Lee's Retreat

After evacuating Petersburg and Richmond on 2-3 Apr. 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia retreated west to Amelia Court House to obtain supplies and then turn south to North Carolina. On 6 Apr., however, when Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Union cavalry blocked his escape route on the Richmond and Danville R.R., Lee led his army west toward Farmville. Near here Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, learned of Lee's new course. He ordered his army to pursue on parallel roads and that evening defeated Lee in the Battle of Sayler's Creek.