MARCH 29, 1865–APRIL 12, 1865
In the aftermath of the brutal series of battles that marked his Overland campaign—the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor—Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ultimately recognized that his successive attempts to turn the right flank of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had been to no avail. In mid-June 1864, Grant shifted his line of operations to the south side of the James River, crossing the river on June 14–17 with the intention of seizing the city of Petersburg, south of Richmond, to sever the Confederate capital’s communications with the South.
Following the failure of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler’s Army of the James to capture Petersburg by coup de main on June 9, Grant ordered a renewal of the attack. Between June 15 and 18, forces of the Army of the James and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade’s Army of the Potomac again fail to capture the city, and Grant determined to begin siege operations. For nearly nine wearying months the armies dug trenches, constructed batteries and mines, and suffered the unpleasant life of static siege operations. Despite constant fighting on the flanks—in the Shenandoah Valley and north of the James at Deep Bottom, New Market Heights, and Fort Harrison, and to the south and west of Petersburg at Weldon Railroad, Peebles Farm, Reams’s Station, Burgess Mill, and Hatcher’s Run—the stalemate remained.
As March 1865 drew to an end Ulysses S. Grant worried that, with the arrival of spring and dry roads, Robert E. Lee would abandon Richmond and Petersburg and march to unite his forces with Joseph E. Johnston’s command in North Carolina, with an eye to taking on first Sherman and then Grant. Hoping to forestall Lee and possibly turn him out of the Petersburg defenses, Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan to take his cavalry—three divisions, 9,000 horsemen—as well as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren’s V Corps and swing westward around the Confederate right below Petersburg and head for the South Side Railroad, the last remaining rail link between Petersburg and the Confederate heartland. The offensive would be supported by operations against Lee’s right by II Corps. If Sheridan succeeds, the Confederates would find themselves in serious trouble, and it would be difficult for Lee to make his way to North Carolina unimpeded.
Lee, too, was active. In an effort to threaten Grant’s vital supply base at City Point, east of Petersburg at the mouth of the Appomattox River, he ordered an attack on Fort Stedman, located just east of Petersburg, on March 25. The seizure of part of the Federal line might cause Grant to have to abandon some of his efforts west of the city. Although at first the Confederates enjoyed some success, the attack was repulsed; it failed to deter Grant from moving out against the Confederate right. After turning back the Confederates in a series of small clashes, Sheridan, on April 1, approached a road junction known as Five Forks, well aware that if he took it he would be able to make his way to the South Side Railroad.
On March 31, Lee orders Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett to hold Five Forks at all costs with his 10,000 infantry and cavalry. Pickett attacks the Federals first. Throughout the day of March 31, fighting in driving rain and on muddy roads, Confederate attacks drive back the advancing Federal cavalry. By evening Confederate cavalry and infantry have nearly pushed the Yankees back to Dinwiddie Court House. That night, Federal forces march and countermarch to reinforce Sheridan. Sheridan hopes that Warren’s V Corps will be in position to press the issue. Sheridan is a profane man, and he is using strong language in referring to Warren and his absence on the field. Later, he will charge Warren with wishing the sun to go down before he is prepared to attack.
Warren’s infantry finally arrives after having fought a bitter battle on White Oak Road with Rebel forces on March 31. The Confederates have fallen back to Five Forks by about 8 a.m. on April 1; the Union cavalry under Sheridan reaches the area in front of the Confederates at Five Forks about noon. Out in front of the Confederates is Brig. Gen. Thomas C. Devin’s division of cavalry as well as the division commanded by the ladies’ favorite cavalryman, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer. The Union cavalrymen have dismounted and have called numbers, and every fourth man is holding the horses while the others skirmish with the Confederates, keeping them pinned down behind their breastworks.
The Confederates deploy defensively along White Oak Road, covering the Five Forks intersection where the Dinwiddie Court House Road converges with several other roads. East of the junction the Confederates refuse their line north of the White Oak Road in what is called “the Return,” so the Confederate line looks like the capital letter “L,” with the long part resting along White Oak Road. The Rebels fortify their line, digging in and throwing up fence rails to protect themselves. Pickett screens the mile gap between the Return and Hatcher’s Run with dismounted cavalry of Thomas Munford, and the four-mile interval between Five Forks and Lee’s fortifications at White Oak Road with the understrength Tarheel mounted brigade led by William P. Roberts. But they don’t expect the Federals to attack this day.
Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Pickett have been invited to a shad bake by Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser; they leave the front lines without telling anyone where they are going. I would lay down money that there never has been a shad bake in Virginia at which whiskey was not available. They have not told Col. Thomas Munford or any of the brigade commanders where they are going, because they are certain that the Federals will not attack.
At the angle in their line the Confederates have positioned four guns of Capt. W. M. McGregor’s Virginia battery, with Brig. Gen. Matthew Ransom’s North Carolina Brigade in support. Brig. Gen. William H. Wallace’s South Carolinians are positioned on the right of Ransom. McGregor’s four cannon have been sighted to face east, and the timber has been removed from in front of the guns. Brig. Gen. George “Maryland” Steuart’s brigade of Virginians man the defensive line that parallels White Oak Road from Wallace’s right all the way to Five Forks. At Five Forks, there are the three guns of Col. William J. Pegram’s battalion, and Col. Joseph Mayo’s and Brig. Gen. Montgomery Corse’s brigades are on the other side of the intersection, three more of Pegram’s guns, along with Maj. Gen. William H. F. “Rooney” Lee’s cavalry division on the far right. Covering the left of the Confederate line is Tom Munford, wondering where Fitz Lee might be.
Coming up via the Dinwiddie Court House Road and then turning into the Gravelly Run Church Road is Warren’s V Corps. Warren has about 12,000 men with him. He arrives about 4 p.m. and is soon joined by Sheridan and his chief engineer, Maj. George Gillespie. Gillespie sketches a map in the soft ground based on the Confederate line being located a half mile farther to the east than it actually is. He does not know where the Confederate left flank is anchored.
Sheridan wants Warren to form his corps so that Brig. Gen. Romeyn B. Ayres’s division is placed on the left side of Gravelly Run Church Road. It is numerically the weakest division in Warren’s corps. He wants Brig. Gen. Samuel Crawford’s division to be placed on the right side of the road; it is numerically the largest division in Warren’s corps. Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin’s division will take position in echelon to the right rear of Crawford’s division. As the three divisions advance, they are to keep the sun over their left shoulders. By doing so, this will ensure that when Ayres’s division goes forward it will strike the west front of the Confederate angle, and Crawford’s division will swing around the Confederate left flank and get into their rear. It is a good plan, provided that the Confederate left flank is a half mile farther to the west.
Warren has difficulties getting his divisions into the formation that Sheridan wants. Finally, at 4:30 p.m., he has his divisions in line ready to advance and they move forward. Where is this line of advance going to take them? Ayres’s division expects to approach White Oak Road and find the Rebels directly in front of them. Relying on Gillespie’s defective sketch map, Ayres’s division crosses White Oak Road a third of a mile to the east of the Return instead of striking it head on as planned. As they cross the road, they come under artillery and rifle fire. This throws Ayres’s people into confusion. Col. Frederick Winthrop, one of Ayres’s brigade commanders, is mortally wounded by the Confederate fire.
After Sheridan’s victory at Five Forks, Federal forces broke through the weakened Confederate defenses at the Boydton Plank Road and Fort Gregg. Lee was forced to abandon Petersburg and Richmond on April 2 and marched west hoping to link up with Johnston in North Carolina. His corps marched by several routes converging on Amelia Court House. When provisions failed to arrive, Lee’s hungry troops resumed their march on April 5. Grant sent his forces in pursuit, pushing Federal cavalry forward to slow Lee’s advance. Amid continuous fighting Lee pressed on, losing a quarter of his forces at Sailor’s Creek on April 6. Turning toward Lynchburg, Lee found his way blocked at Appomattox Court House and surrendered his army on April 9.
Sheridan gallops up and tries to restore order to the confusion and tells General Ayres to shift the direction of his advance by changing front from north to west. He looks for Warren and cannot find him. Warren and his staff have ridden off to locate Crawford’s and Griffin’s divisions, which seem to have moved off into a never-never land and become lost.
Sheridan grabs a cavalry guidon and leads Ayres’s men forward. This is indicative of his personal style of leadership. Warren is a low-key individual: He is not outgoing, and he does not have a good personality when dealing with subordinates. He also has difficulty in making decisions. He has been on Meade’s “s——” list almost since the beginning of the 1864 Overland Campaign. In mid-Jun 1864, Meade was ready to relieve Warren of his command. Grant has already heard several bad stories about Warren, and undoubtedly Sheridan has heard the same ones. Sheridan has gotten permission from Grant to relieve Warren of his command if he does not measure up to expectations. He is already unhappy with today’s performance.
Warren soon finds Crawford’s staff, and he informs them to tell Sam Crawford to change the direction of his division and march west. He meanwhile sees Charles Griffin and tells him to do the same. But Sheridan sees none of this.
Elsewhere things are going about as badly for George Pickett as they are for Gouverneur Warren.
The shad bake is going well. Because of an acoustical shadow and convivial conversation over drinks, the participants at the shad bake are unaware of the fighting taking place at Five Forks. Soon a messenger arrives with startling news about combat at Five Forks, and they now hear firing off in the distance. Pickett sends two staffers to find out what is happening. One staffer soon comes galloping back and reports that the Yankees have broken the defenses at Five Forks and are sweeping west and soon will reach the South Side Railroad. Pickett and his staff quickly mount their horses and barely avoid capture as Crawford’s division storms across the road leading to Ford’s Depot. The Confederate situation at Five Forks is bleak.
For George Pickett, already immortalized for his actions at Gettysburg, Five Forks will prove a disaster. The story of the ill-fated shad bake haunts him for the remainder of his life. Nearly a week later Lee, though unaware of the shad bake incident, relieves him of command; soon thereafter, spotting Pickett’s distinctive profile, he growls, “I thought that man was no longer with the army.”
The famous Partisan Ranger Col. John Singleton Mosby tells a story about a meeting he attended with Pickett and Lee after the war. Pickett still holds a grudge against Lee, and he is rather angry about the manner in which Lee had received him. As they leave the meeting with Lee, Pickett turns to Mosby and says, “That old man destroyed my division at Gettysburg.” Mosby replies: “Yes, what you say may be true, but that ‘old man’ made you famous as well.”
The climax of the afternoon’s action takes place at Five Forks, where the Dinwiddie Court House and White Oak Roads intersect. The Confederates have thrown up earthworks running east and west along White Oak Road, covering the crucial intersection; cavalry and infantry shield both flanks, with the Confederate left draped in a north-south line north of White Oak Road about a mile and a half east of the junction.
Gouverneur Warren finally catches up with Griffin and changes the direction of his advance. They are now moving in a southwest direction to get into the rear of the Five Forks Confederates. Ayres’s division is surging west toward the intersection at Five Forks, guiding on the road and rolling up the Confederate line as he advances. Griffin’s infantry emerges from the woods and moves into Sydnor’s Field. Crawford’s division is advancing on their right much closer to Hatcher’s Run.
Sheridan, leading the charge, sinks his spurs into the flanks of his horse, Winchester, and leaps over the Confederate earthworks, carrying the cavalry guidon with him. The other men of Ayres’s division follow him into the Confederate works; they capture McGregor’s four guns and a large number of Ransom’s and Wallace’s men. The remainder of the Confederates flee to the rear, pursued by Ayres’s division.
The Confederate line along White Oak Road is rolled up from east to west by Ayres’s division. Coming up on Ayres’s right is Griffin’s division, spearheaded by Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain’s brigade. Crawford, having overshot his mark, swings southward, coming in on Griffin’s right. Advancing northward through the woods south of White Oak Road are the dismounted cavalrymen of Devin’s and Custer’s divisions.
The Confederates fall back to the position at the Five Forks intersection. Col. Willie Pegram has three guns positioned there. The bespectacled young artillerist sits astride his horse calmly directing the fire of his three cannon against the advancing Yankees. A Union minié ball strikes him in the chest, mortally wounding him. The shattered survivors of the brigades commanded by Steuart, Mayo, Wallace, and Ransom re-form across the road.
Confederate prisoners captured at Five Forks on their way to prison camps in the North.
Union forces converge on the intersection and overwhelm the Confederates. With the way to the west blocked by Custer’s cavalry, the Confederates flee from the battlefield in confusion in a northwesterly direction. They have lost six cannon and approximately 2,500 troops. About half of the Confederates involved in the battle are killed, wounded, or missing.
To give you an idea of the kind of personality Sheridan has and the electric effect he has on his men, there is the story of a soldier who has been severely wounded in the neck. Sheridan rides along and sees him lying on the ground and tells him to get up and charge the enemy. The badly wounded soldier barely drags himself to his feet and makes an attempt to charge forward when he collapses and dies on the battlefield.
It is now 7:30 p.m. and Sheridan has arrived at the Five Forks crossroad, and he is asking, “Where is General Warren?” Sheridan turns to a staff officer and tells him to go find Warren and to tell Warren that he is relieved of command and that he is to turn his corps over to Charles Griffin. Warren is shocked. He rides to Sheridan a broken man and asks if he will reconsider in light of what has transpired on the battlefield. Sheridan uses harsh profanity and refuses to listen to Warren’s plea. He then tells him to report to Grant for his next assignment. Broken and downtrodden by the strange course of events, Warren reports to Grant, undoubtedly looking for some sympathy and hoping to salvage his situation. Grant supports Sheridan’s decision to relieve Warren; eventually, Grant will put him in charge of the defenses of City Point and Bermuda Hundred.
Warren spends the remainder of his life seeking exoneration for his performance at Five Forks. Years later a court of inquiry found that the general was indeed treated roughly and unfairly; it renders its verdict several years before Warren’s death.
Often called the “Waterloo of the Confederacy,” the defeat at Five Forks confirms to Lee that he is in imminent danger of losing his rail links running west from Richmond and Petersburg. Desperate as the situation is, however, all is not lost—unless the Federals exploit their success.
General Grant responds to the good news about the Union victory at Five Forks and issues special orders to General Meade. At 10 p.m., Federal artillery all along the Union lines opens fire upon the Confederate positions protecting Petersburg. Following the artillery bombardment, Union infantry move forward at 4 a.m. on April 2 and advance against the Confederate lines.
Men of Horatio Wright’s VI Corps quickly rip through Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill’s line of defense near Confederate Fort Fisher, and overrun the earthworks defended by brigades of Brig. Gen. James “Little Jim” Lane and Lt. Col. Eric Erson. In the confused fighting General Hill is killed by two Federal skirmishers. Wright’s Federals pivot to the left, rolling up the Confederate line as far as Hatcher’s Run. Maj. Gen. John Gibbon’s XXIV Corps breaks the Rebel lines at Hatcher’s Run and pushes northeast up the Boydton Plank Road across the front of Wright’s attacking corps and storms Forts Gregg and Whitworth. Maj. Gen. Andrew Humphreys’s corps takes the Crow Redoubt. On orders from Grant, Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles’s II Corps division advances north up Claiborne Road toward the South Side Railroad. By 3 p.m. they overwhelm hard-core troops from four of Maj. Gens. Henry Heth’s and Cadmus Wilcox’s divisions at Sutherland Station. Only Maj. Gen. John Grubb Parke’s IX Corps finds it rough going against Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon’s Confederate II Corps, which holds the stronghold that guards the Jerusalem Plank Road, known as “Fort Damnation.” Sheridan pushes north from Five Forks and reaches the South Side Railroad shortly after Miles has taken Sutherland Station.
Hours after the Union offensive begins, President Jefferson Davis enters St. Paul’s Church in Richmond for Sunday morning worship. As he sits down, an usher hands him a communication from Lee informing him that the Petersburg lines have been broken and that Richmond must be evacuated immediately. President Davis rises, leaves the church, and proceeds to the War Office, where he issues orders for the evacuation of Richmond to begin. Lee continues to struggle to hold the lines at Petersburg until nightfall permits the evacuation of Petersburg. Throughout the afternoon, the Confederate government in Richmond is busy packing and making preparations for leaving the capital of the Confederacy.
Under cover of darkness on the night of April 2, Lee’s army—consisting of units from Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s I Corps, John Gordon’s corps, which has stood tall resisting repeated assaults of IX Corps, and the remnants of A. P. Hill’s corps, soon to be merged with Longstreet’s corps, which has retreated eastward—evacuates Petersburg, destroying the bridges behind them. Lee then heads west with the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia, following the River Road on the north side of the Appomattox River. Retreating on the south side of the Appomattox River are remnants from the Confederate brigades that had defended Sutherland Station and escaped from Five Forks and the White Oak Road defenses. The Confederate cavalry covers the retreat of the various units as they flee.
A ruined Richmond is visible across the James River in this 1865 photograph. On April 2, Lee was forced to order the evacuation of the capital after Union forces broke through his lines at Petersburg.
Commanding the forces that abandon the Confederate defensive positions north of the James River and in Richmond is Lt. Gen. Richard Stoddard Ewell. In the early morning hours of April 3, 1865, the last units to evacuate the Confederate capital burn the remaining bridge across the James River and begin the long westward retreat. The withdrawing Confederates set fire to military warehouses and depots, but the flames quickly spread to civilian property. Union troops enter the abandoned capital of the Confederacy and are set to work putting out the fires.
Lee has established Amelia Court House as the point of rendezvous for the Confederate columns retreating from Richmond and Petersburg. Orders have been sent to Danville directing the quartermaster to send three trains loaded with rations and supplies to Amelia Court House. The Confederates have left Richmond and Petersburg much more rapidly than they expected to, and many of the troops have not received rations. So, the troops are looking forward to arriving at Amelia Court House, where they expect to find at least 80,000 rations. Once they have received their rations, the Confederates will march along the Richmond & Danville railway to Burke’s Station and then on to Danville. But there will be confusion created by the orders issued and the instructions received, which have a significant impact on future events.
Grant prefers that the Union army keep the pressure on Lee’s retreating forces and issues orders to the commanders of his two armies, George Meade and Maj. Gen. Edward O. C. Ord, who has replaced Butler as commander of the Army of the James, to instruct their corps commanders to begin the pursuit of Lee’s army. Grant orders Sheridan to pursue the retreating Confederates along the South Side Railroad. Sheridan and his cavalry will ride along a route parallel and south of the Confederates to cut them off at Burkeville Junction. IX Corps marches along the South Side Railroad in pursuit of Lee’s forces with Ord’s XXIV Corps under John Gibbon in advance. XXIV Corps has with it Brig. Gen. William Birney’s division of blacks, and one of Birney’s brigades will make the incredible march of 96 miles in three and a half days. The men are given the task of repairing the railroad and the telegraph lines as they march. On April 4, Custer’s cavalry division, after besting a Rebel cavalry brigade at Namozine Church on the third, turns south before it wheels west heading toward Jetersville.
By the morning of April 4, the scattered elements of the Army of Northern Virginia have assembled at Amelia Court House. When Lee arrives, he is upset by what he finds. He expects several trains loaded with badly needed rations and supplies for his men and his horses to be there. A snafu at the quartermaster’s office in Danville has resulted in the non-arrival of vital supply trains at Amelia Court House. There are, however, lots of cannon here and much powder, but unfortunately, an army cannot eat either of these.
Lee now makes a decision. He feels compelled to give up some of the time he has gained on Grant so that he can properly feed his men. He issues a desperate public appeal to the inhabitants and farmers around Amelia Court House to share what they can with his hungry soldiers. The army quartermasters and commissaries go out into the countryside with their wagons hoping to find rations. But the area has already felt the hard hand of war, and the foragers find that there are few in the vicinity of Amelia Court House who can answer Lee’s desperate appeal. The army spends the day in the vicinity of Amelia Court House vainly foraging for food. The animals are in worse shape than the men, for they were in terrible condition when the march from Richmond and Petersburg began. Army wagons return to their camps with little to offer the hungry troops and animals.
Lee’s army has lost a precious day at Amelia Court House. Lee must now make another crucial decision. Where does the Army of Northern Virginia go from here? Lee decides to move his army down the Richmond & Danville Railroad. From Amelia Court House the rail line runs southwest through Jetersville and then on to Burke’s Station (today’s Burkeville). At Burkeville Junction it crosses the South Side Railroad and then continues southwest to Danville. The South Side Railroad heads west to Lynchburg. Lee orders the Army of Northern Virginia to march from Amelia Court House on the morning of April 5. The cavalry takes the lead: they use the road paralleling the railroad.
Lee’s men are now subsisting on what few rations they may have been able to bring with them in their haversacks when they left Richmond and Petersburg on the night of April 2. There have been few if any rations issued to the troops, and many of the soldiers will go without food for another day unless they stop alongside the road and raid nearby homes. There are lots of stragglers. Many of them simply wander off and don’t come back. On April 1, before the Five Forks debacle and the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg, the army numbered about 56,000 men. Lee will surrender 28,000 men at Appomattox Court House. He is going to lose about half of his army by the time he reaches there.
Lee is aware that there is Union cavalry supported by part of the V Corps at Jetersville. When his army leaves Amelia Court House, he places Fitz Lee’s cavalry division in the lead. Sheridan and his cavalry reach Jetersville late on the afternoon of April 4, and they tear up railroad tracks, cut the telegraph wires, and take position, throwing up fence rail barricades.
The important question is: Will Union infantry arrive there before Lee’s army reaches Jetersville? Unfortunately for Lee, two Union infantry corps arrive at Jetersville on the morning of April 5. These are the men of Andrew Humphreys’s II Corps and Horatio Wright’s VI Corps; they take position on the right and left of the cavalry and throw up breastworks. As Lee closes on Jetersville, his cavalry reports that the Federals are there—infantry as well as cavalry in force.
Lee now faces another key decision. Should he try to fight his way through the Union force now blocking his path of retreat at Jetersville or should he go around them? He decides to avoid a fight at Jetersville and turn his army north through Amelia Springs. At Amelia Springs there is a road running east and west that passes through Deatonville and on to Farmville by way of a place that Lee is going to wish he had never heard of, Sailor’s Creek. By turning his men into the road to Amelia Springs, they have to spend another night on the road. This is another day in which his men will face the hardship of having to locate food. Lee calls for a night march on April 5.
As soon as the Federals learn that Lee has turned north and is passing through Amelia Springs, they make plans to continue the hot pursuit. Their plan is as follows: Pursuing on a road that goes west out of Jetersville toward Farmville will be Sheridan with his three cavalry divisions commanded by Tom Devin and George Custer under the close supervision of Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt, as well as the division led by Maj. Gen. George Crook. Following General Sheridan’s Cavalry Corps will be Wright’s VI Corps, which arrived in Jetersville on April 5. Griffin’s V Corps and Humphreys’s II Corps will pursue Lee’s army by heading north out of Jetersville toward Amelia Springs, before turning west. When they reach Rodophil, Griffin will veer to the north and march toward Painesville, where he will turn west again.
Ord’s Army of the James will follow the South Side Railroad. His two infantry corps will comprise the Federal southernmost column. Ord will be accompanied by Brig. Gen. Ranald S. Mackenzie’s cavalry division. John Parke’s IX Corps is to follow Ord’s column, realigning the railroad gauge as it marches. With all of these columns on the move, Grant casts a net hoping to ensnare Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia somewhere between Jetersville and Farmville.
On April 5 both armies continue to move westward, with Lee becoming ever more desperate in his efforts to escape Grant’s advance and make his way toward North Carolina. Absent that, perhaps he will seek refuge in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Lee’s army spends the night of April 5 passing through Amelia Springs and beyond. But there is little rest for Lee as his army trudges westward. Since leaving Richmond and Petersburg, the army has marched through the night on April 2. The men have marched all day and a good part of the night on April 3. They rest at Amelia Court House on April 4, but awaken on the morning of April 5 and marched west once again. They continue to trudge through the night on April 5. They are not marching continuously. There will be periodic halts, which give the men a chance to catch a few winks. Some of them sneak away when their officers are not looking and fade into the woods alongside the road.
Not all the Confederates are as lucky on April 5. Custis Lee escorts a wagon train, carrying with it Confederate military records, when he runs into a Union cavalry unit at Painesville, about six miles northwest of Amelia Springs.
This is the first time that any officially “mustered in” black Confederates will participate in the fighting. Of course, there will be black teamsters and black body servants, but they have not been officially mustered into the army. Lee had earlier authorized the creation of a black battalion. They are trained and drilled in the ways of combat and learn how to march. This battalion is accompanying Custis Lee’s command, and become engaged in the defense of the wagon train at Painesville.
On April 6 both armies continue to press westward. Part of Grant’s forces sweep south of the retreating Confederates; the other part presses hard upon Lee’s rear. Portions of the two armies collide at Sailor’s Creek, less than 10 miles east of Farmville and about 30 miles east of a place called Appomattox Court House.
Phil Sheridan is confident at this point because he has VI Corps with him. He and Horatio Wright, commander of VI Corps, get along well, having fought together in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan sends the cavalry commanded by Crook, Devin, and Custer down the road to Gill’s Mill, a short distance from a Little Sailor’s Creek crossing. Then the horse soldiers swing north in an effort to cut Lee’s line of retreat at Marshall House.
Lee has already passed Marshall House, riding with Longstreet’s I Corps. Following behind Longstreet’s corps is the division commanded by Maj. Gen. William “Little Billy” Mahone. These units have reached Rice’s Station, several miles beyond Marshall House. A wide gap has opened between the rear of Billy Mahone’s division and Lt. Gen. Richard H. “Dick” Anderson’s corps, consisting of Maj. Gens. Bushrod R. Johnson’s and George Pickett’s divisions.
When Anderson’s vanguard approaches Marshall House, they find Union cavalry in front of them. Following Pickett’s division, with no artillery, are units commanded by General Ewell. His force of nearly 6,000 men is composed of Confederate marines, sailors, heavy artillerists, and the men of Maj. Gen. Joseph Kershaw’s infantry division. With Union cavalry blocking the road at Marshall House, Lee’s army has been divided into two columns, with Union infantry bearing down on them.
The first Union cavalry to arrive at Marshall’s Crossroads is George Crook’s division. Johnson and Pickett must fight their way through Crook’s people if they are to reach Lee and Longstreet at Rice’s Station. Anderson’s corps is unable to advance. Union cavalry has blocked the road in front of them. Worse, Anderson’s infantry must also ward off attacks on their left flank by Custer’s and Devin’s cavalry.
After these commands pass through an intersection known as Holt’s Corner, the Confederate wagon train arrives. There is difficulty ahead in crossing Little Sailor’s Creek because the stream is two to four feet deep. If you are a short fellow, the water would be up to your belt. The banks are steep, and the crossing of Little Sailor’s Creek is slow. Because of the difficulty in crossing the creek, the teamsters turn the wagons into the road heading northwest from Holt’s Corner.
Gordon’s corps is not supposed to follow the wagon train, but there is a breakdown in command and control. Gordon assumes that he is to trail the wagon train. So he turns his corps at this location and follows the wagon train, away from the remainder of Lee’s army. You can imagine what is going to happen when they go down the steep grade into the area known as Double Bridges. Here the road crosses first Little and then Big Sailor’s Creek.
Sheridan sees his opportunity. He orders Wright to take VI Corps, turn into the road that leads southwest from Holt’s Corner, past the Hillsman House, across Sailor’s Creek, and attack Ewell’s rear. Humphreys’s II Corps takes the road that leads to the Double Bridges and pursues Gordon’s people. The Union cavalry continues to occupy their roadblock on the high ground between Little Sailor’s Creek and Big Sailor’s Creek at the Marshall Farm. The horse soldiers have brought to a halt the westward movement of Dick Anderson’s two divisions and Ewell’s column behind them.
Wright deploys two divisions of his corps adjacent to the Hillsman House northeast of Little Sailor’s Creek. The Confederates are positioned on the opposite ridgeline on open ground. Dick Ewell’s command is posted with Kershaw’s division south of the road on the high ground. The Confederate naval battalion, sailors and marines from the James River fleet, is astride the road. On the Confederate left are the men of Brig. Gen. Seth Barton’s brigade that had manned the Richmond defenses. Alongside these troops are the heavy artillerists, gunners from the Richmond defenses—without their artillery—commanded by Maj. Gen. George Washington Custis Lee.
When the Yankees advance, the Confederates show their spunk. Capt. John Randolph Tucker of the naval brigade orders his men to charge the enemy, yelling, “Board them, Board them,” just like if they were fighting a ship-to-ship engagement. The men go forward with cutlasses and pistols, joined by the men of the heavy artillery. The Yankees, not expecting a charge, fall back across Little Sailor’s Creek. All except the 37th Massachusetts, who are armed with Spencer repeating rifles. This regiment waits for the Confederates to cross to the other side of the stream and then opens fire upon their ranks as they get closer. The Confederate counterattack is thrown back.
The Federals then launch a counterattack, which sends the Confederates retreating to the safety of their lines, where they are quickly overwhelmed. The last men to surrender are the men in Commander Tucker’s naval brigade. The Federals capture seven Confederate generals as Ewell’s command disintegrates. One of the captured generals is Ewell himself. General Kershaw is taken prisoner, as are five other Confederate generals, including Robert E. Lee’s son Custis.
Disaster also strikes to the north at the Double Bridges. Hundreds of wagons, trying to get down the steep grade and cross the bridges, block the movement of Gordon’s corps. Gordon is forced to form a brigade east of the Double Bridges. Humphreys deploys an entire division and attacks. Panic grips the Confederate teamsters: 350 wagons are either captured or destroyed. The Federals capture another 1,700 Confederates, three cannon, and 13 stands of colors. The Confederates have had a very bad day here. Almost 6,000 Rebel prisoners will soon be en route to City Point. Lee has seen a quarter of his army disappear in one battle.
Custer and Devin do the unexpected. They mount a charge against Anderson’s front. Tom Custer, George’s brother, captures a Rebel flag, his second in the last 72 hours, and receives a second Medal of Honor. Crook’s horse soldiers continue to hold their roadblock, and Anderson’s corps breaks and flees.
Lee sits astride Traveller, up on the high ground on the far side of Big Sailor’s Creek, when he sees a mob headed his way. He exclaims in anguish and disbelief, “My God! Has the Army been dissolved?” Billy Mahone then tells Lee that he will form his division and prepare to repel an attack. Lee soon sees “Old Man” Brig. Gen. Henry Wise among the steady stream of panic-stricken men. Wise is Meade’s brother-in-law and was ex-governor of Virginia when John Brown raided Harpers Ferry. Wise comes up to Lee and tells him that he will make an attempt to create some kind of order out of the chaos that surrounds them.
Lee soon learns from some of the retreating soldiers that most of Ewell’s command has been captured as well as large numbers in Johnson’s and Pickett’s divisions. Many of the wagons have been destroyed or captured, but most of Gordon’s corps has managed to escape via the Jamestown Road. Lee is now left with Longstreet’s corps and Billy Mahone’s division as well as the cavalry divisions of Tom Rosser, Rooney Lee, and Fitz Lee. He orders what remains of the army to push on to Farmville.
Lee also sends instructions to army quartermasters in Lynchburg to assemble trains with rations and supplies for the soldiers and animals and rush them to Farmville. Finally, on the evening of April 6, Lee tells Richard Anderson, Bushrod Johnson, and George Pickett to go home because they no longer have commands. Unfortunately for Pickett, he makes the mistake of hanging around, leading to Lee snapping on seeing him, “Is that man still with the army?” So, there is going to be another night march for Lee’s weary, hungry men as they trudge on toward Farmville.
The hungry, exhausted Confederates are excited by what they see. There are cheers in the ranks. There are five trains loaded with much needed rations and forage waiting for them. The officers immediately issue rations to the men and forage for the animals. While this is taking place Lee receives horrible news. Billy Mahone’s division had been sent to the High Bridge, four miles downstream, where the South Side Railroad crosses the Appomattox River, with orders to destroy the bridges. His men managed to partially destroy the railroad bridge, but before they could torch the wagon bridge, it was captured by Yankees. The Federals will use it to cross the Appomattox River.
Upon learning the bad news, Lee orders the trains to leave Farmville and move to Pamplin’s Depot, where they are captured the next day. Those sent from Lynchburg arrive at Appomattox Station and there await the arrival of the army. Soldiers of James Longstreet’s corps and the Confederate cavalry gather up what few rations they have been issued and cross the Appomattox River at Farmville and burn both the railroad bridge and the highway bridge. The Federals soon close on the Confederates who regroup at Cumberland Church. But the Rebels stand tall and fend off the attacks of Humphreys’s II Corps. Able to reassemble his army at Cumberland Church, Lee prepares to move out again on another night march to Appomattox Court House.
When the Union troops enter Farmville, their morale is sky high. There is a torchlight parade, and as the troops march by, Grant stands on the porch of the Prince Edward Hotel. The soldiers raise a cheer for their commander as they pass by with bands playing. Grant has recently run into one of General Ewell’s relatives, who tells Grant that Confederate morale appears to have been broken by recent events. Perhaps Lee would now be willing to entertain suggestions for surrender. While he is in the hotel Grant drafts his first message to Lee—a formal request for a cease-fire between the two armies—and gives it to a courier. Under a flag of truce the staffer rides to Cumberland Church, Lee’s command post, three miles north of Farmville.
Lee reads Grant’s message to his assembled officers. Lee’s right-hand man, as he has been since his October return to duty, is James Longstreet. Personally, Lee is closer to Longstreet than he was to Stonewall Jackson. Upon hearing Lee read the message from Grant, Longstreet says, “Not yet!” Lee agrees. He responds to Grant, saying that he doesn’t think he needs to surrender, but inquires as to the proposed terms.
Lee orders his army to begin the march to Appomattox Court House on the night of April 7. They march throughout the night, and on the morning of April 8 Lee is feeling better. He’s beginning to think that he might escape the trap that Grant is weaving to snare his army.
On April 8, Lee approaches Appomattox Court House late in the day. His lead elements pass through the village. This is an artillery unit commanded by Brig. Gen. Reuben Lindsey Walker of III Corps. They push ahead to secure the area around Appomattox Station. Lee establishes his headquarters several miles east of Appomattox Court House. His army is strung out over a distance of five miles, from Appomattox Station, through Appomattox Court House, and on to New Hope Church. Lee is feeling more confident as his men have made a good march and appear to be temporarily out of danger. There have been no attacks by the Federals against his rear guard or flanks since leaving Cumberland Church. He does not believe that there are any Federals in front of him. He knows that the supply trains ordered west from Lynchburg have reached their Appomattox Station destination.
Having some free time available, Lee sits down late in the afternoon of April 8 and replies to a new message from Grant at Clifton, near New Store. Grant tells Lee that he is willing to discuss surrender terms, either face-to-face or through intermediaries. Lee shakes his head. He’s not willing to surrender; at best he will meet to chat about terms. When Grant receives Lee’s reply, he develops a bad headache. Lee has regained some of his confidence and now seems to be of the opinion that he might be able to escape with his army. It seems to Grant that Lee is stalling for time. Grant tries to sleep off his headache. He has mustard plasters applied to the back of his neck and his wrists. But he is unable to get some much needed rest and relief from his headache because several young staff officers are downstairs at the parlor piano singing songs. Grant is tone deaf and says he knows only two tunes: One is “Yankee Doodle” and the other isn’t. Grant is tolerant of the staff officers who are singing downstairs in the parlor.
If Grant had a headache, what happens that evening was sure to give the Confederates a more serious one.
We must turn our attention to General Lee’s chief of artillery, Brig. Gen. William Nelson Pendleton. It would have been better for the fortunes of the Confederacy if he had remained a minister. He had been an Episcopal rector in Lexington prior to entering service as commander of the Rockbridge Artillery. Through much of the war he had served as Lee’s chief of artillery. He is a kind, godly man but not very effective in high command. Pendleton rides from Lee’s headquarters tent near New Hope Church east of Appomattox Court House via the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road and heads for Appomattox Station. As he approaches Appomattox Station about 8 p.m., he hears the reports of several cannon in the distance. George Armstrong Custer and his cavalry, leading the Union column approaching via the road paralleling the railroad, have reached Appomattox Station. When Custer arrives, he finds the Confederate supply trains with rations for Lee’s army sitting on a spur near the station. He orders his horse soldiers to attack, and they scatter the small force defending the Confederate trains. After seizing the trains, Custer’s cavalry bears down on the camp of Walker’s artillery. Walker manages to get a few of his guns into position, and they fire several rounds before they are overrun. Custer’s people then form up again and turn into the Lynchburg Stage Road and head for Appomattox Court House.
Upon seeing the approaching Yankee cavalry, Pendleton and his staff wheel their horses around and ride back to Lee’s headquarters with bad news of Yankee cavalry in the Appomattox Station vicinity. This means that Walker’s artillery has been captured as well as the supply trains. Even worse, the enemy is now astride the Lynchburg Stage Road, blocking Lee’s escape route to the west.
Custer’s cavalry closes on Appomattox Court House from the west. Confederates posted near the court house fire upon them, and one of the approaching Union cavalrymen bites the dust. Having been fired upon by Confederates, Custer’s cavalry hesitates and falls back toward Appomattox Station. Meanwhile, Sheridan, Ord, and Griffin call upon their men to make a night march. Sheridan soon arrives at Appomattox Station with Crook’s and Devin’s cavalry divisions to join Custer’s. Col. Charles F. Smith’s cavalry brigade rides east along the Lynchburg Stage Road and takes post a half mile west of the court house. He also unlimbers a section of artillery. Soon the rest of Sheridan’s cavalry arrives as well as the vanguard of Charles Griffin’s V Corps. Ord reaches the station with Gibbon’s XXIV Corps. Now there is a powerful Union force in control of Appomattox Station.
So night falls on April 8 with Lee not fully aware of the situation. He seems determined to press on. No wonder Grant had a migraine headache; it looked as if Lee meant to fight it out to the end.
When Lee awakens on Palm Sunday morning, April 9, 1865, he knows that the supply trains at Appomattox Station are in Yankee hands. He also knows that Lindsey Walker’s artillery brigade has been captured.
Lee decides to gamble on a last attack. He knows that there is Federal cavalry along with two cannon astride a ridge west of the courthouse. He has John B. Gordon bring his men through the village. Once the Confederates have cleared the village, they deploy into line of battle. If he encounters only Union cavalry, Lee feels that Gordon will brush it aside without much difficulty and open a route toward Lynchburg.
On the Confederate right are the small cavalry divisions commanded by Gens. Tom Rosser and Rooney Lee and Col. Tom Munford. In the center are three small divisions of the once proud II Corps. Brig. Gen. Bryan Grimes’s division of North Carolina troops is on the right. Col. James A. Walker’s division of mostly Virginians is in the center. Brig. Gen. Clement A. Evans’s Georgians are on the left.
Gordon’s battle-hardened veterans advance, raising the old familiar Rebel Yell for the last time in the Army of Northern Virginia. They proudly move forward, their tattered, blood red battle flags billowing in the breeze, and they quickly overrun Charles H. Smith’s cavalry brigade, brushing them aside and taking two cannon—among the last the Army of Northern Virginia will capture during the war. They reach a ridge perpendicular to and south of the stage road, and just as they begin to think that the way is open to the west, they see a long line of blue infantry filing into position on a distant ridgeline. They are the men of John Gibbon’s XXIV Corps, and as they arrive on the field they block the Confederates’ escape route to the west. Also present are soldiers of William Birney’s black division.
Brig. Gen. William Cox’s North Carolinians halt. Gordon rides to the front and looks across the field through his binoculars at the lines of infantry supported by artillery. He sends a message back to Lee stating that he has fought his corps to a frazzle and cannot advance any farther unless reinforced. Lee has no available reinforcements to send. Longstreet’s corps is several miles to the east, protecting the rear of Lee’s army, which is threatened by Humphreys’s corps. Lee is faced with another critical decision. There is now Union infantry in his front, and Gordon has been checked. More important, the Yanks are astride the Lynchburg Stage Road. Lee has Gibbon’s infantry to his front, Griffin’s infantry to his left front, and Custer’s cavalry threatening his flank from the southeast. Lee turns to his officers, including Longstreet, and tells them there is nothing left for him to do other than go see General Grant—and that he would rather die a thousand deaths than do this.
Lee rides back to the rear of his army, where Longstreet has deployed his men on both sides of the Lynchburg Stage Road. He goes out in front of Longstreet’s picket line. There he sees a Union skirmish line beginning its advance against Longstreet’s front. He sends a Confederate messenger out in front of the lines under a flag of truce and with a request to meet with the commander of the Union skirmish line. Lee then rides out along the skirmish line. That officer soon arrives, and Lee tells him that he wants to see General Grant. The Union officer returns to his lines and refers the message up the chain of command to General Humphreys. Thank goodness there are no trigger-happy Federals on the skirmish line that day, who might have gunned down Robert E. Lee at this critical moment.
Soon a Union staffer rides back to Lee, still standing in front of the Confederate picket line and delivers a note from Grant, which he had written to Lee earlier in the morning, calling for his surrender. Lee quickly scribbles a reply and requests that it be immediately delivered to Grant. In it he asks to meet with Grant to discuss surrender.
Lee lies down under the shade of an apple tree beside the Lynchburg Stage Road near the Appomattox River. He’s had enough of fighting. Before Lee rode away from Longstreet’s lines on Traveller, he had been told by Longstreet that if the Federals did not offer favorable terms of surrender, then they should continue to fight. Artillery commander Brig. Gen. Porter Alexander has already come to Lee with a proposal to break up the army and retreat to the mountains and hollows of Virginia and continue the fight, employing guerrilla warfare tactics. Lee turns down Alexander’s proposal. He tells Porter Alexander that if they scatter the army and continue the fight using guerrilla warfare as he proposes, then the enemy will pursue them to all parts of the South, and the entire countryside would be devastated. Alexander later writes in his memoirs that the general was thinking on a higher level than he was when he made the proposal to Lee.
That same morning, Grant mounts up and rides over to visit with Generals Ord and Sheridan. He wears a simple sack coat, similar to the uniform of a private, with twin three-star shoulder straps. He does not have his sword with him, only a pair of binoculars hung around his shoulder. He is hardly a well-dressed officer on this day. He still has a splitting headache, primarily due to the rowdiness of his staff officers in the Clifton headquarters parlor the previous evening. If I had been Grant, I would have put them on the front line the next day. But Grant is a much kinder man than I. He soon leaves the Lynchburg Stage Road and cuts cross-country toward Appomattox Station. About 11 a.m. a courier catches up with the general and his party. The courier hands Grant the dispatch from Lee—the one agreeing to meet with Grant to surrender his army. He reads it and passes it to his chief of staff, Brig. Gen. John A. Rawlins. Miraculously, his headache disappears.
While all this is going on, George Custer rides into General Gordon’s command. As Longstreet later describes it, Custer’s wearing the biggest stars, a handsome red neckerchief, and a gold stickpin. He tells Gordon that he demands “in the name of General Sheridan, the surrender of this army.” Gordon is somewhat taken aback by Custer’s brash, flamboyant behavior and display of arrogance. Longstreet happens to be standing nearby. Longstreet is a big, burly man, and he happens to know Grant. He had been one of Grant’s groomsmen at his wedding in 1848. And Longstreet will respond in a rougher tone to George Armstrong Custer’s demand, saying, “How dare you come into our ranks when you know that a flag of truce is out! You are insulting General Grant! And you are insulting General Lee! Get out of here!” Having been chastised in such a forceful manner by Longstreet, Custer turns his horse around and rides off without muttering another word.
The two unluckiest men in the Union Army are going to be killed about noon on Palm Sunday. One belongs to the 155th Pennsylvania, now wearing Zouave uniforms. Pvt. William Robert Montgomery, not yet 19 years old, will be struck by Confederate artillery fire and die. First Lt. Hiram Clark, of the 185th New York, will be killed near the courthouse. His regiment belonged to Joshua Chamberlain’s brigade and was advancing toward the court house on the morning of April 9, 1865, when Clark was killed.
That afternoon Grant and Lee prepare to meet in the village near the courthouse.
Grant sends a staff officer, Col. Orville Babcock, an engineer, to meet Col. Charles Marshall of Lee’s staff for the purpose of finding a suitable location to meet in the village of Appomattox Court House. The two men enter the village and are impressed by the house occupied by Wilmer McLean. When the war broke out in 1861, Wilmer McLean had owned a farm on Bull Run near Blackburn’s and McLean’s Fords. His farm had suffered some damage from Union artillery fire on July 18, 1861. Both armies had foraged liberally on his farm and had demolished many of his rail fences during the Battle of Manassas. The two armies returned again 13 months later, during the fourth week of August, and again his property was damaged during the engagement.
So, he decided to move his family and purchase property in a place that will be out of the way of the two warring armies. In 1863, he bought this house. As Marshall and Babcock ride through the village looking for a place for the generals to meet, they come to the conclusion that the Wilmer McLean House is the place. McLean does his best to discourage the two men. The two staffers ignore his request that the meeting be held elsewhere and insist that his house be used.
General Lee, Colonel Marshall, and Pvt. Joshua O. Johns arrive first, about 3 p.m. Lee is riding Traveller and is dressed immaculately in a new uniform and carries a dress sword. Lee and Marshall go into the parlor of the McLean House; Johns remains outside to hold the horses. Lee takes a seat at one of the two tables that have been placed in the room and awaits the arrival of General Grant. Grant soon comes up on horseback via the Lynchburg Stage Road from the west. When he arrives, he dismounts and enters the parlor where Lee is sitting, with Marshall standing nearby.
The two commanding generals stand and greet one another and reminisce about their service in Winfield Scott’s army during the Mexican War. Grant remembers Lee from the war. Lee had been a member of Scott’s staff and was one of his most important officers. Grant was a lieutenant in the Fourth U.S. Infantry Regiment. He was a brave soldier and the regimental quartermaster. But there’s no way that Lee would have known every regimental quartermaster in an army of 13,000 soldiers. Grant seems reluctant to focus on the reason for this meeting between the two generals. After several minutes of courteous conversation have passed between the two, Lee takes the lead and brings the conversation back to the subject at hand. The two generals then take their respective seats in the parlor.
There soon assembled in the parlor a large group of Yankee officers. The room couldn’t possibly hold all the officers who later claim they were in the parlor when the surrender takes place. Custer is out in the hallway and will occasionally peek in through the doorway to see what is happening.
Now, if you’re a “good Confederate,” you think that General Grant comes into the parlor dressed in a private’s uniform and Lee will hand him his sword and be too kind to take it back, thinking that Grant was some kind of flunky. But that isn’t how the meeting between the two men goes. The two sit down to negotiate the surrender terms for Lee’s army. Grant thinks rather rapidly, but not as quickly as Sherman. Sherman can write almost as fast as he thinks. Hence, he has very bad punctuation, or none at all, in much of his writing.
Grant had left his Clifton headquarters early that day, and he had not expected Lee to offer the surrender of his army at this time. So he had dressed as he usually did in the field. Grant is not the type of person who believes in shiny brass buttons and braid, or fuss and feathers. He modeled himself in many ways after General Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War, who dressed plainly. But he will later regret it when he arrives here and sees how Lee is dressed for the meeting. It appears that he is patronizing Lee by showing up in a plain uniform with mud on his trousers and boots.
Grant drafts the terms of surrender on his manifold. The surrender document will contain much of what was previously referenced in correspondence. The Confederates are to prepare muster rolls and to be paroled and not fight again until exchanged. Public property is to be turned over to the United States government. Officers will be allowed to retain their private property. Grant will go far beyond anything Lincoln has authorized him to do. The Confederates, upon receiving their paroles not to fight again until exchanged, will be allowed to return home. And as long as they remain there and observe the terms of their parole and the laws of the land, they will remain “undisturbed” by the U.S. government. Grant has inserted himself between those in the government who want to exact revenge and retribution upon high-level officers in the Confederate Army.
Upon reviewing the surrender document, Lee adds smalls changes to the document where Grant has left out a word or two. He wants to add a clause allowing the men to keep their horses and mules for the planting season. Grant explains that the surrender document will remain as written, but he will issue orders that allow the men to keep their horses and mules. Lee says that this will foster better relations between the two sides. Lee then says that his men and the Union prisoners in their custody are in need of food. Grant then issues orders to have army rations distributed to the hungry Confederates and to the Union prisoners they have captured.
Having signed the surrender document, Lee rises and shakes hands with Grant. Lee and Colonel Marshall leave the parlor with their hats and gloves in hand. They step out onto the porch of the McLean House. Lee puts on his hat and slaps his gloves into his left hand before slowly putting them on. He and Marshall slowly descend the stairs of the front porch and walk toward Private Johns. Lee slowly takes Traveller’s reins and gently pats his nose. And then he puts his left foot in the stirrup and swings slowly into the saddle, uttering an imperceptible groan or sigh.
Meanwhile, Grant and other Union officers have come out onto the porch. As Lee and his small party prepare to ride away, Grant and the Union officers remove their hats. Lee tips his hat in acknowledgment of their courteous gesture and slowly turns his horse away to begin the difficult journey back to his headquarters camp. Thus ends one of the great moments in American history.
One can argue that this is the high point in the lives of these two great Americans. Because as much as they are able to have any control over the course of future events, they have placed the nation on a path to peaceful reconciliation before any of the politicians can get involved.
As Lee returns to his headquarters and rides east along the Lynchburg Stage Road, large numbers of his men crowd around him. He has yet to issue his now famous Farewell Address. Many of the soldiers ask him if it is true about the rumor circulating through the ranks that the army has been surrendered to General Grant. He slowly rides on through his men and arrives at his headquarters in a rather foul mood. After slowly dismounting, he is seen by his staff pacing back and forth in camp, remembering the day’s fateful events. He can hear cheers in the camps of the enemy as he continues to pace back and forth.
During the next several days both armies prepare for the formal surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Commissioners meet to iron out procedures; Union soldiers commandeer a local printing press and begin to churn out parole forms. While the remaining cavalry units surrender on April 10 and artillery units turn in their cannon on April 11, the climax of the surrender ceremony is on April 12, 1865—four years to the day after Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter.
The stately Wilmer McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia, where Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant.
As the infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia prepares to march into Appomattox Court House to surrender their arms and colors, Union soldiers in two ranks line both sides of the old Lynchburg Stage Road. They are drawn from the first division of the Union V Corps. Brig. Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain has been given the task of overseeing the formal surrender of Confederate arms. The 20th Maine will be one of the regiments standing in double ranks next to the road. Also present is the 185th New York as well as the 198th Pennsylvania, new regiments that Chamberlain had led in the final campaign. Chamberlain takes position next to the road, sitting on his horse Charlemagne.
If we were here on April 12, 1865, we could look east and see a long line of butternut and gray winding its way along the road in the distance. Out in front of the long gray column is the famous Stonewall Division. And in the van of the division are the pitiful remnants of the once proud Stonewall Brigade, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia. As the long column approaches the Appomattox River, the Rebels temporarily disappear from view and then slowly reappear as they ascend the hill leading to Appomattox Court House. The column appears to be moving slowly and listlessly as it ascends the hill, with blood red battle flags, crowded together in the depleted ranks, blowing in the breeze or hanging limp on their staffs as they approach the top of the hill.
General Gordon is at the head of the column, riding a magnificent black horse with his head tilted downward. And as Gordon approaches, Chamberlain sits astride Charlemagne. Chamberlain issues an order for his men to go to right shoulder shift, and the soldiers lining both sides of the road come to the marching salute. Gordon hears the sound of shifting of arms. He quickly turns and gives a similar order to his men, and they come from right shoulder shift to shoulder arms, a salute, as they continue to march forward. When he reaches the spot where Chamberlain and Charlemagne are positioned beside the road, Gordon wheels his beautiful black steed to the left to front them. He takes the reins in his left hand, forcing his mount’s head downward; to Chamberlain, it looks like Gordon and his horse have become one. He then raises the sword hilt to his chin, with the blade turned sideways, and then he lowers the blade so that its tip touches his boot. Chamberlain smartly responds to Gordon—honor saluting honor. Gordon wheels his steed to the right and rides forward again, but this time sitting erect in the saddle, with his drawn sword held tight by his side.
The long column continues to pass for more than four hours as regiment after regiment passes in front of Chamberlain and his men lining the road. They march by the court house and past the McLean House, and there they form into ranks in the road. They then stack arms and place their accouterments on top of the stacked arms. They then lay their furled regimental colors on top of the stacked arms and turn to march off down the road to the west, many of them with tears in their eyes. Some soldiers rush forward to tear fragments from the flags they have followed for four long years.
After a brigade has passed through the village in this manner, Union troops gather up the arms and accoutrements and battle flags and load them into wagons and drive off. The process will be repeated for the next Confederate brigade until all of the Confederates have surrendered their arms, accoutrements, and battle flags. By the end of the day, approximately 28,250 Confederates will be paroled. And as soon as the men have been paroled and have received their passes, they head off for their homes, using the best means available. Many of them must walk home if they have no horses, or bum rides on wagons, or catch a train, if possible.