The Afterwards wayside marker is on the walking trail near the parking area of the Civil War Trust’s Reams Station Battlefield. (map)
The Battle of Reams Station
Afterwards
While Robert E. Lee won the Battle of Reams Station, preventing the Federals from destroying more of the Petersburg (& Weldon) Railroad, and keeping much of his supply line intact, the Confederate victory was one in a series of tactical Southern triumphs that were actually strategic Union victories. General U.S. Grant, with more men and more supplies than General Lee, hit first one side of the Confederate line, then the other. Lee was forced to react, sending his already exhausted men scurrying from left to right with each new Union attack.
The siege of Petersburg lasted until April 1865 when Grant finally cut the last supply line to Petersburg, the South Side Railroad. The Confederates immediately abandoned Petersburg and Richmond. Only a week later, on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
From the caption to the background drawing (in the bottom left of the marker):
The Confederates may have won the battle here at Reams Station, but ultimately Robert E. Lee was not able to prevent the Federals from cutting his supply line. After eight more months of siege and Federal attack, Lee was forced to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond. This image from Harper’s Weekly shows the Union army marching into Petersburg on April 2, 1865.
