RICHMOND. 



381 



vigorous Confederate charge. Ayres's division was [ was shot dead. Heth was repulsed, and two strong 

 driven back in confusion, falling upon and breaking works close to Petersburg, Forts Gregg and Whitworth, 

 Crawford's, and_for a moment^ disaster threatened the carried by assault. Meanwhile Sheridan and Mijeshad 



captured an intrenched work at Sutherland Station, on 



Union army. But Griffin's division stood firm, the 

 broken troops rallied behind it, and soon a counter- 



the Southside Kailroad. The prisoners taken during 



charge was made which struck the Confederates on ; this series of assaults Grant states at 12,000. 

 their left flank and hurled them back behind their in- That Richmond must be evacuated, and at once, was 

 trenchments with a heavy loss, mostly of men made now evident. Any delay would have subjected the de- 

 prisoners. At the same time Humphreys tried to fending army to the danger of having every avenue of 

 carry the works in his front, but failed. Meanwhile, | supply and retreat cut off. The Confederate authori- 

 Sheridan had advanced part of his cavalry towards Five ties were advised of the necessity of flight. A wild 



Forks. These encountered and drove back the Con- 

 federate cavalry, but the latter were reinforced with 

 infantry, and Sheridan's men in turn were driven back 

 to Dinwiddie Court-House. Here they joined the 

 main body, the cavalry were deployed on foot, and the 

 pursuers were in their turn repulsed. Night fell before 

 they could renew the attack. 



Early on the morning of April 1 Sheridan was 

 reinforced by an infantry division of the Fifth corps, 

 and at once started in pursuit of his late assailants. As 

 he advanced he was joined by the remainder of the 

 corps. Leaving the infantry at the point where they 

 had joined him, he pressed boldly on with the cavalry, 

 and by 2 P. M. had driven the enemy into their works 

 at Five Forks. Halting here, he ordered Warren to 

 advance to the White Oak road and attack the Con- 

 federate works. There was considerable delay in this 

 movement, and the advancing column met with resist- 

 ance which threw a part of the line into disorder, but 

 this was'soon remedied, and Ayres made an impetuous 

 charge on the Confederate right, carrying a portion of 

 the line and capturing more than a thousand men with 

 several battle-flags. At the same time Merrill's cavalry 

 charged ihe line in his front, and Griffin carried the 

 works on the left, taking 1500 prisoners. While this 

 was proceeding Crawford turned the left of the Con- 

 federate line, cut off retreat in the direction of Peters- 

 burg, and turning southward struck the enemy in the 

 rear, capturing four guns. The Confederates were 

 now in a desperate situation, with the cavalry on their 

 front and rignt, the infantry on their left and rear, yet 

 they continued to fight manfully, until simultaneously 

 the cavalry charged over the works, and Ayres and 

 Griffin, turning their flanks, bore down on them in a 

 furious assault. Defence was no longer possible, many 

 of the defenders threw down their arms, while the rest 

 sought safety in a westward flight, in which they were 

 pursued for miles by Merritt's and McKenzie's cav- 

 alry. Thus ended the battle of Five Forks, the Union 

 loss being about 1000, the Confederate loss about COOO 

 in prisoners, besides a large number killed and wounded. 

 It had a much more important result, however. It 

 opened the Southside Railroad to capture, and reduced 

 Lee to a single channel of communication with the 

 South. But Sheridan could not overlook Gen. War- 

 ren's want of promptness at a critical time, and on 

 April 2d sent him to Gen. Grant, who approved Sheri- 

 dan's action and assigned Warren to less arduous duty. 



The success at Five Forks was immediately followed 

 by a bombardment of the works around Petersburg, 

 which was kept up throughout the night and followed 

 by a general assault in the morning. This assault was 

 successful at nearly every point. The works in the 

 vicinity of Hatcher's Run were taken, and about 3000 



nsoners with much artillery captured, while 

 outhside Railroad was reached at several points. 



the 



At 



the same time the Ninth corps attacked and carried the 

 lines in its front, driving back the enemy to the 

 inner line of works immediately around Petersburg. 

 Here the Confederates were concentrated and strong, 

 Longstreet's corps being brought up from the defences 

 of Richmond. Vigorous efforts were made to regain 

 some of the works which had been carried by the 

 Ninth corps, Heth charging at the head of his division, 

 and pressing so heavily that supporting troops had to 

 be ordered up from City Point. In this movement 

 A. P. Hill, one of the best of Lee's corps commanders, 



panic prevailed in the city, and about 8 P. M. Pres. 

 Davis left by the Danville Railroad, while by midnight 

 all the Confederate authorities had departed. The 

 army had similarly been making preparations for a 

 hasty departure. Along the north bank of the Appo- 

 mattox moved long lines of infantry and artillery 

 through the gloom of the night, over the roads leading 

 to Amelia Court-House. By midnight the evacuation 

 was completed. As morning approached the marching 

 troops saw in the distance behind them a blinding flash 

 of light, followed by a loud explosion, while a lurid 

 glare lit up the gloom of the skies. The first was the 

 blowing up of the magazine at Fort Drewry, the second 

 the conflagration of the city itself, which had been left 

 in flames. 



This arose from the attempt to destroy certain large 

 warehouses of cotton, tobacco, and other property, 

 which Gen. Ewell had been ordered by the War De- 

 partment to set on fire, despite the remonstrances of 

 Srominent citizens. When the warehouses were in 

 anies a fresh breeze carried the fire to other buildings, 

 while an intoxicated mob, partly composed of soldiers, 

 reeled through the streets, pillaging stores and commit- 

 ting other excesses, perhaps firing other buildings. 

 The fire spread till nearly a third of the city was laid in 

 ashes. Tne explosion of the magazine and of several 

 Confederate iron-clads that were blown up, and the 

 subsequent glare of the burning city, apprised the be- 

 siegers of what was going on. Early on April 3 Gen. 

 Weitzel, in command north of the city, marched in and 

 took possession, and at once endeavored to extinguish 

 the conflagration and check the excesses of the mob. 



On the same morning it became evident that the de- 

 fenders of Petersburg had vanished during the night. 

 They had stolen away so silently as to give no warning 

 of their flight. The abandoned works were at once 

 entered, and the whole army started in pursuit. Sheri- 

 dan, with the cavalry and the Fifth corps, was already 

 well out to the west, and moved so expeditiously that 

 by afternoon of the 14th he had struck the Danville 

 Railroad at Jetersville, seven miles south-west of 

 Amelia Court-House, and directly across Lee's line of 

 retreat to Danville. 



Meanwhile Lee was in unexpected difficulties. He 

 had marched directly to Amelia Court-House, at which 

 point he had directed a provision train to be left, but 

 some stupid official had sent the provision cars forward 

 to Richmond witli the remainder of the train, and the 

 much-needed supplies were being consumed in the con- 

 flagration of that city at the moment when the hungry 

 troops reached the point where they expected to find 

 them. This error was fatal to Lee' s hopes. Whatever 

 his plans, whether to reach the mountains or to attack 

 the detached columns of his pursuers, the need of food 

 became paramount, and a large part of his force had 

 to be sent put to forage for supplies. 



Not until the evening of the 5th could the retreat be 

 resumed, and then with a very inadequate supply of 

 food. Sheridan was by this time too strongly rein- 

 forced to be safely attacked, and the line of march was 

 directed westward, towards the mountain region. On 

 that evening a Confederate train of 180 wagons, mov- 

 ing westward, had been destroyed by a party of cav- 

 alry, and on the 6th the force at Jetersville advanced 

 upon Amelia Court-House to attack Lee, who, how- 

 ever, had left that place, and was marching rapidly 

 towards Deatonsville. The cavalry followed at full 



