Petersburg National Battlefield, Virginia

The Five Forks region in northern Dinwiddie County, Virginia, became a unit of Petersburg National Battlefield in 1990 (Figure 1.1).  The National Park Service acquired the acreage to incorporate most of the terrain of the battle of Five Forks that occurred on April 1, 1865, a battle that led directly to the collapse of the Confederate defensive line around Petersburg, the abandonment of Petersburg and Richmond, and ultimately to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.  The overall rural character of the landscape remains, although specific field and forest boundaries have changed through time.  Physical remnants of the battle in the form of earthen entrenchments dug mainly by Confederate troops survive to bear witness to the battle.

By the early nineteenth century the road junction of Five Forks was formed at the intersection of Church or Ford's Road and Butterwood (later White Oak) Road.  The fifth fork, Scott's Road, ran from the forks in a southwesterly direction.  Church Road extended northward from Dinwiddie Court House across Hatcher's Run and past Hatcher's Run Church to terminate at Cox's Road.  Butterwood Road passed north of the court house and intersected with Church Road south of Hatcher's Run.  Butterwood Road connected with other routes that ultimately led northeastward to Petersburg.  These geographical orientations influenced the nature of historic settlement in the area but also enhanced the likelihood that westward extension of the Petersburg siege lines would ultimately bring the Civil War to Five Forks.

White Oak Road was a principal axis of the Confederate defensive line extending westward from Petersburg.  The Southside Railroad ran eastward into Petersburg between Hatcher's Run and the Appomattox River, and represented the last supply link that had not been captured by Union forces.  Church Road provided direct access to the Southside Railroad.  Five Forks was therefore a goal of Union troops from a number of strategic perspectives.

Union cavalry under the command of General Philip Sheridan moved to the west of the existing siege lines in late March 1865.  A force of Confederate infantry and cavalry commanded by General George Pickett engaged the Union cavalry in battle north of Dinwiddie Court House on March 31 and achieved a tactical victory.  However, the Union Fifth Corps of infantry commanded by General Gouverneur Warren captured Confederate earthworks along the White Oak Road four miles to the east on the same day, thereby preventing Confederate movement along the road.  Pickett decided to retire northward to White Oak Road at Five Forks.

The Union cavalry advanced northward on April 1 and engaged the Confederate infantry front and right (west) flank in the late afternoon.  Meanwhile, Warren's Fifth Corps had marched westward and positioned themselves to attack the Confederate left (east) flank.  Warren's three divisions pressed forward and caused the Confederate flank to collapse, with Sheridan leaping over the earthworks on horseback to accept the surrender of Southern troops.  One of Warren's divisions moved into the Confederate rear and the position at Five Forks collapsed.  The western flank of the Army of Northern Virginia had essentially dissolved.  Union General Ulysses Grant ordered a general assault on the Petersburg lines on April 2 that forced General Robert E. Lee to abandon Petersburg and Richmond on the following day (Porter 1887; Freeman 1944; Bearss and Calkins 1985).

The Five Forks area has been the scene of human occupation possibly for as long a ten thousand years, and of historic occupation certainly since the mid-eighteenth century.  This study presents an overview and assessment of that occupation from an archaeological standpoint.  The research was undertaken under the auspices of a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland.  The data were gathered from various sources, including previously recorded prehistoric site locations and historical records such as maps, Virginia tax accounts, and Federal Census schedules.  Surface surveys were also undertaken in March 1998, but visibility was limited since the area is presently either heavily wooded or not being cultivated.  No subsurface excavations were conducted.

The overview and assessment will utilize the concept of landscape archaeology as an organizing theme.  It is suggested that landscapes may be evaluated with regards to four elements, as discussed below:

These elements are overlapping ones, but it may be argued that many of the contentious issues confronting park managers arise not only from differences of opinion but also from conflicts concerning the precise landscape element under consideration.

As will be readily recognized, these various landscape elements consist of physical remnants that may be exposed and recorded by researchers from various disciplines, activities such as agricultural practices that formed the economic basis of existence but which left no obvious physical remains, and conceptions of the past that are often conditioned by concerns in the present.  This overview and assessment will, in examining these varied elements of landscape, address topics not normally considered in such a preliminary study but will, it is hoped, provide a broader cultural context for the prehistoric and historic occupations in the Five Forks vicinity.

These anthropological perspectives on landscape will provide the overall framework for addressing the questions defined in the scope of work for the overview and assessment of the Five Forks Unit (Shackel 1997:7):