USA > New York > Services of the Tenth New York Volunteers (National Zouaves,) in the War of the Rebellion > Part 25
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On the morning of the 31st, the Rebel army took the initiative. Often before, Gen. Lee had crushed his op- ponent's left by falling suddenly and heavily on his ex- posed flank, and he once more essayed the like move- ment, throwing into it all the troops he could collect for the blow. The attack upon Warren's corps was sudden, and almost completely disrupted two divisions. The rear division (Griffin's), however, stood firm, and with the assistance of the First Division, of the Second Corps, repulsed the enemy, following up the success with a counter-attack which drove the Confederates back to their old line on the White Oak Road. Two flags and many prisoners were captured. During the progress of the action advances were made by the skirmishers of the Second and Third Divisions, of the Second Corps ; but no success was attained-the works of the enemy being found strongly defended.
This day and the next also witnessed stirring events still further to the left of the line. Sheridan, on the 31st, seized possession of Five Forks, about four miles west of the scene of Gen. Warren's action. To hold Five Forks was to hold the strategie key opening up the whole region which Lee was now seeking to cover. Deven's division of cavalry, assisted by Davies' brigade, of Crook's division, occupied the coveted point ; but their retention of it was short, for Gen. Lee immediately marched a strong infantry force from Warren's front and drove the cavalry out and back towards Dinwiddie Court House. Warren was now ordered to reinforce Sheridan with his entire corps.
342
THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
On the morning of April 1st, Sheridan put his com- bined force of cavalry and infantry in motion, and, late in the afternoon, the struggle of the day had ended with the complete rout or capture of the Rebel force at Five Forks. The trophies of the day included many colors and guns and above five thousand prisoners. The bril- liant victory was won with comparatively small loss on the part of the Union troops, the cavalry losing but a few hundred and the infantry six hundred and thirty- four, killed and wounded.
No sooner had the last sounds of battle ceased at Five Forks than, from the direction of Petersburg, came the noise of heavy cannonading. The guns in position before the beleaguered city had opened fire, as if to pro- claim the victory on the left, and the ground seemed to tremble beneath the mighty rumblings, while the dark- ness of night was illumined by the lurid light of bursting shells and the flashes of the guns. The Tenth Battalion lay on, picket during this night, which duty it had per- formed since the 30th. Each member of the battalion seemed now to anticipate the final movement, and mus- kets were grasped firmly, while the advanced posts peered through the thiek forest, not knowing what the cannonading from the right portended, and unacquainted as yet with the particulars of Sheridan's victory on the other flank.
As early daybreak of Sunday began to tinge the tops of the loftiest trees with a dim, uncertain glimmer of light, orders came to advance the pickets. Our batta- lion moved forward, the colors, which had been sent from the picket line to the rear, immediately following, and in five minutes the enemy's works were in our pos- session, with guns and prisoners. Scarcely a semblance
343
PETERSBURG CAPTURED.
of resistance was made, so thin had the line been drawn out in consequence of Gen. Lee's heavy drafts for the defence of his extreme right. The advance skirmishers of the Tenth, composed of a majority of Company B, under command of Capt. E. D. Van Winkle, were the first troops to cross the works in our front, bearing down by the sheer force of their enthusiastic charge the Rebels who still defended them. In the excitement they still continued on, and reached the main road in rear of the works before they looked back, to see their division, with the First, charging the works which had really been captured by a few eager soldiers. Sergt. Ambrose Wildey was particularly observable in this advance. He and young Connery, of Company B, had jumped in among a few of the enemy, ordering them to surrender, when one aimed his piece at Wildey. Connery immediately struck up the musket and discharged his own at the Con- federate soldier, disabling him. The others threw down their arms and made quick time towards the rear of our lines as prisoners. Within an hour or two the Second Corps had connected with the Sixth, which, with the Ninth and Twenty-fourth, had stormed and carried the entire Rebel line in front of Petersburg.
At dawn of Monday, the 3d of April, when the skir- mish lines advanced towards the city itself, it was found to be evacuated, and Petersburg came at last into our possession, after a bitter siege and defence lasting nearly ten months. At about the same time, our forees on the other side of the James River were apprised of some- thing unusual happening in Richmond by a succession of heavy explosions, and a blaze which lit the sky for miles. A squadron of cavalry was immediately advanced, by order of Gen. Weitzel, and this party entered the capital
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
without hindrance, planting its flag on the State capitol. "Thus Richmond fell ! Marvelous as had been the one year's defence of the Confederate capital, its fall was not less strange. Occupied, not captured, Richmond, to gain which such hecatombs of lives had been sacrificed, was at length given up by the civil authorities to a body of forty troopers !" +
The Danville Railroad, which was evidently Lee's in- tended line of retreat, runs southwest from Richmond, and was intersected at Burkesville by the Southside or Lynchburg Railroad. Burkesville was therefore a stra- tegic point of great importance to Lee, if he intended to retreat into North Carolina. Recognizing this. Gen. Grant pushed forward his army on the 3d, the Second Corps marching by a road south of the Appomattox to strike the Danville Road north of Burkesville. The marching was steady and rapid until the afternoon of the 5th, when the entire army under Gen. Meade's command (the Second, Fifth and Sixth Corps) was brought quickly into position at Jetersville, about nine or ten miles north- east of Burkesville and a little less southwest of Amelia Court House. The Rebel army was in position, cover- ing the latter place. When, however, on the next morn- ing, the Army of the Potomac moved forward in impos- ing line of battle, it was found that Gen. Lee had taken advantage of roads leading westward, and was pushing rapidly in the direction of Lynchburg.
A quiek pursuit of the retreating army immediately followed, the Second Corps marching in columns of brigades, and pressing forward in this extended order
* This flag was raised by Lieut. J. I .. de Peyster, a young officer on the staff of Gen. Weitzel.
+ Swinton's "Army of the Potomac."
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SAILOR'S CREEK.
through woods and valleys and over hills and open ground, halting for nothing, and sweeping everything before it. The enemy's rear guard was compelled occa- sionally to halt and open a battery or deploy a brigade, to give their exhausted men and horses an opportunity to rest ; but it was never for more than a few minutes, as the skirmishers of the advance brigades of our corps were upon them almost immediately. The running fight and pursuit continued the entire day, and ended, at night, with the capture, by the Second and Third Divi- jons, of over 200 wagons and ambulances and numbers of guns, prisoners and flags. This capture was a sequel to the battle fought by Custer's, Crook's and Deven's divisions of cavalry, and the Sixth Corps, which had been marching to the left of the Second. These troops attacked the Confederate wagon train and its escort, composed of a heavy force of infantry and cavalry, near Sailor's Creek, a small stream emptying into the Appo- mattox. The action terminated with the capture of many pieces of artillery and nearly all that remained of Ewell's corps, with that commander himself and four other general officers .*
After crossing Sailor's Creek, near its junction with the Appomattox, Humphrey's corps went into bivouac and the night was passed by the Tenth New York upon the picket line. No eatables of any account had been cap- tured in the wagons, for both men and horses of the
* Swinton's "Army of the Potomac." p. 612: " The decisive character of this result was largely due to the energetic movements of the Second Corps, which. mov- ing to the right, had pressed the Confederates closely in a rear-guard fight all day. ull night, when it had attained a position ne ir the mouth of Sailor's Creek. Here the Confederates were so crowded upon that a large train was captured and many hundreds were taken prisoners. The trophies of the Second Corps included, in addition, several pieces of artillery and thirteen flags."
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
enemy were living on next to nothing ; but some men of the battalion had come into possession of a quantity of old Virginia peach brandy. It was passed around, so that all could judge of its quality, and the writer can tes- tify to its revivifying properties.
Hard and fast, in a rut along the road, near the cross- ing of the creek, were several ambulances, abandoned by the Confederates, and filled mainly with officers' ef- fects. Chalked on the side of one of these was the le- gend :
" We uns have found the last ditch."
Significant, full of unvarnished truth, and pathetic, was this scrawl-evidently a last message of some driver, as he hurriedly cut his harness and left his vehicle to its fate.
Early on the 7th, the Second Corps again started in pursuit of the enemy. Gen. Barlow had been placed in command of the Second Division, and he led the advance towards High Bridge, which spans the Appomottox six miles east of Farmville. The Confederate rear guard was overtaken while attempting to burn this lofty rail- road structure, and were driven from their work by a portion of Gen. Smyth's brigade, which was in advance, while another portion, including the Tenth, double- quicked to the foot bridge, and crossed it, driving the Rebel skirmishers before them. It was quickly done, and the safety of the smaller bridge was a matter of great importance, as the river here was unfordable. A force on the heights was soon dispersed, with the aid of our artillery on the opposite bank. Eighteen guns were captured here, most of them in position in redoubts .*
* "Abbott's Civil War," p. 501 : " Four spans of the High Bridge were de- stroyed before our advance, which consisted of Barlow's division, reached the river.
347
FARMVILLE.
Gen. Barlow now advanced the division direet along the railroad towards Farmville, the Third Brigade still leading and skirmishing occasionally with the enemy. The formation of full brigade front was still continued. The flank of the Tenth touched one side of the road, on which it was to guide, and at one time there was a sen- sible oblique motion of the battalion towards the left. This grew more and more observable, leaving a widen- ing gap between the flank and the road, and causing the regiments on the left to take the same direction. Chickens were the unconscious cause-a yard-full of them having developed magnetism enough to draw half a bri- gade from its proper alignment. A sudden rush was made and the farmyard was depleted, our battalion re- suming its proper line of march before the cause of the trouble was well understood by Lieut .- Col. Hopper ; at least he made no strenuous efforts to prevent the capture of the chickens.
On nearing Farmville, our cavalry vanguard found that the enemy were burning the bridges across the Ap- pomattox (the Lynchburg Railroad again crossing the crooked river at this point); but they soon abandoned the place and joined the main body of Lee's army, which was intrenched some four or five miles north of Farm- ville. While destroying the wagons and bridges, a stand was made by a force of Rebels along the railroad. Gen. Smyth advanced the 108th New York Volunteers as skirmishers, with the 10th New York and the 14th Con-
A division of the Rebel army was drawn up on the western bank to prevent the ex- tinguishment of the flames and to dispute the passage ; but our batteries soon com-
pelled the Rebels to retire. The flames were extinguished * * and the pursuers pressed on. The brigade of Gen. Smyth led the advance, pelting the enemy with shot, shell and bullets, as he despairingly, yet with oft-exhibited des- peration of valor, rushed along on the road to Farmville."
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
necticut supporting. A battery of the enemy had opened upon us, and a lively skirmish fire was soon in operation. During this fire, Gen. Smyth rode forward, with two or three of his staff officers, to the knoll where the Tenth was posted, and, while surveying the ground in front, he was mortally wounded by a Rebel sharpshooter. The ball entered the left side of his face, and, continuing downward, fractured a cervical vertebra, driving a frag- ment of the bone upon the spinal cord.
The wounding of the general seemed, for a while, difficult to believe. He had so often braved death with his brigade, during the two years he had been in com- mand, that it had become natural to regard him as one not destined to die by a Rebel bullet. His fine sol- dierly appearance and magnetic presence had lent en- couragement and inspiration to his men in numberless engagements, and it was hardly to be realized that the enthusiastic soldier and able commander had received his death-wound at the hour when he was confidently looking forward to a bright termination of his four years of active campaigning. He was the last Union general killed in the Rebellion, the last man wounded in the brigade which he commanded, and he died on the day of Lee's surrender, two days after receiving his injury.
The First Division meanwhile attacked the enemy's intrenched position on the right, but was repulsed, with the loss of several hundred men killed and wounded, and Barlow immediately hurried the Second Division to its assistance. At dark the Fifth and Sixth Corps came up and the army prepared to assault the Rebel position at daybreak. Lee moved out, however, under darkness of
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THE PURSUIT CONTINUED.
night, and was several miles on his road when the re- treat was discovered.
While lying before the enemy's works during the night, a drove of sheep was brought in, and our division feasted on mutton, filling haversacks with enough to last through the morrow. The men of the Tenth were tired out, and slept soundly, although expecting that the morning would bring rough work.
The next day (Sth) was consumed in following the enemy. Our battalion was deployed in skirmishing or- der, partly in advance and partly on the right flank of the Second Division, which led the corps. Hundreds of stragglers from Lee's now despairing army were picked up-many of them waiting for the skirmishers to come up and then passing quietly to the rear. Numbers were also discovered lying behind logs, or in the underbrush, where they had dropped from exhaustion. The roads were strewn with abandoned caissons and half-destroyed wagons, and littered with a variety of small arms and impedimenta hastily thrown aside by the rapidly moving army of fugitives. *
* Swinton, in his "Army of the Potomac," thus ends a graphic picture of the retreat : " While the sufferings of the men were thus severe, those of the horses and mules were even keener : for of forage there was none, and the grass had not yet sprouted. Of course, in this condition of the draught animals, the locomotion of the trains and artillery could be but slow. Moreover, the long lines of wagons, filling miles of the road. frequently cut in upon the route of the intantry columns. de- laying them for half a day at' a time ; so that, from this and other reasons, the march had to be mainly conducted at night, which added the want of rest to the sum of miseries accun:ulating fast and faster on the hapless host of fugitives. Dark divisions, sinking in the woods for a few hours repose, would hear suddenly the boom of hostile guns and the clatter of the hoofs of the ubiquitous cavalry, and they had to up and hasten off as fast as their wearied limbs would carry them. Thus pressed upon on all sides, driven like sheep before prowling wolves, with blazing wagon- in front and rear ; amid hunger, fatigue, and sleeplessness, continning day after day, they fared towards the setting sun-
". Such resting found the soles of unblest feet.'"'
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
Night came and the Second Corps went into bivouac, only to be awakened at midnight and to hurriedly re- sume mareh, by column, on the road. It was now gene- rally rumored that overtures had been made by Lee towards the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia, and the troops anxiously awaited daylight, sur- mising that important events were about to transpire. At an early hour of Sunday, the 9th of April, the Second Corps was massed upon cleared ground near Appomattox Court House, in anxious expectation of a grand denoue- ment.
The Rebel Army of Northern Virginia had been at length brought to bay and encompassed by a force through which it was utterly impossible to force a pas- sage and make escape. Gen. Sheridan's cavalry had, during the 8th, pushed rapidly on, and, by a forced march, surrounded and captured several trains of provi- sions, which had arrived for Gen. Lee's famishing troops, at Appomattox Station, on the Lynchburg Railroad ; and then, being ahead of the Rebel vanguard, had boldly attacked it, capturing many guns and prisoners, and driving it back upon the main body. Sheridan had been rapidly followed by the Fifth, Twenty-fourth and part of the Twenty-fifth Corps, and, at daylight of the 9th, the enemy were virtually surrounded by a eordon of glistening bayonets.
Unaware of the rapid movement of our infantry, Gen. Lee prepared, in the early morning, to cut his way through our cavalry, which had come up the preceding afternoon. His batteries were placed on commanding positions in and around the hitherto sleepy village of Appomattox, and line of battle was formed just west of the Court House. Then the artillery belched forth its
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351
AT APPOMATTOX.
fire, and the ragged divisions of the Army of Northern Virginia prepared to sweep Sheridan's audacious horse- men from their path. Suddenly a division of blue-coated infantry, with black faces, are visible. Said a Rebel of- fieer : "I thought there was nothing but Yankee cavalry ahead of us, but that yonder is a nigger brigade, sure." A Confederate battery nearest the colored division beats a hasty retreat, and then appears a second division of Union troops, pressing down the depot road towards the village. The cavalry in front now move swiftly aside, and other solid lines of infantry are unveiled, while Sheridan passes around to the right and prepares for a charge upon the despairing Confederate masses. But Lee's troops have fallen back. They have seen the fate awaiting them and their desire for battle has ended.
Gen. Lee now knew that his retreat was cut off, and that there was no further hope, and, with his staff, he rode down the Lynchburg pike towards the front. He halted in a clover field, dismounted, and, with his officers around him, seated himself under a gnarled old apple tree. Here they could see the gray-coated lines falling back and watch the advance of the Union divisions and the dust made by Custer's horsemen on the flank. THE END HIAD COME ! Two officers left the group, one with a white flag, while Lee and his staff remounted and rode baek to the village. This was the episode of the famous apple tree .*
* Correspondence of the .V. Y. Sun, August 28th, 1881 : "The Federal sol- diers got the idea, in some way, that Grant and Lee met under an apple tree, and when they asked which tree it was, were shown the tree beneath which Lee sat when he sent the flag of truce. At first they began to cut little bits from it, suit- able for watch charms. The one of them. a lusty Maine fellow, seized an axe and felled it, and in ten minutes every bit of the wood was cut into convenient pieces for mementoes. Not satisfied with this, they duy the roots and tendrils, and, in an hour, all that was left to maik the spot was a hole in the ground deep enough to bury a horse."
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
Gens. Grant and Lee met soon afterwards, and the capitulation was virtually agreed upon in a conversa- tion of ten minutes, the two generals then retiring to their respective lines. Later in the day the formal sur- render was consummated in a room in Maj. MeLane's house-a plain dark brick structure within the village.
It was noon when a dispatch from Gen. Meade an- nounced to the Army of the Potomac the glorious fact that the correspondence between Gens. Grant and Lee had terminated in the surrender of the entire Army of Northern Virginia. Gen. Meade shortly afterwards rode along the lines of the Second Corps, followed by his staff, and the excitement and enthusiasm were un- bounded. Men who, an hour previous, were unable to stand from fatigue, capered about with frantic glee. The bands of the different brigades burst out in notes of triumphant music, flags were unfurled and waved, hats, knapsacks and everything at hand were hurled into the air, and cheer upon cheer rent the clear sky, until a tu- multuous roar of voices seemed likely to deafen every one. Every battery of the corps which could be brought into position was instantly unlimbered, and the roar of artillery from scores of iron throats sent tributes of vic- tory to the heavens. The echoes were meanwhile taken up by the artillery of the balance of the army, and it seemed to those in the rear of the long wagon trains, to whom the glad news had not yet been communicated. that the great battle which was to end the struggle had commenced.
Ere nightfall the two armies seemed almost as one. Picket lines, it is true, still prohibited either side min- gling with the other, but conversation was indulged in freely at points of the line opposite the Third Brigade,
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TERMS OF SURRENDER.
and bartering for tobacco, sugar, hard-tack and bacon was carried on to a considerable extent-the tobacco being the only stock in trade of the surrendered troops. . Of rations they had none, and the Quartermaster's De- partment of our army was ordered by Gen. Grant to fur- nish food to the half-famishing Rebel soldiers.
The correspondence between Gens. Grant and Lee, in connection with the surrender, had been commenced on the 7th, when Gen. Grant urged the hopelessness of con- tinued resistance and shifted from himself the responsi- bility for further bloodshed. The following were the final letters :
APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE, April 9.
GEN. R. E. LEE,
Commanding C. S. A.
In accordance with the substance of my letter to you, of the Sth instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit :
Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate-one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officers as you may designate.
The officers to give their individual parole not to take arms against the United States until properly exchanged, and each com- pany or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands.
The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and Hacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to re- ceive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage.
This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside.
Very respectfully,
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
23
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THE NATIONAL ZOUAVES.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 9th, 1865.
LIEUT .- GEN. U. S. GRANT,
Commanding U. S. A.
GENERAL :- I have received your letter of this date, contain- ing the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- pressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted.
I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipu- lations into effect.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General.
The Fifth Corps, Mckenzie's cavalry and Gen. Gib- bon's corps were designated to remain at Appomattox Court House until the paroling of the surrendered army was completed, and to take charge of public property. The remainder of the Union troops were ordered to Burkesville.
The losses of Gen. Lee in the late battles and marches had been exceedingly heavy in killed and wounded. prisoners and stragglers, so that the actual number sur- rendered and admitted to parole was only 26,115. There were also surrendered, 159 cannon, 15,918 small arms, 71 colors, about 1,100 wagons, caissous, &c., and 4,000 horses and mules.
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