CONFEDERATE WATERLOO: The Battle of Five Forks, April 1, 1865, and the Controversy that Brought Down a General

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The Battle of Five Forks broke the long siege of Petersburg, triggered the evacuation of Richmond, precipitated the Appomattox Campaign, and destroyed the careers and reputations of two generals. Includes 55 images and 10 maps.

General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been locked into the sprawling defenses surrounding the logistical stronghold of Petersburg and the Southern capital at Richmond for more than eight months when General Grant struck beyond his far left flank to break the extended Rebel lines. A series of battles led up to April 1, when General Phil Sheridan's forces struck at Five Forks. The attack surprised and collapsed General George Pickett's Confederate command and turned Lee's right flank. An attack along the entire front the following morning broke the siege and forced the Virginia army out of its defenses and, a week later, into Wilmer McLean's parlor to surrender at Appomattox.

Despite this decisive Union success, Five Forks spawned one of the most bitter and divisive controversies in the postwar army when Sheridan relieved Fifth Corps commander Gouverneur K. Warren for perceived failures connected to the battle. The order generated a life-long effort by Warren and his allies to restore his reputation by demonstrating that Sheridan's action was both unfair and dishonorable. The struggle climaxed with a Court of Inquiry that generated a more extensive record of testimony and exhibits than any other US military judicial case in the 19th Century. In addition to Sheridan and Warren, participants included Generals U. S. Grant and Winfield S. Hancock, and a startling aggregation of former Confederate officers.