It is not improbable that Grant might have made more headway by
leaving a sufficient part of his army in the trenches in front of
Petersburg and by moving with a heavy force far to the west upon Lee's
communications; or, if it were determined to capture the place _à main
forte_, by making a massed attack upon some point in the center after
suitable mining operations had weakened Lee's defenses and prepared
for such an operation. But the end was to come with opening spring. To
the far-sighted, this was no longer doubtful. The South must succumb
to the greater material resources of the North, despite its courage
and its sacrifices.--_Colonel T. A. Dodge, U. S. A., in "A Bird's-Eye
View of Our Civil War."_
During the winter of 1864-65, General Lee, fighting Grant without, was
fighting famine within. The shivering, half-clad soldiers of the South
crouched over feeble fires in their entrenchments. The men were exposed to
the rain, snow, and sleet; sickness and disease soon added their horrors
to the desolation. The finances of the Government were almost gone. The
life of the Confederacy was ebbing fast.
Behind Union breastworks, early in 1865, General Grant was making
preparations for the opening of a determined campaign with the coming of
spring. Mile after mile had been added to his entrenchments, and they now
extended to Hatcher's Run on the left. The Confederate lines had been
stretched until they were so thin that there was constant danger of
breaking. A. P. Hill was posted on the right; Gordon and Anderson held the
center, and Longstreet was on the left. Union troops were mobilizing in
front of Petersburg. By February 1st, Sherman was fairly off from Savannah
on his northward march to join Grant. He was weak in cavalry and Grant
determined to bring Sheridan from the Shenandoah, whence the bulk of
Early's forces had been withdrawn, and send him to assist Sherman.
Sheridan left Winchester February 27th, wreaking much destruction as he
advanced, but circumstances compelled him to seek a new base at White
House. On March 27th he formed a junction with the armies of the Potomac
and the James. Such were the happenings that prompted Lee to prepare for
the evacuation of Petersburg. And he might be able, in his rapid marches,
to outdistance Grant, join his forces with those of Johnston, fall on
Sherman, destroy one wing of the Union army and arouse the hopes of his
soldiers, and prolong the life of his Government.
General Grant knew the condition of Lee's army and, with the unerring
instinct of a military leader, surmised what the plan of the Southern
general must be. He decided to move on the left, destroy both the Danville
and South Side railroads, and put his army in better condition to pursue.
The move was ordered for March 29th.
General Lee, in order to get Grant to look another way for a while,
decided to attack Grant's line on the right, and gain some of the works.
This would compel Grant to draw some of his force from his left and secure
a way of escape to the west. This bold plan was left for execution to the
gallant Georgian, General John B. Gordon, who had successfully led the
reverse attack at Cedar Creek, in the Shenandoah, in October, 1864. Near
the crater stood Fort Stedman. Between it and the Confederate front, a
distance of about one hundred and fifty yards, was a strip of firm earth,
in full view of both picket lines. Across this space some deserters had
passed to the Union entrenchments. General Gordon took advantage of this
fact and accordingly selected his men, who, at the sound of the signal
gun, should disarm the Federal pickets, while fifty more men were to cross
the open space quickly with axes and cut away the abatis, and three
hundred others were to rush through the opening, and capture the fort and
guns.
At four o'clock on the morning of March 25, 1865, Gordon had everything in
readiness. His chosen band wore white strips of cloth across the breast,
that they might distinguish each other in the hand-to-hand fight that
would doubtless ensue. Behind these men half of Lee's army was massed to
support the attack. In the silence of the early morning, a gunshot rang
out from the Confederate works. Not a Federal picket-shot was heard. The
axemen rushed across the open and soon the thuds of their axes told of the
cutting away of the abatis. The three hundred surged through the entrance,
overpowered the gunners, captured batteries to the right and to the left,
and were in control of the situation. Gordon's corps of about five
thousand was on hand to sustain the attack but the remaining reserves,
through failure of the guides, did not come, and the general found himself
cut off with a rapidly increasing army surrounding him.
Fort Haskell, on the left, began to throw its shells. Under its cover,
heavy columns of Federals sent by General Parke, now commanding the Ninth
Corps, pressed forward. The Confederates resisted the charge, and from the
captured Fort Stedman and the adjoining batteries poured volley after
volley on Willcox's advancing lines of blue. The Northerners fell back,
only to re-form and renew the attack. This time they secured a footing,
and for twenty minutes the fighting was terrific. Again they were
repulsed. Then across the brow of the hill swept the command of Hartranft.
The blue masses literally poured onto the field. The furious musketry, and
artillery directed by General Tidball, shrivelled up the ranks of Gordon
until they fled from the fort and its neighboring batteries in the midst
of withering fire, and those who did not were captured. This was the last
aggressive effort of the expiring Confederacy in front of Petersburg, and
it cost three thousand men. The Federal loss was not half that number.
The affair at Fort Stedman did not turn Grant from his plans against the
Confederate right. With the railroads here destroyed, Richmond would be
completely cut off. On the morning of the 29th, as previously arranged,
the movement began. Sheridan swept to the south with his cavalry, as if he
were to fall upon the railroads. General Warren, with fifteen thousand
men, was working his way through the tangled woods and low swamps in the
direction of Lee's right. At the same time, Lee stripped his entrenchments
at Petersburg as much as he dared and hurried General Anderson, with
infantry, and Fitzhugh Lee, with cavalry, forward to hold the roads over
which he hoped to escape. On Friday morning, March 31st, the opposing
forces, the Confederates much reënforced, found themselves at Dinwiddie
Court House. The woods and swamps prevented the formation of a regular
line of battle. Lee made his accustomed flank movement, with heavy loss to
the Federals as they tried to move in the swampy forests. The Northerners
finally were ready to advance when it was found that Lee had fallen back.
During the day and night, reënforcements were coming in from all sides.
The Confederates had taken their position at Five Forks.
Early the next afternoon, the 1st of April, Sheridan, reënforced by
Warren, was arranging his troops for battle. The day was nearly spent when
all was in readiness. The sun was not more than two hours high when the
Northern army moved toward that of the South, defended by a breastwork
behind a dense undergrowth of pines. Through this mass of timber the
Federals crept with bayonets fixed. They charged upon the Confederates,
but, at the same time, a galling fire poured into them from the left,
spreading dismay and destruction in their midst. The intrepid Sheridan
urged his black battle-charger, the famous Rienzi, now known as
Winchester, up and down the lines, cheering his men on in the fight. He
seemed to be everywhere at once. The Confederate left was streaming down
the White Oak Road. But General Crawford had reached a cross-road, by
taking a circuitous route, and the Southern army was thus shut off from
retreat. The Federal cavalry had dismounted and was doing its full share
of work. The Confederates soon found themselves trapped, and the part of
their army in action that day was nearly annihilated. About five thousand
prisoners were taken.
With night came the news of the crushing blow to Lee. General Grant was
seated by his camp-fire surrounded by his staff, when a courier dashed
into his presence with the message of victory. Soon from every great gun
along the Union line belched forth the sheets of flame. The earth shook
with the awful cannonade. Mortar shells made huge parabolas through the
air. The Union batteries crept closer and closer to the Confederate lines
and the balls crashed into the streets of the doomed city. The bombardment
of Petersburg was on.
At dawn of the 2nd of April the grand assault began. The Federal troops
sprang forward with a rush. Despite the storms of grape and canister, the
Sixth Corps plunged through the battery smoke, and across the walls,
pushing the brave defenders to the inner works. The whole corps penetrated
the lines and swept everything before it toward Hatcher's Run. Some of the
troops even reached the South Side Railroad, where the brave General A. P.
Hill fell mortally wounded.
Everywhere, the blue masses poured into the works. General Ord, on the
right of the Sixth Corps, helped to shut the Confederate right into the
city. General Parke, with the Ninth Corps, carried the main line. The thin
gray line could no longer stem the tide that was engulfing it. The
Confederate troops south of Hatcher's Run fled to the west, and fought
General Miles until General Sheridan and a division from Meade appeared on
the scene. By noon the Federals held the line of the outer works from Fort
Gregg to the Appomattox. The last stronghold carried was Fort Gregg, at
which the men of Gibbon's corps had one of the most desperate struggles of
the war. The Confederates now fell back to the inner fortifications and
the siege of Petersburg came to an end.
[Illustration: A BATTERED RELIC OF COLONIAL DAYS IN PETERSBURG