Military
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Confederate Fort Whitworth, named for the Whitworth family of Mayfield on whose farm it was built, stood with Fort Gregg to protect the western approaches to Petersburg during the 1864-1865 siege. On 2 April 1865, after Gen. U.S. Grant’s army turned Gen. R.E. Lee’s flank at Five Forks the previous day and attacked the city, the forts became the scene of intense fighting. The Union XXIV Corps captured both positions, suffering 714 casualties, while the Confederates lost about 300 men in a stubborn defense that delayed the Union advance for two hours and enabled Lee to withdraw his army safely that night and begin the westward march that ended a week later at Appomattox Court House.
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