Dinwiddie Court House: Nine Days Before Appomattox

The Greek Revival courthouse that anchors this county seat dates to the mid-nineteenth century. It sat mostly quiet until the final weeks of the Civil War, when the roads around it became a stage for one of history's last acts.

On March thirty-first, eighteen sixty-five, Union General Philip Sheridan advanced toward Five Forks and ran into heavy Confederate resistance just outside this village. The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House pushed Sheridan back to the courthouse overnight. He regrouped, pressed forward the next day, and the Confederate line at Petersburg collapsed within a week. Nine days after the fighting here, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The courthouse still stands, its walls a quiet witness to how close the end really was.