March 13, 1865
Skirmish near Beaver Dam Station, VA, with Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s, USA, Cavalry force on their way to join up with the Union forces under Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, USA, on the siege lines of Petersburg, VA.
Ulysses S. Grant asks George G. Meade if Brigadier General Ranald S. Mackenzie can be spared from Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac to command the Army of the James’ cavalry division. Meade has no objection.
Confederate rifles near the Baxter Road and 8-inch Columbiads and mortars on the Petersburg Pike duel with Union Battery 14, Battery 15, Fort Morton, and Fort Avery around 3 pm.
General Robert E. Lee orders Lieutenant General James Longstreet to start early the next morning, take Pickett’s Division, three batteries of artillery, and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry division to intercept Sheridan’s Union cavalry and prevent as much damage from occurring as possible. Pickett is ordered to move north in the direction of Hanover Junction via the Brook Road.
Note: All “Today In The Petersburg Campaign” blog entries are used with permission from Ronald A. Mosocco’s Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Order the book HERE.
Copyright © 1993, 1994 by Ronald A. Mosocco
Mentions of This Date at The Siege of Petersburg Online:
- LT: March 13, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 19, 1865 Luther Rice Mills (26th Virginia)
- OR XLVI P1 #4: Itineraries of the Army of the Potomac, Sheridan’s Cavalry Command, and the Army of the James, January-April 1865
- OR XLVI P1 #7: Report of Bvt. Lieutenant Col Nathaniel Michler, Acting Chief Engineer, AotP, March 11-18, 1865