Five Forks • Tour the Battlefield • The Armies • Battle Maps
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Strategic Situation • Confederate Position • Union Forces Arrive • Union Infantry Form Up
Union Infantry Attacks • Crawford Goes Astray • Confederate Line Crumples • Confederate Last Stand
At 4:30 the Union infantry advanced – and immediately ran into trouble. The plan was for Crawford’s Division, the center of the Union infantry attack, to hit the end of the Confederate line at an angle. Ayres’ Division, on Crawford’s left, would hit the Confederate line, also at an angle, while Griffin, on the far right, would move into the open space beyond the Confederate line and into their rear. But the end of the Confederate line – “the Angle” with the turnback earthworks – was almost a half mile west of where Sheridan thought it was. Ayers was marching past it when he came under fire. He turned his division to the left and moved to strike the turnback of the angle head on. Crawford did not notice Ayres’ turn and continued marching north, drawn by the fire of Munford’s cavalry pickets that he took to be skirmishers of the main Confederate defensive line. Crawford was marching away from the battle with a third of the attack force.
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