's division forward from a point near Fort Sedgwick (also known as "Fort Hell") to take Grimes's picket line. They captured 249 officers and men, about half of Colonel Edwin L. Hobson's brigade in the process. Parke was still quite concerned about trying to assault these works and pointedly asked that the offensive be cancelled since the element of surprise had been lost. Early artillery fire starting at 10:00 p.m. on April 1 and the attack on the picket line and subsequent skirmishing had put the defenders on alert. When Parke did not receive a favorable reply to his request for cancellation of the assault, he prepared to send 18 regiments forward. Brigadier General Robert B. Potter's division was to the west of the Jerusalem Plank Road. Brigadier General (Brevet Major General)
John F. Hartranft's division was to the east on the right of Fort Sedgwick. Thomas P. Beals, with three companies of the
31st Maine Infantry Regiment, led the attack of Potter's division on Battery No. 28 after the pioneers chopped through the chevaux-de-frise. The Union attackers captured Miller's salient but then had to fight from traverse to traverse along the trenches. The Confederates withdrew west from Fort Mahone to a position between the fort and Battery No. 30 occupied by the 53rd North Carolina of Colonel David G. Cowand's brigade. The Confederates jumped on top of a large traverse between the fort and the battery to fire down on the Union attackers. Confederate counterattacks led to bitter fighting, traverse to traverse, as the afternoon continued. Soldiers from both sides jumped on top of the traverses, which often were ten feet tall and twenty feet thick, to fire into the crowd on the other side. Grimes made a second push at 1:00 p.m. to recapture the lost ground, which led Parke to call for reinforcements from the VI Corps. Confederate casualties are unknown, although General Humphreys reported that Parke claimed 800 prisoners, 12 guns and some flags were captured along with the Confederate works. Major General Gordon asked General Lee if it was worth trying to recapture about 200 yards of the forward line and a portion of Fort Mahone still held by Parke. In accordance with Lee's evacuation timetable, Gordon began to remove his men from the trenches at 9:00 p.m. The attack captured the Confederate redoubts, their artillery and the majority of their garrisons. At about 7:30 a.m. Mott captured the Confederate picket line at Burgess's Mill and at 8:30 a.m. Mott sharply attacked the Confederate trenches on their right flank, which then were rapidly evacuated. At 9:00 a.m., Humphreys received word from Miles that he was returning and had reached a point about west of Claiborne Road on White Oak Road. and John R. Cooke's brigades of Hill's corps, under Major General Henry Heth, and Lieutenant General Richard H. Anderson's command consisting of Bushrod Johnson's and George Pickett's divisions and Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry. General Meade did not approve of this action and ordered Humphreys to move his men toward Petersburg and connect with General Wright. Humphreys met Miles's division at Sutherland's Station only to find that it had just come up on Heth's division and was forced to give battle. Later, Humphreys said he met Sheridan at the time he met Miles and that Sheridan said Miles was still under his command. The entire Confederate force at Sutherland's Station was estimated by a staff officer at about 4,000 men. Then, Miles attacked MacRae and McGowan again with Madill's brigade, now under the command of Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General)
Clinton McDougall and Colonel
Robert Nugent's brigade. When McGowan's men finally gave way, Cooke's brigades collapsed from east to west although Cooke's own brigade was farthest from the end of the line and withdrew in better order than the other survivors who managed to escape. The Confederates who did not become casualties or prisoners retreated toward the Appomattox River, moving mostly in disorder toward Amelia Court House. But most of Miles men were too exhausted to pursue the Confederate fugitives. Besides, Miles understood that Sheridan had ordered his men to drive the enemy toward Petersburg, so he turned his division in that direction. Miles and Hays camped near Sutherland's Station to protect the railroad. Humphreys later wrote that the whole Confederate force probably would have been captured if the II Corps had been able to continue to Sutherland's Station that morning. Other than the 600 taken prisoners, Confederate casualties at Sutherland's Station are unknown. Miles had 366 casualties.
Casualties The Union forces lost 3,936 men on April 2, 1865. Confederate casualties were at least 5,000, most of whom were taken prisoner. Casualties at the other main actions of the day are noted above. File:The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 03 Page 296.jpg|Confederate Casualty trenches at Petersburg April 1865 File:Dead soldier in trench - NARA - 530524.tif|Dead Confederate soldier at Petersburg, Virginia, April 1865. File:Dead soldier in the trenches before Petersburg - NARA - 525029.tif|Dead Confederate soldier at Petersburg, Virginia, April 1865. File:Dead confederate with gun.jpg|Dead Confederate soldier at Petersburg, Virginia, April 1865 File:Deadconfederate.jpg|Dead Confederate soldier at Petersburg, Virginia, April 1865 File:The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 03 Page 295.jpg|Confederate Casualty trenches at Petersburg April 1865 ==Aftermath==