1.
Battle of White Oak Road
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On March 29,1865, the Union V Corps under Major General Gouverneur K. Warren moved to the end of the Confederates White Oak Road Line, the far right flank of the Confederate defenses. Five Forks was an important road junction for control of the critical Confederate supply line of the South Side Railroad, Colonel Frederick Winthrops brigade of Brigadier General Romeyn B. Ayress division of the V Corps took a further advance position across Gravelly Run near the Confederate White Oak Road Line in torrential rain on March 30,1865. This, and the separation between Ayress corps and Sheridans cavalry, were important factors when Ayress troops were surprised by a Confederate attack the next day. After the Battle of Hatchers Run on February 5–7,1865 extended the lines another 4 miles, if the Confederates could quickly defeat Sherman, they might turn back to oppose Grant before he could combine his forces with Shermans. Lee began preparations for the movement and informed Confederate President Jefferson Davis, breckinridge of his conclusions and plan. Aware that Shermans army moving through North Carolina might combine with Grants army at Petersburg if General Joseph E. The objective would be to break the Union lines east of Petersburg, parke promptly counterattacked.25 miles closer to the Confederate fortifications. This put the VI Corps which was holding this section of the line, within striking distance, about 0.5 miles. On March 24,1865, the day before the Confederate attack on Fort Stedman, the Battle of Fort Stedman had no effect on Grants plans. The Union Army lost no ground due to the attack and their casualties were a percentage of their force. Later that day Confederate forces under Major General Bushrod Johnson engaged Brevet Major General Charles Griffins First Division of the V Corps at the Battle of Lewiss Farm, a back-and-forth battle ensued during which Chamberlain was wounded and almost captured. Casualties for both sides were even at 381 for the Union and 371 for the Confederates. After the battle, Griffins division moved up to occupy the junction of the Quaker Road, late in the afternoon of March 29,1865, Sheridans cavalry occupied Dinwiddie Court House on the Boydton Plank Road without opposition. The Union forces were nearly in position to attack the two remaining Confederate railroad connections with Petersburg and Richmond, if they could take Five Forks. Following the Battle of Lewiss Farm, in the rain on the night of March 29. Brigadier General William MacRaes brigade also was moved to the west of Burgess Mill, Major General Cadmus M. Wilcoxs three other brigades had to spread out to cover the vacated defenses. McGowan and MacRae did not have men to enable Johnson to extend his line to Five Forks
2.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
3.
Dinwiddie County, Virginia
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Dinwiddie County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,001, Dinwiddie County is part of the Richmond, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The first inhabitants of the area were Paleo-Indians, prior to 8000 BC and they are believed to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers following animal migrations. Early stone tools have been discovered in fields within the county. At the time of European contact, Native Americans had territory in the region, Dinwiddie County was formed May 1,1752, from Prince George County. The county is named for Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, the county raised several militia units that would fight in the American Revolution. Dinwiddie County was the birthplace of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly, a free black dressmaker who worked for two wives, Mrs. Jefferson Davis and later Mary Todd Lincoln. Thomas Day was also a native, he was known later at Milton, North Carolina. Another native son was Dr. Thomas Stewart, perhaps Americas first free black 18th-century rural physician, during the Civil War the Battle of Lewiss Farm was fought along Quaker Road. It took place on March 29,1865 and this was the first in several attempts by Union General Ulysses S. Grant to cut Robert E. Lees final supply line—the Southside Railroad—in the spring of 1865. Here the Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain engaged Confederates under Maj. Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson, after sharp fighting, the Union troops entrenched nearby along the Boydton Plank Road, and Johnson withdrew to his lines at White Oak Road. The Union army cut the line four days later, after capturing Five Forks on April 1,1865. Several other engagements were fought in Dinwiddie County, including the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, Battle of Sutherlands Station, the Dinwiddie County Historical Society currently occupies the historic Dinwiddie County Court House. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 507 square miles. It is located between two US Army forts, Fort Lee to the east and Fort Pickett to the west, the population density was 49 people per square mile. There were 9,707 housing units at a density of 19 per square mile. 0. 97% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,22. 20% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the family size was 3.01
4.
Petersburg, Virginia
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Petersburg is an independent city in the U. S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,420, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg with Dinwiddie County for statistical purposes. It is located on the Appomattox River and 21 miles south of the capital of Richmond. The citys unique industrial past and its location as a transportation hub combined to create wealth for Virginia and it connected commerce as far inland as Farmville, Virginia to shipping on the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. For similar reasons, Fort Henry was built at Petersburg to protect the river, as railroads were constructed in the state in the 1830s, Petersburg was developed as a major transfer point for both north-south and east-west competitors. The Petersburg Railroad was one of the earliest predecessors of the modern-day CSX Transportation system, several of the earliest predecessors of the areas other major Class 1 railroad, Norfolk Southern, also met at Petersburg. Access to railroads stimulated industry in the city, which was established because of the water power available at the fall line. During the American Civil War, because of the railroad network, nine months of trench warfare were conducted by Union forces during the 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg. Battlefield sites are located throughout the city and surrounding areas, partly preserved as Petersburg National Battlefield, the city is also significant for its role in African-American history. Petersburg had one of the oldest free black settlements in the state at Pocahontas Island, two Baptist churches in the city, whose congregations were founded in the late 18th century, are among the oldest black congregations and churches in the United States. In the 20th century, these and other churches were leaders in the national Civil Rights Movement. In the post-bellum period, a black college which later developed as Virginia State University was established nearby in Ettrick in Chesterfield County. Richard Bland College, now a college, was originally established here as a branch of Williamsburgs College of William. Petersburg remains a hub, with the network of area highways including Interstate Highways 85,95, and 295, and U. S. highways 1,301. Both CSX and NS rail systems maintain transportation centers at Petersburg, amtrak serves the city with daily Northeast Corridor trains to Norfolk, Virginia, and long-distance routes from states to the south. In the early 21st century, Petersburg leaders were highlighting the historical attractions for heritage tourism. Archaeological excavations at Pocahontas Island have found evidence of a prehistoric Native American settlement dated to 6500 BCE and this is in the early third of the Archaic Period. Varying cultures of indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years, when the English arrived in Virginia in 1607, the region was occupied by the Appamatuck, a significant tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Union (American Civil War)
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The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
7.
Confederate States of America
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The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
8.
Winfield Scott Hancock
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Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U. S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War, known to his Army colleagues as Hancock the Superb, he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. One military historian wrote, No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the force of their presence more completely than Hancock. As another wrote, his tactical skill had won him the admiration of adversaries who had come to know him as the Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South, Hancocks reputation as a war hero at Gettysburg, combined with his status as a Unionist and supporter of states rights, made him a potential presidential candidate. His noted integrity was a counterpoint to the corruption of the era, when the Democrats nominated him for President in 1880, he ran a strong campaign, but was narrowly defeated by Republican James A. Garfield. The twins were the sons of Benjamin Franklin Hancock and Elizabeth Hoxworth Hancock, Winfield was named after Winfield Scott, a prominent general in the War of 1812. The Hancock and Hoxworth families had lived in Montgomery County for several generations, Benjamin Hancock was a schoolteacher when his sons were born. A few years after their birth, he moved the family to Norristown, the county seat, Benjamin was also a deacon in the Baptist church and participated in municipal government. Hancock was at first educated at Norristown Academy, but removed to the schools when the first one opened in Norristown in the late 1830s. In 1840, Joseph Fornance, the local Congressman, nominated Hancock to the United States Military Academy at West Point, Hancocks progress at West Point was average. He graduated 18th in his class of 25 in 1844, Hancock was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 6th U. S. Infantry regiment, and initially was stationed in Indian Territory in the Red River Valley, the region was quiet at the time, and Hancocks time there was uneventful. Upon the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, Hancock worked to secure himself a place at the front, initially assigned to recruiting duties in Kentucky, he proved so adept at signing up soldiers that his superiors were reluctant to release him from his post. By July 1847, however, Hancock was permitted to join his regiment in Puebla, Mexico, scotts army moved farther inland from Puebla unopposed and attacked Mexico City from the south. During that campaign in 1847, Hancock first encountered battle at Contreras and he was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service in those actions. Hancock was wounded in the knee at Churubusco and developed a fever, although he was well enough to join his regiment at Molino del Rey, fever kept Hancock from participating in the final breakthrough to Mexico City, something he would regret for the rest of his life. After the final victory, Hancock remained in Mexico with the 6th Infantry until the treaty of peace was signed in 1848, Hancock served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and St. Louis, Missouri
9.
Henry Heth
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Henry Heth was a career United States Army officer who became a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He is generally blamed for starting the Battle of Gettysburg by sending half his division into the town before the rest of the army was fully prepared. Later in the day, Confederate troops succeeded in routing a Union corps, Heth continued to command his division during the remainder of the war and briefly took command of the Third Corps in April 1865 after the death of General Hill. Heth surrendered with the rest of Lees army on April 9, Henry Heth was born at Black Heath in Chesterfield County, Virginia, son of United States Navy Captain John Heth, and Margaret L. Pickett. He was a cousin of George Pickett, Heth graduated from the United States Military Academy at the bottom of his class in 1847, he was wounded at West Point in 1846 with a bayonet stab to his leg. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment. His antebellum career was served primarily in western posts, some as a quartermaster and he was serving as a first lieutenant in the 6th Infantry when John C. Symmes III refused a captaincy in the new 10th Infantry on March 3,1855 and he played a prominent role in the 1855 Battle of Ash Hollow, leading a company of mounted infantry against the Lakota. In 1858, he created the first marksmanship manual for the Army, after the war began at Fort Sumter, Heth resigned from the U. S. Army and joined the Confederate States Army. He spent the remainder of 1861 in the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia in the 5th and 45th Virginia Infantry regiments and he was promoted to brigadier general on January 6,1862. In the Spring of 1862 Heth was in command of the Army of the New River, Heths diminutive force held off the forces of General Jacob D. Cox in the Action at Giles Courthouse and pursued the enemy to Lewisburg, where Heth was forced to withdraw. The actions were critical to keeping federal forces tied up and out of the Valley of Virginia while Stonewall Jackson was conducting his own campaign 120 miles to the North and he was then sent west to the Department of East Tennessee, to serve under Edmund Kirby Smith. In March 1863, Lee brought Heth back into his command and he assumed temporary command of the division when Hill was wounded. Following the death of Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, Lee reorganized his army into three corps, promoting Hill to the Third Corps, Heth retained his division command and was promoted to major general on May 24,1863. Heths division made history by starting the Battle of Gettysburg. Marching east from Cashtown on July 1,1863, Heth sent two brigades ahead in a reconnaissance in force and his memoirs referred to sending them in a search of shoes in Gettysburg, but some historians consider this an apocryphal story, they say Heth knew that Jubal A. Early had been in Gettysburg a few days earlier and any available shoes would have taken at that time. They also consider sending two brigades on such a mission would have been wasteful, the brigades made contact with Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. John Buford and spread out into battle formation
United States (Union)
CSA (Confederacy)