Lee sent a force under Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill to challenge Hancock and the Confederates were able to rout the Union troops from their fortifications at Reams Station.

"[5] General Grant wanted the Petersburg Railroad closed permanently, destroying 14 miles (23 km) of track from Warren's position near Globe Tavern as far south as Rowanty Creek (about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Stony Creek).

He chose Hancock's corps because Warren was busy extending the fortifications at Globe Tavern, although his selection was of troops exhausted from their efforts north of the James and their forced march south without rest; Hancock himself continued to suffer lingering effects from his wounds at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Gen. John Gibbon, occupied Reams Station, taking up positions in earthworks that had been constructed by the Union cavalry during the Wilson-Kautz Raid in June.

[8] Robert E. Lee considered that the Union troops at Reams Station represented not only a threat to his supply line, but also to the county seat of Dinwiddie County; if Dinwiddie Court House were to fall, the Confederates would be forced to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond because it represented a key point on the army's potential retreat route.

Hill, who was suffering from one of his periodic bouts of illness, assigned Heth to tactical command, telling him he "must carry the position.

On the morning of August 25 they left their earthworks to start working on the remaining 5 miles (8.0 km) of track, but Hancock recalled them when he heard that Confederate cavalry was approaching.

Despite launching two attacks, Wilcox was driven back by Miles's division, which was manning the northern part of the earthworks.

Historian John Horn wrote that if Grant had been on the scene, he might have very well ordered an attack on Petersburg at this point, similar to the tactic he would use in April 1865 that caused the fall of the city, taking advantage of the weakly defended lines vacated by the heavy force that Lee had sent to Reams Station.

As he witnessed the men of his once proud corps reluctant to retake their positions from the enemy, he remarked to a colonel, "I do not care to die, but I pray God I may never leave this field.

[17] Grant and Meade were generally satisfied with the results of their operations against the Petersburg Railroad, despite the tactical setback suffered by Hancock.

[18] Meade wrote, These frequent affairs are gradually thinning both armies, and if we can only manage to make the enemy lose more than we do, we will win in the long run, but unfortunately, the offensive being forced on us, causes us to seek battle on the enemy's terms, and our losses are accordingly the greatest, except when they come out and attack, as recently, when they always get the worst of it.

[20] The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 293 acres (1.19 km2) of the battlegrounds at Ream's Station through late November 2021.