the battle of white oak road, also known as the battle of hatcher's run, gravelly run, boydton plank road, white oak ridge was fought on march 31, 1865, during the american civil war at the end of the richmond-petersburg campaign and in the beginning stage of the appomattox campaign. along with the battle of dinwiddie court house which was fought simultaneously on march 31, the battle involved the last offensive action by general robert e. lee's confederate army of northern virginia to stop the progress of lieutenant general ulysses s. grant's union army (army of the potomac, army of the shenandoah and army of the james). grant's forces were moving to cut the remaining confederate supply lines and to force the confederates to extend their defensive lines at petersburg, virginia and richmond, virginia to the breaking point, if not to force them into a decisive open field battle.