“My God,” said Confederate GEN Robert E. Lee as he watched the Battle of Sailor’s Creek unfold. “Has the army dissolved?”1 In some respects, it had. Union COL Henry Capehart applied reconnaissance fundamentals2 and characteristics of the offense at Sailor’s Creek April 6, 1865 (See Figure 1), to achieve a decisive victory over Lee’s army. The specific characteristics of the offense on which Capehart capitalized were audacity and tempo.
Setting conditions
By April 1, 1865, GEN Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army were camped east of the road that connected Richmond and Petersburg, VA. Dense fog that morning provided cover for the evacuation of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia from Richmond. Lee knew that he was outnumbered in manpower three to one and that the Union was about to attack the Confederate capital.3 Confederate President Jefferson Davis authorized the Richmond mayor to peacefully surrender the city to the Union.4 He then relocated the capital to the town of Danville, 145 miles southwest on the North Carolina border.
Petersburg, a supply town with five railroads and advanced road networks about 25 miles south of Richmond, was the next Union prize. Grant believed it held strategic importance if the Confederates surrendered when they ran out of food and supplies.5 In fact, Grant had kept Petersburg under siege for 10 months.6 On April 2, the Union Army attacked the city, slicing through 10 miles of Confederate breastworks, and gained control of the garrisoned resources. Confederate defensive positions did not hold during the massive attack, and Grant’s army captured the city.7 The Union victory at Petersburg forced the Confederate soldiers garrisoned there to evacuate. Since these Confederates desperately needed food, Lee issued orders for all his remaining units at Richmond and Petersburg to link up at Amelia Courthouse, where he believed there were necessary food supplies.8
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