About four miles down Boydton Plank Road from where I live is that road's intersection with White Oak Road. This area, and just to the west, saw significant fighting on March 31, 1865. The White Oak Road battle followed on the heels of an engagement just a couple of miles further south on March 29, at Lewis's Farm.
This round of fighting secured the Boydton Plank Road for the Union troops, and left only the Southside Railroad as a supply line available to Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It also set up the next day's fighting at Five Forks, and thus the eventual Union breakthrough of Lee's defensive fortifications southwest and south of Petersburg in the early morning hours of April 2.
I feel humbled to live among such an important historical setting. In just about any direction I turn, I am only a few miles from some significant part of the Petersburg Campaign. I only wish more people in my area took the time to learn about the history that surrounds them. Then, maybe, they could better understand how these events are still relevant to their present lives.
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