THE EVACUATION OF RICHMOND BY THE ARMY--THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JAMES RIVER
FLEET--THE SAILORS OF THE FLEET CONVERTED INTO SOLDIERS--THEIR HELPLESS
CONDITION WITHOUT ANY MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION--THE CONFLAGRATION OF
RICHMOND AND THE ENTRY OF THE ENEMY INTO THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL--THE
AUTHOR IMPROVISES A RAILROAD TRAIN, AND ESCAPES IN IT WITH HIS COMMAND, TO
DANVILLE, VA.
As I was sitting down to dinner, about four o'clock, on the afternoon of
the disastrous day mentioned in the last chapter, on board my flag-ship,
the _Virginia_, one of the small steamers of my fleet came down from
Richmond, having on board a special messenger from the Navy Department.
Upon being introduced into my cabin, the messenger presented me with a
sealed package. Up to this time, I was ignorant, of course, of what had
occurred at Petersburg. I broke the seal and read as follows:--
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA,
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, RICHMOND, VA., April 2, 1865.
REAR ADMIRAL RAPHAEL SEMMES,
_Commanding James River Squadron_.
SIR:--General Lee advises the Government to withdraw from this city,
and the officers will leave this evening, accordingly. I presume that
General Lee has advised you of this, and of his movements, and made
suggestions as to the disposition to be made of your squadron. He
withdraws upon his lines toward Danville, this night; and unless
otherwise directed by General Lee, upon you is devolved the duty of
destroying your ships, this night, and with all the forces under your
command, joining General Lee. Confer with him, if practicable, before
destroying them. Let your people be rationed, as far as possible, for
the march, and armed and equipped for duty in the field. Very
respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. R. MALLORY, _Secretary of the Navy_.
This was rather short notice. Richmond was to be evacuated during the
night, during which I was to burn my ships, accoutre and provision my men,
and join General Lee! But I had become used to emergencies, and was not
dismayed. I signalled all my captains to come on board, and communicated
to them the intelligence I had received, and concerted with them the
programme of the night's work. It was not possible to attempt anything
before dark, without exciting the suspicions of the enemy, as we were no
more than four or five miles from his lines; and I enjoined upon my
commanders the necessity of keeping their secret, until the proper moment
for action should arrive. The sun was shining brightly, the afternoon was
calm, and nature was just beginning to put on her spring attire. The
fields were green with early grass, the birds were beginning to twitter,
and the ploughman had already broken up his fields for planting his corn.
I looked abroad upon the landscape, and contrasted the peace and quiet of
nature, so heedless of man's woes, with the disruption of a great
Government, and the ruin of an entire people which were at hand!
So unsuspicious were the Government subordinates, of what was going on,
that the flag-of-truce boats were still plying between Richmond, and the
enemy's head-quarters, a few miles below us, on the river, carrying
backward and forward exchanged prisoners. As those boats would pass us,
coming up the river, filled to overflowing with our poor fellows just
released from Yankee prisons, looking wan and hollow-eyed, the prisoners
would break into the most enthusiastic cheering as they passed my flag. It
seemed to welcome them home. They little dreamed, that it would be struck
that night, forever, and the fleet blown into the air; that their own
fetters had been knocked off in vain, and that they were to pass,
henceforth, under the rule of the hated Yankee. I was sick at heart as I
listened to those cheers, and reflected upon the morrow.
General Lee had failed to give me any notice of his disaster, or of what
his intentions were. As mine was an entirely independent command, he,
perhaps, rightly considered, that it was the duty of the Executive
Government to do this. Still, in accordance with the expressed wishes of
Mr. Mallory, I endeavored to communicate with him; sending an officer on
shore to the signal station, at Drury's Bluff, for the purpose. No
response came, however, to our telegrams, and night having set in, I paid
no further attention to the movements of the army. I plainly saw that it
was a case of _sauve qui peut_, and that I must take care of myself. I was
to make another _Alabama_-plunge into the sea, and try my luck.
Accordingly, when night drew her friendly curtain between the enemy and
myself, I got all my ships under way, and ran up to Drury's Bluff. It was
here I designed to blow up the iron-clads, throw their crews on board the
wooden gunboats, and proceed in the latter to Manchester, opposite
Richmond, on my way to join General Lee. Deeming secrecy of great
importance to the army, in its attempted escape from its lines, my first
intention was to _sink_ my fleet quietly, instead of blowing it up, as the
explosions would give the enemy notice of what was going on. The reader
may judge of my surprise, when, in the course of an hour or two after
dark, I saw the whole horizon, on the north side of the James, glowing
with fires of burning quarters, _materiel_, &c., lighted by our own
troops, as they successively left their intrenchments! Concealment on my
part was no longer necessary or indeed practicable.
I now changed my determination and decided upon burning my fleet. My
officers and men worked like beavers. There were a thousand things to be
done. The sailor was leaving the homestead which he had inhabited for
several months. Arms had to be served out, provisions gotten up out of the
hold, and broken into such packages, as the sailors could carry. Hammocks
had to be unlashed, and the blankets taken out, and rolled up as compactly
as possible. Haversacks and canteens had to be improvised. These various
operations occupied us until a late hour. It was between two and three
o'clock in the morning, before the crews of the iron-clads were all safely
embarked on board the wooden gunboats, and the iron-clads were well on
fire. My little squadron of wooden boats now moved off up the river, by
the glare of the burning iron-clads. They had not proceeded far, before
an explosion, like the shock of an earthquake, took place, and the air was
filled with missiles. It was the blowing up of the _Virginia_, my late
flag-ship. The spectacle was grand beyond description. Her shell-rooms had
been full of loaded shells. The explosion of the magazine threw all these
shells, with their fuses lighted, into the air. The fuses were of
different lengths, and as the shells exploded by twos and threes, and by
the dozen, the pyrotechnic effect was very fine. The explosion shook the
houses in Richmond, and must have waked the echoes of the night for forty
miles around.
There are several bridges spanning the James between Drury's Bluff and the
city, and at one of these we were detained an hour, the draw being down to
permit the passage of some of the troops from the north side of the river,
who had lighted the bonfires of which I have spoken. Owing to this delay,
the sun--a glorious, unclouded sun, as if to mock our misfortunes--was now
rising over Richmond. Some windows, which fronted to the east, were all
aglow with his rays, mimicking the real fires that were already breaking
out in various parts of the city. In the lower part of the city, the
School-ship _Patrick Henry_ was burning, and some of the houses near the
Navy Yard were on fire. But higher up was the principal scene of the
conflagration. Entire blocks were on fire here, and a dense canopy of
smoke, rising high in the still morning air, was covering the city as with
a pall. The rear-guard of our army had just crossed, as I landed my fleet
at Manchester, and the bridges were burning in their rear. The Tredegar
Iron Works were on fire, and continual explosions of loaded shell stored
there were taking place. In short, the scene cannot be described by mere
words, but the reader may conceive a tolerable idea of it, if he will
imagine himself to be looking on Pandemonium broken loose.
[Illustration: The Blowing up of the James River Fleet, on the night of
the Evacuation of Richmond.
KELLY, PIET & CO. PUBLISHERS.----LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]
The population was in a great state of alarm. Hundreds of men and women
had sought refuge on the Manchester side, in the hope of getting away, by
some means or other, they knew not how. I was, myself, about the most
helpless man in the whole crowd. I had just tumbled on shore, with their
bags and baggage, 500 sailors, incapable of marching a dozen miles without
becoming foot-sore, and without any means, whatever, of transportation
being provided for them. I had not so much as a pack-mule to carry a load
of provisions. I was on foot, myself, in the midst of my men. A current of
horsemen, belonging to our retreating column, was sweeping past me, but
there was no horse for me to mount. It was every man for himself, and
d----l take the hindmost. Some of the young cavalry rascals--lads of
eighteen or twenty--as they passed, jibed and joked with my old salts,
asking them how they liked navigating the land, and whether they did not
expect to anchor in Fort Warren pretty soon? The spectacle presented by my
men was, indeed, rather a ludicrous one; loaded down, as they were, with
pots, and pans, and mess-kettles, bags of bread, and chunks of salted
pork, sugar, tea, tobacco, and pipes. It was as much as they could do to
stagger under their loads--marching any distance seemed out of the
question. As I reviewed my "troops," after they had been drawn up by my
captains, who were now all become colonels, I could not but repeat to
myself Mr. Mallory's last words--"You will join General Lee, in the
field, with all your forces."
Yes; here were my "forces," but where, the d----l, was General Lee, and
how was I to join him? If I had had the Secretary of the Navy, on foot, by
the side of me, I rather think this latter question would have puzzled him.
But there was no time to be lost,--I must do something. The first thing,
of course, after landing my men, was to burn my wooden gunboats. This was
done. They were fired, and shoved off from the landing, and permitted to
float down the stream. I then "put my column in motion," and we "marched"
a distance of several squares, blinded by the dust kicked up by those
vagabonds on horseback, before mentioned. When we came in sight of the
railroad depot, I halted, and inquired of some of the fugitives who were
rushing by, about the trains. "The trains!" said they, in astonishment at
my question; "the last train left at daylight this morning--it was filled
with the civil officers of the Government." Notwithstanding this answer, I
moved my command up to the station and workshops, to satisfy myself by a
personal inspection. It was well that I did so, as it saved my command
from the capture that impended over it. I found it quite true, that the
"last train" had departed; and, also, that all the railroad-men had
either run off in the train, or hidden themselves out of view. There was
no one in charge of anything, and no one who knew anything. But there was
some material lying around me; and, with this, I resolved to set up
railroading on my own account. Having a dozen and more steam-engineers
along with me, from my late fleet, I was perfectly independent of the
assistance of the alarmed railroad-men, who had taken to flight.
A pitiable scene presented itself, upon our arrival at the station. Great
numbers had flocked thither, in the hope of escape; frightened men,
despairing women, and crying children. Military patients had hobbled
thither from the hospitals; civil employees of the Government, who had
missed the "last train," by being a little too late, had come to remedy
their negligence; and a great number of other citizens, who were anxious
to get out of the presence of the hated Yankee, had rushed to the station,
they scarcely knew why. These people had crowded into, and on the top of,
a few straggling passenger-cars, that lay uncoupled along the track, in
seeming expectation that some one was to come, in due time, and take them
off. There was a small engine lying also on the track, but there was no
fire in its furnace, no fuel with which to make a fire, and no one to
manage it. Such was the condition of affairs when I "deployed" my "forces"
upon the open square, and "grounded arms,"--the butts of my rifles not
ringing on the ground quite as harmoniously as I could have desired.
Soldiering was new to Jack; however, he would do better by-and-by.
My first move was to turn all these wretched people I have described out
of the cars. Many plaintive appeals were made to me by the displaced
individuals, but my reply to them all was, that it was better for an
unarmed citizen to fall into the hands of the enemy, than a soldier with
arms in his hands. The cars were then drawn together and coupled, and my
own people placed in them. We next took the engine in hand. A body of my
marine "sappers and miners" were set at work to pull down a picket fence,
in front of one of the dwellings, and chop it into firewood. An engineer
and firemen were detailed for the locomotive, and in a very few minutes,
we had the steam hissing from its boiler. I now permitted as many of the
frightened citizens as could find places to clamber upon the cars. All
being in readiness, with the triumphant air of a man who had overcome a
great difficulty, and who felt as if he might snap his fingers at the
Yankees once more, I gave the order to "go ahead." But this was easier
said than done. The little locomotive started at a snail's pace, and drew
us creepingly along, until we reached a slightly ascending grade, which
occurs almost immediately after leaving the station. Here it came to a
dead halt. The firemen stirred their fires, the engineer turned on all his
steam, the engine panted and struggled and screamed, but all to no
purpose. We were effectually stalled. Our little iron horse was
incompetent to do the work which had been required of it. Here was a
predicament!
We were still directly opposite the city of Richmond, and in full view of
it, for the track of the road runs some distance up the river-bank, before
it bends away westward. Amid flames and smoke and tumult and disorder, the
enemy's hosts were pouring into the streets of the proud old capital. Long
lines of cavalry and artillery and infantry could be seen, moving like a
huge serpent through the streets, and winding their way to State-House
Square. As a crowning insult, a regiment of negro cavalry, wild with
savage delight at the thought of triumphing over their late masters,
formed a prominent feature in the grand procession. Alongside of the black
savage marched the white savage--worthy compeers! nay, scarcely; the black
savage, under the circumstances, was the more worthy of respect of the
two. The prophecy of Patrick Henry was fulfilled; the very halls, in which
he had thundered forth the prophecy, were in possession of the "stranger,"
against whom he had warned his countrymen! My temporary safety lay in two
circumstances: first, the enemy was so drunk with his success, that he had
no eyes for any one but himself and the population of the proud city of
Richmond which he was seeking to abase; and secondly, the bridges leading
across the river were all on fire. Whilst I was pondering what was best to
be done, whether I should uncouple a portion of the train, and permit the
rest to escape, an engineer came running to me to say that he had
discovered another engine, which the absconding railroad people had hidden
away in the recesses of their work-shops. The new engine was rolled out
immediately, steam raised on it in a few minutes, and by the aid of the
two engines, we gave our train, with the indifferent fuel we had, a speed
of five or six miles per hour, until we reached the first wood-pile. Here
getting hold of some better fuel, we fired up with better effect, and went
thundering, with the usual speed, on our course.
It was thus, after I had, in fact, been abandoned by the Government and
the army, that I saved my command from capture. I make no charges--utter
no complaints. Perhaps neither the Government, nor the army was to blame.
The great disaster fell upon them both so suddenly, that, perhaps, neither
could do any better; but the naked fact is, that the fleet was abandoned
to shift for itself, there being, as before remarked, not only no
transportation provided for carrying a pound of provisions, or a
cooking-utensil, but not even a horse for its Admiral to mount. As a
matter of course, great disorder prevailed, in all the villages, and at
all the way-stations, by which we passed. We had a continual accession of
passengers, until not another man could be packed upon the train. So great
was the demoralization, that we picked up "unattached" generals and
colonels on the road, in considerable numbers. The most amusing part of
our journey, however, was an attempt made by some of the railroad
officials to take charge of our train, after we had gotten some distance
from Richmond. Conductors and engineers now came forward, and insisted
upon regulating our affairs for us. We declined the good offices of these
gentlemen, and navigated to suit ourselves. The president, or
superintendent of the road, I forget which, even had the assurance to
complain, afterward, to President Davis, at Danville, of my usurping his
authority! Simple civilian! discreet railroad officer! to scamper off in
the manner related, and then to complain of my usurping his authority! My
railroad cruise ended the next day--April 4th--about midnight, when we
reached the city of Danville, and blew off our steam, encamping in the
cars for the remainder of the night. Our escape had been narrow, in more
respects than one. After turning Lee's flank, at the Five Forks, the enemy
made a dash at the Southside Railroad; Sheridan with his cavalry tearing
up the rails at the Burksville Junction, just _one hour and a half_ after
we had passed it.