Five Forks • Tour the Battlefield • The Armies • Battle Maps
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Visitor Center • Stop 1 • Stop 2 • Stop 3 • Stop 4 • Stop 5
Stop Five on the Five Forks Battlefield Auto Tour is “Crawford’s Sweep,” on the east side of Courthouse Road about 0.5 mile north of the Five Forks Intersection. (see map below)
It was here that the series of mistakes that early in the battle sent Crawford’s Division angling away from the fight paid off. Crawfords errant division returned from its detour and sliced across the Confederate line of retreat. It would cost Union Major General Gouverneur K. Warren his career, but it sealed the destruction of Pickett’s command. A single wayside marker tells the story.
Crawford’s Sweep wayside marker
The ‘Crawford’s Sweep’ wayside marker on the Five Forks battlefield near Petersburg, Virginia
From the marker:
Crawford’s Sweep
The decisive Union movement at the Battle of Five Forks was, for the Federals, a fortunate mistake. While one Union division struck the Confederate left at the Angle, Brig. Gen. Samuel W Crawford’s division passed too far north and missed the Confederate line altogether.
Instead, Crawford’s lines swept westward to the Confederate rear, cutting the main Confederate escape route here along Fords Road. Crawford then pushed across the fields in front of you, toward the rear of the Confederate lines at Five Forks (to your left). His attack spelled doom for Pickett’s command.
From the caption to the background photograph:
Captured Confederates after the Battle of Five Forks. This photograph was probably taken at City Point, Virginia.
From the caption to the inset map:
After reaching the Confederate rear, Crawford turned south, smashing hastily formed Confederate lines here in Benjamin Boisseau’s Field. The Federals pushed all the way to the White Oak Road, where they turned west again. From that point on they overcame sporadic resistance from the remnants of what had been a 10,000-man Confederate force.
Map and directions to Stop Five on the Five Forks Auto Tour
Stop Five on the Auto Tour is on the east side of Courthouse Road about 0.5 mile north of the Five Forks Intersection.
Where to next?
This is the last stop on the driving tour.
To return to the Visitor Contact Center turn left out of the parking lot and head 0.5 mile south on Courthouse Road to the Five Forks intersection. Stay on Court House Road through the intersection and for another 0.4 mile. The Visitor Contact Center is on the right.
To leave the park for Petersburg or I-85 turn right out of the parking lot and continue about 2 miles. Turn right on US 460 (New Cox Road). The I-85 interchange is 8.5 miles ahead, and downtown Petersburg and the interchange with I-95 is 14.6 miles. (You can also return via the Five Forks intersection and White Oak Road, but US 460 is faster).