Gordon’s Attack April 9, 1865

Prior to midnight on April 8, 1865, with Federal troops closing in on three sides and the line of retreat along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road blocked, General R. E. Lee met with his ranking generals and chose a final attempt to break through, believing only Federal cavalry stood in the way. During the night, General John Gordon’s infantry formed along Tibbs Lane, supported on the right by General Fitz Lee’s Cavalry Corps and General Armistead Long’s artillery, and about 9,000 Confederate soldiers prepared to attack a Federal cavalry brigade under Colonel Charles Smith, which held the intersection of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road and the Oakville Road with about 1,200 troopers and two cannon under Lieutenant James Lord. After scattered artillery fire since daybreak, Gordon’s troops advanced in a left wheel led by General Bryan Grimes’ division, carried the enemy position, and General Roberts’ North Carolina cavalry brigade captured Lord’s two guns. Gordon’s men drove Smith’s brigade from the ridge and repulsed several counterattacks, but reinforcements of Federal infantry from the Army of the James arrived and blocked the road again. After initial clashes with that infantry, Gordon’s command withdrew across the Appomattox River to the northeast as couriers bearing truce flags advanced from the Confederate lines, while Fitz Lee escaped to the northwest with the cavalry divisions of Generals Rosser and Munford. As the last of Gordon’s corps retreated toward the Appomattox River valley, 25 volunteers of the 4th and 14th North Carolina Infantry under Captain Wilson Jenkins remained behind nearby to slow the Federal pursuit and fought until they were nearly surrounded and forced to surrender.

Appomattox, Virginia · United States