Military
2
On April 2, 1865, the Union attack at Sutherland Station broke the Confederate defense of Petersburg and forced Gen. Robert E. Lee to evacuate the Army of Northern Virginia from the city. At the end of the Confederate right flank, with the South Side Railroad just behind it as Lee’s last supply line, a detachment under Gen. John R. Cooke tried to protect the railroad as the main Union assault shattered the Petersburg defenses ten miles east. Cooke’s thin infantry line stretched from this point east along the road for almost a mile to Ocran Church, with a handful of artillery posted here next to Sutherland Tavern. About 11:00 a.m., Union infantry under Gen. Nelson A. Miles began attacking from the south; three assaults failed, but a fourth that struck Cooke’s left flank near the church in mid-afternoon turned the tide for the Federals. Cooke lost about 600 men, mostly prisoners, the South Side Railroad fell into Union hands, and the surviving Confederates escaped north on Namozine Road.
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Virginia · United States
