Battle of Lewis's Farm

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Lewis's Farm
partof=the American Civil War


caption=
date=March 29, 1865
place=Dinwiddie County, Virginia
result=Union victory
combatant1= flagicon|USA|1863 United States (Union)
combatant2= flagicon|CSA CSA (Confederacy)
commander1=Gouverneur K. Warren
Joshua Chamberlain
commander2=Bushrod Johnson
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=381Kennedy, p. 412; Salmon, p. 459; [http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/va085.htm NPS] cites 381 Union and 371 Confederate; Eicher, p. 806, states "370 killed and wounded in Warren's corps; at least 130 Confederates were killed and 200 captured."]
casualties2=371

The Battle of Lewis's Farm (also known as Quaker Road, Military Road, or Gravelly Road) was fought on March 29, 1865, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It was the opening of the Appomattox Campaign, in which Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army was dislodged from their besieged lines around Petersburg, Virginia, and began a retreat that would lead them to surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Battle

On March 29, 1865, in the opening moves of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's spring offensive, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan marched with the army's cavalry followed by the V Corps toward Dinwiddie Court House to turn the right flank of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Petersburg defenses. The Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren crossed Rowanty Creek, moved up the Quaker Road toward the Boydton Plank Road intersection, and encountered Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson's Confederate brigades. A sharp firefight forced the Confederates back to their entrenchments on the White Oak Road.

The brigade of Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain was conspicuous in the engagement, leading the main advance. Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson ordered two brigades that had dug in to move forward to intercept Chamberlain, who, although wounded, rallied his troops with the help of a four-gun battery. Reinforced, Chamberlain counterattacked and captured the enemy's earthworks.

References

* [http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/va085.htm National Park Service battle description]
* Eicher, David J., "The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War", Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
* Kennedy, Frances H., ed., "The Civil War Battlefield Guide", 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
* Salmon, John S., "The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide", Stackpole Books, 2001, ISBN 0-8117-2868-4.

Notes

External links