Sutherland Station
April 2,1965
Petersburg, VA
Updated Thursday, July 29, 2010 8:21 PM
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Low: 71°F
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Humidity: 83%
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Sunday
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Monday
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The whole point of Grant's siege of Petersburg was to cut the rail lines carrying supplies into the Richmond/Petersburg fortress. The inherant weakness of any besieged city is its need for supplies, and the supplies have to come from outside to fortress walls. While Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy, Petersburg was the rail hub that fed supplies into the capitol. Throughout the course of the siege Grant had steadly stretched the lines around Petersburg south and west to cut the rail lines that fed the city. With the fall of Five Forks Grant ordered a general attack on the entire Richmond/Petersburg line and the line began to collapse at multiple points.
In every siege there becomes a tipping point where the goal shifts from from cutting the supplies to over running the city. As the outer defenses crumbled Grant changed his focus to destroying Lee's army. Petersburg, Richmond, the railroads, none of that mattered any more, all that mattered was the Army of Virginia. Lee realized what Grant was up to naturally and took his own countrer measures to give as much of his army as possible time to escape. One of Lee's counter measures took place at Sutherland Station. Here Lee fought to hold the South Side Railroad, not to maintain a supply line any longer but to keep open a significant line of retreat for what was left of his tired army.
A complete Confedertate disaster was prevented by an unexpectedly valiant stand at Fort Gregg where the out numbered and over matched defenders heldout inspite of everything, even throwing rocks at the every end. Fort Gragg heldout throughtout the day on April 2, finally falling at nighfall. The sacrafice made by the soldiers at Fort Gragg gave Maj. Gen. Henry Heth the oportunity he needed to to organize a defensive line between the Sutherland Tavern on the west and the Ocran Methodist Episcopal Church on the east. A four cannon battery was located at Sutherland Tavern, two cannons were placed in the center of the position and one cannon was stationed at the church.
The Union lanched the first of their attacks at 11 A.M. and were driven off with heavy losses. Col. Henry Madill, the leader of the assault was wounded and Col. Clinton MacDougall took his place to lead lead another assault that was also repulsed with MacDougall also going down wounded. A third attack was mounted by three brigades at 2:45 P.M. that broke the Confederate line. Grant had finally cut the South Side Railroad but it no longer mattered. The survivors of the Confederate side of the fight fell back down Namozine Road with orders to regroup at Amelia Court House.
The Confederates that marched down Namozine Road were the remnants of Maj. Gen. George Pickett's and Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson's divisions. Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry followed along behind and Maj. Gen. Rooney Lee's troopers acted as a rear guard for the whole bunch. About 2 A.M. on April 3rd the Confederates crossed over Namozine Creek and into Amelia County. Lt. Gen. Richard Anderson had traveled ahead and setup a headquarters at the Namozine Presbyterian Church were he ordered the various units to concentrate and regroup before moving on to Amelia Court House.
The Confederate position extened from this intersection down the road to the Ocran Methodist Episcopal Church.
It’s important to remember that the Confederate soldiers retreating from this point do not through Petersburg when they leave their positions; they head straight down Namozine Road toward Namozine Church. They do not have a chance to grab any rations before leaving and the only food they had is whatever they might have had on them at the time.
The Union came from this direction.
Olger's Store sits across the street.
Dave almost converted Carol to a flag waving supporter the Cause. I talked her back.
The bridge over Namozine Creek. After the collapse of the Confederate position the defenders retreated down Namozine Road to Namozine Church.
Namozine Creek north.
Namozine Creek south.
Namozine Creek is the boundry between the counties.
Someone threw the Civil War Trail sign into the undergrowth.
Poison Ivy hanging from the trees along the creek. I've thought about that a lot, the soldiers on both sides suffered greatly for their beliefs even when they weren't shooting at each other.