The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House was a minor engagement in the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War that was the immediate prelude to the Battle of Five Forks.
Background[]
On March 29, 1865, with the Cavalry Corps and the II and V Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan undertook a flank march to turn Gen. Robert E. Lee's Petersburg defenses. A steady downpour turned the roads to mud, slowing the advance.
Battle[]
On March 31, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's cavalry and Maj. Gen. George Pickett's infantry division met the Union vanguard north and northwest of Dinwiddie Court House and drove it back, collapsing the Union lines into a tight perimeter around the village, and temporarily stalling Sheridan's movement. With Union infantry approaching from the east, Pickett withdrew before daybreak to entrench at the vital road junction at Five Forks. Lee ordered Pickett to hold this intersection at all hazard.
Preservation[]
The Dinwiddie County Court House was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[3]
Notes[]
- ↑ NPS
- ↑ Kennedy, p. 413.
- ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
References[]
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
- National Park Service battle description
- CWSAC Report Update
External links[]
- Animated History of The Siege of Petersburg and Surrender at Appomattox (shows this battle late in the animation, providing perspective on its role in the later stages of the Appomattox campaign)
Coordinates: 37°04′38″N 77°35′14″W / 37.07725°N 77.58711°W
The original article can be found at Battle of Dinwiddie Court House and the edit history here.