White Oak Road • Tour the Battlefield • The Armies • Battle Maps
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Dawn • Union Advance • Confederate Counterattack • Counterattack Continues • Confederates Stall • Union Attack Renewed • Dusk
After the Battle of Lewis’ Farm on March 29, the Confederates fell back to earthworks along White Oak Road. These were the western end of a continuous line of trenches that stretched to the other side of Petersburg. Beyond Clairborne Road the works turned north for a short distance to protect the flank. Past that point there were no works or Confederates until four miles to the west at the strategic road intersection at Five Forks where Pickett’s Division had just arrived.
At dawn on March 31 there was a cold downpour that would continue all day. Ayres’ and Crawford’s divisions of Warren’s Federal 5th Corps advanced in the gloom along a farm road (no longer used today) and approached the flank of the Confederate line. Behind them Griffin’s division dug in behind Boydton Plank Road (modern US 1) while the Second Corps dug in around the Quaker Road intersection and connected its defenses with the line of Union trenches stretching off to the east.
