On April 6, 1865, Gen. James Longstreet’s corps, leading the Confederate retreat westward, reached Rice’s Depot along the South Side Railroad and entrenched there while the Battle of Sailor’s Creek raged to the east. Longstreet guarded the road from Burkeville Junction and blocked Union access to High Bridge by rail. From Rice’s Depot, Gen. Robert E. Lee rode back toward the Sailor’s Creek battlefield and learned of the disaster that had befallen the army there. Early that afternoon, part of Gen. Edward O.C. Ord’s Army of the James, including a corps led by Gen. John Gibbon, approached the station on its way to support a detachment assigned to burn the bridge. Three Federal infantry brigades advanced up the railroad as Longstreet’s divisions awaited attack. The Federals deployed in battle formation and heavy skirmishing broke out, but Gibbon lacked time before sunset to assault the Confederate position. After dark, once the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia had safely crossed High Bridge, Longstreet disengaged and withdrew to Farmville.
