430 



GRANT, ULYSSES S. (His MILITAEY CAREEB.) 



1, fell back toward Five Forks, closely fol- 

 lowed by the cavalry, which pressed him close- 

 ly. In the afternoon he had taken up a strongly 

 intrenched position at Five Forks, on Lee's 

 extreme right. The Fifth Corps having joined 

 Sheridan, he made a combined attack, with in- 

 fantry and cavalry, and by nightfall had gained 

 a brilliant victory, capturing the Confederate 

 works, 6 guns, and nearly 6,000 prisoners. His 

 cavalry pursued the broken and flying enemy 

 for six miles beyond the field of battle. 



That night, after getting the full details of 

 Sheridan's success, Grant determined to make a 

 vigorous assault the next day, with all his troops, 

 upon the lines around Petersburg. It began 

 at daylight, April 2 ; the works were carried, 

 and in a few hours Grant was closing in upon 

 the inner defenses of the city. Two of the 

 forts, Gregg and Whitworth, were secured in 

 t .ie afternoon. The former was captured by as- 

 sault, the latter was evacuated ; 12,000 prison- 

 ers and over fifty guns were already in Grant's 

 hands. Richmond and Petersburg were evac- 

 uated that night, and the national forces en- 

 tered and took possession on the morning of 

 the 3d. Grant, anticipating this, had begun a 

 movement west during the night, to head off 

 Lee from Danville, and a vigorous pursuit by 

 the whole army was ordered. It became evi- 

 dent that Lee was moving toward Amelia Court- 

 House, and a force was urged forward to Jeters- 

 ville, on the Danville Railroad, to get between 

 him and Danville. Part of Sheridan's cavalry 

 and the head of the Fifth Corps reached there 

 on the afternoon of the 4th and intrenched. 

 The Army of the Potomac arrived by forced 

 marches on the 5th, while the A rmy of the James, 

 under Ord, pushed on toward Burkesville. 

 An attack was ordered upon Lee on the morn- 

 ing of the 6th, but he had left Amelia Court- 

 House during the night, and was pushing on 

 toward Farmville by the Deatonsville road. He 

 was closely pursued, and on the afternoon of 

 the 6th, Sheridan, with his cavalry and the 

 Sixth Corps, attacked him at Sailor's Creek, 

 capturing seven general officers, about 7,000 

 men, and 14 guns. The Second Corps had kept 

 up a running fight with the enemy all day, and 

 had captured four guns, 1,700 prisoners, thir- 

 teen flags, and 300 wagons. Lee was continu- 

 ing his retreat through Farmville, and Grant 

 urged troops to that place by forced marches 

 on the 7th. The Second Corps and a portion 

 of the cavalry had been repelled in their at- 

 tacks on Lee, north of the Appomattox, and 

 the Sixth Corps crossed from Farmville on the 

 evening of the 7th to re-enforce them. That 

 night Grant sent a note from Farmville to Lee, 

 calling his attention to the hopelessness of fur- 

 ther resistance, and asking the surrender of his 

 army. He received a reply from Lee on the 

 morning of the 8th, saying he was not entirely 

 of Grant's opinion as to the hopelessness of fur- 

 ther resistance, but asking what terms would 

 be offered. Grant, who was still at Farmville, 

 immediately replied, saying that as peace was 



his great desire, he would insist on but one 

 condition, that the men and officers surrendered 

 should be disqualified from taking up arras 

 again until properly exchanged. On the 8th 

 Lee's troops were in full retreat on the north 

 side of the Appomattox. The Second and 

 Sixth Corps followed in hot pursuit on that 

 side, while Sheridan, Ord, and the Fifth Corps 

 were pushed forward with all speed on the 

 south side to head off Lee from Lynchburg. 

 Near midnight on the night of the 8th Grant 

 received another note from Lee, saying he had 

 not intended to propose the surrender of his 

 army, but desired to know whether Grant's 

 proposals would lead to peace, and suggested a 

 meeting at 10 A. M. the next morning. Grant 

 replied that such a meeting could lead to no 

 good, as he had no authority to treat on the 

 subject of peace, but suggested that the South's 

 laying down their arms would hasten the 

 event, and save thousands of lives and hun- 

 dreds of millions of property. Early on the 

 morning of April 9 Lee's advance arrived at 

 Appomattox Court-House; but by extraordi- 

 nary forced marches, Sheridan, Ord, and Grif- 

 fin reached that place at the same time. Lee 

 attacked the cavalry; but, when he found 

 infantry in his front, he sent in a flag of 

 truce, and forwarded a note to Grant, ask- 

 ing an interview in accordance with the offer 

 contained in Grant's letter of the day before. 

 Grant received it on the road while riding 

 toward Appomattox Court -House, and sent 

 a reply saying he would move forward and 

 meet Lee at any place he might select. They 

 met in a house in Appomattox, on the after- 

 noon of the 9th, and the terms of surrender 

 were drawn up by Grant and accepted by Lee. 

 The conference lasted about three hours. The 

 men and officers were paroled and allowed to 

 return to their homes; all public property was 

 to be turned over, but the officers were allowed 

 to keep their side-arms, and both officers and 

 men to retain their private horses and bag- 

 gage. These terms were so magnanimous, and 

 the treatment of Lee and his officers so con- 

 siderate, that the effect was to induce other 

 Confederates to seek the same terms and bring 

 the rebellion to a speedy close. In riding to 

 his camp after the surrender, Grant heard the 

 firing of salutes. He sent at once to suppress 

 them, and said : " The war is over ; the rebels 

 are again our countrymen, and the best sign of 

 rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain 

 from all demonstrations in the field." The 

 number paroled was 28,356. In addition to 

 these, 19,132 had been captured during the 

 campaign since March 29. The killed were 

 estimated at 5,000. After April 9th over 20,000 

 stragglers and deserters besides came in and 

 surrendered. The national losses during this 

 period were 2,000 killed, 6,500 wounded, and 

 2,500 missing. 



Grant's losses, including those of Butler's 

 army, during the year beginning with the bat- 

 tle of the Wilderness, were 12,663 killed, 49,- 



