September 30, 2006

September 30, 2006

We are ready to head south to North Carolina. On the map, I notice that we are not far from Five Forks Battlefield and convince Aimee that it is not another battlefield but just the end of the Petersburg Battle Park. We drive the five miles to the intersection of five roads (hence the name). There is not much here, a small ranger hut, a few interpretative signs and a couple cannon. Five Forks is considered the Waterloo of the Civil War. (Waterloo was Napoleon’s last defeat). After nine months of siege at Petersburg, Grant kept pushing the line to the west to hopefully cutoff Lee’s last supply line. At Five Forks, General Sheridan (with help from George Custer’s cavalry) routed the Confederate defensive line and captured the last rail line into Petersburg. The next day Lee knows he is trapped and flees out of both Petersburg and Richmond. Retreating with his supply lines cut, Lee surrenders five days later, ending the Civil War, finally.

From there we head south on I85 to Chapel Hill, NC. We get there shortly after 1pm. Chapel Hill is the home of the University of North Carolina and my little sister.