The capture of the Confederate picket line during the Battle of Jones's Farm on March 25, 1865 put the VI Corps close enough to the main Confederate line, with a covered approach to within of the defenses, for the attack to succeed. After the Battle of Jones's Farm, from the advanced position of the Union line, Union Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) Lewis A. Grant of Getty's division saw a ravine which cut through the Confederate line. He also noticed an opening in the line and a plank road across the ditch for wagons as well as a few stakes missing in the obstacles for soldiers to pass through. When the day of the attack arrived, Grant's 1st Vermont Brigade would have its left on the ravine and other units would be guided by the position of that brigade. During the attack, only small garrisons were left in the Union forts and trenches. Wright had about 14,000 troops to attack about 2,800 defenders over about of line. Forming for mass attack just behind the Union picket line, Wright's entire corps was placed in a wedge formation about wide. Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George W. Getty's Second Division was in the middle front and in advance of the other two brigades for the assault while Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) Frank Wheaton's First Division was on the right rear and Brigadier General Truman Seymour's Third Division was on the left rear. Despite the close formation, brigades were to keep intervals between them and the lines in each brigade were to be kept at least 50 paces apart. The VI Corps was in high spirits after the success of the Valley Campaigns under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, but the enlisted men were nervous about this attack; not realizing just how thin the Confederate lines had become. They knew only that they were being asked to attack trench lines that they had always assumed to be impregnable. Believing that the assault would end in a disaster similar to Cold Harbor ten months earlier, many men wrote down their names and home addresses on pieces of paper and pinned them to their shirts so their bodies could be identified afterwards. The Union attackers assembled in the dark only about from the Confederate picket line and from the Confederate main line. Although vision was poor in the dark night, some defenders were alerted by the activity and began to fire randomly into the Union assembly area. The Union force took some casualties, including Brigadier General Lewis Grant who suffered a severe head wound and had to relinquish command to Lieutenant Colonel Amasa S. Tracy.