Sutherland's Station

On April 2, 1865, forces clashed at Sutherland's Station in Dinwiddie, Virginia, part of the broader Appomattox Campaign of the Civil War.

That day, Union troops pressed toward Petersburg from multiple directions, breaking through much of the Confederate line of earthworks. Lee, desperate to gain enough time for his army to pull back, faced a series of additional Union assaults ordered by Grant. At Fort Gregg, fierce Confederate resistance managed to slow the Federal advance. Elsewhere on the field, the division under Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles struck hard at Henry Heth's Confederate troops near the station, ultimately forcing them to abandon their position. Heth's men broke apart and fled toward the northwest. This success gave the Union control of the South Side Railroad, the final supply route Lee had into Petersburg. Yet the prolonged stand at Fort Gregg, combined with Grant's reluctance to press his advantage swiftly after the fighting at Sutherland's Station, gave Lee the window he needed to pull his army out that same night.

Battle

For ten grueling months, Grant kept Petersburg under siege, and by the start of April 1865 the Army of the Potomac, led by George G. Meade, stood ready to shatter the defenses of the Army of Northern Virginia. Just before dawn, at 4:30 on April 2, four Union corps surged forward against the Confederate works west of the city. The VI Corps found success where the rebel line was stretched thin, tearing open a gap that Federal troops exploited with enthusiasm, rolling up both Southern flanks and seizing control of the trenches stretching from Hatcher's Run all the way to Boydton Plank Road.

Lee understood at once that losing so much of his defensive perim