Confederate General George Pickett's infantry and General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry were ordered to protect the last remaining supply line into Petersburg, the South Side Railroad. To help defend it, the infantry dug a line of entrenchments along White Oak Road through this intersection of muddy roads. A numerically superior force of Union infantry and cavalry under General Philip Sheridan approached from the south and concentrated its attack on control of the Five Forks road network. In the last remaining hours of daylight on April 1, 1865, Federal troops enveloped both ends of the southern line. Facing complete encirclement, the Confederates were forced to retreat. Several thousand infantrymen were captured while others fled the battlefield, abandoning the effort to protect the railroad and Petersburg.