The Battle of Appomattox Station was fought during the Appomattox Campaign at the end of the American Civil War. A Union Army (Army of the Potomac, Army of the James, Army of the Shenandoah) cavalry division under the command of Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer opposed Confederate Army of Northern Virginia artillery units commanded by Brigadier General Lindsay Walker with support from some dismounted cavalrymen, artillerymen armed with muskets and some stragglers on April 8, 1865, at Appomattox Station in Virginia.
Following the withdrawal of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from their defenses at Petersburg, Virginia after the Battle of Five Forks, Third Battle of Petersburg and Battle of Sutherland's Station, the Union Army closely pursued the Confederates westward on parallel and trailing routes. The Confederates, short of rations and supplies, suffered numerous losses from desertion, straggling and battle, especially the Battle of Sailor's Creek on April 6, 1865. After the Battle of Cumberland Church on April 7, Lee's army made a third consecutive night march in an effort to stay ahead of the Union forces. Union cavalry under the command of Major General Philip H. Sheridan made a long ride of about 30 miles (48 km) on April 8, 1865 in order to capture Confederate supply trains at Appomattox Station and get ahead of the Confederates, cutting off their routes of retreat.
At the start of the action at Appomattox Station, between about 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 8, the leading troopers of Company K, 2nd New York Cavalry Regiment rode up to three unguarded Confederate trains that had been sent from Lynchburg, Virginia with rations, ordnance and other supplies for the Army of Northern Virginia and forced them to surrender. The rest of the regiment and other troopers from the brigade of Colonel Alexander Pennington, Jr. soon rode into the station in support. Troopers with railroad experience ran the three trains east about 5 miles (8.0 km) to the camp of the Union Army of the James. A fourth locomotive and one or two cars escaped toward Lynchburg and at least one remaining car from that train was burned.
The reserve artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of Third Corps artillery chief, Brigadier General Lindsay Walker was parked near the station and the Lynchburg stage road. The artillery was guarded by about 500 cavalrymen commanded by Brigadier General Martin Gary, supported by artillerymen of Captain Crispin Dickenson's Ringgold Battery and Captain David Walker's Otey Battery, who had been re-armed with muskets, and some stragglers gathered up in the vicinity by Lieutenant W. F. Robinson of the Ringgold Battery. Walker began to shell the station soon after he learned of the presence of Union cavalry there. Custer's men soon discovered the source of the firing about 2 miles (3.2 km) away and attacked Walker's artillery park near the Lynchburg stage road. Walker's men were concentrated there with about 25 guns arrayed in a semi-circle to defend themselves and another 35 to 75 guns parked in reserve.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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