See also 1945.580.3. In September 1864, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant executed simultaneous attacks against both flanks of General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army. One assault occurred on the end of Lee's line to relieve pressure on Fort Harrison, which federal forces had captured and were holding against counterattacks. The second attack was designed to exploit the opening created by Lee's counterattack on Fort Harrison. The Union and Confederate forces met while marching toward battle line in the area of Peebles' Farm and Poplar Springs Church. Confederate defenders lost works on both sides of their lines as a result, while the Union army extended the siege lines past the Peebles' Farm area, bringing them all the more closer to their ultimate goal of capturing the Boydton Plank Road.
