

RICHMOND. 



speed, while the infantry wu pushed forward with all 

 rapi'lity. Sheridan was .vckiii_- to outiii:itvh Ixjc and 

 head off his columns. Near DettOMviDc 1 



.utaek a Confederate wagon train, which was 

 str.'iiL'h I'-tfii'l.-d. Crook was repulsed, but mean- 

 while CiiMcr had reached the line Of retreat nt Sailor's 

 Creek. :i >m ill stream farther on. Here, being joined 

 k aip I I>ev4 in. he pierced the Confederate line. 

 not only capturing 400 wagons, 16 guns, and many nn'ii. 

 hnt cutting off Lwell's corps, which formed the rear 

 guard of Lee's army. Sheridan at once ordered this 

 corps to be attacked and detained till additional troops 

 could come up. Swell's resistance was vigorous, hut 

 his assailants increased until he w.isen\vl.i|x d in a net- 

 work of charging horse ami toot, when his nn-n threw 

 down their arms and surrendered. Alnit 7(KK) men 

 were made prisoners, among them Ewell and four or 

 five other generals. 



At this time Ord was moving rapidly towards Fann- 

 ville on the line of retreat, and had sent forward a 

 light column of infantry, under Col. \Yashburn, to de- 

 stroy the bridges at this point. loiter Gen. Read was 

 sent with some cavalry to bring him hack. but. on the 

 contrary, he attacked the van of Lee's army and de- 

 tained it for a considerable time. In the end Read 

 was killed, and all that remained of his for. -4- of 600 

 men captured, the enemy saving the bridges. But 

 Read's daring attack had occasioned the Confederates 

 the loss of much valuable time, during which Ord was 

 rapidly approaching. During the night Lee MI 

 in crossing the Appomattox over the bridges at Farm- 

 ville with what was left of his shattered army. He 

 tried to prevent pursuit by burning the bridges, but 

 the van of Humphreys' corps saved the wagon-bridge, 

 and Barlow's brigade was soon across It . Only a weak 

 rear guard was found, which quickly retreated, aban- 

 doning 18 guns, which their draught animals were too 

 weak to draw farther. Of the men numbers had 

 dropped from the ranks, thousands had let tall t)u>ir 

 muskets from sheer weakness, and the ball-starved 

 remnant of the army, worn out with want of sleep HIM! 

 food and the weariness of the march, drained slowly 

 onward over the muddy roads and the streams swollen 

 with the spring rains. 



.On the night of April 6 a consultation had been 

 held by a number of Lee's principal officers, at which 

 it was deei'led that further resistance was hopeless, and 

 that negotiations should lie opened for a surrender. 

 Gen. Pendlcton communicated this decision to (ien. 

 Lee, but the latter declared that all hope was not yet 

 lost, and that he was still determined to re-ist. There 

 were supplies at Appomattox Court-House. Could he 

 obtain tnese and cross the Staunton River he might be 

 able to maintain himself beyond that stream until a 

 junction could be made with (ien. J. E. Johnston. 

 then in North Carolina. A slight success in battle en- 

 couraged him. Humphreys had crossed the Appo- 

 mattox in pursuit with the Second corps, and came up 

 in the afternoon of the 7th with the rear of Lee s 

 army. He found it intrenched, the roads being de- 

 fended with a line of works extending for a wnsider- 

 able distance. An assault was made by Mi lex's di- 

 vision, which was repulsed with a loss of about 600 

 men. 



Meanwhile Sheridan was pushing forward with all 

 speed, making every effort to get in lice's front and 

 i ut off the route to Lynchburg which the fugitive 

 army was pursuing. In the rear the infantry forces 

 wire moving with the utmost relrrity, the whole Army 

 of the Potomac being on the track of the fugitives, who 

 were now reduced to about IO.IKHI effective men. 

 though they numbered in all alxiut 28,000. Many 

 WITC defenceless from having thrown away their arms 

 in the hurry of flight On the 8th tin- retreat, taing 

 uninterrupted, progressed more expcditiously than on 

 tlie previous da.v. Two days' rations had been <>\>- 



tained at Farmvillc on tl \vning of the 6th, while 



farther supplies awaited the retreating army at Ap- 



pomattox Court-Housc. toward which place it now 



M mined forward. 



Hut Shcridun was advancing rapidly upon the same 

 point. On the 7th (ien. Crook had attacked a body 

 of infantry guarding a wagon-train, but was repulsed 

 and Gen. Gregg made prisoner. On (lie Sth (ien. 

 ( 'u-ter, in command of the advance, made a forced 

 inarch of thirty miles to Appomattox Station on the 

 l,\nehburg Railroad, and captured four trains of cars 

 loadi'd with the SUppllM upon which the last hopes of 

 the fugitives had depended. The vanguard of the 

 retreating army was just then approaching, and was 

 pushed ba'-k by Custer. wli4> had I teen reinforced by 

 Devlin, to Appomattox Court II .u-.-. i^-ar which was 



- main laxly; twenty-five gun-, mai.y wa-.'iis. and 

 a large number of prisoners were captured. Sheridan 

 burned forward the remainder of his command, and 

 on the evening of the 8th the cavalry column stood 

 directly across the pathway of Lee's army, while the 

 infantry were advancing by forced marches upon its 

 front and rear. The last moments of the Army of 

 Northern Virginia were at hand. 



During the last two days correspondence had been 

 going on between Grant and Lee in reference to sur- 

 render. Grant at 5 P. M. on the 7th wrote, demanding 

 a surrender, as further resistance was hopeless. Lee 

 replied, asking what ^ternis he would offer. Grant 

 rejoined on the morning of the Sth, insisting upon 

 but one condition, that the men and officers surren- 

 dered should be disqualified from taking up arms 

 again until properly exchanged. Lee replied that he 

 had not, intended to propose surrender, but to ask 

 for terms only, and did not think the emergency had 

 arisen for the surrender of his army, but would be 

 pleased to meet Grant at 10 o'clock on the following 

 morning, to confer on the question of the restoration 

 of peace, but not upon surrender. Grant rejoined 

 that such a conference would be useless, and that only 

 by the Confederates laying down their arms could 

 peace be secured and the destruction of life and 

 property brought to an end. 



Lee was well aware that his last hope lay in cutting 

 his way through Sheridan's lines before they could be 

 Strengthened by infantry. Orders for an advance were 

 given, and at 3 A. M. on the <lth the Confederate lines 

 moved silently forward. Gordon commanded the ad- 

 vancing column, which was supported with cavalry 

 and thirty pieces 4>f artillerv. The charge on Sheridan's 

 men. who had dismounted t4> meet it, was made with 

 such energy that they were driven back. Sheridan, 

 who had just reached the front, and was hurrying up 

 the wearied infantry, sent orders to the cavalry to fall 

 back slowly, but to offer resistance at every point 

 until assistance could n'ach tlM'in. Gordon's line con- 

 tinued t4i advance while this movement was being 

 made, when the cavalry suddenly 4>peii4'd its ranks, 

 and revealed t4i tli4> eyes of the dismayed Confederates 

 a solid line of men in whose hands glittered muskets 

 and bayonets. The infantry had arrived, and the last 

 hope of the fugitive army vanished. 



Cordon sent back to 1,4'c, saying that it was impos- 

 sible to continue his advance without powerful rein- 

 forcements. No such reinforcements could be sent 

 and but 4>n<- cour.-i' remained to treat for surrender. 

 The bugles had sounded and the cavalry again sprung 

 to their saddh'.s. ready to charge, when a white flag 

 appi ared in token of Mirrcnder. At the same time a 

 reply from I<c4> to Gr.int's last note was sent across 

 the lines, in which he agreed to a meeting in refcr- 

 cii' 1 " to surrender. Grant, who was hurrying forward 

 1 to the front when he received Lee's note, at once 

 K turned an assenting answer, and arrangements were 

 inadcjor tin' inti -rview in the parlor of the dwelling 

 of Wilmcr Mi'Lcan, at Appomattox Court-House. 

 Hire tin' minting between the two commanders took 

 place, at 2 \: M on Palm Sunday, April 9. The terms 

 of surrender were discussed and settled, and were 

 ' signed about 3.30. Grant's offer of terms was very 



