By March 29, the Federal Armies of the James and Potomac were poised to launch their seventh offensive since setting out against Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia last May. Grant looked to turn Lee’s right flank, which would cut Lee’s last major supply lines and block his escape route to the west.
Major-General Philip Sheridan’s cavalry corps led the Federal movement. The troopers began moving out at 3 a.m. on the 29th, a day marked by torrential rain. Sheridan later wrote:
“Our general direction was westward, over such routes as could be found, provided they did not embarrass the march of the infantry. The roads from the winter’s frosts and rains, were in a frightful state, and when it was sought to avoid a spot which the head of the column had proved almost bottomless, the bogs and quicksands of the adjoining fields demonstrated that to make a (detour) was to go from bad to worse. In the face of these discouragements we floundered on, however, crossing on the way a series of small streams swollen to their banks.”
Sheridan was supported by the Second and Fifth corps from the Army of the Potomac, led by Major-Generals Andrew A. Humphreys and Gouverneur Warren respectively. Men from these two corps moved south and west toward the end of the Confederate siege line, which was defended by the lone division of Lieutenant-General Richard H. Anderson’s Fourth Corps. Despite their numerical advantage, the Federals were not overly confident. One private wrote, “Four years of war, while it made the men brave and valorous, had entirely cured them of imagining that each campaign would be the last.”
Meanwhile, Lee was still unable to interpret Federal intentions, but he knew that something needed to be done. He sent a brigade to extend Anderson’s corps on the right flank. Lee also directed that Major-General George Pickett’s reserve division board trains on the South Side Railroad and head for Sutherland Station, 10 miles west of Petersburg.
Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of General Lee and commanding a cavalry division, reported that Sheridan’s Federals were moving toward Dinwiddie Court House. This was dangerously close to Five Forks, a crucial intersection that Lee needed to hold if he hoped to continue being supplied by the South Side Railroad. Lee responded by sending Fitz’s division to reinforce Pickett at Sutherland. Two more cavalry divisions were sent as well, with Fitz in overall command. The combined force of Fitz and Pickett numbered about 11,000 men.
Warren’s leading Federals moved up the Quaker Road to its key intersection with the Boydton Plank Road, and they clashed with Anderson’s Confederates near the Lewis Farm. After heavy fighting, the Confederates fell back to a defense line along the White Oak Road. Lee needed this road if he hoped to send troops west to block Sheridan. The Federals seized the Quaker-Boydton Plank intersection, but the Confederate line was not yet broken. Both sides lost about 375 men each.
Major-General George G. Meade, commanding the Federal Army of the Potomac that included Warren’s and Humphreys’ corps, sent a message to both commanders about what to expect the next day: “The object of this movement is to force the enemy into his line of works and develop the same, and if he is found out of his line to give battle.”
Back east, Grant and his staff began transferring headquarters from City Point to the Boydton Plank Road. President Abraham Lincoln, still visiting from Washington, would stay behind at City Point. As Grant and his staff boarded the westbound train, Lincoln told them, “Good-by, gentlemen. God bless you all! Remember, your success is my success.” Grant boarded the train and told his staffers, “I think we can send him some good news in a day or two.” Grant’s chief of staff, Major-General John Rawlins, urged him to postpone the offensive until the rain stopped, but Grant refused.
Two of Sheridan’s three divisions reached Dinwiddie Court House in the pouring rain around 5 p.m. This was about four miles west of the end of the Confederate line and five miles south of Five Forks. Sheridan’s third division, led by Brigadier-General George A. Custer, stayed about seven miles back to protect the rear. The troopers bivouacked without tents despite the rain.
By day’s end, there were about 50,000 Federals on or near the Confederate right flank. Lee informed President Jefferson Davis that this “seriously threatens our position and diminishes our ability to maintain our present line.” Lee once again imparted upon Davis that he would need to abandon Richmond and Petersburg and retreat southwestward.
Sheridan’s original orders were to continue pushing northward and seize Five Forks. But due to Warren’s success at the Lewis Farm, Grant expanded Sheridan’s movement into a major offensive:
“I now feel like ending the matter if it is possible to do so before going back. I do not want you, therefore, to cut loose and go after the enemy’s roads at present. In the morning push round the enemy if you can and get onto his right rear. The movements of the enemy’s cavalry may, of course, modify your action. We will act altogether as one army here until it is seen what can be done with the enemy.”
Thus, the plan had changed from cutting off Lee’s supplies and path of escape to destroying Lee’s army. Sheridan recalled, “I turned in at a late hour and slept most soundly.”
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