withdrew west from Fort Mahone to a position between the fort and Battery No. 30 occupied by the 53rd North Carolina of Colonel David G. Cowand's brigade. The Confederates jumped on top of a large traverse between the fort and the battery to fire down on the Union attackers. Parke's men took Batteries No. 25, 27, 28, and 29 (Fort Mahone) and the trenches connecting these works, but the attack then bogged down after Parke's corps had taken only about of the Confederate forward line. Bryan Grimes held the second line opposite these works with two battalions of Virginia Reserves under Fletcher Archer and elements of Cowand's brigade, supported by field guns taken from Battery No. 30. Confederate counterattacks led to bitter fighting, traverse to traverse, as the afternoon continued. Soldiers from both sides jumped on top of the traverses, which often were ten feet tall and twenty feet thick, to fire into the crowd on the other side. Grimes made a second push at 1:00 p.m. to recapture the lost ground, which led Parke to call for reinforcements from the VI Corps. Grimes made a third push at 3:00 p.m., which recaptured a portion of Fort Mahone and sections of Union-occupied trenches east of Jerusalem Plank Road. Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) Charles H. T. Collis's Independent Brigade counterattacked to stabilize the situation for the Union troops and to reoccupy the line east of Fort Mahone. The Union force lost 1,500 men in these assaults. Confederate casualties are unknown, although General Humphreys reported that Parke claimed 800 prisoners, 12 guns and some flags were captured along with the Confederate works. When the fighting ended that evening, the stalemated armies held alternating sections of the Confederate works in this sector. Major General Gordon asked General Lee if it was worth trying to recapture about 200 yards of the forward line and a portion of Fort Mahone still held by Parke. A staff officer told him that the army would likely evacuate Petersburg that night. In accordance with Lee's evacuation timetable, Gordon began to remove his men from the trenches at 9:00 p.m. White Oak Road, Hatcher's Run Line Major General Andrew A. Humphreys's II Corps faced the division of Major General Henry Heth in the line running from Hatcher's Run to White Oak Road. After the Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, in response to Grant's