The Boys of '61 Part 60

During the bombardment of the city, the newspapers had published their daily bulletins,-"So many sh.e.l.ls fired. No damage." From the proud beginning to the humiliating breaking up of the rule of Secession, the people were cheated, deluded, and deceived by false promises and lying reports. It was sad to walk amid the ruins of what had been once so fair. It seemed a city of a past age and of an extinct generation. And it was. The Charleston of former days was dead as Palmyra. Old things had pa.s.sed away; a new generation will behold a wondrous change.

"Along that dreary waste where lately rung The festal lay which smiling virgins sung, Where rapture echoed from the warbling lute, And the gay dance resounded, all was mute."

Citizens' volunteer hospital.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

THE LAST CAMPAIGN.

March, 1865.

Hastening northward, I joined the Army of the Potomac in season to be an observer of Grant's last campaign. It was evident that the power of the Rebellion to resist was rapidly on the wane. In the West there were several small Rebel forces, but no large organized body. Hood's defeat at Nashville had paralyzed operations east of the Mississippi. Johnston was falling back before Sherman, without ability to check his advance.

Grant had strengthened his own army. Schofield was at Wilmington, preparing to co-operate with Sherman. Sheridan was in the Valley, at Winchester,-his cavalry in excellent condition for a move. The cavalry arm of the service had been growing in importance. Grant had fostered it, and now held it in his hand, as Jove his thunderbolts. His letter to Sheridan, written on the 20th of February, shows how thoroughly he had prepared for the finis.h.i.+ng work.

"As soon as it is possible to travel," he writes, "I think you will have no difficulty about reaching Lynchburg with a cavalry force alone. From thence you could destroy the railroad and ca.n.a.l in every direction, so as to be of no further use to the Rebellion. Sufficient cavalry should be left behind to look after Mosby's gang. From Lynchburg, if information you might get there would justify it, you could strike south, heading the streams in Virginia to the westward of Danville, and push on and join Sherman. This additional raid, with one now about starting from East Tennessee, under Stoneman, numbering four or five thousand cavalry; one from Eastport, Mississippi, numbering ten thousand cavalry; Canby from Mobile Bay, numbering thirty-eight thousand mixed troops,-these three latter pus.h.i.+ng for Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Montgomery, and Sherman with a large army eating out the vitals of South Carolina, is all that will be wanted to leave nothing for the Rebellion to stand upon. I would advise you to overcome great obstacles to accomplish this. Charleston was evacuated on Tuesday last."

Sheridan started on the 27th of February with two divisions of cavalry, numbering about ten thousand men, reached Staunton on the 2d of March, fell upon Early at Waynesboro', capturing sixteen hundred prisoners, eleven guns, seventeen battle-flags, and two hundred wagons; occupied Charlottesville on the 3d, destroyed the railroad, and burned the bridge on the Rivanna River. A rain-storm delaying his trains, and obliging him to wait two days, he abandoned the attempt to reach Sherman; then dividing his force, he sent one division towards Lynchburg, which broke up the railroad, while the other went down James River, cutting the ca.n.a.l. He intended to cross the James at New Market, move southeast to Appomattox Court-House, strike the South Side Railroad, tear it up, and join Grant's left flank; but a freshet on the James prevented the accomplishment of his purpose. He therefore sent scouts through the Rebel lines to Grant, to inform him of the difficulties he had encountered and consequent change of plan.

"I am going to White House, and shall want supplies at that point," said he. The scouts left him on the 10th at Columbia, and reached Grant on the 12th. Sheridan made a rapid march, pa.s.sing quite near Richmond on the north, and raising a midnight alarm in the Rebel capital.

"Couriers reported that the enemy were at the outer fortifications, and had burned Ben Green's house," writes a citizen of Richmond.

"Mr. Secretary Mallory and Postmaster-General Regan were in the saddle, and rumor says the President and the remainder of the cabinet had their horses saddled, in readiness for flight."[95]

Troops destroying a railroad.

Sheridan was not quite so near, and had no thought of attacking the city. He pa.s.sed quietly down the north bank of the Pamunkey to the White House, where supplies were in waiting. He rested his horses a day or two, and then moved to Petersburg.

At daylight on the morning of the 25th of March Lee made his last offensive movement.

He conceived the idea of breaking Grant's line east of Petersburg, and destroying his supplies at City Point. The first part he successfully accomplished, but the last could not have been carried out. He ma.s.sed Gordon's and Bushrod Johnson's divisions in front of the Ninth Corps, for an attack upon Fort Steadman and the batteries adjoining. The fort was held by the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery. It was a square redoubt, covering about one acre, and mounted nine guns, and was not more than five hundred feet from the Rebel line. The Rebels tore away their own abatis, and in less than a minute were inside the fort. Almost the whole garrison was captured, and the guns turned upon the batteries.

Colonel Tidball, commanding the artillery in the Ninth Corps, quickly had his men at work. General Parke, commanding the Ninth, threw Hartranft's and Wilc.o.x's divisions in rear of Fort Steadman. They fell like a thunderbolt upon Gordon's front line, taking eighteen hundred prisoners, forcing the enemy out of the fort, and recapturing the guns.

Long and loud the huzzas which went up when the guns were wheeled once more upon the discomfited foe. President Lincoln saw the battle from the high ground near the house of Mr. Dunn. During the forenoon Gordon sent in a flag of truce, asking permission to bury his dead, which was granted. The Union loss was not far from eight hundred and thirty, mostly in prisoners, while Lee's exceeded three thousand.

General Meade ordered a general attack. He thought that there must be a weak place in some portion of the Rebel line. The Second and Sixth Corps succeeded in taking the intrenched picket line, and holding it. Great efforts were made by Lee to regain it, but in vain. Nine hundred prisoners were captured during the afternoon.

I rode to City Point in the evening, and visited Grant's head-quarters. General Grant was well satisfied with the results of the day.

"It will tell upon the next great battle," said he. "Lee has made a desperate attempt and failed. The new recruits fought like veterans."

He had already issued his order for the grand movement which was to give the finis.h.i.+ng blow to the Rebellion. He had been impelled to this by various causes, not the least of which was the unjust course pursued by some of the newspapers of the West, which lauded Sherman and his men, but sneered at the Army of the Potomac. The soldiers of the East had accomplished nothing, they said, and the soldiers of the West would have to finish the Rebellion. Sherman had fought his way from Chattanooga to the sea. He was driving all before him. He would come in on Grant's left flank and rout Lee. These taunts and inuendoes were keenly felt by the men who had won the fields of Gettysburg, Antietam, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and who had lost eighty thousand of their comrades in forty days. Grant felt it. He saw the dangerous tendency of such jealousy. He knew what the Eastern soldiers could do; that they had fought with unsurpa.s.sed bravery and heroism. To avoid sectional animosity between the East and the West, he determined to strike Lee before Sherman's arrival, and accordingly issued his order on the 24th.

But Sherman meanwhile visited Grant in person. I was sitting in the office of General Grant's Adjutant-General on the morning of the 28th of March, and saw President Lincoln, with Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade, and Sheridan, coming up the walk. Look at the men whose names are to have a conspicuous place in the annals of America. Lincoln, tall, round-shouldered, loose-jointed, large-featured, deep-eyed, with a smile upon his face. He is dressed in black, and wears a fas.h.i.+onable silk hat. Grant is at Lincoln's right, shorter, stouter, more compact; wears a military hat with a stiff, broad brim, has his hands in his pantaloons' pockets, and is puffing away at a cigar while listening to Sherman. Sherman, tall, with high, commanding forehead, is almost as loosely built as Lincoln; has sandy whiskers, closely cropped, and sharp, twinkling eyes, long arms and legs, shabby coat, slouch hat, his pants tucked into his boots. He is talking hurriedly, gesticulating now to Lincoln, now to Grant, his eyes wandering everywhere. Meade, also tall, with thin, sharp features, a gray beard, and spectacles, is a little stooping in his gait. Sheridan, the shortest of all, quick and energetic in all his movements, with a face bronzed by sun and wind; courteous, affable, a thorough soldier. I had not met him for many months, but he at once remembered me, and spoke of Pittsburg Landing, where I first made his acquaintance. The plan of the Lieutenant-General was then made known to his subordinates, and each departed during the day, to carry into execution the respective parts a.s.signed them.

Grant's line was nearly forty miles long, extending from the north side of the James to Hatcher's Run. General Ord, who had succeeded Butler in command of the Army of the James, left Weitzel to maintain the position north of James River, and moved with two divisions of the Twenty-Fourth Corps under Gibbon, and one of the Twenty-Fifth under Birney, with a division of cavalry under McKenzie, to Hatcher's Run, arriving there on the morning of the 29th.

On the afternoon of the 28th Sheridan started with Crook's and Merritt's divisions of cavalry for Dinwiddie Court-House, while Warren with the Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run, and marched towards the same point.

"We have four days' rations in our haversacks, and twelve days' in our wagons," said Colonel Batchelder, Quartermaster-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac.

Lee discovered the movement, and during the evening of the 29th made a diversion against the Ninth Corps. Precisely at ten o'clock there was a signal-gun, a yell, a volley of musketry as the Rebels attacked Parke's picket-line. Then came the roar of the cannonade. The Ninth Corps was prepared. Through the afternoon there had been suspicious movements along the Rebel lines, and Parke was on the watch. It was surmised that Lee would endeavor to compel Grant to recall the Fifth and Second Corps. Parke strengthened his picket-line, and brought up his reserve artillery, to be ready in case of emergency. In three minutes nearly two hundred guns and mortars were in play. The night was dark, the wind south, and rain falling, but the battle increased in intensity. I stood upon the hill in rear of the Ninth Corps, and witnessed the display. Thirty sh.e.l.ls were in the air at the same instant. The horizon was bright with fiery arches, crossing each other at all angles, cut horizontally by streams of fire from rifled cannon. Beneath the arches thousands of muskets were flas.h.i.+ng. It surpa.s.sed in sublimity anything I had witnessed during the war. The slightly wounded in the hospitals of the Ninth Corps who could walk went out with me to see the fight.

"I wish I was down there with the boys," said one who the day before had received a bullet through his right hand.

After two hours of terrific cannonade the uproar ceased, Lee having found that Grant's lines were as strong as ever. The demonstration cost him several hundred soldiers. I talked with one of the wounded Rebels.

"You can't subdue us even if you take Richmond," said he; "we'll fight it out in the mountains."

"Undoubtedly you feel like fighting it out, but you may think better of it one of these days."

A delegate of the Christian Commission sat down to write a letter for him to his wife, to be sent by a flag of truce.

"Tell her," said he, "that I am kindly treated."

His voice choked and tears rolled down his cheeks. A nurse stood over him bathing his wounds to cool the fever, combing his hair, and antic.i.p.ating all his wants. I recalled the words of a citizen of Savannah, who said, "I went to the stockade when your prisoners were brought down from Millen, with a basket of oranges to give to the sick and dying, but was told by the officer in command that his orders were imperative to allow no one to give anything to the prisoners."

Observe the contrast. Here were good beds, nouris.h.i.+ng food, delicacies from the stores of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions, and kind attention. There see a crowd of wretches in rags, exposed to the winds, the rains, the broiling heat or the biting cold, eating corn-meal and water, and meat alive with maggots,-stinted till starved, held captive till hope died, till the mind wandered, and the victims became drivelling imbeciles or walking skeletons, and greeted death as a welcome release from the horrors of their prison-pen. But I have adverted to this before; still commentary is ever provoked.

Hatcher's Run, an affluent of Rowanty Creek, has a general southeast course. It is crossed by three main highways, which lead out of Petersburg towards the southwest,-the Vaughn road farthest east, Squirrel Level road next, and last the Boydtown plank-road. The Squirrel Level road forks seven miles out, one fork running to the Vaughn road and the other to the plank-road. It is nine miles from Petersburg to the toll gate on the plank-road, which is situated a few rods south of the run. The stream above this crossing of the plank-road tends west and southwest, so that if a fisherman with his rod and fly were to start at the head-waters of the creek he would travel northeast, then east, then at the bridge on the plank-road southeast, and after reaching the Vaughn road, south.

Were we to stand upon the bridge where the plank-road crosses the stream, and look northeast, we would obtain a view of the inside of the Rebel lines. The bridge was in Lee's possession, also the toll-gate on the south side, also a portion of the White Oak road, which branches from the plank road, near the toll-gate, and leads west, midway between the run and the plank-road.

The country is densely wooded, mostly with pine, with occasional clearings. Several steam saw-mills have been erected in this vicinity, which cut timber for the Petersburg market. The plank-road leads to Dinwiddie Court-House, which is fifteen miles from Petersburg. Just beyond the Court-House is Stony Creek, which has a southeast course, with a branch called Chamberlain's Bed, coming down from the north, having its rise in a swamp near the head of Hatcher's Run.

Now to understand the direction of the Rebel line of fortifications, let us in imagination start from Petersburg and walk down the plank-road. We face southwest, and walk in rear of fort after fort nine miles to Hatcher's Run, where a strong work has been erected on the north bank of the stream. We cross the bridge and find another on the south bank near the toll-house and Burgess's tavern. Here we leave the plank-road, and turning west walk along the White Oak road with Hatcher's Run north of us a mile distant. Four miles from the town we come to "Five Forks," where five roads meet, midway the head of Chamberlain's Bed and Hatcher's Run. This is an important point,-the key of Petersburg,-which, although so far away from the town, and apparently of no importance, is in reality the most vital point of all. There is no stream immediately behind or before it, but a mile south is the swamp of Chamberlain's Run; a mile north the low lands of Hatcher's Run, but here firm, hard ground. If Grant can break through this gateway he can tear up the rails of the South Side road, have un.o.bstructed pa.s.sage to the Danville road, and Richmond and Petersburg are his. It is six miles from the Forks, north, to the railroad, but that is the best place for Lee to fight, and there he establishes a strong line of works.

Grant's movement was that of fishermen stretching a seine. He kept one end of the net firmly fastened to the bank of the Appomattox, while Sheridan drew the other past Dinwiddie Court-House to Five Forks, with the intention of reaching the railroad west of Petersburg, to enclose, if possible, Lee's entire army. Such the plan,-n.o.ble in conception, grand in execution.

Sheridan had started to cut the South Side road at Burkesville, but Grant, upon deliberation, decided to strike nearer.

"I feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so, before going back," wrote Grant, from Gravelly Run,-three miles west of Hatcher's Run. "I do not want you to cut loose and go after the enemy's roads at present. In the morning push round the enemy if you can, and get on to his right rear."

The rain which commenced falling at midnight on the 29th continued through the 30th and the forenoon of the 31st, but Sheridan kept in motion, reached Dinwiddie at five o'clock on the 29th, where he bivouacked.

On the morning of the 30th he came in contact with the Rebels a mile beyond the Court-House, posted on the west bank of Chamberlain's Run.

W. H. F. Lee's cavalry held the right of the Rebel line, with Pickett's division of infantry on the left. During the forenoon Bushrod Johnson's division of infantry came down from Five Forks and formed on Pickett's left.

Sheridan reconnoitred the position during the forenoon, and began the attack about two P. M., but the ground was marshy, and his horses could not be used. Johnson's and Pickett's divisions, and Wise's brigade, which also had arrived, crossed the run about half past two. The fight was severe. Sheridan dismounted his men, deployed them as infantry, and contested the ground, falling back on Dinwiddie Court-House, where the battle ended at eight o'clock in the evening.

Meade ordered McKenzie's division of cavalry to hasten to the a.s.sistance of Sheridan, and at five o'clock directed Warren to push a small force down the White Oak road to communicate with that officer, and Bartlett's brigade was sent. During the night Warren's whole force moved towards Dinwiddie to attack Pickett and Johnson in the rear, and at daylight was ready for the a.s.sault; but the Rebels had decamped, and were once more in position at Five Forks.

On the morning of the 1st of April, Sheridan, having command of the Fifth Corps, as well as the cavalry, moved cautiously towards Five Forks. The forenoon was pa.s.sed in reconnoitring the position, which was defended by the whole of Pickett's division, Wise's independent brigade of infantry, Fitz Hugh Lee's, W. H. Lee's, and Ross's divisions of cavalry, and Johnson's division of infantry.

Sheridan's order was to form the whole corps before advancing, so that all the troops should move simultaneously.