126 Cumberland Church I, April 7th, 1865 - WDS Campaign Petersburg

Following the disastrous results of Sailor's Creek (Sayler's Creek), General Robert E. Lee was still determined to escape Grant's trap, and join Joseph E. Johnson's army in North Carolina. To do this, he must out pace his Union pursuers. Thinking this could be done if his army could cross to the north side of the Appomattox River and then burn the bridges after they crossed, he was shocked and enraged that such a simple task failed to be accomplished. So with the High Bridge in Union hands, the pursuit continued. The exhausted and staving Confederates troops marched to the high ground around Cumberland Church. There they began to entrench and await the arrival of Humphrey's II Corps. Strangely, Humphrey found himself all alone, against what was left of the once proud and powerful Army of Northern Virginia. Here, with the opposing sides nearly equal in numbers, another battle will be fought.