USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 40
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AROUND PETERSBURG.
We must now return to the theater of war around Petersburg. On the 1st of August, Grant had 85,295 men present for duty. On the same day Lee's force numbered 54,751, reduced from 60,000 by his hav- ing sent Kershaw's brigade to Early in the Valley. On the 12th, Grant, believing that Lee had sent three divisions instead of one to the Valley, determined to assail Richmond, and for this purpose, Hancock's corps embarked on the James and landed at Deep Bottom, whence it advanced toward Richmond. But it was not long ere it was learned that three divisions had not gone to the assistance of Early. One important. advantage was gained, however-Hancock's northward movement, which resulted in the
CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF THE WELDON RAILROAD.
When General Lee became aware of the position of the Federals on the north bank of the James, he drew the troops heavily from Peters- burg to the defense of Richmond, and on the 18th, the 5th corps under Warren moved south of Petersburg and struck the Weldon railroad only four miles south of the city. In doing this a gap was left open on his right and into it Lee at once thrust Mahone's division, which suc- ceeded in forcing Wright farther south, and in capturing 2,000 prisoners, but it was finally obliged to fall back. The next day another serious engagement took place, but Warren held his position, and in three days succeeded in destroying seven miles of the road, but it cost him a loss of 4,543 men. From this date until the elose of the year, a continued series of engagements, sorties, raids, advances and retreats took place, a recountal of which is not necessary to our plan, and would from their similarity of detail searcely interest the reader. Therefore we proceed to the consideration of the momentous events of 1865, which was
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THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Winter put an end to all military operations, and both armies lay in- active awaiting the opening of the spring campaign, which commenced with the 25th of March, 1865. The first action was that of FORT STED- MAN or HARES HILL. At four o'clock on the morning of that day, all things being in readiness, a body of Confederate sharpshooters, 250 in number, with empty guns left their own works and stealthily moving across the intervening space, scaled the outer works of the enemy. It was to the Federals as great a surprise as would have been a clap of thunder from a noonday sky. They were driven from their batteries, and yet not a musket was fired. This movement was followed by that of several brigades which had been massed for the purpose. The Federals having recovered from the surprise occasioned by the daring adventure recited, now opened a murderous enfilading fire upon the assailants, and soon General Gordon found it judicious to retire. In the assault, the Confederates captured nine pieces of artillery, but be- ing unable to remove them, they were disabled and left behind; also, 550 prisoners among whom was one brigadier-general and several field officers of lower rank.
This action seemed to arouse Grant to the realization that it was time to open the campaign, and on the 29th he began a heavy movement against the Southside railroad. Pouring forth 50,000 men, of whom 9,000 were cavalry, he succeeded after several reverses in the accom- plishment of his object. Saturday night, April 1st, was a gloomy one for General Lee.
The Federal forces had now passed around to the south-west of his position, thus cutting off not only his source of supplies, but also his line of march southward, should he be compelled to abandon his works. Not only this. but three Federal corps lay before him ready to strike the Petersburg defenses at daylight.
The hour came, and at sunrise on that balmy Sabbath morning the attack was made from three separate points. The 6th corps went though first, at a point nearly opposite the western extremity of the city ; a little farther west was the point of attack of the 24th corps; while to the east was that of the 9th corps, which succeeded in carrying Fort Ma- hone, one of the strongest defences of the city. Ord's and Humphrey's commands having carried the works in front of them, swung around to the right and joined Gibbon's division before Forts Alexander and Gregg : these were the strongest fortifications south of Petersburg, and with their reduction the way to the city would be opened. The assault was at once made, and Fort Alexander carried, but so determined was the resistance of Fort Gregg that Gibbon's columns were forced back, leaving the ground covered with the dead. Three furious charges were signally re-
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pulsed, but at length the gallant garrison, with smoke-blackened faces from their blazing batteries, was forced to yield, and the works were carried.
At this moment, Generals Lee, Hill and Mahone were in Petersburg consulting upon their future movements. The terrible sounds of battle were coming nearer and nearer. " How is this, General ?" said Lee to A. P. Hill. " Your men are giving way." Hill drew a rough coat over his uniform and mounting his horse, accompanied by a single orderly, dashed away to the front. In a ravine he rode into the Federal skirmish line, the sound of a dozen rifles instantly rang out upon the air, and the noble Hill, who had been foremost in so many victorious charges, fell to rise no more. (A sketch of his life will be found in the first volume of VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS. )
The day waned and with it the fortunes of the Confederate arms ; the works were carried after thousands of men had fallen in their defence. But how different was the scene in Richmond, twenty-two miles away ! It was a beautiful, balmy spring evening, and the people had gathered in their respective churches for worship. President Davis was seated in his pew in St. Paul's Church. A messenger walked briskly up the aisle and handed him a telegram : it was from General Lee, and in it he said: " Petersburg is lost to the Confederacy, and Richmond must be evacuated at once." The President arose immediately and left the church with a measured but nervous step. No one save himself knew the exact con- tents of that message, and yet every one in the assemblage intuitively felt that something of dread import had taken place at the front. Quiv- ering lips passed the news from church to church, and the congregations were speedily dismissed; then the rumor was caught up in the streets and soon carried to the remote limits of the city.
EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.
Night passed away, and the day brought such a scene as had only been witnessed in the abandoned cities of the Old World. A government was preparing to move ; wagons were hastily laden with boxes and trunks at the departments, and driven to the depot of the Richmond & Danville railroad. Thousands of citizens determined to follow the fort- unes of the fugitive government, and as much as a hundred dollars in gold was offered for a conveyance. Night came again and brought with it a reign of terror. No human eyes in Richmond were closed in sleep that night. The city council convened and resolved to destroy all the liquor in the city, and at midnight the work of destruction began. Hun- dreds of barrels were poured into the gutters, but despite every effort the straggling soldiers secured a quantity of it, and from that moment law and order ceased to exist. Many stores were pillaged, the lawless marauders crashing windows and battering down doors, that they might
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grasp the coveted merchandise within. Wild cries of distress mingled with the yells of the pillagers rent the air and a livid pallor rested upon every face.
But the worst element of destruction had not yet appeared upon the scene, although it hovered near. General Ewell, then in charge of the city, now ordered the four principal tobacco warehouses in the city to be fired. Mayor Mayo, through a committee of citizens, remonstrated against the order, the execution of which placed the entire business portion of the city in jeopardy, but without avail. The torch was applied, and the rams of the Confederate navy lying in the James were blown up. Day- light dawned upon the awful scene. The beautiful city was a sea of fire; tongues of flame shot from block to block, and far in beneath the dense columns of smoke might be seen the figures of the rioters rush- ing amid the glare like demons to and fro, laden with plunder of every kind. It was a scene indeed that beggared description.
The victors were near. A short distance below the city, and on the north bank of the James, lay the division of General Godfrey Weitzel, and to his eye and ear the lurid flames and thundering explosions con- veyed an assuring conviction. He knew that Richmond had been abandoned by the Confederate authorities. His martial bands filled the air with inspiring national strains, and as the day dawned orders were given to advance and occupy the city. As the sun arose long lines of cavalry-the 4th Massachusetts in advance-entered the city and filed along Main street. A body of fifty cavalrymen occupied the city square, and Lieutenant Johnson de Peyster ascended to the top of the Capitol building and unfurled the National flag. The dread scene deepened in awful intensity; the hissing of the conflagration, the sullen curses of the vanquished, the shouts of the victors, the screams of women and children united to form a very pandemonium. But at last, through the efforts of the soldiers and citizens, assisted by a favorable change of the wind, the flames were stayed. Martial law was proclaimed, the discord- ant elements stilled, and order once more reigned.
FROM RICHMOND TO APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE.
It was a dark and moonless night when Lee withdrew the wreck of his shattered army from Petersburg and Richmond. Orders had been issued for the forces to unite at Chesterfield Court House, a point nearly midway between the two cities. From this point it was his intention, it appears, to reach Danville and form a junction with Johnston, who was then marching northward; but a terrible disappointment awaited the army at Amelia Court House. The orders of General Lee for the for- warding of supplies thither from Danville had been shamefully neg- lected, and with this bitter revelation all hope vanished; capitulation
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was inevitable to the sorrowful mind of Lee, as it was to his meager and starving army, the loved cause for which they had so heroically striven for four long and weary years must be relinquished. No orders were given relating to straggling, and of the 38,000 who started on the march, thousands in soulful mortification abandoned the ranks. Especially was this true of Virginians, who stopped at home rather than go on to par- ticipate in the final bitter surrender.
Grant's forces followed on in rapid pursuit, and at Jetersville, the cavalry under Sheridan, passed in front of the fugitive army. But now the soil of the "Old Dominion" so long reddened with the life-blood of her sons, is to bloom again; her hills and valleys which erst have quaked with the reverberation of arms are to be re-attuned to nature's peaceful music; the bugle blast of war is to be stilled; and her patriot sons, un- surpassed as soldiers, are equally to vindicate themselves as citizens. It was late on the evening of the 6th that several of the Confederate gen- erals gathered around the bivouac fire, and then decided in view of the state of affairs to advise General Lee to surrender, but before their action was reported a correspondence was opened between Generals Lee and Grant, which resulted in an interview and arrangement of the terms of surrender. After the meeting, which occurred at the house of Wilmer MeLean, in the little village of Appomattox Court House, Grant wrote as follows:
" APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE, VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
"GENERAL-In accordance with the substance of my letter to you on the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the offi- cers 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 officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until prop- erly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of his command. The arms, artillery, and pub- lic property to be packed and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive 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 his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.
"U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. "GENERAL R. E. LEE."
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To this General Lee replied :
" HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 9, 1865.
" GENERAL-I received your letter of this date, containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officer to carry the stipulations into effect.
"R. E. LEE, General.
"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT."
The futile struggle was ended. General Lee rejoined his ragged and shrunken army to bid it a sad farewell. In that memorable address he touchingly said: "Men ! we have fought through the war together. I have done the best I could for you." And grandly indeed had the simple utterance been attested! It was a magnificent pageant from the Chickahominy to the final aet at Appomattox Court House; sublime in its realization of valor, endurance, and patriotism. Freedom records no sacrifices surpassing it in magnitude. And the grand hero, Lee, re- illumining the lustrous diadem of his mother Virginia, is jointly en- shrined in the reverential hearts of her sons with her Washington.
Crushingly overwhelmed, the starving army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms, but its pitiful fate only invested with mournful in- cense its heroism and sacrifices. Its achievements will increasingly com- mand the admiration of the world during all time.
The blighting effects of the war remained. The prophecy of Howell Cobb, uttered in the Montgomery Convention, that the Gulf States need have no fears, for Virginia would be made the theater of war, had been terribly fulfilled. The iron hand was everywhere visible. Materi- ally and socially she had been shaken to her center. As a helmless wreck, she was seemingly helpless amid furious elements. Her industrial sys- tem blasted, her manufactures wrecked, her wealth dissipated, her com- merce destroyed, and her once bounteous fields, her sanctuaries and the homes of her people alike a spectacle of desolation. A funereal pall of darkest gloom overspread and all but paralyzed the present, whilst the dread uncertainty of the fateful future almost held hope even in chained abeyanee. But the oft-tried and as nobly exemplified spirit of the Old Dominion again asserted itself. Her brave sons, accepting the stern ultimatum, girded themselves about with newly-born energies and united
in the effort of reparation. Gloriously have they redeemed their mis- fortunes, and righteous is the result. With grandly waxing strength, marvelously developing natural resources and expanding wealth, her unapproachable geographical advantages are enforcing recognition. Dis- daining the grinding shackles of arrogant and arid New England; endeared to the great South as the votive shrine upon which was
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sacrificed its best blood, Virginia is firmly grasping the scepter of manufacture, fast withering in the palsied hands of the late arrogant North.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL VIEW.
The Virginias lie between north latitude 36° 30' and 39º 30', and 1º 36' east, and 6° 24' west longitude, and their boundaries are as fol- lows : On the north, by Pennsylvania and Maryland; north-east and east, by Maryland and the Atlantic Ocean; south, by North Carolina and Tennessee ; west and north-west, by Kentucky and Ohio, or by the Ohio river, which flows for a distance of 300 miles along its western boundary. A legal description of the dividing line, separating the two States, would read about as follows: Beginning at the mouth of Knox creek, a corner of the States of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, and thence with a line of and including the counties of MeDowell and Mercer, to the top of East River Mountain; thence with said ridge and with Peters Mountain to the Alleghany Mountains; thence with the top of the same to the Haystack Knob, a corner of Virginia and West Virginia; thence with the southern line of and including Pendleton county to the top of Shenandoah Mountains; thence with the same and Branch Mountain to a corner of Hardy and Rockingham counties; thence with lines of and including the counties of Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson, to a point on the Maryland and Vir- ginia line where the Potomac river intersects the Blue Ridge.
The States may be divided into four distinct physical regions: First, the tide-water region ; second, the Piedmont region; third, the great valley region; and, fourth, the trans-Alleghany region.
The tide-water region embraces all that portion of the State lying between the coast and a line drawn through the cities of Petersburg, Richmond and Fredericksburg, which are situated near the lower falls of the Appomattox, the James and the Rappahannock rivers, respec- tively. This line extended would mark a point at which all the Atlantic rivers of Virginia leap from the granite base on which stands the whole Appalachian mountain system. Through this region flow many navi- gable rivers, and into it extend numerous coves and inlets, either from Chesapeake Bay or from the ocean; around them are extensive areas of swamp land. The surface is nearly level, the undulations being so gentle that the currents of the rivers are scarcely perceptible. The soil is moist and sandy, of an alluvial formation, closely resembling that of the Floridian peninsula. The climate during the winter is mild and pleasant, but during the summer it is sultry and malarious.
The Piedmont (foot of the mountains) region extends from the west-
SCENE ON THE UPPER POTOMAC.
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ern limit of the former region to the summit of the Blue Ridge mount- ains, and extends entirely across the State from north to south. The soil, near the head of tide-water, is sandy, but as we approach the base of the mountains a clay soil of great fertility is found; and here, for the first time on the Atlantic coast, appear the primordial rocks, the disintegration of which has added much to the richness of the soil. Springs, with never-failing sources, gush out in every direction. Valu- able minerals abound, and deposits of limestone sufficient to supply Christendom with lime for ages to come, lie at a short distance beneath the surface. Its climate is temperate throughout the year, and as healthy as any in the world.
The great valley region includes all the country lying between the Blue Ridge on the one side and the Alleghany on the other. It is known under the name of the Shenandoah Valley, and from the fertility of its soil has been called "The Garden of Virginia." It is the central part of the great valley which is co-extensive with the Alleghany range, that part of it south of Virginia being called the Cumberland Valley. Geologists trace it far north, even to the banks of the Mohawk river, in New York. They inform us that it belongs to the Silurian forma- tion, which would place it directly on top of the Azoic and beneath the Devonian formations. There are several varieties of slate, sandstone and conglomerates; limestone also abounds. Many beautiful streams flow through the valley, but owing to the absence of springs the country is not well watered. The summer is cool and pleasant, but the winter is cold and damp.
The trans-Alleghany region embraces all the country lying between the Alleghany mountains and the Ohio river, and includes the entire State of West Virginia. To describe it would be to describe the State. In the east it is mountainous, while in the center are beautiful ranges of hills, the termini of the western spurs of the Alleghanies, and in the west lies the fertile region of the Ohio Valley, much of which, for its fertility, is not excelled on the continent. This entire region may be said to be one vast coal-field, its area being 23,000 square miles, of which 15,000 is underlaid with the richest veins of coal. Only three States outrank this region in the extent of its coal deposits, namely : Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.
Over this entire region stand, in almost primeval grandeur, vast forests, sufficient to furnish timber for the ship yards of the world for years to come. Ages of the most active industry will not exhaust the coal and timber of this region. It is here that the traveler beholds the grandest scenery in America, and lofty mountains, craggy peaks, frown- ing precipices, rock-ribbed canons, rushing torrents, and roaring cata- raets meet the eye of the beholder.
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