The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House was a minor engagement in the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War that was the immediate prelude to the decisive Battle of Five Forks. On March 29, 1865, with the Cavalry Corps and the II and V Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan undertook a flank march to turn Gen. Robert E. Lee's Petersburg defenses. A steady downpour turned the roads to mud, slowing the advance. On March 31, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee's cavalry and Maj. Gen. George Pickett's infantry division met the Union vanguard north and northwest of Dinwiddie Court House and drove it back, collapsing the Union lines into a tight perimeter around the village, and temporarily stalling Sheridan's movement. With Union infantry approaching from the east, Pickett withdrew before daybreak to entrench at the vital road junction at Five Forks. Lee ordered Pickett to hold this intersection at all hazard.
Read more about Battle Of Dinwiddie Court House: Commemoration
Famous quotes containing the words battle of, battle, court and/or house:
“Nelson’s famous signal before the Battle of Trafalgar was not: “England expects that every man will be a hero.” It said: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” In 1805 that was enough. It should still be.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“Nelson’s famous signal before the Battle of Trafalgar was not: “England expects that every man will be a hero.” It said: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” In 1805 that was enough. It should still be.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“You don’t need to know who’s playing on the White House tennis court to be a good president. A president has many roles.”
—James Baker (b. 1930)
“... a family I know ... bought an acre in the country on which to build a house. For many years, while they lacked the money to build, they visited the site regularly and picnicked on a knoll, the site’s most attractive feature. They liked so much to visualize themselves as always there, that when they finally built they put the house on the knoll. But then the knoll was gone. Somehow they had not realized they would destroy it and lose it by supplanting it with themselves.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)