page_title: Appomattox campaign
section_title: Namozine Church (April 3)
hierarchical_section_title: Appomattox campaign / Confederate retreat / Namozine Church (April 3)
caption_attribution_description: Rufus Barringer
context_page_description: The Appomattox campaign was a series of American Civil War battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865, in Virginia that concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to forces of the Union Army under the overall command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, marking the effective end of the war.
  As the Richmond–Petersburg campaign ended, Lee's army was outnumbered and exhausted from a winter of trench warfare over an approximately 40 mi front, numerous battles, disease, hunger and desertion. Grant's well-equipped and well-fed army was growing in strength. On March 29, 1865, the Union Army began an offensive that stretched and broke the Confederate defenses southwest of Petersburg and cut their supply lines to Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Union victories at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865, and the Third Battle of Petersburg, often called the Breakthrough at Petersburg, on April 2, 1865, opened Petersburg and Richmond to imminent capture. Lee ordered the evacuation of Confederate forces from both Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2–3 before Grant's army could cut off any escape.
context_section_description: Confederate forces headed for a rendezvous point at Amelia Court House with Union forces pursuing, mostly on parallel routes. On April 3, 1865, advance units under Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) William Wells of the Union cavalry division commanded by Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer fought with rear guard Confederate cavalry commanded by Brigadier General William Paul Roberts and Brigadier General Rufus Barringer at Willicomack Creek and Namozine Church. Unlike most of the Confederate forces that started their movements to the west north of the Appomattox River, these units were moving on roads south of that river.
  Custer's younger brother, Captain Tom Custer, spurred his horse over a hastily thrown up barricade of the still deploying Confederate cavalry and captured 3 Confederate officers and 11 enlisted men, as well as the battle flag of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry, for which he received the Medal of Honor. Barringer's Confederate cavalry had bought enough time for Major General Bushrod Johnson's infantry division to pass nearby Namozine Church. Although they initially took the wrong fork in the road at Namozine Church, Johnson's forces were able to turn around, hold off the Union cavalry and head up the correct road toward Amelia Court House. Custer later chased the fleeing Confederates but near dark he ran into substantial infantry opposition from Johnson's division at Sweathouse Creek.
  After dark, Wells's brigade continued to attack Fitzhugh Lee's force along Deep Creek. Brigadier General Barringer and many of his men were captured by Sheridan's scouts who were wearing gray uniforms and led Barringer and his remaining men into a trap. Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Wells lost 95 Federal cavalrymen killed and wounded in the engagements at Namozine Creek, Namozine Church and Sweathouse Creek. Total Confederate losses are not known, but Custer's men were able to capture many Confederates. The Union cavalrymen took 350 prisoners, 100 horses and an artillery piece while initially clearing the road as far as the Namozine Church. Johnson reported 15 wounded from his division.
caption: Brigadier General Rufus Barringer
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