Petersburg • East • Southeast • West • Monuments • Markers • Facts • Timeline
After learning of the the loss of Five Forks Lee advised the Confederate government that it would be necessary to abandon Richmond and Petersburg. His plans were to concentrate his divided army at Amelia Court House and resupply, then continue to Danville.
Grant ordered an assault along the entire line. In the east Parke’s Ninth Corps overran parts of the Confederate trench system but faced bloody fighting at Fort Mahoney and other places in the in-depth defences.
Southwest of Petersburg Wright’s Sixth Corps broke through Confederate lines along Boydton Plank Road. A.P. Hill was killed in the breakthrough, and Heth took command of the men west of the breakthrough and led them north and west. Wright’s men plunged deep into the Confederate lines and moved east toward Petersburg, only to be stopped at Fort Gregg on the inner Confederate defensive line.
On the far western flank Sheridan’s men moved north from the Five Forks battlefield to cut the Southside Railroad.
Gibbon’s 24th Corps moved up throught the breach in the Confederate lines and assaulted Fort Gregg. In a violent and costly hand to hand battle every man in the garrison was killed or captured. But the sacrifice bought time for the Lee to move his men out of the trenches around Petersburg and north across the Appomattox River. The Appomattox Campaign had begun.