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In anticipation of the imminent loss of Richmond, 150 years ago today President Davis began preparing to send his wife and children to Charlotte, NC, for their safety. Among the preparations, Davis handed her a small Colt pistol and devoted some time to teaching her how to load and use it. "You can at least, if reduced to the last extremity" Davis explained "force your assailants to kill you." He later added that "If I live you can come to me when the struggle is ended, however I do not expect to survive the destruction of Constitutional liberty."
Four miles past the end of the trenches, General Pickett's reinforced Division was dug in around Five Forks, which as the names suggests, was the junction of the road network in the area. The Southside Railroad was on the north, the Weldon Railroad on the east, and the Vaughn Road to Dinwiddie Court House to the south. Five Forks was the key to it all, lose that position and General Grant will at last have cut off the Army of Northern Virginia from its source of supply. As risky as emptying the trenches to defend the road junction was, it had to be done.
Heavy rains began in the early afternoon and continued throughout the day and into the night, slowing the movements of both armies. There was skirmishing between Pickett's men and the leading brigade of General Warren's first division. That brigade was under the command of General Joshua Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top. Chamberlain was wounded slightly in the fighting and his men forced to fall back toward Dinwiddle Court House which they held until the arrival of General Sheridan and his cavalry Corps.
Pickett was under the impression that he was fighting Sheridan's cavalry only and was planning a counter strike against Dinwiddle Court House for the next day when an officer came by Pickett's headquarters with two recently captured prisoners in tow. Pickett's heart sunk when he saw their badges...Fifth Corps. So it wasn't just another cavalry raid, this was a major attack developing.
General Lee had set up a temporary headquarters near where he was anticipating the action to be on this flank, and he met with Pickett and approved of the counter attack which was being contemplated, infantry or not. If Five Forks could not be held, then Petersburg and Richmond could not be held.The stakes justified the gamble.
All of these plans would be dependent upon the cooperation of the weather and at the moment, it was not in a cooperative mood for any military action. The rains became heavier, the clay and dirt was converted into a slippery sludge, and there were no signs of the downpour stopping.
Rainout today in Northern Virginia. The heavy downpour continued from the day before, making large scale military movements by either side impossible.
The hyper active General Sheridan was consumed with anxiety, each time a message arrived from headquarters he was fearful that it might contain the orders he was dreading. At noon, that unwanted news arrived.
"The heavy rain of today will make it impossible for you to do much until it dries up or we can get the roads around our rear repaired" General Grant wrote. Consequently he was canceling the planned attack and ordered Sheridan to return the two infantry corps to their normal positions in the lines. The cavalry could remain to protect the Union left flank, or if Sheridan thought it needed, they could be brought back to be refitted and fed.
Sheridan did not hesitate for a second, instantly setting off through the storm for the seven mile ride to City Point. He arrived a human mudball and found Grant's staff sitting or standing on logs to avoid the muck all around them. Grant was in a conference in his tent, but Sheridan burst right in and began his protest.
The rebels were right where they had always wanted them, Sheridan explained, out from their trenches and in the open. If the attack was canceled they would return to their defensive works. The rain? He would corduroy the roads if it took every man in his command working to do it. Forage for his horses? Sheridan stated that he would find all that was needed. On and on he went for twenty straight minutes and his positive enthusiasm for the job along with his forceful personality did the trick. Grant changed his mind and told Sheridan to go ahead and "..press the movement against the enemy with all vigor.." as soon as the weather permitted.
The attack was rescheduled for the next day...if the elements proved cooperative.
As he had promised, 150 years ago this morning General Sheridan had one entire cavalry division put to work corduroying the roads SW of the Five Forks crossroads. The rain continued today just as heavy as it had been since it began on the 29th. Despite this Sheridan had another of his horse divisions probing closer to the Confederate lines, backed by a brigade from his third division.
Not anticipated at all was General Lee launching a counter stroke, but that is what the rebel commander ordered. He wanted a clearer picture of the forces arrayed against his right flank and around noon, General PIckett's entire command burst forward from their trenches and fell on the leading Union division.
Outnumbered nearly three to one, the Union horsemen had to make a fighting retreat back to Dinwiddle Court House, surrendering all of the ground they had crossed in the morning. The rebel push did not halt until they had come upon Sheridan's infantry divisions. At a cost of 800 casualties of his own, Pickett had inflicted close to 1800 on the Federals. Deciding that the ground he had gained was not good defensive territory, Pickett then had his men fall back to their original trenches defending Five Forks. His men were dug in along the White Oak Swamp Road. which was bisected by the road leading from Dinwiddle. Pickett's men formed a line stretching a mile on either side of the intersection.
If any of this bothered Sheridan, there was no indication of it from his demeanor. He re planned his offensive strike for the next day, his losses in today's battle had not done much to change the fact that he had two infantry and one cavalry Corps to throw against Pickett's division and the two rebel cavalry brigades defending the crossroads.
In a last bit of business, Sheridan sent a message to General Grant complaining of the sluggish and uninspired performance of General Warren at the head of the Fifth Corps. Sheridan had worked well with General Wright when they were together in the Valley, and Sheridan requested that Warren's Corps be replaced by Wright's in the attack.
Grant replied that this was not practical because Wright was needed where he was, but in that he was not an admirer of Warren's performance throughout the long campaign which began last May, the message also authorized Sheridan to remove and replace Warren at the head of the 5th Corps if Sheridan felt that it was warranted.
For the moment, Warren would have to do. Sheridan sent orders for Warren to bring his Fifth Corps forward to be ready for an attack at first light tomorrow.
The events of 150 years ago today may be truly said to have marked the beginning of the end of the Confederacy. General Sheridan would be celebrating by sundown, but the day did not begin with the commander in a rosy frame of mind.
The rains had at last stopped, but that failed to cheer Sheridan because he was furious at General Warren. The Fifth Corps had been ordered to be in place for a sunrise attack, but dawn brought no sign of the troops. Warren had gotten off to a late start, and then encountered obstacles along the way. Several hours were lost rebuilding a bridge which the recent storm had washed away. Warren himself, riding out in front of his troops, did not reach the scene until 11 am. The last of his three divisions didn't arrive until 3 pm. Further, Warren took what Sheridan viewed as an inordinately long time getting his men placed in attack formation. Sheridan was ready to explode by this time, he feared that any moment might see the withdrawal of General Pickett's force and the opportunity to crush it lost.
Unknown to Little Phil, the delay actually wound up to his advantage. After pulling back following yesterday's successful attack on Sheridan's cavalry, Pickett expected to be attacked in the morning. The sun rose, the hours went by, and no attack materialized. Pickett concluded that the repulse he had administered the day before, had been sufficient to discourage another attempt against this flank. With that in mind he decided to accept an invitation from General Rosser whose men had been fortunate in catching a large number of shad from the river. Rosser was going to stage an old fashioned shad bake lunch and now Pickett saw no reason to deny himself a good meal. He invited General Fitzhugh Lee, commander of the rebel cavalry, to join him. The party was staged about a mile and a quarter behind the rebel lines, with a thick pine forrest in between.
At 4 pm, while the two highest ranking Confederate officers munched on their fish, Sheridan's attack went forward. The plan called for one cavalry division under General Devin, fighting dismounted, to attack and hold the attention of Pickett's center. General Custer's cavalry would make a mounted attack against the rebel far right. The main blow would come from all three divisions of Warren's Corps being thrown against the far Confederate left, with the goal of getting behind them and cutting off their retreat.
Warren's men formed up in the woods so that they were concealed until just before advancing to the attack. However, when they emerged, it was discovered that only the division of General Ayers' was heading in the right direction. The Confederate line bent at a right angle at this point and the divisions of Generals Griffin and Crawford were angling away to the NE, marching as though they would be attacking one another.
The consequence was that Ayers' division struck the rebel line unsupported. It began to waver and fall back. Sheridan decided to take matters under control personally. He seized his battle flag and rode straight to the front of the fight, shouting at the men to rally, promising that one good surge would send the rebels running, exuding confidence and working that same battlefield magic he had used to such great effect at Cedar Creek. Ayers' men rallied around their fiery commander and went forward once more. They hit the Confederate line just as the other two divisions, finally straightened out by Warren, arrived in the rebel rear and left flank. Sheridan, still at the front, leaped his horse over the rebel defenses and landed among a dozen startled soldiers. He ordered them to surrender and such was the force of his personality that they did, all of them throwing down their rifles.
At the same time the attacks by Custer and Devin were successful, breaking through and unhinging the enemy line so that it now gave way along its entire front, the rebels streaming for the rear, or at least those who could. Thousands had been cut off and surrounded. The intervening pine forest had muffled the sounds of the fight, so that Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee were late learning that a battle was underway. By the time Pickett was able to reach the field he was surveying the ruins of his division fleeing for their lives, but at least he had enjoyed a nice lunch.
It was a tremendous one sided win for the Union. At a cost of under a thousand casualties, Sheridan had inflicted about 5000 losses on Pickett, more than 3400 of them taken captive. Half of Pickett's field guns were left on the field when his division fled. Between the failed assault against Fort Stedman on the 25th, and this disaster at Five Forks, Lee had lost 25 % of his army.
Sheridan engaged in celebrating with his men save for one unpleasant necessity. He issued orders relieving Warren from command and replacing him with General Griffin. Warren was told to report to Grant for further orders, but instead went to Sheridan and asked him to reconsider the order. "Reconsider, hell" Sheridan replied "I don't reconsider my decisions. Obey the order."
Sheridan was annoyed that darkness came before his men had advanced far enough to seize the Southside Railroad, the object of the attack, but there would be little to stop him from doing so in the morning. As it would turn out, it would not matter at all.
When word of Sheridan's victory reached City Point, Grant and Meade's staff officers began celebrating. Grant who was sitting on a log smoking a cigar, remained seated and asked about Pickett's losses. Upon learning of the magnitude of the triumph, Grant got up and went into his tent. He came out 15 minutes later with multiple sets of orders for his Corps commanders. Grant was going to follow up the Five Forks victory by launching an assault along the entire length of Lee's Petersburg defenses. It was to commence tomorrow morning at 4 am.
Across the way Lee was anticipating that Grant would exploit the thinned grey lines with an assault against Petersburg, but he also concluded that Grant would need time to plan and shift troops for the attack. Believing that he would have at least until early afternoon tomorrow to prepare, Lee ordered General Longstreet, whose Corps was north of the James defending Richmond proper, to bring two divisions by rail to Petersburg. That would leave only two divisions to cover the entire Bermuda Hundred/Richmond front, but Lee had to fill the now even larger gaps in his Petersburg line.
As for Warren, he was given vague position as commander of City Point to mollify him, but he never got over the insult to him this day. He devoted the next 17 years to trying to have his name cleared in an official hearing, and ultimately a military commission issued a finding exonerating Warren of negligence at Five Forks, and stating that the manner of his dismissal had been mismanaged. However, this finding was issued three months after the hero of Gettysburg had died.
The Battle Of Five Forks
General Sheridan Vaults Into The Rebel Line..artist conception
General Gouverneur Warren ...Bad End To His Civil War, But He Still Wound Up With A Statue On Little Round Top
Selma, Alabama was defended by three miles of fortifications featuring 15 foot thick, eight feet high dirt walls with a five foot ditch in front of them. However, General Nathan Bedford Forrest now had fewer than 4000 men to fill the defenses against the better than 13,000 cavalry which General Wilson was bringing against him.
Forrest had been badly wounded by a saber slash in skirmishing the day before, but still was full of fight. He spread his men out along the lengthy line and waited. The waiting ended at 2 pm when Wilson's army began to arrive. By 5 pm they were all present and formed for an assault.
By 5:30 it was over. Wilson's troopers with their rapid firing repeating rifles overwhelmed the defenders all along the line and inflicted 2700 casualties, most of them prisoners, while losing but 359 of their own. Ten days shy of the war turning four years old, the Federals had at last beaten a force commanded by Forrest. The cavalry general escaped along with a handful of his officers, but his army barely existed any longer. Union troops entered Selma that night and began the destruction of the arsenal and naval foundry. Wilson's next target would be the original Confederate capitol of Montgomery.
But none of that was the headline news for the day.......
The guns began booming at 10 pm the night before and continued without letup until 2 am 150 years ago this morning on what would prove to be the final day of the siege of Petersburg. 60,000 Federal troops from five Union Corps went forward at 4:30 am along the entire line of defenses. General Sheridan was ordered to take his cavalry and the Fifth Corps (now under General Griffin) and circle to the NW to try and block the retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia.
The first breakthrough took place along the Boydton Plank Road as the 14,000 soldiers in General Wright's large Corps smashed into the 2800 defenders in this sector manned by General A.P. Hill's Corps. Hill had arrived at General Lee's headquarters in the early hours and they were discussing the situation when the firing erupted on Hill's front. They went outside to take a look, Lee still in his bed clothing. The first daylight was just starting to filter through and the generals needed some time before they were able to distinguish the color of the uniforms being worn by a line of advancing men in the distance.
Then they saw....blue coats. Lee turned to issue orders to Hill, but the latter had already raced back to his horse, vaulted into the saddle and went galloping back toward his own headquarters accompanied by his aid, Sgt. G.W. Tucker. They rode into a scene of confusion, portions of his line still holding and other sections which seemed to have vanished and been replaced by Yankees. After riding along a ridge where they were concealed by woods, the two men emerged into the open and encountered two Federal soldiers in the road. The Yankees quickly ducked behind a tree and two rifles poked out. Sgt. Tucker told his general to stay back while he handled them. Tucker road forward and called for the men to surrender, trying to bluff them with a claim that they were surrounded. The Yankees didn't fall for that and instead discharged their rifles,. Tucker was not hit but Hill was struck dead center in his heart and knocked from his horse, most likley dead before he hit the ground.
Tucker grabbed Hill's horse and made his escape. When Lee saw him returning with Hill's horse but not the general, Lee knew instantly that Hill had perished. "He is at rest now" Lee said when Hill's body was recovered and brought to headquarters, "and we who are left are the ones to suffer."
Lee's spirits were momentarily revived when General Longstreet arrived, but it was only Longstreet, not his divisions, he had ridden out ahead of his force to confer with Lee. His men would be coming but could not reach the battleground until midday at the soonest. With reports comings in speaking of disasters on most portions of the line, Lee ordered his army to fall back on the final trench line before Petersburg, and hoped that he would be able to hang on long enough for Longstreet's men to arrive and repair the shattered lines. If they could hold Petersburg until nightfall, then they could retreat under cover of darkness.
Lee then send messages to President Davis, informing him of the situation and announcing that the Army of Northern Virginia would be forced to evacuate their line that night, meaning Richmond would be left defenseless. Davis was attending church services when a messenger came up the aisle and handed him Lee's latest note. Davis rose and walked out, trying to appear as calm as possible. The congregation was suspicious of this hasty exit, and became more so as one after another, other government officials also departed before the sermon was completed.
Lee's army was saved for another day by the extraordinarily heroic stand made by the 214 defenders of Fort Greg, a four gun battery which came under attack by more than 4000 Union troops. From a bit after 1 pm until 2:30 pm, the rebels kept the Yankees out before, with only 30 of the Confederates still alive and unwounded, finally yielding to overwhelming numbers. The time they bought allowed Longstreet's divisions to arrive and stabilize the situation to a degree. The entire front line of trenches was gone, but the rear most ones held.
In Richmond the business of packing up the government got underway. The plan was to shift it to Danville, Virginia, 140 miles to the SW, using the one railway which was still in operation. The treasury was emptied and placed aboard a special car, the most necessary government documents were packed and loaded, the rest were taken out to be burned. Tobacco storage buildings were set aflame along the waterfront and a wind from the south came up and spread the fire. It would not be extinguished until the following day, and then by Yankee soldiers who had entered in triumph. Before it was brought under control, the flames destroyed a twenty square block area, consuming more than 700 buildings.
In the early afternoon the Union artillery had moved close enough to bring Lee's headquarters under fire. Lee remained at the telegraph, sending instructions and receiving reports until the shells began falling in close proximity. He finally exited and less than a minute later a shell crashed into headquarters house and destroyed most of it. Lee mounted Traveler and slowly rode away, shells bursting all around him as he headed for the last defense line where he would begin sending out orders for the withdrawal of his entire army that night.
It would not be easy, Lee had to collect his men from the 37 mile stretch of trenches and organize them for the retreat, asking all commanders to rendezvous at Amelia Courthouse, some 15 miles to the west where Lee had arranged for railroad cars with 350,000 rations to meet him. Until his army reached that place, they would have only what they carried with them to eat.
Darkness came with the rebels still holding the interior defense line in greatly reduced numbers. The fighting had cost Grant just under 4000 casualties, but they inflicted more than 6000 on the Confederates, most of them captives. The army that would be retreating west would be too disorganized to provide an official count of their numbers, but at this point it is probable that Lee had just over 30,000 troops left to him. (On April 6th of the retreat, the wagon carrying the archives of the Army of Northern Virginia was spotted by Federal cavalry. The teamsters driving it went into a panic mode and set the records ablaze to prevent their capture by the Yankees. The intruders were driven off, so the burning proved unneeded....a great loss for historians...and also the reason it is very difficult to say exactly how many men Lee had left at a given point during this week.)
In Richmond things had spiraled completely out of control. The roads were jammed with fugitives attempting to flee before the Yankees arrived. The guards had abandoned the city prison and the inmates broke out and spread through the city, looting and setting more fires. Mobs of residents, deserters and criminals roamed the city, breaking into bakeries and stores, anarchy prevailed. Brawls erupted as people fought over places aboard trains, possession of horses and carriages, and places in line to use the bridges across the James River which were already at full capacity as troops and government employees made their escapes.
At 2 am there was a spectacular pyrotechnical display when Admiral Rafael Semmes, who had commanded the James River Defense Fleet for only three weeks, had to blow up the three ironclads which had been used in January in the attempt to attack City Point. The ships were loaded with shells and powder and the explosions sent the ammunition flying hundreds of feet into the air. With different length fuses on the shells, the atmosphere was filled with delayed explosions with blew out all of the glass windows in the buildings near the riverfront. Another spectacular explosion took place when the city arsenal was blown.
President Davis packed his personal belongings and straightened up his office. He explained that the Yankees would probably be in here tomorrow and he did not wish to leave them with a bad impression. It was close to midnight when the trains loaded with Davis, the rest of the rebel cabinet, the treasury and the essential papers, finally pulled out and headed SW. In the early morning hours of the 3rd, the bridges were blown up or burned after the last of the two defending divisions had crossed. The only Confederate government official left in Richmond was Judge John Campbell, the assistant Secretary of War. Campbell did not share his president's optimism about being able to sustain the war after Richmond fell. Having known Lincoln before the secession, Campbell planned to meet with the Union president and try to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Grant assumed that Lee would pull out that night, but on the chance that he did not, another bombardment and attack was scheduled for 5 am the next morning. It would not be needed. At 8 pm the Confederate withdrawal began and by 11 pm the troops from the Petersburg area were all on their way west. Lee was among the last to depart. These last two days had been the worst of his life, defeat on a scale he had never before known.
Throughout the ordeal he had retained his legendary composure and revealed nothing of the emotions he was feeling, save for one moment. That was when a telegraph arrived from President Davis in response to Lee's informing him that the army would be pulling out that night. Lee had been warning Davis that this day was coming since the past February, that his lines were stretched too thinly to hold and would eventually be broken. The telegram from Davis was complaining of insufficient notice. Lee angrily tore the message to pieces and scattered them to the winds.
The Final Battle At Petersburg
Richmond Burns As Elements Of Lee's Army Withdraws Across The James
Historical Marker..The Spot Where General A.P. Hill Was Killed
At 7 am a blue coated cavalryman appeared on a hilltop just outside of Richmond. Others joined him and they rode down toward the city. Before entering they were greeted by the 80 year old Joseph Mayo, the mayor of Richmond who had ridden out in a carriage with a white flag and a box containing the seal of the city. Mayo was there to offer the capitol's official surrender, and to request that the Federals speed up their occupation of the town. It was still in a state of anarchy and Mayo was anxious that the Union troops begin restoring order.
More Union cavalry followed, one of the units being composed entirely of black troopers, who were seen as a marvel by the thousands of now freed slaves who swarmed out into the streets to welcome their deliverers. Most of the white population appeared content to stay indoors and peer through curtains as the conquerors took control of their city.
The soldiers were from General Weitzel's 25th Corps and he arrived in town at 8:15 am to accept the formal surrender. Weitzel promised the concerned residents that his troops would remain under tight discipline and that as long as no resistance was offered, the residents had nothing to fear from the soldiers. Everyone who requested a private guard for their property was given one by Weitzel. He set his men to work chasing looters and fighting the fires which were still out of control.
At the same time that Weitzel was accepting the surrender of the city, a group of troopers who had pushed ahead to the Confederate capitol building were staging another ceremony. The Stars and Bars were lowered from the flag pole and for the first time in just under four years, the Stars and Stripes once more fluttered from the seat of Virginia's government. Richmond was the seventh of the eleven rebel state capitols to pass into enemy control.
Also at this time, 140 miles to the SW, President Davis and the trains carrying the rebel cabinet and treasury arrived in Danville, the rebellion's third capitol. There would be several more over the course of the next few weeks.
General Lee's army was in motion for Amelia Court House where the commander had ordered a trainload of rations to be waiting for his men. There were actually relatively high spirits among the retreating men, happy to at last be out from the trenches where they had lived for the last nine months. Despite the severity of their defeat the day before, confidence in their general remained intact. They had left carrying whatever rations they could gather in the emergency. The divisions which passed through Richmond on their way west had been given extra food by the citizens of the capitol. The ones who were departing from below the James River were less fortunate, grabbing whatever they could, and in many cases, finding nothing to grab.
They had food for this first day of the march, but no resupply would be available until they reached Amelia.
General Grant, upon discovering that the enemy had fled, wasted no time getting the pursuit started and by 6 am three Federal Corps were trailing in Lee's wake, and three other Corps, including General Sheridan's cavalry, were pushing west along a parallel route south of the Appomattox River. Their job was not to catch Lee, rather they were to get in front of the retreating army and prevent them from turning south to attempt the link up with General Johnston's army.
It was certainly not difficult following Lee's trail. The Army of Northern Virginia was bleeding equipment, wagons, guns and deserters. Soldiers who had lost heart sat down beside the road and waited for the Yankees to take them prisoner. The sailors from the now defunct Confederate navy had been formed into an infantry battalion, as had the heavy artillery gunners who had spent the war at their stations in Richmond. Neither of these groups was used to hard marching and many were dropping out after just three of four hours on the roads.
In Danville Davis received a cheering welcome from the crowds who were not fully informed of the extent of yesterday's calamity. Addressing them, Davis of course put the best possible spin on the loss of Richmond, delivering a message of optimism which was copied and circulated throughout what was left of the Confederacy the next day...or at least the parts that could still be reached. Showing talent for the run on sentence, Davis proclaimed:
Quote:
Relieved from the necessity of guarding cities and particular points, important but not vital to our defense, with an army free to move from point to point and strike in detail the detachments and garrisons of the enemy, operating on the interior of our own country, where supplies are more accessible, and where the foe will be far removed from his own base and cut off from all succor in case of reverse, nothing is now needed to render our triumph certain but the exhibition of our own unquenchable resolve. Let us but will it, and we are free; and who, in the light of the past, dare doubt your purpose in the future?
It was a take on matters which required the listeners not asking why, if losing Richmond had generated such a benefit, the South had put so much effort into defending it in the first place.
150 years ago this morning President Lincoln decided a little tourism was in order. Despite the contrary advice of Secretary of War Stanton, and pleadings of Admiral Porter and the generals on hand, Lincoln was determined to visit the fallen rebel capitol.
The James River had been cleared of the torpedoes left behind by the rebels, and the president had Admiral Porter take him by water from City Point to the wharfs of Richmond. There accompanied by Porter, his son Tad, and just twelve sailors armed with muskets to protect him, Lincoln went ashore and was immediately mobbed by crowds of former slaves who thought themselves blessed to be able to lay eyes on "Father Abraham." One man fell to his knees in front of Lincoln, thanking him for the liberation. The president told him to please get up, that it was wrong to kneel to anyone save God, and that it was to the latter that the man ought to be giving his thanks.
Lincoln and his party made their way through the ruined capitol, Porter and the guards extremely anxious and alert for any snipers or possible assassins. General Weitzel finally got word that the president was visiting and dispatched a cavalry troop to protect him for the rest of the tour.
They walked the two miles from the river to the Confederate White House. Lincoln made his way to Jefferson Davis' office and plopped down in his chair. There the party had a light lunch and it was there that Assistant Secretary of War for the rebels, Judge Campbell, found him. He had a proposal which Lincoln found intriguing. Campbell admitted that the war was lost and that more fighting and death would be futile. In the absence of any Confederate authority, Campbell argued that Virginia's armies were now state controlled. He told Lincoln that if the president permitted the Virginia State legislature to reconvene, that body could surrender all soldiers in the state, which of course would include the Army of Northern Virginia.
Very much liking the idea of subduing Lee's force without further fighting, Lincoln arranged for Campbell to meet him the next day for further discussion of the idea.
On this same morning, 15 miles to the west, General Lee had ridden out in front of his retreating army, arriving at 8 am at Amelia Courthouse where Lee had ordered a train with 350,000 rations for his hungry men to be waiting for them. Lee was anxious about this since he had no other source for feeding his marching army. To his great relief, when he made his way to the railway station, the train was there as promised. However, when Lee's men pulled open the boxcar doors, they found artillery caissons, harnesses for artillery horses, and a huge supply of rifle ammunition.....but no food at all, none. Someone in the war department had blundered badly, perhaps fatally for the Army of Northern Virginia.
Lee's heart sunk, he had to struggle to retain his composure. The next possible place to have any food shipped for his force was another 19 miles to the west and armies do not march well when starving. Lee had what amounted to a half day head start and lead on General Grant's pursuit, and now that would be thrown away as he had to pause his army in Amelia while sending out his wagons to forage the countryside for whatever food could be found. To complete the disastrous nature of this morning, at midday the wagons returned empty. The region had already been picked clean by Lee's foragers while supplying them in the Petersburg trenches. Lee had no choice but to resume the retreat without having been able to feed his troops.
Lee's plan had been to follow the route of the Richmond to Danville Railroad, turning south after picking up the food supplies at Amelia Court House. Now he would need to continue west toward Farmville to find rations for his army. And even if the needed supplies had been available in Amelia, Lee still could not have turned south at that point. General Sheridan's cavalry had advanced to Jetersville, a few miles SW of Amelia, and was in a position to contest any attempt by Lee to head south from there.
So the Army of Northern Virginia, still bleeding arms, supplies, wagons and men, would have to continue west.
President Lincoln In Richmond..Sketch By Lambert Hollis Who Was An Eyewitness To The Event
Although the outcome was ultimately the same, something of a mystery, at least to me, 150 years ago today.
President Lincoln had his meeting with Judge John Campbell, the Confederate assistant Secretary of War. Campbell had been a US Supreme Court Justice from 1853 until he resigned when Georgia bolted the Union. The subject of the meeting was permission for the Virginia State Legislature to reconvene for the purpose of taking the state out of the war unilaterally, or as you might care to see it, Virginia seceding from the Confederacy. The object, in Lincoln's mind, was to end the fighting with General Lee's army by the removal of their legal sanctioning, a bloodless solution which the president very much preferred.
Misunderstandings flowed. Lincoln granted Campbell permission to call the legislators together for this specific purpose, but in calling them in, Campbell left many with the impression that this was a permanent restoration of their status as Virginia's lawful government. On that basis most were willing to do what Lincoln wanted, take the state out of the war, and with it the Army of Northern Virginia. The other conditions were acceptance of the restoration of Federal authority, and recognition that slavery was a dead institution.
Now here is the mystery part. Lincoln withdrew his permission and the legislature never convened, but I have encountered two conflicting versions of how this came about and checked several other sources which failed to resolve the conflict. According to "April 1865: The Month That Saved America" by Jay Winik, it was not until Lincoln had returned to Washington on the 9th that he announced this arrangement to his cabinet and was met with a storm of protest,especially from War Secretary Stanton, which caused him to wire General Weitzel and tell him to not allow the legislature to convene. By then it no longer mattered since Lee had surrendered and the legislature wasn't needed to end the fighting in Virginia.
According to Burke Davis' "To Appomattox: Nine April Days 1865" it was immediately after Campbell left Lincoln that Admiral Porter began pointing out the difficulties involved. Porter explained that Richmond was officially under martial law, ruled for the moment by the US military. If Lincoln allowed a competing legal authority any power, that would overturn the military's exclusive jurisdiction. Lincoln admitted to Porter that he had acted with undue haste and dispatched a rider to overtake Campbell and explain that the permission had been withdrawn.
Obviously both of those events could not have happened and checking numerous other sources I find some reporting the Winik version and some reporting the Davis version. Shelby Foote tells the story in an ambiguous way that you could interpret it as affirmation of either version.
I'm inclined to think that Davis is the one in error and that he is actually reporting what was a cover story cooked up to mask that the approval ever had been given. In the versions where Stanton is the key factor in nullifying the offer, there seem to be too many specific details for it to have been a concoction. The Davis version is more simplistic. This is speculation on my part, not certainty.
General Lee's retreat continued, forced away from the Danville Railroad line and continuing west with his starving troops, more of more of which were dropping out and allowing themselves to be scooped up by their pursuers. By the necessity of seeking food, the rebel army was now headed for Farmville where hopefully this time, the food which had been ordered to be sent there, would actually be there. Close behind them were three Corps of the Army of the Potomac, and now starting to push ahead of them on the opposite bank of the Appomattox River, were Sheridan's cavalry, General Griffin's Fifth Corps and the Army of the James. If the Union cavalry got ahead of the line of retreat, they could slow Lee's pace. If the infantry got ahead, then Lee would be trapped and the possibility of marching to meet General Johnston in North Carolina would be ended.
US Secretary of State William Seward was a cigar smoker. He especially enjoyed a smoke while traveling and had made it a habit when taking a public coach, to sit outside or upfront with the driver so that he could puff away without disturbing his family members who were along for the ride. He was engaged in this activity 150 years ago today when one of the coach horses was spooked causing the carriage to lurch and spill Seward from his perch on top. Seward wound up with a broken arm and both sides of his jaw fractured. The injuries were not life threatening, but Seward was confined to bed with iron clamps in place holding his jaw together.
Those clamps would save his life nine days later.
Former US Justice John Campbell...A Political Solution To Lee's Army
Secretary Of State William Seward..Took A Tumble Today
Last edited by Grandstander; 04-04-2015 at 06:11 PM..
Black Thursday, as it came to be called in the South, took place 150 years ago today.
Severely reduced in size and supporting equipment, the Four Corps composing the Army of Northern Virginia marched west toward Farmville where 80,000 rations awaited. In the lead was General Longstreet, behind him General Anderson, followed by General Ewell, with General Gordon's men forming the rear guard. Two mistakes would lead to disaster.
The first was the late afternoon opening of a gap between Longstreet's and Anderson's Corps. With unfortunate timing for the rebels, it opened just before the arrival of General Sheridan and the Cavalry Corps. The forced pause in Amelia Court House had given him time to overtake all but Longstreet's men.
About the same time Ewell ordered the wagons which were following his Corps to swing north and take a more protected route. Trailing behind the wagon train, Gordon continued to follow it as it left the main road, unaware that Ewell had not also taken this path. This meant that the retreat no longer had a rear guard.
With Gordon's Corps removed, General Humphrey was able to pitch his Corps into Ewell's rear with the element of surprise. Ewell managed to pull his men back into a defensive posture on the west side of Sayler's Creek. (Often spelled "Sailor's Creek") At 6:30 pm he was hit in the right flank by General Wright's Corps which had caught up and joined the party. Ewell's Corps disintegrated, scattering and being scooped up as prisoners by the hundreds.
To the west at 6 pm Sheridan mounted attacks against Anderson with all three of his horse divisions. Under a storm of fire from the repeating rifles carried by the cavalrymen, Anderson's left flank collapsed, unhinging the rest of the line and recreating the same wild scattering as had happened with Ewell's men.
Only the fast approach of darkness prevented an even larger magnitude calamity. At a cost of 1,150 casualties for the Federals, 7,700 rebels were removed from Lee's ranks, 6000 plus were captives, including Ewell and eight other generals. General Pickett who had lost half of his division at Five Forks, lost the rest of it at Sayler's Creek although he escaped personally. In what amounted to less then two hours of fighting, Lee had lost nearly a quarter of the army he had left.
Lee ordered the survivors to consolidate at Farmville. Ewell's and Anderson's Corps no longer existed, the few survivors who could be found were divided between Longstreet and Gordon. With no troops to command, Pickett was relieved of duty, an inglorious end to the war for a man with his romantic notions of combat.
Following the rout and roundup of Anderson's Corps, Sheridan wired General Grant with a report of the battle and concluded by stating "....if the thing is pressed, I think Lee will surrender." Grant knew that President Lincoln would be spending his time back at City Point in the telegraph center, following all progress. Grant forwarded Sheridan's message to Lincoln who imitated Grant's taciturn style with this simple reply.
"Let the thing be pressed."
The Battle of Sayler's Creek
Artist's Conception Of Sheridan's Cavalry Attacking Anderson's Corps.
General Lee's chances of escaping the pursuit by General Grant's army dropped severely 150 years ago today as he reached Farmville. On the positive side the rations ordered for his men were indeed there this time.
On the negative side he was down to two Corps containing perhaps 22,000 men, many of them disorganized survivors of destroyed units, and he was having to fight a rear guard action against three Federal Corps following his footsteps. On the super negative side, General Sheridan's cavalry Corps passed Lee in the race and was now in strength SW of Farmville, once more blocking any attempt by Lee to turn south. Marching rapidly to reinforce Sheridan were two more Federal infantry Corps.
Lee therefore had no options open other than surrender, or moving further west, hoping somehow or other to get in front of Sheridan's force. General Grant understood the fix which Lee was in, and decided that afternoon that the time had come to request a surrender. At 5 pm he wrote a note to Lee and had it sent over under a flag of truce.
Quote:
"General R.E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.:
5 P.M., April 7th, 1865.
The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
U.S. Grant, Lieutenant-General"
Lee received the message around 10 pm, read it and then showed it to General Longstreet. The latter returned the note to Lee saying only "Not yet."
Lee decided to stall and sent Grant an ambiguous reply that could be interpreted as both compliant and defiant.
Quote:
"April 7th, 1865.
General: I have received your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.
Meanwhile the retreat would continue, with Lee flip flopping the order of march. General Gordon's Corps would lead, Longstreet's men would take over the rear guard duties. There was no longer a middle of the column, just the head and the tail. The fighting and the dying was not yet over.
Also on this day the United States opened negotiations with Great Britain over the issue of compensation for the US merchant ships destroyed by the CSS Alabama and the CSS Florida, both of which were built and launched in Britain for the Confederates, but masked as merchant vessels until they were turned over to rebel captains.
The negotiations would break down but the US would continue to pursue the claims for seven more years, finally receiving a favorable verdict from an international maritime tribunal which ruled that Britain had violated their own neutrality laws by means of deliberate neglect.
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