Attack on the Angle

On the afternoon of April 1, 1865, the left east flank of the Confederate line at Five Forks bent sharply northward to form an angle, where about 1,000 North Carolinians stood behind trenches and few expected an attack. Their commander, Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett, also did not anticipate an assault and had gone to the rear for a lunch of shad. At 4:15 p.m., Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren’s Union Fifth Corps advanced across open fields, and although two Federal divisions moved too far north and missed the Confederate line, one division of 3,100 men struck here. Brig. Gen. Matthew Ransom’s North Carolina brigade resisted fiercely, but the Federals pushed ahead, vaulted the works, and caused the Confederate line to collapse. The Union breakthrough at the Angle began the destruction of Pickett’s division and became a disaster for Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Virginia · United States