Lee's Retreat

Lee's Retreat is a Virginia historical marker in Prince Edward County, dedicated 2016.

Rte. 307 west of Sailors Creek Rd.

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After laying siege to Petersburg for nine and a half months, Union forces under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant occupied Petersburg and Richmond on 3 April 1865. Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia retreated toward Danville but was forced westward at Jetersville on 5 April. Two miles north of here, in three engagements at Sailor’s Creek on 6 April, Grant’s army captured about 7,700 Confederates, including eight generals. Lee’s army, reduced by one fifth of its force, continued moving west, and Lee surrendered to Grant 72 hours later, on 9 April, at Appomattox Court House.

TodayHistorical map

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Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1859 · Virginia (Herman Boye, 1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1864 · Middle Virginia and North Carolina (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1865 · Central Virginia showing Lieut Gen'l U.S. Grant's Campaign and Marches. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Colton's West Virginia (1869) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1893 · Farmville, Virginia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Middle Virginia and North Carolina, 1864, covering the location of Lee's Retreat, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Middle Virginia and North Carolina, 1864, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker program managed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

More markers nearby

Prince Edward County/Nottoway Countysame spot
Battle of Sailors (Sayler's) Creek3 mi
Action at High Bridge3 mi
Battle of Sailor's Creek3 mi