Description: |
On March 29, with the Cavalry Corps and the II and V Corps, Sheridan undertook a flank march to
turn Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Petersburg defenses. A steady downpour turned the roads to mud, slowing the
advance. On March 31, Maj. Gen. W.H. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry and Pickett’s infantry division met the Union
vanguard north and northwest of Dinwiddie Court House and drove it back, temporarily stalling Sheridan’s
movement. With Union infantry approaching from the east, Pickett withdrew before daybreak to entrench at the
vital road junction at Five Forks. Lee ordered Pickett to hold this intersection at all hazard. |