Union cavalrymen, under General Thomas Devin, advanced across this wooded ground twice on April 1, 1865. In the morning they tested the strength of the Southerners' defenses north of here along White Oak Road. The Union soldiers were thrown back by . . . — — Map (db m86029) HM
“When we moved toward Five Forks…we were not expecting any attack that afternoon, so far as I know. Our throwing up works and taking position were simply general matters of military precaution.” - Major General Fitzhugh Lee, CSA You are . . . — — Map (db m6213) HM
(front)
In Memoriam
Battle of Dinwiddie Court House
Dedicated to the Confederate and Union soldiers who gave their lives in the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, sometimes called Chamberlain’s Bed, in the last brief victory of the . . . — — Map (db m17670) HM
"I'm ready to strike out tomorrow and go to smashing things."
Sheridan moves to cut Lee's last supply lines
Early spring, 1865, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, formulating his nineth and ultimate offensive . . . — — Map (db m291448) HM
"The current was filled with the bodies of the dead and wounded."
The Attack on Sheridan's Left Flank
Major General Sheridan dispersed his Union Cavalry Corps' and advanced on the high open "plateau" at Dinwiddie . . . — — Map (db m291449) HM
The Attack on Sheridan's Right Flank
In the mid-afternoon of March 31, 1865, opposing forces were converging on Danse's Ford, 1˝ miles to your left along Chamberlain's . . . — — Map (db m291450) HM
"In less than ten minutes we had gained the summit."
The South's Sunset Charge and the Lat Rebel Yell
Gibbs' Brigade had fallen back from the Boisseau farm to a point 1/2 mile north of here. There he was joined . . . — — Map (db m291451) HM
"I will hold on to Dinwiddie Court House until I am compelled to leave." -Sheridan
Final Dispositions on March 31,1865
Between 4 and 5:30 p.m. Confederates directed frontal assaults on the now constricted . . . — — Map (db m291452) HM
For nine months, an ever-lengthening fortified line had protected Petersburg. On April 1, 1865, at this obscure county crossroads, that Confederate line finally stretched to its breaking point.
"In its Result, it was to our country as . . . — — Map (db m71591) HM
British Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis ordered cavalry commander Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton to raid Southside Virginia in the summer of 1781. Tarleton left Surry County before turning back. His objective was to destroy stores of ammunition, clothing, . . . — — Map (db m180009) HM
That stream flows into Stony Creek a mile west. On March 31, 1865, Pickett and W.H.F. Lee, coming from Five Forks, forced a passage of Chamberlain's Bed in the face of Sheridan's troops, who were driven back to Dinwiddie Courthouse. — — Map (db m17701) HM
Late afternoon, April 1, 1865. Confederate infantrymen waited behind rude, muddy earthworks lining the White Oak Road. Young Colonel William R.J. Pegram tended to his artillery: three guns in this field, three others farther to the west (your . . . — — Map (db m180075) HM
1861.-1865.
In
memory of
Dinwiddie’s Confederate
soldiers, that their heroic
deeds, sublime self-sacrifice and
undying devotion to duty and
country may never be forgotten. — — Map (db m174997) WM
In June 1864, to deny Gen. Robert E. Lee the use of the South Side R.R. and the Richmond and Danville R.R., Gen, Ulysses S. Grant sent Gen. James H. Wilson and Gen. August V. Kautz south of Petersburg on a cavalry raid to destroy track and rolling . . . — — Map (db m17556) HM
Sheridan advanced to this place on March 29, 1865, while Warren was attacking Anderson about three miles north. On March 31 Sheridan moved south but was checked by Pickett and driven back to the courthouse. That night Pickett withdrew to Five Forks. — — Map (db m17669) HM
Dinwiddie Normal Industrial School, the first African American high school built in the county during the segregation era, stood three miles southeast. When the building burned in 1953, plans were already in progress to construct a modern facility . . . — — Map (db m79077) HM
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Mount Level Baptist Church on 28 March 1962 during a "People to People" tour of communities in southern Virginia. King and other official of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference made stops between . . . — — Map (db m310182) HM
Prior to the Civil War, Dinwiddie County was home to several private academies for those who could afford to pay for their education. While it was mostly affluent males who were educated, Pegram’s Academy, Female Academy, Girard Heartwell . . . — — Map (db m26834) HM
Prior to the Civil War, Dinwiddie County was home to several private academies for those who could afford to pay for their education. While it was mostly affluent males who were educated, Pegram's Academy, Female Academy, Girard Heartwell's . . . — — Map (db m180010) HM
With their left at the Angle crashed and their center near the Five Forks intersection overrun, the Confederates made a final stand here, in and around Gilliam’s field. Across the open ground to your right, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer led . . . — — Map (db m155104) HM
Quakers began settling the region by the end of the 17th century. Named for nearby Gravelly Run stream, the meetinghouse was built by 1767. It became the religious center for the Quakers in Dinwiddie and surrounding counties. In the early 1800s the . . . — — Map (db m17662) HM
As Union General Romeyn Ayres finished aligning his men, about 4:15 pm on April 1st, 1865, near the Gravelly Run Methodist Episcopal Church the order was given for the division to attack. Generals' Phillip Sheridan, Gouverneur Warren and Colonel . . . — — Map (db m245798) HM
This was the first in a series of attempts by Grant’s army to cut Lee’s final supply line – the South Side Railroad – in spring 1865. Here at the Lewis farm, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain engaged Confederates under Maj. Gen. . . . — — Map (db m175570) HM
Nearby stands Raceland, also known as Rice's Tavern, built ca. 1750. The building originally was a simple story-and-a-half dwelling with a hall-and-parlor plan. Subsequent additions transformed it into a two-story Federal-style house. It has been . . . — — Map (db m17663) HM
Just to the west stands the law office occupied in early life by Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, commander of the United States Army, 1841-1861. Scott, born near here, June 13, 1786, was admitted to the bar in 1806 and entered the army in 1808. . . . — — Map (db m17668) HM
By April 1, 1865, Five Forks, just north of where you're standing, had become a linchpin—key to the Confederate capital at Richmond. To control the Five Forks intersection was to control the South Side Railroad and Richmond's last connection to . . . — — Map (db m180061) HM
Dinwiddie's Southside High School was started in 1908 as Dinwiddie Normal and Industrial School and was owned by the operated by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church. The only school in the area for African Americans for several . . . — — Map (db m180012) HM
Hancock moved by it to his defeat at Burgess Mill, October 27, 1864, and in 1865, Grant moved his forces on it from the east to attack Lee's right wing. On March 29, 1865, Sheridan came to Dinwiddie Court House over it in the operations preceeding . . . — — Map (db m17700) HM
The War of 1812. Impressment of Americans into British service and the violation of American ships were among the causes of America’s War of 1812 with the British, which lasted until 1815. Beginning in 1813, Virginians suffered from a British . . . — — Map (db m78064) HM
"We moved up to the edge of the timber, and after staying there a short time, practicing with our carbines on the heads that would occasionally come above the breastworks."
William J. Smith, Company M, 2nd Ohio Cavalry
"The rebels . . . — — Map (db m291446) HM
"While dashing forward I did not mind it, but when I found myself away in front & no one following me, I dropped behind a big pine. Never did I hug the ground closer; the musketry was deadly & terrific, yet it seemed as nothing to the grape & . . . — — Map (db m291444) HM
"The woods were quite heavy and full of fallen timber, so it was quite difficult to keep our line."
Elbert M. Johnson, Company E, 2nd New York "Harris Light" Cavalry
"Where our Brigade was stationed was a heavy pine wood opposite . . . — — Map (db m291443) HM
