Lee’s Retreat
One hundred and fifty years ago today, Confederate General Robert E. Lee found his lines overextended around Petersburg, Virginia. The siege had been going on for nine months, and after a series of battles on April 1-2, 1865, the Rebel lines were broken. Lee withdrew from the city and took his army further southwest, hoping to link up with Confederate troops in North Carolina.
But Union General Ulysses S. Grant pursued, preventing Lee and his dwindling army from moving south. Lee fled through south central Virginia, into Amelia Court House, and west to Sailor’s Creek. Disaster for his army was soon approaching.
On April 6, 1865, the two armies clashed, resulting in a near annihilation of Lee’s forces. But the Confederates resiliently continued westward, marching through Farmville toward Appomattox Court House.
