…[I] 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 C.S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.…
—Gen. U. S. Grant to Gen. Robert E. Lee, April 7, 1865
The Soldiers’ Cemetery in Alexandria, Va., seen in this c. 1865 photograph, is now called Alexandria National Cemetery. It was one of the original fourteen national cemeteries established in 1862.
THE SOUTH WAS TEETERING on the brink of collapse in this, the beginning of the final year of war. Gone were the bright hopes and dreams of an easy separation from the United States and present were the realities—Tennessee was gone with Hood’s defeat at Nashville; Sherman was in Savannah and Atlanta lay in ruins; one serious attempt to close Wilmington had been made and another was sure to come. Peace initiatives were discussed, but nothing happened. Where, or even when, would it end?
After the fiasco on Christmas Day 1864, when Major Gen. Ben Butler’s troops had been put ashore to assault Ft. Fisher at Wilmington, and had then been withdrawn immediately with only a halfhearted effort made, Admiral David D. Porter wrote to Grant asking that another expedition be organized but that another commander be assigned. Grant immediately replied in the affirmative, and a new expedition was begun. Porter, to support the operation, began issuing orders for 66 warships to assemble off the Wilmington coast with, as he put it, “every shell that can be carried” for shore bombardment.
Grant assigned Major Gen. Alfred H. Terry to command the army element of the assault on Ft. Fisher, the main bastion guarding Wilmington, N.C. In his instructions to Terry, Grant said: “I have served with Admiral Porter and know that you can rely on his judgment and his nerve to undertake what he proposes. I would, therefore, defer to him as much as is consistent with your own responsibilities.” Grant also notified Porter that Terry was coming as the commander of the army troops.
Sherman, in concert with Dahlgren, began moving some of his troops by transport from Savannah, Ga., to Beaufort, S.C., thereby flanking the Confederate troops between the two points.
The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution was a matter of priority for Lincoln in this session of the U.S. Congress. Having failed passage before, this time it had passed the Senate and was before the House of Representatives.
Grant, finally tired of Butler’s fumbling and politicking, asked Lincoln to remove Butler from command of the Army of the James. Grant, rightly so, felt that there was no confidence in Butler’s ability. Butler’s latest failure was on January 2, a failed attempt to build a canal at Trent’s Reach near Drewry’s Bluff on the James River. Immediately prior to that, he had demanded, by right of seniority, the command of the ill-fated campaign against Ft. Fisher in December 1864. That expedition was completely botched, all due to Butler’s incompetence.
Lincoln, who had procrastinated before about Butler’s removal from active duty, finally had his fill and, at Grant’s request, relieved Butler from the active list, and the general would command no more. Controversial from beginning to end, Butler was a prime example of the political generals who permeated the beginning of the war—most of the others were long since gone. Major Gen. E. O. C. Ord was named as Butler’s replacement.
Maj. Gen. Alfred Howe Terry (1827–90) attended Yale Law School and served as the clerk of the Superior Court of New Haven County, Ct., before joining the military. He led the Union attack on Ft. Fisher in January of 1865.
This commemorative print honors the joint resolution to abolish slavery in Missouri, which was proposed on January 11, 1864. It features the figures of Liberty (left), Justice (bottom) and Missouri (right). At Justice’s feet, a white child holds a document labeled “Natural Philosophy”; a black child holds the “Rights of Man.”
The spies were active along the Potomac, crossing the river in India-rubber rafts, in the vicinity of Port Tobacco, as Secretary Welles advised Commander F. A. Parker:
These messengers, wear metal buttons, upon the inside of which dispatches are most minutely photographed, not perceptible to the naked eye, but are easily read by the aid of a powerful lens.
In Missouri, the Constitutional Convention adopted a resolution abolishing slavery within the state.
Major Gen. Thomas L. Rosser, CSA, led a raid on Beverly, W.Va., that netted him 580 prisoners and tons of rations. Rosser had previously raided in the Cumberland, Md., area.
In Richmond, President Davis was trying, without much luck, to gather all available troops to oppose Sherman’s march through the Carolinas.
The largest American fleet ever to be assembled under one command sailed from Beaufort, S.C., up the Atlantic coast towards Wilmington and Ft. Fisher. The army forces under Major Gen. Terry had met with Admiral Porter’s fleet, and the assault of Ft. Fisher was set. The armada arrived off the coast, and the Navy prepared for the bombardment, which was to be followed by the landing of 10,000 soldiers, sailors and Marines.
President Davis, still mindful of the problems to be encountered with Sherman’s advance, wrote Gen. Richard Taylor in the west that the remnants of Hood’s army should be divided between his (Taylor’s) command and the command to be named in the east. Troop shortages were plaguing everyone.
Jackman, Pvt., “The Orphan Brigade,” Milledgeville, Ga., wrote:
The Judge and I went into Milledgeville this morning. Visited the State House which we found all topsy-turvy. The desks overturned, the archives scattered over the floor—in some places the papers being on the floor a foot deep. This was done by Sherman’s men. There are some splendid portraits in the Representative Hall and in the Senate Chamber which are in status quo. The arsenal standing in the State House yard was burned. We also visited the penitentiary which was also burned by Sherman’s Army. With the exception of the arsenal and penitentiary and perhaps a little fencing, we could see no further indication of the destruction of property about the town. The railroad depot is in ashes and a bridge across a slough burned. We passed through the cemetery and saw a fine monument to the memory of a Mr. Jordan. The country between here and Macon is not as much torn up as I had expected to see. With the exception of one or two houses, only fences were burned. Griswoldville was the worst served—a large factory for making pistols being destroyed. I saw no dwellings had been burned in the village—that is, no signs of any having been burned, rather. …
Federal naval bombardment was pouring 100 shells per minute into Ft. Fisher. The Confederates had suffered 300 casualties and could not bury their dead because of the lethal shrapnel flying around. Only one gun on the land face of the fort was left in a serviceable condition, all the others had been dismounted by the incessant naval gunfire.
The bombardment of Ft. Fisher is depicted in this undated print published by Endicott & Co.
On January 15, 1865, Union forces captured the Confederate stronghold of Ft. Fisher, near Wilmington, N.C.—one of the South’s most strategic seaports. Timothy O’Sullivan’s photograph shows the area in the fort known as “the pulpit” after its capture.
Meanwhile, Gen. Terry had prepared defensive works facing his approaches from Wilmington to protect his rear from a possible assault by the 6,000 Rebel troops at Wilmington under Gen. Braxton Bragg. During the day, the CSS Chickamauga, based at Wilmington, came down and fired on Terry’s Union troops from her position on the Cape Fear River.
After the constant crashing and exploding of shells within the confines of Ft. Fisher, the end of the bombardment at 3 PM must have been a deafening silence. The Confederate gunners, however, manned the guns that were left and began firing on the assaulting Federals. The naval landing force was the first target available, the Army troops having farther to come, and as the landing party crossed the beach the defenders’ fire was point-blank, “ploughing lanes in the ranks.” The naval landing force, under the command of Lt. Commander K. Ran dolph Breese, pressed the attack, with one group headed by Lt. Commander Thomas O. Selfridge reaching the top of the parapet and temporarily breaching the defenses, but it was driven back. Ensign Robley D. Evans—later to become a Rear Admiral with the sobriquet “Fighting Bob”—described the command problem of the assault: “All the officers, in their anxiety to be the first into the fort, had advanced to the heads of the columns, leaving no one to steady the men in behind; and it was in this way we were defeated, by the men breaking from the rear.”
The Confederates were cheering upon the repulse of the naval force when they realized that Terry’s forces had taken the western end of the fort in strength. A counterattack was immediately launched and hand-to-hand fighting soon ensued. Reinforcements rushing to the western end from other points of the fort now were hit by naval gunfire, firing with pinpoint accuracy and destroying the Confederate columns as they moved. Other ships fired on the riverbank behind the fort to prevent any reinforcements from that direction. Gen. Whiting was mortally wounded during the assault, and command was taken by Major James Reilly after Col. Lamb was hit in the hip by a bullet. Reilly fought doggedly and well but was overwhelmed by the onrushing Union troops and the naval gun fire. He was driven from the fort and surrendered his men later that night.
Union casualties were heavy, nearly 1,000 killed or wounded, to about half that number for the Confederates. Col. Lamb, the gallant defender, said of the assault:
For the first time in the history of sieges the land defenses of the works were destroyed, not by any act of the besieging army, but by the concentrated fire, direct and enfilading, of an immense fleet poured into them without intermission, until torpedo wires were cut, palisades breached so they actually offered cover for assailants, and the slopes of the work were rendered practicable for assault.
The magnificent cooperation between Terry and Porter signaled the end to the last haven for blockade runners supplying the Confederacy. Admiral Porter wired Secretary Welles, “Fort Fisher is ours.”
Francis Preston Blair, Sr., had been in Richmond for several days to talk to President Davis informally about peace. While there, Davis gave him a letter for Lincoln. On his return, Blair went to the White House to talk to President Lincoln about his visit with Davis and gave him the letter. The letter spoke of peace negotiations between the two nations, not about reunification of the United States. Lincoln turned the offer down. Blair would return to Richmond for more talks, but nothing would come of them.
The Confederate Congress passed a resolution stating that Gen. Robert E. Lee should be given the command of all Confederate armies.
At Ft. Fisher, celebrating soldiers, sailors and Marines were firing off their weapons when one shot accidentally set off a powder magazine which exploded, killing about 25, wounding nearly 70, and 13 men were never found.
Near Wilmington, Braxton Bragg ordered the destruction of the remaining forts guarding the port, this despite urgings from President Davis that Bragg attempt to retake Ft. Fisher. With Ft. Fisher lost, the port was effectively closed and there was no need for the Confederates to remain. As the munitions in the forts were blown up and the buildings fired, the Confederate garrisons moved towards Ft. Anderson.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Governor’s Island, New York City, N.Y., wrote:
Very cold and windy. Heard to-day from the rest of my comrades in rebel prisons by an escaped prisoner belonging to Company D of the regiment. We learned with deep regret that they were suffering horribly, even worse than at Andersonville. Instead of being paroled and sent home as they had been led to believe, they were sent to Florida and were kept moving from place to place, almost naked and nearly starved.
Knowing that the blockade runners, unaware of the capture of Ft. Fisher, would attempt to run in to Wilmington, Admiral Porter ordered the signal lights on the Mound (a towering man-made hill used to hold a flaring light to signal that all was clear in the harbor) “… properly trimmed and lighted, as has been the custom with the rebels during the blockade. Have the lights lighted to-night and see that no vessel inside displays a light, and be ready to grab anyone that enters.”
Francis P. Blair, Sr., was going back to Richmond for further talks with President Davis. Lincoln, on the exit interview, gave Blair a letter to Davis in which he spelled out that he would be willing to talk to anyone about peace as it dealt with “our one common country.” Therein lay the problem, Davis insisting that there were “two nations.”
Sherman’s army was ordered to begin its march north from Savannah and Beaufort, S.C. The army moved in stages, not as one force. The objective was Goldsborough, N.C., on March 15, less than 60 days away.
Lincoln asked Grant if there was a place in his “military family” for Lincoln’s son Robert. Capt. Robert Lincoln was appointed as assistant adjutant general on Grant’s staff shortly thereafter.
Gen. Lee, reluctantly, told President Davis that the general would take any assignment given him. However, he felt that if assigned as commander-in-chief, he would not be able to do any good. In essence, it was too late.
Robert Todd Lincoln (1843–1926), seen in this c. 1865 photograph, was the only one of President Lincoln’s four sons to survive past his teenage years. He served under Gen. Grant in the Union Army, and later served as the U.S. Secretary of War (1881–85).
The blockade runners Stag and Charlotte, completely unaware that Ft. Fisher had fallen, and noting the light burning on the Mound, entered the port and anchored near the USS Malvern, flagship of Admiral D. D. Porter. They were immediately captured.
Sherman’s march along the coast included the areas along the railroad running to Branchville, S.C. Sherman notified Gen. Blair not to destroy the railroad, since it would possibly be needed later. Sherman gave all indications of heading towards Charleston.
In Richmond, Davis signed an act creating the position of General-in-Chief of Confederate Armies, the position obviously intended for Robert E. Lee.
In Mississippi, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor assumed command of the remainder of the Army of Tennessee, a motley collection, 17,700 men strong, many sick. John Bell Hood left for Richmond. Whatever men Taylor had, he would send most of them east to Gen. Joe Johnston in the Carolinas to try to stop Sherman. Johnston later reported that due to sickness, desertions, etc., he eventually received only about 5,000. This left Taylor with a large piece of geography and few troops.
The Confederate Congress again offered to exchange prisoners, and this time Grant accepted. Many Union prisoners who were then suffering in Southern prison camps would shortly be home.
President Lincoln notified Vice President–Elect Andrew Johnson that he shouldn’t be late for the inauguration on March 4th.
Sherman was notified by Grant that Lee would not send any troops from Petersburg to bolster the Confederate forces in the Carolinas. Sherman’s armies moved through a flooded countryside, the past four days having been nothing but rain.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Governor’s Island, New York City, N.Y., wrote:
A petition has been sent to General Sherman, setting forth our grievances and asking for relief, which we have confidence will follow as soon as it reaches him. A copy of the petition was also sent to the New York Herald for publication. The language of the petition animadverted in the strongest terms upon the conduct of the government officials upon the island.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Governor’s Island, New York City, N.Y., wrote:
Very cold to-day. Yesterday a wife came to see her husband who was confined in the Castle with us. She was denied the privilege of seeing him. She could only approach as far as the gate. In his frenzy the out raged husband threw himself over the banister and broke his leg.
Nichols, Major, USA, Pocotaligo, S.C., wrote:
In the outset of the campaign orders of a general character were issued. All sick, wounded and incompetent soldiers were left behind. Transportation was reduced to the smallest possible space. The amount of hard bread, coffee and salt, the number of wagons for the different headquarters and for each regiment and battery and the size of the supply-train were specified. The number of officers to occupy a tent, and the kind of tent to be used, were also designated. Except for the uses of the adjutant’s offices, the wall-tent, which we look back upon with tenderest gratitude, is forbidden, and two officers are permitted to share the “fly” which formerly was stretched over the wall tent. …
Wall-tents are not the only luxuries now forbid den. Chairs, camp-cots, trunks and all unnecessary personal baggage are thrown out without exception. No officer is permitted to take with him more horses than the regulations allow, and he is also restricted in the number of his servants. In truth, General Sherman has reduced the army to its simplest and most effective fighting and marching conditions. … In all these personal sacrifices General Sherman demands nothing of his soldiers which he does not himself share. His staff is smaller than that of any brigade commander in the army. He has fewer servants and horses than the military regulations allow; his baggage is reduced to the smallest possible limit; he sleeps in a fly-tent like the rest of us, rejecting the effeminacy of a house. …
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Governor’s Island, New York City, N.Y., wrote:
Last evening witnessed the perpetration of an outrageous act which came well nigh creating a scene of great confusion and danger. It was no less than an order for a portion of the soldiers to vacate their rooms and go out in the cold so as to give room to one hundred and fifty rebel prisoners who had arrived that evening. We protested, refused to obey the order and dared them to do their worst. Afterwards the order was rescinded and quiet was restored.
Sherman began to veer away from the coast, towards the interior of South Carolina. Word had reached Sherman that reinforcements were coming from George Thomas’s army in Tennessee to him. Few knew that the reinforcements were destined for Wilmington and were already en route.
In the Petersburg lines, the soldiers, blue and gray, huddled against the cold. The major difference was that the Union men were better fed and could stand the cold better.
President Lincoln issued passes for the three Confederate Commissioners to enter Union lines at Ft. Monroe, Va. This had been the traditional point of entry for flag-of-truce boats, etc., going between the two opponents.
Sherman turned northwest and headed his avalanche of blue towards Columbia, S.C. This irresistible tide would smash South Carolina, where it had only “touched” Georgia.
Nichols, Major, USA, Army of the Tennessee, S.C., wrote:
During Sherman’s march from Savannah back up through the Carolinas in January of 1865, Gen. Oliver O. Howard was ordered to establish Pocotaligo, S.C., as a supply depot for Federal troops. This sketch of Pocotaligo in February of 1865 was created by Theodore Davis.
The actual invasion of South Carolina has begun. … The well-known sight of columns of black smoke meets our gaze again; this time houses are burning, and South Carolina has commenced to pay an instalment, long overdue, on her debt to justice and humanity. With the help of God, we will have principal and interest before we leave her borders. There is a terrible gladness in the realization of so many hopes and wishes. This cowardly traitor state, secure from harm, as she thought, in her central position, with hellish haste dragged her Southern sisters into the caldron of secession. Little did she dream that the hated flag would again wave over her soil; but this bright morning a thousand Union banners are floating in the breeze, and the ground trembles beneath the tramp of thousands of brave Northernmen, who know their mission, and will perform it to the end.
At long last, the United States House of Representatives passed the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery by a vote of 119 to 56. It would be December 18, 1865, before two-thirds of the states approved the Amendment and it would become law.
President Davis proposed, and the Confederate Congress promptly approved, the appointment of Gen. Robert E. Lee as General-in-Chief of all Confederate Armies. It was too late to have any effect, most of the armies having melted away.
In Washington, Lincoln directed Secretary of State Seward to go to Ft. Monroe to meet with the “peace” committee from Richmond. The guidelines had not changed. One common country, not two as Davis had insisted.
Sherman continued his march towards Columbia, the smoke still rising from burning buildings, the troops building corduroy roads through the swamps and the movement never stopping. What little resistance they met was outflanked and brushed aside.
William Henry Seward (1801–72) was Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. In early 1865, he led a peace delegation from Washington to Ft. Monroe, Va.
FEBRUARY 1865 
FEBRUARY’S COLD, WINTRY BREATH was only partially responsible for the chill that settled in the South. Things were not going well for Richmond’s government. First Wilmington, and then Charleston fell, the last hope of survival cut by Federal bayonets and naval guns. As Raphael Semmes said: “… the anaconda had, at last, wound his fatal folds on us.” The blockade was complete.
While things were quiet at Petersburg and in Nashville, Sherman had left Savannah and started north towards Charleston along the coast, only to veer towards Columbia. Carolina was burning!
Illinois became the first state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Earlier today, Lincoln wired Grant to, “Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your Military movements, or plans,” obviously referring to the “peace committee” going to Ft. Monroe from Richmond.
Gen. Slocum, commanding Sherman’s left wing, was having a hard time with flooded rivers and streams and getting his troops across the Savannah River at Sister’s Ferry, despite the assistance of the Federal Navy. Gen. Howard, Sherman’s right wing, encountered burned bridges and felled trees that presented few problems to Sherman’s trained engineers and Pioneer battalions. They had plenty of experience with those obstacles before. Progress, though slow, was steady.
Gen. William Hardee had a makeshift group of soldiers to oppose Sherman’s legions and, despite calls for help to the local governments, no reinforcements were in sight. The remnants of the Army of Tennessee were inbound, supposedly, but for the present, nothing. The best Hardee could do was to set his cavalry yapping at the heels and flanks of the blue army.
As Sherman’s troops marched northward toward Columbia, they passed through McPhersonville, S.C., which they torched on February 1, 1865. This engraving of the event, after a drawing by William Waud, was published in Harper’s Weekly the following month.
Sgt. Barber, still recuperating from Andersonville, and free of Governor’s Island, sailed for Hilton Head, S.C.
In Richmond, President Davis accepted the resignation of Secretary of War Seddon, with reluctance, and under considerable pressure from the Confederate Congress.
President Lincoln left Washington for Hampton Roads, Va., where the three Confederate commissioners had arrived yesterday evening by steamer. Rhode Island and Michigan became the second and third states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment.
At Ft. Monroe, Va., the five men, representing North and South, sat in the salon of the steamer River Queen and discussed peace possibilities. Lincoln said that the national authority of the United States must be recognized within the rebellious states before anything else could even be considered. There was some talk of a “joint” operation against France in Mexico, but again Lincoln said this would mean recognizing the Confederacy as a separate government, and that this would not be done. Armistice was suggested. Lincoln said this was impossible until Federal authority was reestablished throughout the country. The Southern representatives said that this sounded like unconditional surrender, but Seward demurred, saying that the term had never been used. Lincoln indicated that his terms for reconstruction would be liberal, but he had no control over Congress in this matter. In all, it was a total bust for the Southern commissioners. There would be no peace for the South before surrender.
Maryland, New York and West Virginia ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.
Sherman’s Seventeenth Corps cleared the Confederates from Rivers’ Bridge by crossing three miles of swamp, water sometimes up to their shoulders, and then outflanking the Rebels. From this point on the Salkehatchie River, the blue columns moved rapidly on towards Columbia.
Lt. Commander William Cushing, USS Monticello, took a boat expedition on a raid up Little River, S.C., near the North Carolina border. Cushing, the officer who sank the CSS Albemarle, was no stranger to small-boat operations. Progressing as far as All Saints Parish, he captured a number of Confederate soldiers and a quantity of cotton. He then placed a guard on that town and remained overnight.
Sherman’s whole front was now in motion, headed for Columbia. Slocum’s problems getting across the flooded Savannah River had been solved, and he was making good time in the higher, less swampy, terrain. There was skirmishing at several points across the front. The smoke was still rising from the burned houses, barns, etc. President Davis, in Richmond, was discouraged and he placed Beauregard in charge of the defense of the Carolinas.
At City Point, Va., Grant sent the Second and Fifth Corps south and west, again extending the line that Lee would have to cover with his dwindling Confederate forces. The objective was the railroads leading south, which supplied the Confederate Army and the Virginia civilians. The action was at Hatcher’s Run and the Boydton Plank Road, where the Federals were virtually unopposed.
Sherman was still advancing on Columbia, with part of the Union forces on the road to Millersville and Buford, others on the road to Barnwell. The smoke still rose on the horizon.
Alfred R. Waud’s drawing of the Fifth Corps battling the Confederates at Hatcher’s Run, Va., in February of 1865
At Hatcher’s Run, south of Petersburg, the Federals ran into some resistance, and in the melee Brig. Gen. John Pegram, CSA, was killed. While the Federals held the Boydton Plank Road with little difficulty, the fighting at Hatcher’s Run caused a short retreat for Warren’s Fifth Corps when more Confederate troops arrived.
Sherman’s columns were fighting for every ford and bridge on the numerous rivers bisecting their march route. The delays were usually neither long nor costly, but they were delays. Fighting took place on the Little Salkehatchie River, at Fish-burn’s Plantation and near Barnwell, S.C. Most of the Confederates were outflanked, rather than taken head-on.
Major Gen. John Cabell Breckinridge was named Secretary of War in Davis’s Cabinet, replacing James A. Seddon. Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed command of all Confederate Armies. Both appointments were too late to do any good.
Maine and Kansas approved the Thirteenth Amendment. In Delaware, the Amendment failed by one vote.
At Hatcher’s Run, south and west of Petersburg, the Federals dug in to stay, stretching the Confederate lines to nearly 37 miles of fortifications. Lee had only about 46,000 men to man the trenches—not much over 1,000 men per mile—very thin.
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.
Sherman’s advance continued, the blue columns outflanking the Confederate positions, the Confederates withdrawing. In addition to the burning of houses and barns, the railroads were being demolished as the Federal army progressed. Fighting for the fords of the Edisto and South Edisto Rivers continued. An escaped Union prisoner from Florence, S.C., reported that the Union prisoners there were in desperate straits, very low on rations.
Virginia Unionists approved the Thirteenth Amendment. All was quiet along the Petersburg lines, the troops huddled against the snow and sleet.
In Richmond, Lee took over as General-in-Chief, saying that no major command changes would be made at this time. Lee was fully aware of the man power problems, so he proposed, and Davis approved, a pardon to deserters who would return to duty within 30 days.
Ohio and Missouri ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.
Capt. Raphael Semmes, late of the CSS Alaba ma, was in Richmond, and had been nominated for the rank of Rear Admiral in the Confederate Provisional Navy. He was assigned to command the James River Squadron, replacing Commodore J. K. Mitchell, a step Semmes took most reluctantly, he and Mitchell being old friends.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Pocotaligo, S.C., wrote:
The men belonging to the different corps were organized into companies to-day, my squad belonging to Company G, 17th army corps. Six hundred more soldiers arrived today. One thousand more are expected this evening. Heard to-day that Sherman had taken Branchville, S.C., and was marching on Columbia, the capital of the State. Yesterday the quartermaster of this post was shot by guerrillas while out a short distance from camp. Six of our men have been found hung and their bodies were outraged and mutilated in the most shameful manner. The country is swarming with guerrillas and cut-throats.
Sherman’s troops were now in positions between the Confederates on the coast at Charleston and those in Augusta, Ga. In neither place did the South have sufficient men assembled to oppose Union forces successfully. There was fighting in the vicinity of Orangeburg, Aiken and around Johnson’s Station. President Davis wired Hardee that if the Confederate army could be gathered around Charleston, the Union army could be defeated—this at a time when Beauregard was counseling evacuation of Charleston to save the army. In South Carolina, the weather remained good, roads dry.
Sherman’s army now approached the Congaree River, S.C., which the troops would cross on the 14th Tuesday. Sherman had severed his supply line to the sea while at Augusta, Ga., and now relied on foraging. The weather remained good and clear. Progress of the columns was marked again by rising columns of black smoke as the troops burned the countryside.
Nichols, Major, USA, Army of the Tennessee, S.C., wrote:
The magnificent spectacle of a fire in the woods was the striking episode of our march yesterday. The army moved through a tract of hilly country which was thickly clothed with pine forests. Many of the trees were dead, and all had been scraped in order to obtain the resinous substance which formed their fruit and life. Accidently, or otherwise, the dry leaves and pine cones had caught fire, which ignited these trees, and for miles the woods were on fire. It was grand and sometimes awful to see the flames flying over the ground like a frightened steed. As we approached one of these forests, filled with flames and pitch black smoke, it appeared as if we were about to realize the imaginings of childhood, and see dragons and terrible beasts guarding the entrance to some for bidden ground. Wagons, horsemen and foot-soldiers one by one disappeared into the gloom, to reappear here and there bathed in lurid light. Within, the fire singed our hair and clothes, while our maddened animals dashed hither and thither in an agony of fear. …
Gen. William Hardee, commander of the Confederate troops in the area, advanced his preparations to evacuate Charleston and withdrew into North Carolina with the troops from Savannah, and what could be salvaged from Charleston. The Confederate naval ships at Charleston were ordered scuttled and Commodore John R. Tucker, CSN, directed that 300 men and officers go to Wilmington to help defend that city.
Near Columbia, S.C., on a day that started out cold and rainy and ended with thick fog, there was skirmishing at Lexington, west of the city, and at the Congaree Creek, Savannah Creek and at Bates’ Ferry crossing of the Congaree River. Sherman’s columns advanced rapidly despite the soggy ground which bogged down wagons and despite the delaying actions of the Confederates. The fog saved many of the mired wagons, since they couldn’t be seen by the Confederate gunners manning the artillery.
In a late afternoon action, the Union troops again outflanked the Rebels by wading the river in waist-high water and coming in behind the Confederates, before they knew that they had been flanked. Wade Hampton’s cavalry made a charge across an open area that accomplished nothing except to get two of his men killed. Undaunted, this flamboyant Columbian wired President Davis that he had repulsed Sherman at Columbia. For this, Davis promoted Hampton to Lieutenant General.
William Waud inscribed this legend on the back of his drawing, which he created on February 12–13, 1865: “Col. Wells S. Jones’s brigade crossing the North Edisto on raft before the pontoons were laid & charging on the enemy’s works. The men shown on the left are crossing on a floating foot bridge.”
Federal soldiers were within sight of Columbia, S.C., as they arrived on the south bank of the Congaree River, west and southeast of the city. Much movement could be seen in the city, especially Confederate cavalry, probably belonging to Wade Hampton’s Legion. The Union artillery fired some shells into the city, probably at the cavalry and at the railroad depot. Beauregard, up from Augusta, left Columbia in the afternoon after notifying Davis that he could not save the city. Cotton bales stored in the city had been fired to prevent their capture by Federal forces.
Much controversy arose over the shelling of Columbia by the Union; however, investigations showed that no individuals had been killed as a result of the shelling, and that property damage was light.
Near Wilmington, N.C., Ft. Anderson lay on the west bank of the Cape Fear River, midway between the mouth of the river and the city of Wilmington. Ft. Anderson was the prime objective of the Union troops ferried across from Ft. Fisher to Smithville, just down from Ft. Anderson. Major Gen. Schofield’s XXIII Corps was readied for the assault and would be supported by naval gunboats.
Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton, CSA (1818–1902), served as South Carolina governor from 1876 to 1879 and as U.S. senator from 1879 to 1891.
Early in the morning, Major Gen. Jacob D. Cox, part of Schofield’s XXIII Corps, advanced 8,000 men north from Smithville towards Ft. Anderson. The Navy, in support, sent the monitor USS Montauk, Lt. Commander Edward E. Stone, and four gunboats to bombard the fort, and they silenced the fort’s twelve guns. Since he had not been able to get the other monitor back from Admiral Dahlgren at Charleston, Admiral Porter used the same subterfuge he had used on the Mississippi River; he created a bogus monitor using a scow, timber, canvas and paint. The fake monitor, dubbed “Old Bogey” by the sailors, was towed to the head of the bombardment line, where she received much attention from the Confederate gunners. At Charleston, S.C., the gunboats USS Pawnee, Sonoma, Ottawa, Winona, Potomska, Wando, J. S. Chambers and other vessels supported landings of Major Gen. Foster’s soldiers at Bulls Bay. This was a diversionary tactic meant to tie down Confederate forces and keep them from Sherman’s route of march. Its secondary mission was to put pressure on the city.
During the night, the Confederate defenses at Forts Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, Beauregard and Castle Pinckney were abandoned, and the Rebel troops marched north to join Lee. The defenses of Charleston were silenced after 567 continuous days of attack. Four Confederate ironclads were scuttled or blown up, the fifth, the CSS Columbia, was found run aground and was later salvaged by the Union Navy. Several torpedo boats of the “David” class were also found, one of which was eventually taken to the U.S. Naval Academy and put on display. Several blockade runners were captured in port and several more were lured in by the same trick used at Wilmington—leaving the signal light burning.
Admiral Dahlgren wrote Admiral Porter: “You see by the date of this [February 18] that the Navy’s occupation has given this pride of rebeldom to the Union flag, and thus the rebellion is shut out from the ocean and foreign sympathy.” Lt. Wilkinson, former commander of the CSS Tallahassee, learned of the fall of Charleston while in Nassau, and wrote: “This sad intelligence put an end to all our hopes.…” The city that had most symbolized the spirit of the South was in Union hands.
At Columbia, the mayor and a delegation rode out to see Sherman and to surrender the city. As Union troops entered the city, the remnants of Hampton’s cavalry departed, leaving cotton bales still smoldering. It has been a bone of contention since as to how the fire had started—evidence points to bales of cotton being fired by Hampton’s retreating horse-men; however, many in the city believed that the fire had been set by the Yankees. At any rate, burning bales of cotton were found and thought to have been extinguished. The troops found the liquor supply and were greeted warmly by the freed Union prisoners and the Negro population. Sherman’s Provost Guards were soon busy arresting drunken soldiers. Several of the latter held a mock session of the State Legislature in the State House. The colors of the 8th Missouri Volunteers, having been the first to fly at Ft. Donelson, been riddled by Rebel bullets at Shiloh, carried into Vicksburg, flown over Kennesaw Mountain and Ft. McAllister were now hoisted over the state capitol in Columbia.
Sherman set up headquarters in one of the quieter streets of the town and retired. The high winds evidently fanned the flames of the cotton back to life and bits of burning cotton spread over the city like a blanket, starting new fires blocks from the source. Sherman had his Union troops out fighting the fires, but the high winds prevented containment. Wade Hampton’s home, one of the finest in Columbia, was burned, along with many others. For more than 100 years the burning of Columbia would be cited by the South as an example of Northern excess during the war.
General Sherman enters Columbia, S.C., on February 17th, 1865.
This plan for the assault on Fort Strong, N.C, in February of 1865 was presented by the Secretary of the Navy in his report to the 39th Congress. The cluster of Union ships and their positions can be seen at the bottom left.
With Charleston empty of defenders and Columbia in flames, this was, indeed, a day of retribution for the North against South Carolina.
Nichols, Major, USA, Columbia, S.C., wrote:
… Columbia will have bitter cause to remember the visit of Sherman’s army. … It is not alone in the property that has been destroyed—the buildings, bridges, mills, railroads, material of every description—nor in the loss of the slaves, who, within the last few days, have joined us by hundreds and thousands. … It is in the crushing downfall of their inordinate vanity, their arrogant pride, that the rebels will feel the effects of the visit of our army. Their fancied, unapproachable, invincible security has been ruthlessly overthrown. Their boastings, threatenings, and denunciations have passed by us like the idle wind. … I know that thousands of South Carolina’s sons are in the army of the rebellion; but she has already lost her best blood there. Those who remain have no homes. The Hamptons, Barnwells, Simses, Rhetts, Single tons, Prestons, have no homes. The ancient homesteads where were gathered sacred associations, the heritages of many generations, are swept away. When first these men became traitors, they lost honor. …
At Wilmington, N.C., the Federal boat crews sweeping for torpedoes in the Cape Fear River channels were kept very busy. The Confederates released 200 floating torpedoes during the night, causing much consternation as they floated into the boats clearing the channel, some destroying the small boats, others striking the steamers and doing great damage. Casualties from the torpedoes were slight, but they were worrisome.
Sherman’s columns left Columbia, passing through a fertile country for about five miles. They then passed into the area of hills with stunted pines, the sandy soil almost barren. A large train of refugees consisting of several hundred white people followed the army as it left. There were many reasons for the exodus. Some left to escape starvation, some to escape conscription, some to escape persecution. All were a bother to the Union army and they made many demands for protection, provisions, etc., which could not be met. Sherman ordered them expelled from the columns.
During the initial landings for the assault on Ft. Anderson, a bogus monitor-type ironclad had been rigged using an old scow, timber, canvas and black paint. This bogus ironclad had been named “Old Bogey” by the sailors who towed her around. Now, with the torpedoes coming downriver, “Old Bogey” was called into service again. She was pushed across the river into the path of the torpedoes. One observer described the action:
Johnny Reblet off his torpedoes without effect on it, and the old thing sailed across the river and grounded in the flank and rear of the enemy’s lines on the eastern bank, whereupon they fell back in the night. She now occupies the most advanced position of the line, and Battery Lee has been banging away at her, and probably wondering why she does not answer. Last night after half a day’s fighting, the rebs sent down about 50 torpedoes; but although “Old Bogey” took no notice of them, they kept the rest of us pretty lively as long as the ebb tide ran.
Kentucky rejected the Thirteenth Amendment.
The Confederates evacuated Wilmington, N.C., sending much of the military stores on the railroad towards Richmond. What remained was destroyed. After the evacuation of Ft. Strong, the Federal gunboats steamed upriver to Wilmington, which was already occupied by Brig. Gen. Terry’s troops, Gen. Bragg having evacuated the city. Wilmington had fallen and Admiral Porter wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles:
I have the honor to inform you that Wilmington has been evacuated and is in possession of our troops. … I had the pleasure of placing the flag on Fort Strong, and at 12 o’clock noon today shall fire a thirty-five guns salute this being the anniversary of Washington’s birthday.
It was now official. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was assigned as commander of all Confederate forces in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and those concentrating in North Carolina. Gen. Beauregard, in ill health, was told to report to Johnston for orders.
Sherman was skirmishing at Camden and on the Wateree River north of Columbia. The railroads on the route of march were a special target of Sherman’s destroyers. The Twentieth Corps reached Rocky Mount, S.C., and waited for the crossing of the Catawba River. Sherman feinted towards Charlotte, N.C., and then aimed his main drive towards Goldsborough and a linkup with Schofield.
Things were turning nasty in South Carolina. Not only had heavy rains begun midafternoon, but on the 22nd, two of Sherman’s men had been found murdered—their heads crushed by heavy blows. That day, reports of more such findings were circulating. The Official Records (OR) cited a report of Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s:
An infantry lieutenant and seven men murdered yesterday by the Eighth Texas Cavalry after they had surrendered. We found their bodies all together and mutilated, with paper on their breasts, saying “Death to foragers.” Eighteen of my men were killed yester day and some had their throats cut. … I have sent Wheeler word that I intend to hang eighteen of his men, and if the cowardly act is repeated, will burn every house along my line of march. … I have a number of prisoners, and shall take a fearful revenge.
Sherman’s orders to Major Gen. Otis O. Howard, also cited in the Official Records, show his determination to take life for life:
Now it is clearly our war right to subsist our army on the enemy. … I contend if the enemy fails to defend his country we may rightfully appropriate what we want. If our foragers act under mine, yours, or other proper orders they must be protected. I have ordered Kilpatrick to select of his prisoners man for man, shoot them, and leave them by the roadside labeled, so that our enemy will see that for every man he executes he takes the life of one of his own. I want the foragers, however, to be kept within reasonable bounds for the sake of discipline. I will not protect them when they enter dwellings and commit wanton waste. … If any of your foragers are murdered, take life for life, leaving a record in each case.
Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston, at Charlotte, N.C., assumed command of the troops in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Upon examination of the troop strength and state, he notified Lee that, in his opinion, his force was entirely too weak to take on Sherman and that it should be consolidated with Bragg’s in North Carolina.
Sherman was still moving through to Fayetteville.
In the Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan was back with about ten thousand cavalry and was opposed by Jubal Early and two weak Confederate brigades. Grant had directed that the Virginia Central Railroad and the James River Canal be destroyed. Lynchburg was to have its railroads, etc., destroyed, and its military stores burned.
Sherman’s armies were near the North Carolina line at Rocky Mount and Cheraw, S.C., where skirmishes occurred. Johnston, at Charlotte, was trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get a force to oppose Sherman.
MARCH 1865
THOUGHTS WERE INCREASINGLY of peace and how the reconstruction of the nation would be accomplished. It was obvious that the South was losing the war and that the end could not be far off. The only army of any size was located at Petersburg, and it was tied down by the tenacious and formidable Union Army of the Potomac. Few options were left.
In the Shenandoah Valley, the thunder of cavalry could be heard again as Sheridan’s hard-riding bluecoats pounded up the Valley in pursuit of Jubal Early’s two battered brigades. In Washington, news of the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment by Wisconsin was offset by its rejection by New Jersey.
Admiral Dahlgren went back to Georgetown, S.C., up the coast from Charleston, to visit the naval forces at that location and to “inspect” Ft. White, which controlled the bay. Remaining overnight, Dahlgren, in his flagship Harvest Moon, was in his cabin awaiting breakfast as the ship sailed for Charleston. The ship struck a torpedo and, in Dahlgren’s words:
Suddenly, without warning, came a crashing sound, a heavy shock, the partition between the cabin and wardroom was shattered and driven in toward me, while all loose articles in the cabin flew in different directions. … A torpedo had been struck by the poor old Harvest Moon, and she was sinking.
Five minutes later the ship was gone. Only one life was lost, and the Admiral had nothing but the uniform he was wearing.
Gen. Lee wrote a message to Gen. Grant, proposing a meeting to attempt resolving the present “unhappy difficulties” by a military convention. Grant demurred, saying he had no authority to hold such a conference, there must have been something misunderstood. Dealing with the South in such a manner would, in effect, be a recognition of it as a sovereign military force—a separate nation’s military power. This was the same ploy used at the “peace committee” meeting with Lincoln at Hampton Roads, when Confederate Vice President Stephens suggested that the North and South jointly throw Napoleon III out of Mexico.
At Waynesborough, Va., the last battle of any significance in the Valley was fought between Federal cavalry and Confederate infantry. The remnants of Jubal Early’s brigades were overwhelmed by a charge of 5,000 cavalry led by Gen. George A. Custer. While Early escaped with his staff, Custer captured 200 wagons, seventeen flags, and well over 1,000 prisoners. The ghosts of Cross Keys, McDowell, Winchester and Kernstown must have cringed. The Valley was lost.
The Thirty-Eighth Congress would officially adjourn at 8 AM tomorrow, but tonight much work needed to be done. One major item was the act establishing the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees—to be known as the Freedman’s Bureau. This bureaucratic body would provide the basis for support of the Negro, both economically and politically, for the next 20 years. It would initially provide food, clothing and other assistance. Later, it would be used to build schools, establish secondary learning institutions and provide a political base for Negro elected officials.
President Lincoln delivering his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865
The Cape Fear River was the scene of much activity as the Federals worked to clear the Confederate torpedoes and make the river safe for steamers. With Sherman’s line of march following the coast towards Wilmington and Goldsborough, N.C., communication routes for supplies would be needed for his large armies.
In the Valley, the guards along the long column of Confederate prisoners from Early’s command were attacked several times as they headed north. Sheridan approached Charlottesville, heading back to join Grant with most of the cavalry. Early was inbound to Richmond.
It was Inauguration Day in Washington. Vice President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee took the oath of office prior to President Lincoln, as tradition demanded. He had been drinking, and his acceptance speech was slurred and almost incoherent. The feeling of peace was in the air and Lincoln would see it through. The city was in a gayer mood than it had been four years ago, when war was looming on the horizon. Lincoln’s inaugural address would be remembered for its brevity and eloquence, especially the closing, which began: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.…”
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Pocotaligo, S.C., wrote:
Cloudy and some rain. Received New York papers yesterday of the 24th of February. It was a rich treat to us. We had been four weeks without seeing any papers from the North. … Charleston and Wilmington had fallen, and the dear old flag once more floats over Sumter, in ruins though it be. Sherman’s campaign through Georgia to the sea, and through the Carolinas into Virginia, is proving to be one continual series of brilliant successes, on a scale so magnificent that history scarcely furnishes a parallel. …
Sherman’s men were crossing the Pee Dee and moving slowly towards Fayetteville. Schofield was still at Wilmington.
Sherman’s scouts had determined that the Confederate force at Florence, S.C., was too strong for less than a major attack, and Sherman did not want to be sidetracked from Fayetteville. Most of the Federal troops crossed the Pee Dee River and entered North Carolina. At Cheraw, a large explosion killed one man and injured five.
Sherman’s columns moved north in North Carolina. The roads were finally drying out and progress was good, after several days of constant rain.
The U.S. Congress got the full range of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter’s anger when he addressed that body and scorched the walls with salty comments about Generals Butler and Banks, both of whom he had had the misfortune to serve with. His next stop was City Point to see his old friend Ulysses S. Grant, and to discuss the coming spring campaign.
Gen. Jacob D. Cox, commanding the buildup at New Bern, was attacked by elements of Braxton Bragg’s Confederates coming from Wilmington. During the attack, near Kinston, N.C., some of the Federal troops broke, but the remainder held and fought off the Rebels. Bragg’s force was not really strong enough to sustain an attack for long.
Vermont ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Lincoln, in Washington, accepted the resignation of John P. Usher as Secretary of the Interior.
Fighting continued between Bragg’s Confederates and Jacob Cox’s Federals near Kinston, N.C.
At Monroe’s Crossroads, N.C., the cavalry of Wade Hampton and Joe Wheeler attacked the unsuspecting Federals of Judson Kilpatrick and totally surprised them, almost catching Kilpatrick in his bed. Kilpatrick fled, some say without his pants, giving the name to the affair, “The Battle for Kilpatrick’s Pants.” Kilpatrick rallied his men, counter attacked and severely beat Hampton’s Legion.
Sherman’s Fifteenth Corps was at Randallsville, N.C. Believing that Schofield was at Wilmington, Sherman sent scouts to make contact. In his memoirs, Sherman wrote:
I traveled with the Fifteenth Corps and on the 8th of March reached Laurel Hill, N.C. Satisfied that our troops were at Wilmington, I determined to send a message there; I called for my man, Corp. [James] Pike, whom I had rescued [from the prison] at Columbia, and instructed him in disguise to work his way to Cape Fear River, secure a boat, and float down to Wilmington to convey a letter, and to report our approach. I also called on General Howard for another volunteer, and he brought me a very clever young sergeant, who is now [1875] a commissioned officer in the regular army. Each of these got off during the night by separate routes. …
In Richmond, Lee proposed putting the legislation on using Negro troops into force immediately. However, the Confederate Congress was still debating it in its House of Representatives.
Sherman’s armies nearly surrounded the town of Fayetteville, N.C., waiting to go in. Scouts sent in were met with firing from Confederate cavalry, which was soon dispersed, the cavalry leaving town by the bridges over the Cape Fear River. The old U.S. Arsenal at Fayetteville, destination of the rifle-making machinery removed from Harpers Ferry in 1861 by Stonewall Jackson, was occupied and would be destroyed. Sherman’s messengers to Schofield had reached Wilmington, and Union boats were on their way upriver to Fayetteville.
In Virginia, Sheridan’s cavalry, coming in from defeating Early in the Valley, were outside of Richmond at Goochland Court House, causing a scare in the Confederate capital.
Sherman’s men fell to with a will to destroy the Arsenal and other military facilities in Fayetteville, N.C., a town of about 3,000 inhabitants. A Confederate steamer had been captured below the city on the Cape Fear River, and this would be loaded with Negroes and refugees, and then sent to Wilmington.
Gen. Grant’s cavalry escort was photographed in March of 1865 at City Point, Va. Five buglers stand at the left.
In Richmond, the Confederate Congress finally passed legislation to use Negro troops in the Southern army. Lee acted promptly on this, and by the end of the month Negro troops were seen in Confederate uniform in Richmond.
Sheridan’s cavalry, en route to Grant at Petersburg, skirmished at Beaver Dam Station outside Richmond.
At Fayetteville, N.C., the destruction went on, Sherman’s men tearing the place apart while waiting for the supplies to come up from Wilmington. A steamer and two gunboats arrived at the city from Wilmington, carrying a staff officer from Gen. Terry who was critical of Sherman’s method of operations—but not to Sherman.
Sheridan was now at Hanover C.H., heading towards the James River to link up with Grant.
Sherman was again on the move, northeast towards Goldsborough, N.C. Kilpatrick, in front of Slocum’s left wing, was skirmishing with Johnston’s rear guard units as the Union advance was made. The Confederate Army was now overburdened with generals of all grades, more than were needed for an army three times the size.
Slocum, commanding Sherman’s left wing, attacked Hardee’s force four miles south of Averasborough, N.C., turning Hardee’s right flank and causing the Confederate to withdraw. Late in the afternoon, word came to Hardee that Slocum’s men were on his left flank, so during the night, in the middle of a storm, Hardee withdrew and marched towards Smithfield. The remainder of Sherman’s armies was moving on bottomless roads and through water about two feet deep where the creeks had over-flowed. Every crossing, again, was contested by a burned bridge and a small Confederate force that was flanked out of position by Union forces wading the stream, and the whole thing was done over again at the next stream.
After the fighting yesterday in front of Slocum, skirmishing continued in front of Sherman’s march route as the Union force got closer to Goldsborough. The columns were not quite so long, having closed up during the day yesterday, with the van guard being slowed by bad roads and the necessity of building bridges.
In the fighting yesterday around Averasborough, Confederate Col. Alfred Rhett, who had commanded Ft. Sumter for a period, was captured by an aide on Gen. Kilpatrick’s staff.
Nichols, Major, USA, Army of the Tennessee, Averasborough, N.C., wrote:
Kilpatrick, who has the advance, ran into a strong body of Rebel infantry this afternoon, and skirmished with them until night came on. He captured several prisoners, among them Colonel Rhett, son of the noted Robert Barnwell Rhett, one of the “first family” names of which South Carolina is so proud. From the conversation of this Rebel colonel, I judge him to be quite as impracticable a person as any of his class. He seemed most troubled about the way in which he was captured. Some of Kilpatrick’s fast riders got inside his skirmish line, and one of them, without any sort of regard for the feelings of a South Carolina aristocrat, put a pistol to the colonel’s head and informed him in a quiet but very decided manner that if he didn’t come along he’d “make a hole through him!” The colonel came; but he is a disgusted man. From what I know of the sentiments of Kilpatrick’s men, I make no doubt that they would have had but little scruple in cutting off one branch of the family tree of the Rhetts if the surrender had not been prompt.
The left wing of Sherman’s armies, the two corps under Slocum, were just south of Benton-ville, N.C., on this warm and clear day. Opposite Slocum was Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton’s cavalry, opposing Kilpatrick, whose cavalry was in front of Slocum. Sherman’s right wing, commanded by Howard, was south and east of Bentonville, facing Goldsborough. Johnston’s 20,000 faced 30,000 Federals and Johnston was going to try and beat the Federal army piecemeal, having no chance at all facing Sherman’s full army, including Schofield, of about 100,000. The Battle of Bentonville opened today when Hampton’s cavalry began a skirmish with the advance Federal units near Benton’s Cross Roads.
Union Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick (1836–81) became active in politics after the war. He served as the U.S. Minister to Chile, and later wrote two plays about his wartime experiences.
Sherman, who had been traveling with Slocum on the left wing, left early in the morning for Howard’s right wing as the Federals began their advance. As they advanced, they ran head-on into Johnston’s prepared positions south of Bentonville, N.C. Slocum pressed his advance, but Johnston wouldn’t budge, and by midafternoon Slocum entrenched, not knowing as yet what he faced.
On the Confederate side there was a delay in attacking, and when they did go crashing into the Federal line, the progress was slow. No problems were met with the first Federal line, but Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, USA, rallied his men, who withstood the attack until more units could be brought up. The fighting, which included three separate assaults on the Federal line, lasted until dark, when both sides pulled back and reinforced their positions.
Meanwhile, Sherman, having arrived at Howard’s right wing, thought the fight less severe than it was and held Howard’s troops in their forward positions. In the evening, couriers from Slocum’s headquarters arrived to tell Sherman of the battle and of the cur rent situation.
Sheridan, in Virginia, had reached White House on the Pamunkey River after tearing up the Virginia Central Railroad and the James River Canal. He was almost back in Grant’s backyard.
Early in the morning, the men of Howard’s right wing moved towards Bentonville to join the fight against Johnston’s Confederate force. The roads were dry and fast, the troops moving easily. Shortly after starting they ran into a body of Confederate cavalry, which delayed them only briefly. As the columns closed up, the cavalry was driven as fast as the infantry could march, until the Federals came up to the main lines and formed to Slocum’s right. The battlefield was a quicksand flat that, while no water was showing, had a high water table that made the ground unable to support artillery or wagons. The ground offered little cover for either force. By late afternoon, Sherman’s entire army was facing Johnston and overlapping the Confederate flanks. Things quieted down for the evening.
At Bentonville, N.C., Sherman kept the pressure on Johnston’s line while Major Gen. J. A. Mower moved around the Confederate left and threatened Mill Creek Bridge, which was on Johnston’s retreat line. Some heavy fighting resulted, with the Federal advance being checked. This was the last fighting of the Battle of Bentonville, which was the last major battle of the war in North Carolina. Johnston withdrew, upon getting reports that Schofield had taken Goldsborough. The North lost over 1,500 casualties, mostly wounded; the South, 2,600, mostly prisoners.
At Bentonville, N.C., skirmishers reported that Johnston’s fortifications were abandoned. Sherman ordered that no advance was to be made beyond Mill Creek below Bentonville until things could be sorted out. After a period of reconnaissance, Sherman ordered Slocum’s left wing towards Goldsborough, the right wing to move the next day. The roads were bad and the movement slow.
Lists of the Confederate and Federal officers, down to the brigade level, who participated in the Battle of Bentonville.
A map of the Battle of Bentonville, N.C., March 19, 1865
Schofield was at Goldsborough, and Terry at Cox’s Bridge, both prepared to move on Johnston when Sherman gave the word.
In North Carolina, Johnston placed his army across the paths to Raleigh and Weldon, both routes Sherman was expected to take. It also put Johnston in position for a linkup with Lee if the Army of Northern Virginia somehow escaped Grant and came to North Carolina.
Sherman joined Schofield and Terry at Goldsborough. The combined armies now totaled more than 100,000 and completely dominated the military situation in the area. Sherman, now linked to his supply line to the sea, would reclothe his army and give them rest before continuing his drive on Johnston and on to Virginia.
Nichols, Major, USA, Sherman’s Hdqtrs., Golds-borough, N.C., wrote:
General Schofield is in Goldsboro’. Our army will at once be moved into position in the vicinity of this place to refit for the next campaign; not only to be reclothed, but to gain the repose it needs. Mind, as well as body, requires rest after the fatigues of rapid campaigns like these. These ragged, bareheaded, shoe less, brave, jolly fellows of Sherman’s legions, too, want covering for their naked limbs.
Wilson’s large cavalry force moved slowly through northern Alabama to meet Nathan B. Forrest.
The heavily armed Confederate ironclad CSS Stone-wall, Capt. T. J. Page, sailed from Ferrol, Spain, after two abortive attempts to leave. She challenged the two wooden Union frigates USS Niagara and Sacramento under command of Commodore T. T. Craven. Craven explained to Secretary Welles:
At this time the odds in her favor were too great and too certain, in my humble judgment, to admit of the slightest hope of being able to inflict upon her even the most trifling injury, whereas, if we had gone out, the Niagara would most undoubtedly have been easily and promptly destroyed. So thoroughly a one-sided combat I did not consider myself called upon to engage in.
Craven would later be court-martialed for not engaging the Stonewall. Sitting as President of the Court was Vice Admiral David G. Farragut and sitting as a member of the Court was Commodore John A. Winslow, the destroyer of the CSS Alabama. Craven was sentenced to two years suspension on leave pay. Welles, refusing what he called a “paid vacation,” restored him to active duty.
In the lines at Petersburg, the Confederates were preparing an attack on Ft. Stedman. If they could break the line there, they could attack City Point, and that attack would require Grant to shorten his lines, which, in turn, would allow Lee to evacuate and join Gen. Joe Johnston in North Carolina. Major Gen. John B. Gordon had been assigned to lead the Confederate force in the attack. The attack, scheduled for tomorrow, would have President Lincoln as an observer. Lincoln arrived at City Point aboard the River Queen.
In North Carolina, the refitting of Sherman’s ragged troops went along, all the supplies needed having been brought up to Goldsborough by Schofield. The troops, as they entered Goldsborough, presented a somewhat picturesque sight.
At three o’clock this morning a group of Confederates appeared at Ft. Stedman, a major Union bastion in the siege lines, and announced themselves as deserters. An hour later, 4 AM, Gen. Gordon threw his troops against the Union strongpoint and completely overwhelmed it, surprising the garrison and the line for nearly a mile. The Confederates swarmed over the defenses, and some selected units headed for City Point. There was not enough weight behind the attack and it faltered, giving the Federals time to regroup and drive the Confederates back to their own lines. The Rebels still held Ft. Stedman. At about 7:30 AM, the Union sent a division against Ft. Stedman, and the Confederates were routed back to their own lines. The Union line was whole again. Grant lost about 1,500 in casualties; Lee, about 4,000, many more than he could spare. The line quieted again.
The expected assault at Mobile Bay got under way, with Gen. Canby coming up to Spanish Fort on the east side of the bay. Brig. Gen. R. L. Gibson’s 2,800 men had little hope of holding against Canby’s 32,000 without some immediate help—and none was in sight.
Grant and Lincoln were conferring at City Point. Lincoln took the railroad to the Petersburg lines, where he walked over the battlefield at Ft. Stedman.
An 1865 photograph of a bomb-proof shelter at Fort Stedman, near Petersburg, Va.
Sheridan’s cavalry crossed the James River and headed towards Grant’s position at Petersburg. This provided Grant with about 15,000 aggressive cavalry, and an even more aggressive commander. Lincoln was on hand to watch the long lines of blue cavalry cross the river and move on west. Sheridan remained at City Point to confer with Grant on further movements, and Lincoln watched the troops review.
Lee was getting ready to evacuate Petersburg and move west, hoping to join with Johnston in North Carolina.
At Mobile Bay, the Federals began their approach to Spanish Fort, which provoked heavy skirmishing.
At City Point, Sherman arrived from North Carolina, taking a fast steamer from Wilmington. Admiral Porter also came in from Wilmington for the conference with the President. Upon arrival, both Sherman and Porter called on the President and spent the evening socializing.
At City Point, most of the major players in the game were present for a conference. President Lincoln, Generals Grant and Sherman and Admiral D. D. Porter all attended the conference aboard the River Queen. Lincoln stressed his desire to bring the war to a speedy close and with as little loss of life as possible. A rather lenient policy was to be followed at the end of hostilities. When the conference closed, Porter sent Sherman back to New Bern, N.C., aboard the fast steamer USS Bat. Sherman was to rejoin his troops, which were located only 125 miles straight-line distance from City Point.
In western North Carolina, Stoneman’s cavalry was moving slowly down the railroad into the interior of the state, clearing pockets of resistance and meeting many strong Union supporters along the way.
Wilson, in Alabama, had a skirmish at Elyton on his way to Selma and an “appointment” with Forrest.
Lincoln remained at City Point with Grant, awaiting developments. Sherman returned to North Carolina to begin his drive on Raleigh.
At Petersburg, the Appomattox campaign began with the movement of Grant’s army to the southwest and Sheridan’s large cavalry force towards Dinwiddie C.H. Lee, trying to defend more than 30 miles of entrenchments, was running out of men for the battles. The whole purpose of the Union movement was to force Lee out of his entrenchments and into the open, where he could be defeated by the larger Union force.
As the rain ended southwest of Petersburg, Sheridan put in motion his large force of cavalry and infantry towards Dinwiddie C.H., on the Confederate right flank. Lee had about 10,000 men against more than 50,000 Federals on the western Confederate lines. The Confederates initially drove Sheridan back, but not for long. At night, Pickett realized that Warren’s Fifth Corps and Sheridan’s mix of cavalry and infantry was too strong for him, so he withdrew to Five Forks. Humphrey’s Second Corps repulsed an attack at Hatcher’s Run and held with out difficulty.
APRIL 1865
APRIL BEGAN WITH the leafing of the trees in Virginia and the smell of the earth awakening. Deeper in the ravaged South, those remaining in the path of Sherman’s “bummers” looked forward to a lean and hungry spring, until a crop could be harvested. Both armies were tired, bloodied and weary of the whole idea of battle. Most of the soldiers only looked forward to the end of the conflict and their return home.
At Mobile, Ala., Major Gen. Canby had Spanish Fort under siege and the city only awaited the sure outcome—surrender. Sherman was back in North Carolina after his visit to City Point, and he was ready to continue the offensive against Johnston’s army.
Grant, encouraged by Sheridan’s success over the past few days, ordered an all-out assault on Lee’s right flank, hoping to smash through Lee’s lines.
Today, Lee’s right flank finally caved in under overwhelming numbers. Grant ordered an assault on the lines for the following morning, and all night the artillery thundered in preparation. Ft. Sedgewick’s heavy guns belched forth to sustain its name of “Fort Hell.” Lee withdrew from Petersburg during the night.
Jefferson Davis wrote Gen. Lee that the Confederate President had made little progress raising Negro troops and that the distrust in both military and civil circles was embarrassing.
Newspaper accounts:
Petersburg, Va.: It is believed that the enemy is still at Dinwiddie Court House. Thursday afternoon General Fitz Lee attacked and dislodged a division of Sheridan’s cavalry from a position it had taken between the plank road and Southside Railroad, and drove the Yankees some distance. … Our lines are secure against all attacks of the enemy. On the whole, all goes well with us, and ere long we hope to be able to chronicle a glorious victory for our arms and a crushing defeat to the enemy.
Richmond, Va.: The weather is cool and pleasant. Excited couriers have arrived from off the line of the Southside Railroad and report the Yankees are fighting their way through our lines, and their numbers as so great that we cannot much longer hold Petersburg.
The fall and evacuation of Richmond in April of 1865, as envisioned by Currier & Ives
The numbers of Virginians reported absent from their regiments without leave, will, this morning, exceed fifty thousand. What can this mean? … News reaches us tonight that General Pickett has lost control of his troops at Five Forks, and that the Yankees are gradually moving towards Richmond. It seems that our troops have become discouraged and are easily confused. The Yankee assault on Pickett’s Division has completely demoralized it, if reports are true.
At 4:40 AM, the Federals advanced in a heavy fog against the Petersburg lines. Little resistance was met; in some cases the Confederate battle line simply vanished. Along the Boydton Plank Road near Hatcher’s Run, Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell Hill, one of Lee’s best generals, was killed. Lee notified Davis that “I think it is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight.…” Lee ordered the evacuation of Petersburg and designated Amelia Court House, 40 miles west, as the concentration point for all units.
At 11 PM President Davis and the Cabinet evacuated Richmond, Mrs. Davis and her party having already gone. Richmond became a study in chaos. Many tried to leave the city, jamming the roads and railroad stations, while others decided to stay and face the enemy. Many openly wept in the streets. At the local state prison, inmates overpowered the guards and escaped to begin looting before leaving the city. Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory directed that the James River Squadron be blown up and the officers and men be transferred to Gen. Lee’s forces, which were evacuating the capital. Mallory left Richmond in the party with President Davis and the Cabinet. Rear Admiral Semmes, CSN, outfitted his men with arms and field equipment, and then had the crews of the CSS Virginia No. 2, Fredericksburg and Richmond burn and sink their ships south of Richmond, near Drewry’s Bluff. Semmes then loaded his men aboard wooden ships and returned to Richmond, watching the explosions of the ironclads left at Drewry’s Bluff. Upon arriving at Richmond, the wooden ships were fired and set adrift in the James River. The naval crews, lacking transportation west, found a locomotive and several cars which carried them to Danville. Semmes was appointed a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and given the task of defending Danville, a command he held until Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
THE BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS
APRIL 1, 1865
Gordon McCabe was adjutant to William Pegram, the “boy” colonel
of artillery who was killed during the Battle of Five Forks.
April 1st [1865]. Had nothing to eat, so parched some corn taken from the horses’ feed. Henry Lee, an old University friend of ours and Ass’t Adj’t Gen’l Payne’s Brigade, afterwards sent us some meat and bread. At 10 o’clk, we put 3 guns, 1 of Ellett’s and Early’s section, in position in the centre, and Ellett’s other 3 on the right commanding a field. Soon afterwards the enemy’s cavalry appeared in front of our right at the distance of 800 yds. We could plainly see them and their pennons flying in the wind. We opened at once with our guns. I told one of the gunners to fire on their colours, on which they were forming. He made a splendid shot, bursting a shell just in front of the colours. The whole line fell back into the woods, but their skirmishers occupied the yard of the Gillem House, and we continued to give them an occasional shot. Skirmishing now broke out in the centre and Col. P[egram] and myself rode down to our guns there. The skirmishing was quite heavy, and Col. ordered Lt. Early to dismount, but he wouldn’t, so I wouldn’t. We fired a few rounds and the skirmishing soon died out. Col. and myself went back to the right, where we expected the attack to be made. We lay down at the foot of a tree, as everything was now quiet, and he soon fell asleep.
The Battle of Five Forks, depicted in this 1880s print by Kurz & Allison, was fought in Dinwiddie County, Va., on April 1, 1865. It pitted Maj. Gen. Sheridan’s Union forces against Maj. Gen. Pickett’s weakening Confederate army; some call it “the Waterloo of the Confederacy.”
Captured Confederate soldiers after the Battle of Five Forks
Brig. Gen. Frederick Winthrop was killed during the Battle of Five Forks.
At about 4½ the enemy attacked him, and we mounted and rode rapidly to the centre. When we reached our guns the enemy were only 30 yds. from them, and the infantry fire terrific beyond anything I have ever seen. We were the only mounted officers at that point. The officers, Lts. Hollis and Early, were as cool as on parade, and the men were serving their guns with a precision and rapidity beyond all praise. Pickett’s Divn. were fighting well too. We had not been in the battery very long, when Col. P. riding between Lt. Early’s guns reeled out of his saddle, shot through his left arm and left side. He cried out, “Oh, Gordon, I’m mortally wounded, take me off the field.” His last order was, “Fire your canister low.” I put him on a stretcher, and he took my hand and gave me a message for his mother and sisters. He begged me to remain with him, wh. I intended anyhow to do. When I got him to the ambulance, our skirmishers were falling back, square in our rear, and a line of battle pressing them. We were now completely enveloped, our left having been turned and the enemy in our rear. Our guns were carried within 3 minutes, Lt. Early killed and Lt. Hollis captured and the whole line rolled up.
The rout now became general, with the exception of Corse’s Brigade, which had not been heavily engaged. This brigade opened to the right and left and let the rout pass through, and then closed up and came off with their integrity of organization unimpaired. I took Col. in my arms and made the ambulance drive between 2 parallel lines-of-battle of the enemy for 4 or 5 hundred yds. I carried him to Ford’s Depot on S.S.R.R. about 10 miles from the field. While in the ambulance we prayed together and he was perfectly resigned to die. At about 10 o’clk we reached Ford’s and I obtained a bed for him at Mr. Pegram’s. I had given him morphine in small quantities until he was easier, and he soon fell into a doze. The enemy advanced on the place about 12 o’clk, and I was left alone with him. I sent off our sabers, horses, spurs, etc. as I felt sire that we w’d be captured. I shall never forget that night of watching. I could only pray. He breathed heavily through the night, and passed into a stupor. I bound up his wounds as well as I knew how and moistened his lips with water. At about Sunday morning April 2nd, he died as gently as possible.
At Selma, Ala., the mighty Nathan Bedford Forrest had finally been beaten. This “wizard of the sad dle” was finally overcome by superior numbers and a lack of maneuvering space. Forrest and some of his men escaped, leaving the Federals with 2,700 prisoners, 40 guns and a large store of supplies.
The Confederate government and the army set fire to the business district of Richmond, the bridges, military stores that could not be evacuated and the tobacco warehouses. By the time the Federals arrived the fires were fairly out of control, despite their efforts.
Federal troops entered Richmond. Major Atherton H. Stevens, Jr., of Massachusetts raised the first Union flag over the Capitol building. Major Gen. Godfrey Weitzel accepted the surrender of the city at 8:15 AM at the City Hall. Richmond, although ablaze, was fairly won.
In Petersburg, Union troops entered the city. No mass destruction occurred here, things being quite orderly. President Lincoln, after a conference with Gen. Grant, reviewed the troops passing through the city.
Union newspaper accounts:
Washington, D.C.: The news of the fall of Richmond came upon the Capital shortly after breakfast, and while all were awaiting official bulletins that should announce the renewal of the fighting. It ran from mouth to mouth and from street to street, till within ten minutes the whole town was out, and for a wonder Washington was in a state of old-fashioned excitement such as it has not experienced since the memorable second Bull Run battle. …
Boston, Mass.: Bells are pealing, salutes firing and flags flying everywhere, and our citizens are in the highest state of jubilee over the fall of Richmond.
Today, escorted by a small naval party of ten men, President Lincoln and Rear Admiral Porter entered Richmond about noon. The President and escort walked to the Confederate White House, where Lincoln toured the former home of Jefferson Davis, taking time to sit at his desk.
Lee retreated towards Amelia Court House, with Sheridan in hot pursuit. Sheridan’s cavalry occupied Jetersville on the Danville Railroad south and west of Amelia Court House, thereby blocking the use of the railroad by the Confederates.
President Davis was in Danville on his way south. In Alabama, Tuscaloosa was lost to Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson’s cavalry.
Union newspaper accounts:
Washington, D.C.: Mrs. Lincoln received a dispatch from the President to-day, dated as follows: “From Jefferson Davis’s late residence at Richmond.”
New York City: This morning’s Tribune contains the following editorial: RICHMOND IS OURS! … It might have been ours long ago. It could have been taken with little loss by the tens of thousands whom Gen. Scott persistently held idle and useless around Washington throughout May and June, 1861. It might easily have been taken by McClellan in the spring of 1862, had that illustrious professor of the art How Not To Do It really and zealously tried. It might have been taken, but was not, for God’s time had not yet come. At last, that time has come, and millions joyfully echo “RICHMOND IS OURS!”
Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia arrived at Amelia Court House to find that the expected supplies were not there. Sheridan’s cavalry was to Lee’s front at Jetersville, and the Danville Railroad to Farmville was not usable to bring supplies from Lynch burg. Sheridan, restrained by Meade, waited. In Richmond, Lincoln came back to the city to confer with John A. Campbell and to make a statement that peace was possible only through the reestablishment of Federal authority throughout the South. Lincoln returned to City Point, where he learned that Secretary of State Seward had been injured in a carriage accident that day.
Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s entire corps was captured today at the Battle of Saylor’s Creek—the last battle between the fabled Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. The last to surrender was the Naval Brigade from Drewry’s Bluff, commanded by Commodore John R. Tucker, CSN, who gave his sword in surrender to Lt. Gen. J. Warren Keifer. Years later, Keifer returned the sword to Tucker.
This photograph of Richmond in April of 1865, taken after it had fallen to Federal forces, shows the Confederate Capitol in the background. A soldier stands in the foreground, near a cannon barrel and cannonballs. The photograph was taken by Andrew J. Russell from the south side of the canal basin.
Union newspaper accounts:
Washington, D.C.: The War Department has been perfectly inundated with applications for passes to visit Richmond, from parties having friends or property there, curiosity seekers and tobacco or cotton speculators. …
To-day’s City Point boat brought up the band of the Fourteenth Virginia. They numbered twenty-seven pieces, and deserted to us last Sunday. They have been playing “Yankee Doodle,” “Star Spangled Banner” and the like in our streets to their own and our citizens’ extreme delight.
Grant wrote Lee:
The result 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 C. S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
Lee declined politely, but asked of “the terms you will offer on condition of its [the Army of Northern Virginia] surrender.”
Spanish Fort and Ft. Alexis, the two key defenders of Mobile, surrendered on this date. The fate of Mobile was sealed.
In Virginia, the road to Lynchburg, passing through Appomattox Court House, was filled with Lee’s legions. Trailing closely behind was Meade’s Army of the Potomac and the relentless Grant. Sheridan was to the south and in front of Lee, between him and Lynchburg. Lee refused a general engagement with Meade regardless of the unremitting skirmishing between the two armies. Sheridan had seized the supplies at Appomattox intended for Lee, along with the supply trains from Lynchburg. Grant was at Farmville and received the letter from Lee of the previous day. Grant replied, “Peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon, namely that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified from taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged.” Lee replied later in the afternoon that “I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition.” Lee still indicated a willingness to talk to Grant.
In the evening Lee held a final council of war. It was decided to try a breakthrough to Johnston.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Pocotaligo, S.C., wrote:
There was a mutiny in the detachment of the 15th corps to-day occasioned by Colonel Henry arresting and tying up hand and foot a soldier belonging to said corps for disobeying orders by firing off his gun without leave. A squad of twenty men marched up to headquarters and the sergeant in command boldly walked up to Colonel Henry and demanded the prisoner’s release. Colonel Henry then went to the door and ordered the others to stack arms which they refused to do. Colonel Henry then drew his revolver and told them he would shoot every one unless they obeyed. So the twenty men were cowed by the deter mined manner of the Colonel. They were all immediately arrested.
Newspaper account:
Richmond, Va.: All the hospitals of Richmond have been taken possession of by the military authorities and are used for the care and comfort equally of the Union and Confederate sick and wounded. A number of Confederate surgeons left in the city have been paroled to attend to the Confederate sick and wounded. More than half of General Pickett’s Division has been brought in or captured, and the country between Richmond and Amelia county is said to be full of Confederate soldiers, nearly all of them Virginians, making their way to their homes. The Castle is used as a receptacle for citizen prisoners, of whom quite a number are gathered there.
Generals Lee and Grant met at Appomattox Court House for the purpose of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the surrender in the McLean house, Lee returned to his disheartened troops, and Grant notified Washington of his action. Lincoln, returning to Washington from City Point, learned of the surrender that evening when he landed at Washington. The celebration was riotous through out the North, as the news reached the cities and hamlets that had endured four long years of war.
At Appomattox Court House, the Union forces, working with their Confederate counterparts, began preparing the lists of troops for parole. Jefferson Davis left Danville, Va., for Greensborough, N.C., by train, hoping to escape the Union cavalry under Stoneman, which was coming from the west. Sherman’s army went on the road again, heading north.
Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, at this house in Appomattox, Va. It belonged to grocer Wilmer McLean, a slave owner and retired major in the Virginia militia.
With a saddened heart, Lee prepared his famous General Order No. 9, which disbanded the Army of Northern Virginia, knowing that he had no choice.
Union newspaper account:
Chattanooga, Tenn.: To-day, at ten o’clock, the gratifying news that Lee has surrendered was received at General Stedman’s headquarters, creating the wildest excitement. As the news spread the men gathered in crowds and rent the air with the most vociferous cheers.
Sherman, moving towards Raleigh, N.C., upon entering Smithfield, learned of Lee’s surrender. The Union troops cheered themselves hoarse.
Davis arrived at Greensborough, N.C., with his Cabinet, including John Cabell Breckingridge, former Vice President of the United States, and currently Confederate Secretary of War.
This 1867 print by the lithographers Major & Knapp depicts the surrender at Appomattox. Lee, with white hair and a beard, is seated with his hat on his leg. Grant is also seated with his legs crossed. Among the others portrayed in the scene are George Armstrong Custer, second from left; Philip Sheridan, between Lee and Grant; and George Gordon Meade, standing at Grant’s left.
In Mobile, the last two forts offering resistance, Forts Tracy and Huger, surrendered.
Union newspaper account:
Appomattox C.H., Va.: Near the Appomattox, and at the point where Sheridan and Wright achieved their brilliant success of Friday, lay the ruins of army wagons, ambulances, forges, caissons, and the debris generally of the Rebel army. On the white canvas cover of an army wagon some wag, possibly a good-natured Johnny, had written in glaring capitals, “WE UNS HAVE FOUND THE LAST DITCH.” From the scene presented in the gorge referred to one might very easily believe that it was the long-vaunted “last ditch” of the expiring “Confederacy.”
At Appomattox Court House, the formal surrender ceremony took place. Confederate troops marched between two lines of Union troops to lay down their arms and colors. The Federals showed their respect for their former foes, and they watched with a twinge of sadness.
The Mayor of Mobile met the Union military commanders and surrendered the city to prevent it from being destroyed by the ironclad fleet in the bay. The long campaign was over.
At Greensborough, N.C., Davis met with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and the Confederate Cabinet. Davis indicated that the Union would not negotiate; only full surrender would be allowed. Johnston was authorized to meet with Sherman.
Union newspaper accounts:
Fairfax Station, Va.: Colonel Gamble, commanding the Union forces at this point, received a message from the Rebel General Mosby, in which he says he does not care about Lee’s surrender, and that he is determined to fight so long as he has a man left.
Fifth Army Corps, near Appomattox C.H., Va.: General Longstreet’s entire corps marched from their camps and formed in line in front of the First Division of this corps and stacked their arms, flags, &c, when they slowly and sorrowfully returned to their camp. It is a sight that cannot be pictured properly to those who have not witnessed it. General Longstreet wore a smile on his face while General Gordon’s expression was very different. General Pendleton disliked to give up Lee’s artillery, but did so.
Mobile, Ala.: The Stars and Stripes were hoisted on Batteries Porter and Mackintosh at half past ten this morning. The most prominent church steeple also had our flag placed on it at half past two o’clock. General Granger’s forces are now in full possession of this city.
Today, Major Gen. Robert Anderson, who had surrendered Ft. Sumter on April 14, 1861, raised the same flag that he had lowered on that date over the fort four long, bloody, weary years before.
At 10 PM in Washington, D.C., John Wilkes Booth entered the Presidential box at Ford’s Theater and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. Booth leaped to the stage and escaped through the side door of the theater.
At 7:22 AM this date President Lincoln died of the wound inflicted to his head. After being shot, he had been carried across the street from the theater to a private home. The national mourning would be deep and lasting. Booth was still at large, having arrived at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd in rural Maryland. The Cabinet asked Vice President Andrew Johnson to take the oath of office as President.
The North went into deep mourning for the fall en President. The North was joined, in most places, by the South. In Washington, Johnson assumed office as President. Mrs. Lincoln was prostrate with grief. Booth arrived at the home of Samuel Cox at Rich Hill in southern Maryland.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles directed that all ships sailing down Chesapeake Bay be searched, as well as all ships leaving any port in the vicinity. All suspicious persons were to be arrested and sent to the Washington Navy Yard for questioning.
In Washington, the slain President’s body was taken to the East Room of the White House, where it would lie in state. Booth and his traveling companion, David Herold, were in the vicinity of Port Tobacco, Md., seeking transportation across the Potomac River.
Jackman, Pvt., “The Orphan Brigade,” Washington, Ga., wrote:
On the 17th day of April the “Old Guard” and I took train for Augusta in the morning having in charge several boxes of books, papers, etc. Before starting on our way to Augusta, one of our “telegraph” friends told me that some very bad news had come over the wires, but would not tell me what it was. At 7 o’clock PM we took passenger train for Barnett, 58 miles up towards Atlanta. … We got off at Barnett about 2 o’clock at night and slept in a freight car until morning. Barnett is only a station at the junction of the Washington road. We had to lie over until 2 PM the 18th.
Gen’l Hood came down on the train from Washington and took the up train for Atlanta at 12 PM. He must of know of Lee’s surrender for he looked very “blue.” At 2 AM the train left for Washington, and being only 18 miles to run, we soon got there. We immediately went to the building where a detail from our brigade was making saddles. We remained with the detail all the time. … I amused myself by writing most of the time. Wrote the first 6 months of my journal from memory and copied from my little memorandum books the notes of each day so far as right after Mar 30th 1862. …
The Presidential box at Ford’s Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth
At last the news came of the surrender of Johnston. We knew then that we had “gone up.” One evening the 8th Texas Cavalry—“The Rangers”—came through town making their way west of the Chattahoochee. They “charged” the corn depot at the Court House for forage. They then got the straggling soldiers into a Q.M.’s department and they threw out writing paper, thread, buttons, etc. in the streets by the wagon load. The little negroes and citizens soon had wheel-barrows in the ground to take the plunder home. After the “Rangers” had gone, the Q.M. had a guard to stop the pillage.
Newspaper account:
Army of the Potomac, Burkesville Station, Va.: … The announcement of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward and his son was received throughout this army with the utmost sorrow. Every man seemed to think it the greatest calamity that could have possibly happened just at this time. …
Newspaper account:
Raleigh, N.C.: After a two days’ conference between Major Gen. Sherman and Major Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Rebel forces east of the Mississippi River, with the concurrence of Jefferson Davis, and in the presence and with the advice of Gen. John C. Breckenridge, the whole remaining Rebel army from the Potomac to the Rio Grande has been surrendered to the forces of the United States. … Gen. Johnston expresses deep and apparently sincere sorrow and much concern at the assassination of President Lincoln, in which he was joined by each Confederate officer present. Gen. Johnston regards it as the most terrible blow yet inflicted upon the Confederate cause and the Southern people, and seems deeply to deplore the event, coming as it does upon the close of this great struggle.
Amid tolling bells and the booming of the minute guns in Washington, Lincoln’s funeral was held and the body moved in a procession to the Rotunda of the Capitol, where it would be viewed by thousands of mourners.
President Davis’s party arrived at Charlotte, N.C., where it would remain until the 26th. Gen. Wade Hampton of South Carolina suggested to Davis that the presidential party move west of the Mississippi and continue the fight. Nothing was done about this.
Newspaper account:
Washington, D.C.: The great and solemn pageant of removing the remains of the Nation’s revered and beloved Chief from the White House to the Capitol is closed. Never was such a scene witnessed where each and every one of the vast throng moved in silent sadness, as if bearing the burden of a personal bereavement. …
Gen. James H. Wilson’s cavalry took Macon, Ga. Arkansas ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.
In Washington, the body of the President was prepared for shipment to Illinois, where it would be interred.
The President’s funeral train left Washington on a circuitous route to Illinois.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, near Goldsboro, N.C., wrote:
Marched at half past five. The news came to day that President Lincoln, Secretary Seward and son have been assassinated, resulting in the President’s death and severely wounding the others. And now, while the nation is rejoicing with unspeakable joy at its deliverance, it is suddenly plunged into the deepest sorrow by the most brutal murder of its loved chief.
President Lincoln’s funeral procession on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., April 19, 1865
David Herold (left) and Lewis Payne Powell (right) were two of the four co-conspirators in the Lincoln assassination plot who were executed in July of 1865. Powell attempted to assassinate Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, and Seward’s son, Frederick Seward, the same night that Booth killed the president.
We are now continually passing paroled men from Lee’s army on their way to their homes, or to where their homes were. Many found blackened ruins instead, and kindred and friends gone, they knew not whither. Oh, how much misery treason and rebellion have brought upon our land!
Newspaper account:
Fauquier, Va.: Mosby’s Farewell Address: “Soldiers: I have summoned you together for the last time. The vision we have cherished for a free and independent country has vanished, and that country is now the spoil of a conqueror. I disband your organization in preference to surrendering to our enemies. I am no longer your commander. After an association of more than two eventful years, I part from you with a just pride in the fame of your achievements, and grateful recollections of your generous kindness to myself; and now at this moment of bidding you a final adieu, accept the assurance of my unchanging confidence and regard. Farewell.”
In rural southern Maryland, Booth and Herold crossed the Potomac, headed south. The train carrying Lincoln’s body reached Philadelphia, arriving from Harrisburg.
Secretary of the Navy Welles notified the ships in the Potomac that John W. Booth had been seen near Bryantown on April 15, and that all boats were to be searched to obtain his capture.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, near Goldsboro, N.C., wrote:
Marched at seven am towards Goldsboro and turned off on the Raleigh road. Went into camp at nine am to draw rations. To-day I received the startling and sorrowful intelligence that Milton had escaped from prison, been home, returned to the army and been captured by a band of rebel cavalry while out foraging and brutally murdered in company with four of his comrades. One escaped and brought the news to camp. In consequence of this intelligence, my spirits are much depressed to-day. I have a faint hope that the information is incorrect. I will soon know. …
Secretary Welles ordered the ships on the Mississippi to search all vessels for President Jefferson Davis and his party to prevent their escape west. Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, commander of the Mississippi Squadron, took immediate action to put the search operation into effect.
Newspaper accounts:
Vicksburg, Miss.: Eight thousand Andersonville prisoners are here getting ready to return to their homes.
Knoxville, Tenn.: Among the trophies of Stoneman’s expedition are twelve battle flags and banners, one old United States flag found in the house of a loyal citizen of Salisbury. The poisonous pen, where many unfortunate Union prisoners pined their lives away, was burned to the ground. A few Union prisoners were found, skeletons of their former selves. Almost all of them died on the way to Knoxville. They preferred rather to die under the Stars and Stripes than to be left in the loathsome hospitals of Salisbury.
At Port Conway, Va., Booth and Herold crossed the Rappahannock in their escape from Federal troops. Lincoln’s body was now at New York, where it lay in state.
In North Carolina, Grant met Sherman and told him that his (Sherman’s) terms given to Johnston were not acceptable to President Johnson. Johnston was to be notified that unless he surrendered unconditionally within 48 hours, hostilities would be resumed.
In Augusta, Ga., Lt. William H. Parker, guardian of the Confederacy archives and treasury, learned that the surrender terms offered to Johnston by Sherman had been rejected by the Federal Government. So, gathering his escort and charges, he departed for Abbeville, S.C., thinking that that would be the most likely place to join President Davis.
The CSS Webb, having shaken all pursuers, hoisted the Union flag to half-mast and roared past New Orleans at about midnight going full steam. Federal gunboats fired on her and hit her three times without serious damage. She continued on downriver towards the Gulf.
Newspaper accounts:
Selma, Ala. (from the Daily Rebel): The people of the North are now reaping the natural and inevitable harvest of crime growing out of the demoralization incident to a state of war. The last dispatches exhibit a most shocking and horrible state of society. The President and his Prime Minister killed by assassins, and the new President and the Secretary of War murdered by a mob which has obtained and holds possession of the Capital of the Nation. Other cities sacked and a great popular revolution against the rulers impending. While their armies are devastating our land, their own downtrodden populace, infuriated by tyranny and driven to despair by want, bursts the bonds of law, and a reign of terror and of ruin is established. …
Chattanooga, Tenn.: The Atlanta papers know of the assassination of President Lincoln, but make no comment. They deny the surrender of Lee’s Army, and say he was all right on the 16th inst.
President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth (1838–65)
Near Bowling Green, Va., Federal cavalry closed in on Booth and Herold at a farm north of the city.
In North Carolina, Johnston asked Sherman to renew negotiations concerning the fate of the Confederate troops under Johnston’s command.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, near Raleigh, N.C., wrote:
Marched at seven AM. Arrived at Raleigh at twelve M. The corps moved from Raleigh at eight o’clock am in pursuit of Johnson [General Joseph Johnston]. Hostilities were resumed to-day at seven AM. We rested awhile at Raleigh and then set out to join the corps, which we overtook twelve miles from Raleigh. Then each soldier reported to his proper command. I am now with the mounted squad but have not yet got a horse. I found here about fifty of my old comrades of the 14th and 15th veteran battalion and several boys whom I had left in prison.
At about 2 AM Federal troops surrounded a tobacco barn located on the Garrett farm north of Bowling Green, Va., where Booth and Herold had taken refuge. The commander of the troops, Lt. Col. Everton Conger, called for their surrender. Booth refused; Herold accepted and left the barn. After a standoff of a few hours, Conger ordered the barn set afire to drive Booth out. While the barn was burning, Sgt. Boston Corbett shot Booth, wounding him mortally. Booth died shortly there after, on the porch of the Garrett house.
In North Carolina, Johnston and Sherman met to finalize the surrender of all Confederate forces east of the Mississippi. The terms were the same as those signed by Grant and Lee.
Also in North Carolina, President Davis met with his Cabinet in Charlotte and they agreed to try to escape to west of the Mississippi. The Confederate Attorney General, George Davis, left the presidential party and returned to his home.
The body of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, and the captured David E. Herold were delivered aboard the USS Montauk anchored in the Anacostia River near the Washington Navy Yard. An autopsy was performed on Booth’s body and positive identification was made. The corpse was then taken to the Washington Arsenal (present site of Ft. McNair), and there buried in a gun box near the Old Capital Prison. Herold was kept aboard the Montauk, along with the other suspected conspirators.
On the Mississippi River another tragedy unfold ed. The steamer Sultana blew up north of Memphis, killing 1,450 of the 2,000 passengers. All but 50 of the dead were former prisoners of war on their way home. The cause of the explosion was never deter mined. A sad ending for so many who had endured so much.
The Lincoln train reached Indianapolis. The eight conspirators in the Lincoln assassination were transferred by boat to the Old Capital Prison for detention and trial. The old prison building is gone, but the building in which the trial was held still stands and is used for government housing.
Outside Mobile, Federal Gen. Canby met Confederate Gen. Richard Taylor to discuss the surrender of all troops in Alabama and Mississippi.
In North Carolina, Sherman’s army was on the march north to Washington, D.C. The government requested 50 bakers each from Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York to help with the rations for the troops expected to arrive shortly.
MAY 1865
IT WAS NOW THREE WEEKS SINCE Lee and Grant met at Appomattox Court House in Virginia to set in motion the disbanding of the Confederate States Army. Much had changed in this short period of time. A new President was at the helm, the smoke had cleared from the battlefields and the troops were on their way home.
In Washington, President Andrew Johnson named nine army officers to head the military tribunal which would sit in judgment on the accused conspirators of the assassination. This was to be a strictly military trial, it having been ruled that the conspirators would not be tried in a civil court.
On the roads of Virginia and North Carolina, long blue lines of Federal troops marched towards Washington and home. The step seemed more sprightly, somehow, heading home.
Newspaper account:
Sherman’s Troops, Faiport, N.C.: Another fine day for marching, starting at five in the morning, by three o’clock in the afternoon the troops were in camp at Fairport, having marched twenty-two miles without experiencing more than usual fatigue, owing to the excellence of the roads. …
The CSS Shenandoah, Lt. Waddell, unaware that the war was over, had ranged to the Bering Sea in search of whalers since leaving Lea Harbor, Ponape, Caroline Islands.
Newspaper accounts:
Twentieth Army Corps, near Williamston, N.C.: It is painful to be obliged to record the lawless conduct of our soldiers at any time, particularly it is so when that conduct is utterly without extenuation. Despite the stringent orders issued in regard to the peaceable behavior of our troops upon their march to Richmond, some of the soldiers both of the Army of Georgia and the Army of [the] Tennessee have been permitted to straggle from their commands, and have committed depredations upon the inhabitants much to be deplored. It would seem that the roving spirits fostered by army life cannot at once be chastened into a domestic one by the white-winged angel of peace. …
Robertson County, Tex.: Brig. Gen. William P. Hardeman’s Brigade assembled in mass this evening, and, with General Hardeman in the chair, resolved, among other things, that in spite of the reverses to the cis-Mississippi armies, they would not abandon the struggle until the right of self-government is fully established. …
In Illinois, the funeral train carrying President Lincoln had finally reached its destination at Spring field. The country lawyer who had risen to such fame and had suffered so much for the Union was home at last.
This locomotive, named the Nashville, was one of twenty engines that pulled Lincoln’s funeral train from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Ill., a distance of 1,666 miles. The Nashville served its tour of duty between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
President Davis and his escort crossed the Savannah River and moved to Washington, Ga. Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin resigned his post and left the presidential party, headed for England.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory resigned from the Confederate cabinet citing the needs of his family. Davis, with regret, accepted the resignation and Mallory departed for LaGrange, Ga., where his family was waiting.
Newspaper account:
Fifth Army Corps, Richmond, Va.: The old pine woods south of Manchester are luminous to-night with the camp fires of the returning veterans of the Fifth Army Corps. To-morrow they will be gratified with their first view of the city for which they so long and so nobly battled. Their first view did I say? No, for in the long column are scores to whom the town will only serve to bring back to memory the long days and longer nights of privation and suffering endured in the former prison dens of the enemy. Following the Fifth will march the Second Corps, both on their way to Alexandria, where they will enjoy for a season the rest and relaxation to which they are so eminently entitled by their arduous service in the field. The battle fields of Cold Harbor, North Anna, Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg will probably be passed on their way to their point of destination.
Amid much pomp and ceremony, the remains of the sixteenth President of the United States, Abra ham Lincoln, were interred at Springfield.
President Davis and his escort continued south through Georgia, seeking a way to escape west.
Newspaper account:
Citronville, Ala:. “Lieutenant General Taylor has this day surrendered to me with the forces under his command, on substantially the same terms as those accepted by General Lee. E. R. S. Canby.”
Sherman’s troops continued northward, looking forward to the final Grand Review in Washington. The countryside seemed filled with soldiers moving in all directions. The paroled Rebels were heading home by any means at their disposal, slowly at times, and with sadness.
The War Department, in accordance with an Executive Order, named Major Gen. David Hunter to head the commission to try the assassination conspirators. Brig. Gen. Joseph Holt was named judge advocate of the commission.
In Georgia, President Davis continued moving south, reaching the town of Sandersville.
Jackman, Pvt., “The Orphan Brigade,” Washington, Ga., wrote:
The next evening, May 6th, the brigade came to Washington. As they marched through the streets coming in from one direction, all armed and their flags flying, they passed the 13th Tenn. Federal Cavalry coming from the opposite direction. It looked strange not to see them commence shooting at each other. I worked until ten o’clock at night getting up the proper papers for the regiment to be paroled. The Federal Provost Marshal worked nearly all night paroling us. … The next day all the brigade was paroled and we “broke up housekeeping.” Each fellow being allowed to wander off as his inclinations led him, with his horse, saddle and bridle.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Petersburg, Va., wrote:
Marched at five AM. Moved 12 miles and halted for rest and refreshments. After dinner moved to within two miles of Petersburg and went into camp. For the past day we have been on the tramping and fighting ground of the Potomac army. All along the road is strewed evidence of severe fighting. Our present camping ground is dotted as far as the eye can reach with spots where was camped the vast Army of the Potomac, the brave but unfortunate army which has fought so bravely, suffered so much and accomplished so little. From the Potomac across the Rappahannok to beyond the James River, their bodies lie slumbering in an unbroken sleep, never more to waken to active life, but the cause for which they sacrificed their lives will live and grow, until its splendor eclipses the whole world. …
Newspaper account:
Richmond, Va.: Dick Turner, the noted turnkey of Libby Prison, is securely locked up in the most dismal, subterranean dungeon of that place of torture. There is no pity felt for him in Richmond. He is as pale as leprosy, his beard whitening, his deficient teeth ajar and his eyes full of terror. He is now as mean and cringing in his behavior as, in power he was insolent and cruel. When turnkey, he shot men dead with a revolver, who came to the windows for air and light, kicked and knocked down others, and took delight in augmenting the untold miseries of the poor prisoners under his charge. He has heard, in his loathsome cell, that the soldiers have decreed his death so soon as they are fully assured of his identity, and his pleadings for mercy are presented to all who come near him; but he pleads to hearts of stone.
In an effort to bring Virginia back into the Union as rapidly as possible, President Andrew Johnson recognized Francis H. Pierpont as Governor.
In Arkansas, Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson was considering surrender of his Rebel forces.
In Washington, D.C., at the Old Capital Prison, the trial of the assassination conspirators began.
In Georgia, President Davis met his wife on the Oconee River near Dublin. This was their first meeting since Varina and the children were sent from Richmond before its fall.
Today, President Andrew Johnson officially declared that armed resistance to the Federal Government was at an end.
In Spencer County, Ky., the infamous William Clarke Quantrill was fatally wounded near Taylorsville, and was removed to Louisville for treatment, where he later died. This effectively closed a long and bloody chapter of guerrilla warfare motivated more by criminal than patriotic instincts. The legacy of Quantrill’s band of marauders would long haunt the hills of Missouri.
Near Irwinville, Ga., the Fourth Michigan Cavalry surprised the Jefferson Davis party early in the morning and captured the former President and his escort.
In Arkansas, Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson surrendered the remainder of his force, ending a short but distinguished career.
Jefferson Davis and the officials of the late Confederate Government, captured at Irwinville, Ga., on May 10, were taken down the Savannah River to Port Royal, where they boarded the William P. Clyde, Master John L. Kelly, for Hampton Roads, Va. The Clyde was escorted by the USS Tuscarora, Commander James M. Frailey, to Virginia.
This elaborate allegorical print, created by Morris H. Traubel of Philadelphia around 1861, was published in anticipation of the Union victory over the Confederacy.
Major Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was today assigned to command west of the Mississippi and south of the Arkansas rivers—a very large territory. The appointment did not sit too well with some from the South.
Former Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory was arrested at the home of Benjamin H. Hill in LaGrange, Ga. He was charged with “treason and with organizing and setting on foot piratical expeditions.” He was sent to Ft. Lafayette in New York, where he remained until his parole in March 1866.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Alexandria, Va., wrote:
Went to the city to-day. The streets were crowded with soldiers from both armies. There was a disposition amongst some to blackguard each other. Alexandria is a city of ten thousand inhabitants and business is very lively, consequent upon so large an army being there. There are over two hundred thou sand troops camped in and around it. …
President Johnson removed the blockade from most major Southern ports. Former President Davis was imprisoned at Ft. Monroe, Va.
Today the Army of the Potomac, after four long years of suffering defeat and then final victory over its old adversary, Gen. Robert E. Lee, marched in its last parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The Grand Review, on its first day, contained seemingly endless lines of blue infantry and artillery and a constant clatter of cavalry as that proud army had its last hurrah. For most it was a day of unbounding joy. For others, it seemed that the ghosts of the thousands of fallen sat sadly in the reviewing stands unable to let the moment go without remembrance.
The Grand Review of the Armies took place on May 23 and 24, 1865. This photograph, by Matthew Brady, shows a unit of cavalry passing by the presidential reviewing stand.
Jackman, Pvt., “The Orphan Brigade,” en route home, wrote:
At last, about the latter part of May, learning the railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga was about done, we bade our friends good-bye and in a carriage came to Union Point, 12 miles, to take the cars. At 1 PM the train for Atlanta came along and we “bounced” it. Eight miles above, at Greens-burg, our two other companions came aboard. We got to the ruins of Atlanta late at night and slept under a shade tree until morning.
The next day, finding 60 miles or more of the road not completed, we bargained with a Federal, who had two wagons under his charge, going through to Resaca, to take us over the road. We left Atlanta at 1 PM. Atlanta looked desolate having been burned since I had last seen it. We camped at Marietta at night. The town was also in ruins.
The next day we came as far as Acworth. The day after we passed through Cartersville, on the Etowah, and Cassville, which was in complete ruins. In the evening we got to Addairsville and took the train for Dalton. The road had just been finished to A-ville and we came up on the construction train. The employees seemed disposed to show us favor. We bivouacked near the depot at Dalton for the night—got there about 10 o’clock PM. Cold night. Last time I slept on the ground.
The next morning the train, which was flat cars, left for Chattanooga. Got into Chattanooga at noon. Being quite a number of Confeds along, we could not get transportation that day. At night we put up at the Soldier’s Home, “Yank” and “Confed” eating out of the same platter and cracking jokes at each other as though they had never met in many a mortal combat.
The next evening we took train for Nashville and by daylight, or a little after the next morning we were in that city.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Washington, D.C., wrote:
Cleared off pleasant during the night. Moved camp to-day to the south side of the Potomac in full view of the city of Washington. The Capitol towers up majestically above all the other buildings. We can see the White House, War Department, Washington Monument and Smithsonian. …
To-day the army of the Potomac was reviewed by Grant, Meade, President, Secretary of War and other high government officials. The army was dressed in its gayest suit. The soldiers appeared splendid, showing the effects of good discipline and good living. Their step was elastic and guided by a strict military gait, quite different from the free step of Sherman’s army.
To-morrow Sherman’s army appears upon the stage. Thousands of visitors from all parts of the United States are flocking to the Capital to witness these grand reviews, the largest and most brilliant ever known. The interest is enhanced greatly from the fact that the two rival armies are just fresh from the victorious fields. …
It was the second, and last, day of the Grand Review in Washington. Today the men who marched six thousand miles and gained fame as Sherman’s “Bummers” would have their day. This was a different army from the one that had marched the day before. The Midwesterners, and most were from that area, had a longer stride that seemed to eat the distance. Their formations were less formal and their uniforms were certainly more ragged. But the hit of the parade was the inclusion of goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, wagons, carts and all the other “equippage” of the “Bummers” that were in the parade. Sherman’s men took pride in being a hard-marching, hard-fighting, independent lot.
This photograph, also by Matthew Brady, shows the army of Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum passing on Pennsylvania Avenue during the Grand Review of the Armies.
Sgt. Barber describes his feelings about the Grand Review. He and his comrades of Sherman’s Army would today participate in one of the most splendid parades ever held in Washington. Every veteran who marched in this parade never forgot the feeling of pride, patriotism and comradeship that pervaded the air this day.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Washington, D.C., wrote:
The eventful 24th of May dawned bright and beautiful. The heart of every veteran in Sherman’s Army beat high in anticipation of the events of the day. We could not doubt our success. The eye of our matchless leader was upon us. … Our regiments of recruits were divided off into companies of twenty files each, and veterans placed in each company as right and left guide. The remainder of the veterans did not join us. They were too proud to mingle on this occasion with men who had never smelled gunpowder. We only went at the request of our Colonel to act as guides, so as to make the regiment appear as well as possible. Rollin and I were right and left guide in one company.
Early in the morning the army commenced crossing Long Bridge and moved towards the Capitol grounds, the 14th and 20th Corps in advance. By ten AM we were all massed on the grounds south of the Capitol, and prepared to march in review. At the command to move, seventy-five thousand men in column, with bands playing, drums beating, and colors flying, in exact order and time to the music, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, saluting our President and commanders as we passed the reviewing stand. For six long hours the steady tramp, tramp, tramp of Sherman’s heroes echoed along Pennsylvania Avenue. The shouts of the multitude rent the air. Garlands of flowers were strewed in our pathway, and blessings showered upon us. Though our attire was not as gay as the Potomac Army, yet we excelled them in appearance. We wore the hard, bronzed visage of war incident upon a march of a thousand miles, fighting day after day, bridging rivers, corduroying swamps that before were deemed impassible. I do not wish to detract from the just merits of the Potomac Army, but the press and public bear me out in saying that Sherman’s Army bore off the palm. We marched five miles north and went into camp. This is to be our camp while we remain here. …
Newspaper accounts:
New Orleans, La.: Rebel deserters and escaped prisoners of the Thirty-third Iowa Regiment just arrived from Texas, report that the Union prisoners confined at Tyler, Tex., were allowed to escape in large numbers, the guards saying that, when they are all gone, they will have nothing to do, and then can go home. The interior of Texas is in a terribly disorganized condition. A telegraph line is to be constructed from San Antonio to Austin to Matamoras.
Boston, Mass.: The United States gunboat Tuscarora, from Fort Monroe, with Alexander H. Stephens and Postmaster Reegan on board, arrived below this port this morning, and anchored in the Narrows. The Rebel party will be lodged in Fort Warren to-day.
Today in New Orleans Confederate Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, who surrendered Ft. Donelson to Grant in February 1862, met representatives of Major Gen. Canby to surrender the last significant army of the Confederacy. Gen. Jo Shelby, refusing to surrender, would take some of his men and go to Mexico.
President Johnson ordered that most political prisoners held by military authorities be released.
General amnesty and pardon was granted with a few exceptions by President Johnson to all persons who directly, or indirectly, participated in “the existing rebellion.”
Jackman, Pvt., “The Orphan Brigade,” home at last, wrote:
This was May 29th. We were all marched—not under guard—to the Provost Marshal’s office and there informed that the Kentuckians could not go home unless first taking the amnesty oath and we were “galvanized.” I did not care to wait for government transportation by water, so that evening, at 3 o’clock I took the train for Louisville having to pay my passage and at 7 o’clock at night got off at Bardstown Junction. Rather than wait until the following evening for the train, I immediately started on foot up the railroad and got home about 10 AM the 30th of May, having been absent 3 years, 8 months, and 4 days.
Barber, Sgt., Co. C, 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Washington, D.C., wrote:
Warm and pleasant. Went to Washington to-day and visited the Capitol. … The most sacred relic I saw was the original Declaration of Independence with the original signatures attached. The marble statue of Tecumseh represented in the agonies of death is splendid. … I next visited the Patent Office where equal admiration enchained me. Here are laid up in the archives of the nation many ancient relics of our country. Here Washington’s personal and military effects are deposited. … Here is Franklin’s original printing press and the coat that Jackson wore at the battle of New Orleans … a model of all patents ever issued at the Patent Office. … I next visited the Treasury and War Department and White House, each of which was full of interest to a stranger. … I intend to visit the Smithsonian Institution and Vernon next. The talk is now that we will be sent to Louisville soon and from there to our respective States to be mustered out.
