In Dinwiddie County, Virginia, the Union's Fifth Corps capture a vital crossroads at the Battle of Five Forks

Confederate General George Pickett had been ordered to hold the crossroads in Dinwiddie County, Virginia at all costs.  General Philip Sheridan had ordered the whole of the Union's Fifth Corps under General Gouverneur K. Warren to take it. After a delay, the attack began in the late afternoon and despite confusion and missed opportunities, the Confederates were driven back with heavy losses.  The loss of the crossroads convinced General Lee that he could no long hold Petersburg or Richmond and advised they be evacuated.  (By John Osborne)  
Source Citation
Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America (Hartford, CT:: T. Belknap, 1868), III: 542-543. 
How to Cite This Page: "In Dinwiddie County, Virginia, the Union's Fifth Corps capture a vital crossroads at the Battle of Five Forks," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/32871.