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Dinwiddie Court-house, actions at.

In March, 1865, the National force under General Sheridan crossed the Appomattox River from Bermuda Hundred, passed to the rear of the army before Petersburg, and early on the morning of the 29th marched down the Jerusalem plank-road, and turning westward pushed on by way of Reams's Station to Dinwiddie Courthouse, where he halted for the night at 5 P. 3. Sheridan expected to cut loose from the rest of the army on the 30th to make a raid on the South Side and Danville railroads, but General Grant suddenly changed his plans. General Lee, seeing that his only line of communication might be cut off at any hour, and feeling the necessity of maintaining his extended line of works covering Petersburg and Richmond, concentrated a force of about 15,000 men, and hastened to place them in front of the 5th and 2d Corps of the National army. He then sought to strike a heavy blow on the extreme west of Grant's lines, then held by Sheridan, which he supposed was a weak point. Sheridan captured the works at Five Forks, and so gained the key to the whole region that Lee was striving to protect. In the struggle to regain this point strong parts of both armies were soon facing each other at Dinwiddie Court-house. Here Sheridan won the day after a severe engagement, the Confederates being unable to make any rally, and the fighting ceased with darkness. During the night the Confederates retired.

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