“Do you know, General, I have had a sort of sneaking idea for some days that you intended to do something like this, though I thought some time ago that you would so manœuvre as to have Sherman come up and be near enough to coöperate with you.”
“Yes,” replied the general, “I thought at one time that Sherman’s army might advance so far as to be in supporting distance of the Eastern armies when the spring campaign against Lee opened, but I have had a feeling that it is better to let Lee’s old antagonists give his army the final blow and finish up the job. If the Western armies were even to put in an appearance against Lee’s army, it might give some of our politicians a chance to stir up sectional feeling in claiming everything for the troops from their own section of country. The Western armies have been very successful in their campaigns, and it is due to the Eastern armies to let them vanquish their old enemy single-handed.”
“I see, I see,” said Mr. Lincoln, “but I never thought of it in that light. In fact, my anxiety has been so great that I didn’t care where the help came from so the work was perfectly done.”
“Oh,” General Grant continued, “I do not suppose it would have given rise to much of the bickering I mentioned, and perhaps the idea would not have occurred to any one else. I feel sure there would have been no such feeling among the soldiers, but there might have been among our politicians. While I would not have risked the result of the campaign on account of any mere sentiment of this kind, I felt that our troops here are amply able to handle Lee.”
Mr. Lincoln then began to talk about the civil complications that would follow the destruction of the Confederate armies in the field, and showed plainly the anxiety he felt regarding the great problems in statecraft that would soon be thrust upon him. He intimated very plainly, however, in a rambling talk of nearly half an hour, that thoughts of mercy and magnanimity were uppermost in his heart.
At 12:30 the general wrote a telegram to Weitzel at Richmond, asking news from him, and showed it to the President before sending it. The general hoped that he would hear before he parted with the President that Richmond was in our possession, but after the interview had lasted about an hour and a half, the general said he must ride on to the front and join Ord’s column, and took leave of the President, who shook his hand cordially, and with great warmth of feeling wished him God-speed and every success.
The general and staff had ridden as far as Sutherland’s Station, about nine miles, when a dispatch from Weitzel overtook him, which had come by a roundabout way. It read: “We took Richmond at 8:15 this morning. I captured many guns. Enemy left in great haste. The city is on fire in two places. Am making every effort to put it out.” Although the news was expected, there were wild shouts of rejoicing from the group who heard it read. The general, who never manifested the slightest sign of emotion either in victories or defeats, merely said: “I am sorry I did not get this before we left the President. However, I suppose he has heard the news by this time,” and then added: “Let the news be circulated among the troops as rapidly as possible.”
Grant and Meade both went into camp at Sutherland’s Station that evening, the 3d. The Army of the Potomac caught a few hours’ sleep, and at 3 o’clock the next morning was again on the march. The pursuit had now become unflagging, relentless. Grant put a spur to the heel of every dispatch he sent. Sheridan “the inevitable,” as the enemy had learned to call him, was in advance thundering along with his cavalry, followed by Griffin and the rest of the Army of the Potomac, while Ord was swinging along toward Burkeville to head off Lee from Danville, to which point it was naturally supposed he was pushing in order to unite with Joe Johnston’s army. The 4th was another active day; the troops found that this campaign was to be won by legs, that the great walking-match had begun, and success would attend the army that should make the best distance record. General Grant marched this day with Ord’s troops. Meade was sick, and had to take at times to an ambulance, but his loyal spirit never flagged, and his orders breathed the true spirit of the soldier. That night General Grant camped at Wilson’s Station, on the South Side railroad, twenty-seven miles west of Petersburg. The next morning he sent a dispatch to Sherman in North Carolina, giving him an account of the situation and instructions as to his future movements, and winding up with the famous words, “Rebel armies are now the only strategic points to strike at.” On the 5th he marched again with Ord’s column, and at noon reached Nottoway Court House, about ten miles east of Burkeville, where he halted for a couple of hours. A young staff-officer here rode up to General Ord, in a state of considerable excitement, and said to him: “Is that a way-station?” This grim old soldier, who was always jocular, replied with great deliberation: “This is Nott-o-way Station.” The staff collected around General Grant on the front porch of the old town tavern, and while we were examining maps and discussing movements, a dispatch came from Sheridan, saying he had captured six guns and some wagons, and had intercepted Lee’s advance toward Burkeville, that Lee was in person at Amelia Court House, etc. This news was given to the passing troops, and lusty cheers went up from every throat. They had marched about fifteen miles already that day, and now struck out as if they were good for fifteen more, and swore they were going to beat the record of the cavalry. We continued to move along the road which runs parallel to the South Side railroad till nearly dark, and had reached a point about half-way between Nottoway and Burkeville. The road was skirted by a dense woods on the north side, the side toward the enemy. There was a sudden commotion among the headquarters escort, and on looking around I saw some of our men dashing up to a horseman in full rebel uniform, who had suddenly appeared in the road, and they were in the act of seizing him as a prisoner. I recognized him at once as one of Sheridan’s scouts, who had before brought us important dispatches; said to him: “How do you do, Campbell?”; and told our men he was all right and was one of our own people. He told us he had had a hard ride from Sheridan’s camp, and had brought a dispatch for General Grant. By this time the general had recognized him, and had stopped in the road to see what he had brought. Campbell then took from his mouth a wad of tobacco, broke it open, and pulled out a little ball of tin-foil. Rolled up in this was a sheet of tissue paper on which was written the famous dispatch so widely published at the time, in which Sheridan described the situation at Jetersville, and added: “I wish you were here yourself.”
CAPTURE OF GUNS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF A CONFEDERATE WAGON-TRAIN AT PAINEVILLE, APRIL 5, BY DAVIES’S CAVALRY BRIGADE OF CROOK’S DIVISION. FROM A SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME.
The wagon-train was escorted by Gary’s cavalry with five guns. General Humphreys, in “The Virginia Campaign,” says it is believed that “the papers of General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters, containing many valuable reports, copies of but few of which are now to be found, were destroyed by the burning of these wagons.”
The general said he would go at once to Sheridan, and dismounted from his black pony “Jeff Davis,” which he had been riding, and called for his big bay horse “Cincinnati.” He stood in the road and wrote a dispatch, using the pony’s back for a desk, and then, mounting the fresh horse, told Campbell to lead the way. It was found we would have to skirt the enemy’s lines, and it was thought prudent to take some cavalry with us, but there was none near at hand, and the general said he would risk it with our mounted escort of fourteen men. Calling upon me and two or three other officers to accompany him, he started off. It was now after dark, but there was enough moonlight to enable us to see the way without difficulty. After riding nearly twenty miles, following cross-roads through a wooded country, we struck Sheridan’s pickets about half-past ten o’clock, and soon after reached his headquarters.
Sheridan was awaiting us, thinking the general would come after getting his dispatch. A good supper of coffee and cold chicken was spread out, and it was soon demonstrated that the night ride had not impaired any one’s appetite.
When the general-in-chief had learned fully the situation in Sheridan’s front, he
first sent a message to Ord to watch the roads running south from Burkeville and Farmville, and then rode over to Meade’s camp near by. Meade was still suffering from illness. His views differed somewhat from General Grant’s regarding the movements of the Army of the Potomac for the next day, and the latter changed the dispositions that were being made so as to have the army unite with Sheridan’s troops in swinging round toward the south, and heading off Lee in that direction. The next day, the 6th, proved a decided field-day in the pursuit. It was found in the morning that Lee had retreated during the night from Amelia Court House, and from the direction he had taken, and the information received that he had ordered rations to meet him at Farmville, it was seen that he had abandoned all hope of reaching Burkeville and was probably heading for Lynchburg. Ord was to try to burn the High Bridge and push on to Farmville. Sheridan’s cavalry was to work around on Lee’s left flank, and the Army of the Potomac was to make another forced march and strike the enemy wherever it could reach him.
I spent a portion of the day with Humphreys’s corps, which attacked the enemy near Deatonville and gave his rear-guard no rest. I joined General Grant later and with him rode to Burkeville, getting there some time after dark.
Ord had pushed out to Rice’s Station, and Sheridan and Wright had gone in against the enemy and had fought the battle of Sailor’s Creek, capturing six general officers and about seven thousand men, and “smashing things” generally.
Ord had sent Colonel Francis Washburn, of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, with two infantry regiments to destroy High Bridge and return to Burkeville Station, but becoming apprehensive for their safety, owing to the movements of the enemy, he sent Colonel Theodore Read of his staff with eighty cavalrymen to recall the command. Read advanced as far as Farmville, and on his return found Washburn’s troops confronting Lee’s advance. The enemy were now between Ord and this little command of less than six hundred infantry and cavalry. Finding himself thus cut off, the gallant Read resolved to sacrifice the command in a heroic effort to delay Lee’s march, and repeatedly charged the advancing columns. He was soon mortally wounded and not long after Washburn fell. Most of the men were killed or wounded, and the rest finally surrendered. Their heroic act had delayed Lee’s advance long enough to be of material service in aiding his pursuers to capture a large part of his wagon trains. The next day, the 7th, Lee crossed the Appomattox at High Bridge and fired the bridge after his passage, but Humphreys arrived in time to extinguish the fire before it had made much progress, and followed Lee to the north side of the river.
THE CAPTURE OF EWELL’S CORPS, APRIL 6, 1865. FROM A SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME.
In his official report General Ewell gives the following account of the battle of Sailor’s Creek and the capture of his corps:
“On crossing a little stream known as Sailor’s Creek, I met General Fitzhugh Lee, who informed me that a large force of cavalry held the road just in front of General [R. H.] Anderson, and was so strongly posted that he had halted a short distance ahead. The trains were turned into the road nearer the river, while I hurried to General Anderson’s aid. General [John B.] Gordon’s corps turned off after the trains. General Anderson informed me that at least two divisions of cavalry were in his front, and suggested two modes of escape—either to unite our forces and break through, or to move to the right through the woods and try to strike a road which ran toward Farmville. I recommended the latter alternative, but as he knew the ground and I did not, and had no one who did, I left the dispositions to him. Before any were made the enemy appeared in rear of my column in large force preparing to attack. General Anderson informed me that he would make the attack in front, if I would hold in check those in the rear, which I did until his troops were broken and dispersed. I had no artillery, all being with the train. My line ran across a little ravine which leads nearly at right angles toward Sailor’s Creek. General G.W.C. Lee was on the left with the Naval Battalion, under Commodore [John R.] Tucker, behind his right. Kershaw’s division was on the right. All of Lee’s and part of Kershaw’s divisions were posted behind a rising ground that afforded some shelter from artillery. The creek was perhaps 300 yards in their front, with brush pines between and a cleared field beyond it. In this the enemy’s artillery took a commanding position, and, finding we had none to reply, soon approached within 800 yards and opened a terrible fire. After nearly half an hour of this their infantry advanced, crossing the creek above and below us at the same time. Just as it attacked, General Anderson made his assault, which was repulsed in five minutes. I had ridden up near his lines with him to see the result, when a staff-officer, who had followed his troops in their charge, brought him word of its failure. General Anderson rode rapidly toward his command. I returned to mine to see if it were yet too late to try the other plan of escape. On riding past my left I came suddenly upon a strong line of the enemy’s skirmishers advancing upon my left rear. This closed the only avenue of escape; as shells and even bullets were crossing each other from front and rear over my troops, and my right was completely enveloped, I surrendered myself and staff to a cavalry officer who came in by the same road General Anderson had gone out on. At my request he sent a messenger to General G.W.C. Lee, who was nearest, with a note from me telling him he was surrounded, General Anderson’s attack had failed, I had surrendered, and he had better do so, too, to prevent useless loss of life, though I gave no orders, being a prisoner. Before the messenger reached him General [G.W.C.] Lee had been captured, as had General Kershaw, and the whole of my command. My two divisions numbered about 3000 each at the time of the evacuation; 2800 were taken prisoners, about 150 killed and wounded. The difference of over 3000 was caused mainly by the fatigue of four days’ and nights’ almost constant marching, the last two days with nothing to eat. Before our capture I saw men eating raw fresh meat as they marched in the ranks. I was informed at General Wright’s headquarters, whither I was carried after my capture, that 30,000 men were engaged with us when we surrendered, namely, two infantry corps and Custer’s and Merritt’s divisions of cavalry.”
General J. Warren Keifer, in a pamphlet on the battle of Sailor’s Creek, says:
“General A. P. Hill, a corps commander in General Lee’s army, was killed at Petersburg, April 2d, 1865, and this, or some other important reason, caused General Lee, while at Amelia Court House, to consolidate his army into two corps or wings, one commanded by Lieutenant-General Longstreet and the other by Lieutenant-General Ewell.
“The main body of the Confederate army had passed by toward Sailor’s Creek. Pursuit with such troops as were up was promptly ordered by General Sheridan and conducted by General Horatio G. Wright, who commanded the Sixth Corps. The enemy’s rear-guard fought stubbornly and fell back toward the stream. The Second Division of his corps, under General Frank Wheaton, arrived and joined the Third Division in the attack and pursuit. The main body of the cavalry, under General Merritt, was dispatched to intercept the Confederate retreat. General Merritt passed east and south of the enemy across Sailor’s Creek, and again attacked him on the right rear. By about 5 P.M. the Confederate army was forced across the valley of Sailor’s Creek, where it took up an unusually strong position on the heights immediately on the west bank of the stream. These heights, save on their face, were mainly covered with forests. There was a level bottom, wholly on the east bank of the creek, over which the Union forces would have to pass before reaching the stream, then swollen beyond its banks by recent rains, and which washed the foot of the heights on which General Ewell had rested the divisions of his army, ready for an attack if made, and with the hope that under cover of night the whole Confederate army might escape in safety to Danville.
“The pursuing troops were halted on the face of the hills skirting the valley, within the range of the enemy’s guns, and lines were adjusted for an assault. Artillery was put in position on these hills, and a heavy fire was immediately opened. An effort was made to get up General G. W. Getty’s division of the Sixth Corps, and a portion
of the Second Brigade of the Third Division, which had been dispatched to attack a battery on the right, but the day was too far spent to await their arrival. After a few moments’ delay, General Wright, as directed by General Sheridan, ordered an immediate assault to be made, by the infantry, under the cover of the artillery fire. Colonel Stagg’s brigade of cavalry was, at the same time, ordered by General Sheridan to attack and, if possible, flank the extreme right of the enemy’s position. General Merritt’s cavalry divisions (First and Third) simultaneously attacked the Confederate army on its right and rear. Without waiting for reserves to arrive in sight, the two divisions of the Sixth Corps descended into the valley, and in single line of battle (First Division on the left and the Third on the right) moved steadily across the plain in the face of a destructive fire of the enemy, and, with shouldered guns and ammunition-boxes also, in most cases, over the shoulder, waded through the flooded stream. Though the water was from two to four feet deep, the stream was crossed without a halt or waver in the line. Many fell on the plain and in the water, and those who reached the west bank were in more or less disorder. The order to storm the heights was promptly given by the officers accompanying the troops, and it was at once obeyed. The infantry of the Sixth Corps began firing for the first time while ascending the heights, and when within only a few yards of the enemy. His advance line gave way, and an easy victory seemed about to be achieved by the Union forces. But before the crest of the heights was reached General Ewell’s massed troops, in heavy column, made an impetuous charge upon and through the center of the assaulting line. The Union center was completely broken, and a disastrous defeat for the Union army was imminent. This large body of the Confederate infantry became, by reason of this success, exposed to the now renewed fire from General Wright’s artillery remaining in position on the hills east of the stream.
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