Appomattox Campaign: March-April 1865 :
      High Bridge, Virginia (VA095) , Prince Edward and Cumberland Counties, April 6-7, 1865

The High Bridge across the Appomattox River northwest of Burkeville was 2,500 feet long and carried the South Side Railroad. Underneath it was a wooden wagon bridge. On April 6 CS General Longstreet stopped to protect the South Side Railroad at Rice's Station on the south side of the river. When he learned that a Federal raiding party was heading for the High Bridge, he dispatched 1,200 cavalrymen commanded by CS General "Rooney" Lee and CS Major General Thomas L. Rosser to secure it. US General Ord had sent 900 men commanded by US Colonel Theodore Read, who reached the bridge first and captured the south end. When Rosser arrived, Read ordered a mounted charge by the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry. The troopers broke through, but the Confederates counterattacked and separated them from their supporting infantry. The Federal cavalrymen attacked once again and were surrounded. Read was killed, and his men, as well as the isolated infantry, were either killed, wounded, or captured in a short but bitter fight. CS Brigadier General James Dearing was mortally wounded, the last Confederate general to die in the war.

After escaping from Sailor's Creek, CS General Gordon's Second Corps crossed the High Bridge to the north side of the river, and CS General Mahone's Division secured the bridge. The rest of the Army of Northern Virginia moved on to Farmville that night, where trains of rations were waiting.

Early on April 7 US General Humphreys's II Corps advanced on the High Bridge while Mahone's troops were attempting to destroy it, to give the Confederates time to escape. US Brigadier General Francis Barlow's division charged the burning structure and saved a large section of the railroad bridge. The Federals put out the flames before they did major damage and crossed the lower wagon bridge to the north side of the river, enabling Humphreys's II Corps to move on Lee's flank and force the hungry Confederates away from their supply trains. Lee ordered the three supply trains to meet the army at Appomattox Station. His route along the north bank of the Appomattox River to the station was eight miles longer than the direct one available to the Union cavalry and two infantry corps.

Estimated Casualties: 847 (including 800 captured) US, 100 CS