After Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant broke through Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s lines at Petersburg on April 2, 1865, Lee ordered the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the Army of Northern Virginia retreated west on several roads with Grant in pursuit. Lee planned to turn south and join Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina, but Grant kept part of his force between Lee and that objective, and on April 9, surrounded at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered. Gen. Richard S. Ewell led his infantry column out of Richmond on the morning of April 3, marching southwest to Amelia Court House to rendezvous with the rest of the army, and his subordinate, Gen. G.W. Custis Lee, soon followed with reserves and heavy artillerymen armed as infantry, later joined by sailors and marines. On reaching Genito Road, Ewell turned north to Tomahawk Baptist Church, where he bivouacked nearby for the evening. Lee’s wagon train instead chose a parallel route along the Buckingham Road through Coalfield Station (Midlothian) and Powhatan Court House. Farther west near Meadeville, the train crossed the Appomattox River at Clementown Bridge and was then attacked by Federal cavalry before reaching Amelia Court House. Confederate Pvt. William L. Wilson, trying to rejoin the 12th Virginia Cavalry, also passed along this route and wrote of overtaking an immense wagon train under quartermaster Maj. Maynard Post, traveling with the wagons for several hours near Clementown, and becoming less hopeful as he saw more of the situation.