After the battle on the night of April 1, Fitzhugh Lee informed Robert E. Lee of the defeat and rout at Five Forks from Church's Crossing near the Ford Road junction with the South Side Railroad where the remaining forces of Rooney Lee and Thomas Rosser joined him. Lee sent Anderson with Bushrod Johnson and his infantry to help Pickett reorganize and hold the South Side Railroad. Anderson left a small force behind to try to hold the line and departed from Burgess Mill to join Fitzhugh Lee at about 6:30 p.m. Anderson arrived about 2:00 a.m. on April 2. General Lee's intention in sending these reinforcements west was to defend the South Side Railroad at Sutherland's Station and to block the railroad as a line of approach to Petersburg. Anderson's force included three brigades of Major General Bushrod Johnson's division, Brigadier General Eppa Hunton's brigade of Pickett's command, and the survivors of Pickett's task force at Five Forks. The defenders remaining at the end of the White Oak Road Line between Claiborne Road and Burgess's Mill were the brigades of Brigadier Generals Samuel McGowan's, William MacRae's, Alfred M. Scales's and John R. Cooke's from A.P. Hill's corps.