White Flint Bill
Sergeant
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2017
- Location
- Southern Virginia
Yesterday I visited the site of the Battle of Sutherland Station, then drove along the path of the retreat to Appomattox. I'll post pictures from Appomattox and along the route of the retreat later. Here are a few to give a sense of the Sutherland site.
This battle map comes from Wilson Greene's excellent book The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign.
Heth's Division had been driven from their works earlier in the morning and had fallen back to a position along the Cox Road, where they entrenched and threw up works to defend the Southside Railroad. While they were digging in, a courier arrived with news of the death of A.P. Hill and ordering General Heth to take command of the Corps. Command of the Division then passed to General John Rogers Cooke. From this position the Confederates beat back two Federal assaults, before being routed and scattered by the third and final attack.
The Confederate right was near Sutherland Tavern and their left was near Ocran Methodist Church--a distance of about a half mile.
Sutherland Tavern is still standing.
Ocran Church is also still there, although obviously rebuilt since the time of the war.
Today Cox Road is a busy divided highway.
Although there isn't much to see of the old battlefield, a visitor (this one at least) will be impressed at how compact the Confederate position was, and therefore how easily it could be flanked by a superior force.
The railroad is only a couple hundred yards north of Cox Road and is still in operation. A train came by while I was there.
A highlight of the visit was spending a little time in Olger's Store and Museum, which is directly across the road from the Tavern. Mr. Jimmy Olger (age 79) will be happy to share stories of his family, his life and the community of Sutherland.
This battle map comes from Wilson Greene's excellent book The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign.
Heth's Division had been driven from their works earlier in the morning and had fallen back to a position along the Cox Road, where they entrenched and threw up works to defend the Southside Railroad. While they were digging in, a courier arrived with news of the death of A.P. Hill and ordering General Heth to take command of the Corps. Command of the Division then passed to General John Rogers Cooke. From this position the Confederates beat back two Federal assaults, before being routed and scattered by the third and final attack.
The Confederate right was near Sutherland Tavern and their left was near Ocran Methodist Church--a distance of about a half mile.
Sutherland Tavern is still standing.
Ocran Church is also still there, although obviously rebuilt since the time of the war.
Today Cox Road is a busy divided highway.
Although there isn't much to see of the old battlefield, a visitor (this one at least) will be impressed at how compact the Confederate position was, and therefore how easily it could be flanked by a superior force.
The railroad is only a couple hundred yards north of Cox Road and is still in operation. A train came by while I was there.
A highlight of the visit was spending a little time in Olger's Store and Museum, which is directly across the road from the Tavern. Mr. Jimmy Olger (age 79) will be happy to share stories of his family, his life and the community of Sutherland.