Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Beginning of the End for Lee and the Confederacy

APRIL 1-2ND, 1865:  As spring blossomed in Virginia, General Grant's powerful Army, outnumbering Lee's several times, unleashed its final attack.  On 1 April he outflanked Lee's thin lines southwest of Petersburg at the Battle of Five Forks.

he ordered an all-out assault on Petersburg along the entire front for the 2nd.  Union batteries fired all night preparing for the attack.  Fort Sedgwick's heavy fire again earned it the nickname "Fort Hell."  Porter's fleet made a feint attack up the James River.

The Confederates fought fiercely in Petersburg  throughout the 2nd, but one by one their strong points fell.  That night, lee withdrew.

--Old B-Runner

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