The Battle of White Oak Road, also known as The Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Gravelly Run, Boydton Plank Road, White Oak Ridge was fought on March 31, 1865, during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. It set the stage for the Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 defeat at the Battle of Five Forks

Battle of Five Forks

The Battle of Five Forks was fought on April 1, 1865, southwest of Petersburg, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, during the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle, sometimes referred to as the "Waterloo of the Confederacy," pitted Union Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan against...

 the following day.

On March 30, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

 shifted reinforcements to meet the Federal movement to turn his right flank, placing Maj. Gen. W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee , known as Rooney Lee or W.H.F. Lee, was the second son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis. He was a planter, a Confederate cavalry General in the American Civil War, and later a member of the U.S. Congress.-Early life:Lee was born at Arlington House in...

's cavalry divisions at Five Forks and transferring Maj. Gen. George Pickett

George Pickett

George Edward Pickett was a career United States Army officer who became a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

's division from the Bermuda Hundred

Bermuda Hundred Campaign

The Bermuda Hundred Campaign was a series of battles fought at the town of Bermuda Hundred, outside Richmond, Virginia, during May 1864 in the American Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commanding the Army of the James, threatened Richmond from the east but was stopped by forces under ...

 front to the extreme right. Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren

Gouverneur K. Warren

Gouverneur Kemble Warren was a civil engineer and prominent general in the Union Army during the American Civil War...

 pushed the V Corps

V Corps (ACW)

The V Corps was a unit of the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War.-1862:The corps was first organized briefly under Nathaniel P. Banks, but then permanently on May 18, 1862, designated as the "V Corps Provisional"...

 forward and entrenched a line to cover the Boydton Plank Road from its intersection with Dabney Mill Road south to Gravelly Run. Maj. Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres

Romeyn B. Ayres

Romeyn Beck Ayres was a Union Army general in the American Civil War.-Early life:Ayres was born at East Creek, New York, along the Mohawk River in Montgomery County. He was the son of a small-town doctor who urged all of his sons into professional careers...

 division advanced northwest toward White Oak Road. On March 31, in combination with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan

Philip Sheridan

Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...

's thrust via Dinwiddie Court House, Warren directed his corps against the Confederate entrenchments along White Oak Road, hoping to cut Lee's communications with Pickett at Five Forks. The Union advance was stalled by a crushing counterattack directed by Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnson

Bushrod Johnson

Bushrod Rust Johnson was a teacher, university chancellor, and Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was one of a handful of Confederate generals who were born and raised in the North.-Early life:...

, but Warren's position stabilized and his soldiers closed on the road by day's end. This battle set the stage for the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1.