Battle of White Oak Road

Other Names: Gravelly Run, Boydton Plank Road, White Oak Ridge

Location: Dinwiddie County, Virginia

Campaign: Appomattox campaign

Date: March 31, 1865

Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren [US]; Gen. Robert E. Lee [CS]

Forces Engaged: 22,000 [US]; 8,000 [CS]

Casualties and losses: 1,870[US]; 800[CS]

Result(s): Union victory

Brief Description:

Warren's corps was the closest Union infantry unit to Major General Philip Sheridan's force which had moved about 4 miles to Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia west of the end of the Confederate lines and just south of Five Forks, Virginia. Five Forks was an important road junction for control of the critical Confederate supply line of the South Side Railroad. The battles at White Oak Road and Dinwiddie Court House, while initially successful for the Confederates, even a tactical victory at Dinwiddie, ultimately did not advance their lines or achieve their strategic objective of weakening and driving back the Union forces or separating Sheridan's force from support.