President Abraham Lincoln

During the Battle of Five Forks the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was stationed on a barge located at the mouth of the Appomattox River where it empties into the James River.He was a bit more than 50 miles from the capital of the confederacy at Richmond, Virginia, and just down river from the city of Petersburg. From his river station, Lincoln got the news of the battles in Dinwiddie county at the end of March quickly. He approved the plans of his generals to attack the Five Forks intersection on April 1st.

Lincoln was pleased with the news at the end of the day, that the confederates had been routed and were fleeing west. Ten days later, at Appomattox, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army surrendered his sword to General Ulysses S. Grant of the United States Army.