LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 mf,pSt%,- \''§iJiu|ng!it la, 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE, 
 
 Last Four Weeks of the War. 
 
 - '^^\ uw^ 
 
 r.Y 
 
 Edmund N, Hatcher. 
 
 DEC 5 lo9^ 
 
 COLUMBUS, OHIO. 
 
 EDMUND N. HATCHER, Publisher. 
 1891. 
 
2 L 
 
 Copyright 1 89 1. 
 Bj Edmund N. Hatcher. 
 
 Press of 
 
 J. WIGGINS & CO. 
 
 Columbus, 0. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 But for the cultivation of a fancy, this vohime would 
 not go to the public. The collection of material for 
 this work began shortly after the close of the War, by 
 seeking from both North and South, files of daily and 
 weekly papers published during the activity of the 
 two great armies of the Union and Canfederate forces. 
 Many difficulties were encountered in collecting files 
 now in my possession, yet, after the lapse of more than 
 a quarter of a century, the result of my collection is in- 
 valuable and cannot be duplicated. Having a desire, 
 after having served in the field at a youthful age, to 
 know more than I chanced to have seen, caused me to 
 seek this channel for that I deemed more accurate and 
 interesting than could come from the pen of a historian, 
 and to you is given the situation and expression on 
 both Union and Confederate sides, to study over as I 
 have done with great pleasure. I do not offer an 
 apology for any article within this cover. I have given 
 each as it came directly from the press sentiment on 
 those dates. It has been found necessary at times to 
 have concentrated letters and editorials, but the gist of 
 each is retained and here given. 
 
 The contents are from the War Correspondents and 
 editorials of the following papers : The Tribune, 
 Herald and Times, of New York; The Daily Rebel, Con- 
 
federate Union and Mobile Register, of Alabama; The 
 Raleigh Progress, and Confederate, of North Carolina ; 
 The Richmond Dispatch, Sentinel, Whig, and En- 
 quirer, of Richmond, Virginia ; The Daily Constitu- 
 tionalist, of Augusta, Georgia; The New Orleans Pic- 
 ayune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Chronicle, 
 Baltimore American, and The Cincinnati Commercial, 
 Gazette and Enquirer, as well as from files of many 
 papers of less prominence, that were issued during the 
 War, many of v/hich have been for years extinct. 
 
 I trust, after the reader has carefully read, — and pos- 
 sibly wondered as to the accuracy of the contents,- -that 
 it will have been found interesting. Those who were 
 witnesses and participants in the great struggle, can 
 vouch for the correctness of this compilation, while 
 those who have since appeared on the stage may find 
 herein food for the production of an imaginary picture 
 of the closing days of the war, that they will never be 
 able to properly paint. 
 
 I launch this work with the belief that it will bring 
 to many recollections that time has blurred, and recall 
 the part you played in the great drama. With this 
 accomplished, I have finished. 
 
 E. N. H. 
 Columbus, Ohio, 
 Sept. 30, 1891. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Army of the James Eeported as 
 Going to tbeChickahominy. — The Cap- 
 SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1865. ^^^,.g ^f Fort Steadmaii by the Union 
 Forces.— Review of the Day's Engage- 
 ments in Front of the Army of the Potomac— President Lincoln in 
 the Field.— Confederates Reported as Being Disheartened.— Confed- 
 erates Determined to Avenge the Death of Captain Beall by the 
 Execution of General Crook. — Guerillas Killed near Paducah, Ken- 
 tucky.— Confederate Account of the Evacuation of Dalton, Georgia, 
 by the Federals.— Confederate Prisoners of War Kemoved from 
 Louisville, Kentucky, to Camp Chase, Ohio.— Sherman's Army as 
 it Appeared at Goldsboro, North Carolina.— Locating the Position 
 of General Johnston's Army.— Confederate Account of the Capture 
 by the Federals of a Train on the Florida Railroad.— Another Ac- 
 count of Same.— Confederate Account of Their Situation at Mobile, 
 Alabama.— The Executioii of Robert Cobb Kennedy, a Spy, at New 
 York.- Gold Quotation at New York.— Supplies for Sherman's 
 Army Going Through Newbern, North Carolina.— General Lee's 
 Keportof the Day's Battles at Petersburg.— Confederate Account of 
 the Assault on the Petersburg Line.— A Second Account of Same. 
 —Confederate Account of Abuse Heaped on Wheeler's Cavalry.— 
 Raleigh, North Carolina, Account of Depredations Committed in 
 North Carolina.— Confederate Account of the Situation at Rich- 
 mond, Virginia.— Confederate View of Sherman's Army at Golds- 
 boro.— Report from Refugees at Washington.— Confederate Esti- 
 mate of Damage Done by Sherman's Troops.— Arrival of Deserters 
 at Washington.— What Stoneman's Troops are Doing at Wautanga 
 Bridge, Tennessee.— The Second Army Corps in Battle.— The As- 
 sault on the Sixth Corps.— The Sixth Corps Gaining Ground.— The 
 Ninth Corps at the Confederate Assault on Fort Steadman.— The 
 Ninth Corps Losses of To-day. 
 
VI THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Sheridan's Cavalry Arrives at Berniiicia 
 
 SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 1865. ^^''""'^'f^ Vir-ima-Arrival of Sheri- 
 dan's Cavalry on the Petersburg Front. 
 — Confederate Account of the Arrival of 
 Prisoners at Libby Prison. — The Forces of General Stoneman in 
 East Tennessee and what they are doing. — The Situation on the 
 Petersburg Front. — The Army of the James on Bermuda Hundred 
 Front. — Sheridan's Cavalry at the Appoma^ox Kiver. — Price of 
 Broad Cloth at Augusta, Georgia. — Cincinnati News — Schofield's 
 Army Keeps its Word and Joins Sherman at Faysor Depot, North 
 Carolina. — Lee Reported as Surrendered.— Confederate Account of 
 the Mobile Situation.— Confederate Report from Montgomery, Ala- 
 bama. — The Situation of Sherman's Army at Goldsboro.— The Re- 
 view of the Army of the James by President Lincoln. — News From 
 Alexandria, Louisiana. — The Confederate Situation To-day atRich- 
 mond.— Confederate News From Canton, Mississippi. — The Presi- 
 dent Sees the 'J'roops at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia.— The Confed- 
 erate Ram Stonewall, at Lisbon, Portugal.— The Troops of General 
 Steele at Pensacola, Florida. — A Detailed Account of the Battles 
 Fought by Sherman's Army in Their Progress to a Junction With 
 Schofield. 
 
 A Confederate Account of the Doings of 
 
 .-^..^.w ...r.^.. ^^ Sherman's Army. — The New York 
 
 MONDAY. MARCH 27, 1865. „, , , . , . ir.fi ^ t 
 
 World Advises ihe Confederacy to Lay 
 Down Their Arms.— Confederate Re- 
 port From Raleigh, North Carolina. — The Arrival of Confederate 
 Prisoners at Baltimore. — News from the Twenty-third Corps at 
 White Oak, North Carolina. — The News at City Point, Virginia. — 
 The Decoy Made by the C<'nfederates on the Sixth Corps.— The 
 Mail Arrives at Newbern, North Carolina. — Moving the Sick From 
 the Hospitals in Front of Petersburg. — The Thirteenth and Six- 
 teenth Corps in front of Mobile. — A Confederate Estimate of Sher- 
 man's Army. — Confederate News of To-day From Selma, Alabama. 
 — The Confederate Estimate of the Forces Near Kernstown and 
 Winchester, Virginia — General Grant's Account of Losses in Front 
 of Petersburg. — Confederate Current News From Richmond of To- 
 day. — Recruiting Dull at Washington. — A Portion of the Twent)'- 
 fourth Corps and the Twenty-fifth Corps Leaving the Armj^ of the 
 James to Join the Army of the Potomac. — Sheridan's Cavalry Going 
 Into Position on the Petersburg Front, — The Distress at Fayette- 
 ville, North Carolina, as Given by a Confederate Paper. — General 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. Vll 
 
 News From the Twentieth Corps and Sherman's Army. — From a 
 Confederate Letter Written at Petersburg To-day.— General Bailey's 
 Troops at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and What They are Doing. 
 
 The Fourth Army Corps on its Way to 
 
 ■r..r-on-» ..no^M «o .«^,- K u OX vllle , Teu u essee. — Stoneman's 
 TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1865. ^, . ^ , ,, . „, , ... , 
 
 L^nion Cavalry Moving loward Rich- 
 mond. — President Lincoln in Consulta- 
 tion With Leading Union Generals at City Point, Virginia. — The 
 Twenty-third Army Corps at White Oak, Nortii Carolina. — Gen- 
 eral Robert Anderson on His Way to Hoist the United States Flag on 
 Fort Sumter. — New York Market Report. — Sherman's Men Re- 
 ported as Growing Feathers on Their Legs. — News From Newbern, 
 N'orth Carolina. — The Situation at Goldsboro, North Carolina. — 
 Confederate News From Mobile, Alabama. — The Tried -Men of the 
 Army of the James Selected to Join the Army of the Potomac. — 
 Confederate Account of the Ariival of Union Piisoners at Rich- 
 mond. — News From the Army of t!ie Potomac. — General Grant's 
 Phins. — Confederate News in Richmond. — Sherman's Army at 
 Goldsboro. — Confederate Account of the Tians-Mlssissippi Depart- 
 ment. — General Wilson's Union Forces Betw^een Selma and Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama. — General Oid takes a Part of the Army of the 
 James to the Petershurg Front. — Mobile, Alabama, Nearly Sur- 
 rounded by tiiC Federals. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1865. 
 
 The Fifth Army Corps in Action. — The 
 News From ihe Army of the Potomac. — 
 The FifLh Army Corps in Battle on the 
 Quaker Road. — Thomas' Union Forces 
 on the way to Richmond. — The Assault of tlie Twenty-Fourth Army 
 Corps on the Confederate Line at Hatcher's Run. — Confederate 
 Soldiers Taking the Oath at Louisville, Kentucky. — An Auction 
 Sale of Slaves at Augusta, Geortjia. — Guerillas Reported Near New- 
 port, Kentucky. — Comment on the Confederate Situation. — The 
 Army of the Potomac in Motion. — The Confederate Ram Stonewall 
 at Lisbon, Portugal. — Confederate Account of Mosby's Troops. — 
 Graphic Description of Sherman's Troops in North Carolina. — Con- 
 federate Account of the Battles in Front of Petersburg, Virginia. 
 — The Doings ut Mobile. 
 
Vlll THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Negroes Being Placed in the Confed- 
 -r...,oor,«w ..«o«., o,. .o^n ©rate Fo I ti fication s Around Rlch- 
 
 THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1865. , r. . , ^ a ^ ^ ^u td 
 
 monu, — Confederate Account of the Po- 
 sition of Thomas' Union Forces. — Tele- 
 graph Wires Down Between Washington and City Point. — A Re- 
 port From tlie Ninth Army Corps in Front of Petersburg. — Confed- 
 erate News From Petersburg. — The Army of the Potomac at Grav- 
 elly Run, Virginia. — General Lee's Letter to the Confederate Secre- 
 tary of War. — The News in Richmond. — The Twenty-Fourth Army 
 Corps Commended as Plucky. — The Weather at City Point. — Gen- 
 eral Sherman Orders the Mail for His Army to be Sent to Fortress 
 Monroe, Virginia. — Kilpatrick's Cavalry out on a Scout. — The Sen- 
 timent in Richmond. — Union Account From Mobile, Alabama. 
 —Confederate Account From Montgomery, Alabama. — The News 
 at Savanna, Georgia. — Confederate Account of the Day at Peters- 
 burg. — Confederate Account From Lynchburg, Virginia. — The 
 First Army Corps Near Charlestown, Virginia. 
 
 A Good Demand for Substitutes in 
 
 .-o,,^«« »»„«.. o. .««^ Washington — Confederates About to 
 FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1865. ^ ^ , . , ^t , ^ 
 
 Evacuate Raleigh, North Carolina. — 
 
 Military Execution at Goldsboro, North 
 Carolina. — Full Report From the Army of the Potomac. — Tlie 
 Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifih Army Corps Fighting. — Sherman's 
 Men on a Reconnoisance. — News From Newbern, North Carolina. 
 — General Grant's Telegram to President Lincoln.— Graphic De- 
 scription of Sherman's Troops. — Mosby's Guerillas Capture a Mail 
 Train. — Confederate Deserters at Meridian, Mississippi, Threaten 
 to Kill the State Militia. — Sheridan's Cavalry Change Their Posi- 
 tion. — Startling News Expected From Texas. 
 
 General Grant Moves His Head-quar- 
 
 o.TMo,>»« .o,>.. . .o^n ters to the Field.— Confederate Account 
 SATURDAY APRIL 1, 1865. , t^. , i tvt -c^ ai i 
 
 at Richmond. — News From Sherman's 
 
 Army at Goldsboro, North Carolina. 
 General Stoneman's Forces take Boone, North Carolina. — Sheri- 
 dan's Cavalry Moving Down the Boydtown Plank Road.— The 
 Fifth Army Corps in Battle.— An Assault by the Twenty-fourth 
 Army Corps.— News From Raleigh, North Carolina.— Tlie Confed- 
 erate Report From Richmond.— The News From the Petersburg 
 Front.— New York Quotation on Gold.— -Clothing Issued to Sher- 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEKKS OE THE WAR. ix 
 
 man's Army. — Confederate News From Petersburo^. — Confederates 
 Flanked by the Fifth Army Corps. — General Meade Arranging for 
 an Attack on the Entire Line in Front of Petersburg. — Thomas' 
 Army not Caring for Chickens. — The Second Army Corps in Action. 
 The Confederate Attack on the Twenty-fourth Army Corps.— The 
 Sixth Army Corps News. — The Ninth Army Corps in Battle. — The 
 Second Army Corps in Battle. — Prices in Petersburg. — General 
 Steele's Forces at Pensacola, Florida. — News From New Orleans. 
 General Grant's Telegram.— General Grant's Promise to President 
 Lincoln. — Canby's Army at Mobile. — The East Tennessee Kailroad 
 Open to Bull's Gap.— Pirates on the Pawtuxet Eiver, — Union Ac- 
 count From Mobile. — Confederate Account From Selma, Alabama. 
 Confederate Account From Mobile, Alabama. 
 
 Tiie Account From the Army of the 
 
 Potomac. — Confederate Account of the 
 SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1865. .. '^^•. i n., ^ ., a 
 
 Alarm in Kichmond.— The Fourth Army 
 
 Corps at Shields Mills. Tennessee. — The 
 
 Petersburg Front. — Confederate News from Augusta, Georgia. 
 
 The Great Battle Fought at Petersburg. — The Sixth Army Corps in 
 
 Battle. — The Sixth, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Second, Ninth 
 
 and Ten til Corps' Desperate Assault on the Confederate Lines at 
 
 Petersburg. 
 
 The Surrender of Kichmond, With 
 
 Graphic Description of the Entry of the 
 
 MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1865. tt • a mu t- f- ^ 
 
 Union Army. The Evacuation of 
 
 Petersburg. — The Appearance of a 
 Union Newspaper in Petersburg.— The Burning of Kichmond. — 
 Description of Libby Prison and Castle Thunder.— The Jubilees 
 Held in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston, Over the 
 Fall of Richmond. — Confederate News from Selma, Alabama. — The 
 Union Army at Amelia Court House,— The War Department Dis- 
 patches. — The Appearance of Colored Union Troops on the Streets 
 of Petersburg Singing.— General Wilson's Troops Take Possession 
 of Selma, Ala.— Flight of Jefferson Davis From Richmond.— The 
 Situation at Petersburg.— Union Bands Parading the Streets of 
 Petersburg.— A Review of the Last Days of the Union Army in 
 Front of Petersburg. 
 
X 'THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 The Kichmond Whig Appears as a 
 
 Union Paper.— President Lincoln 
 
 TUESDAY, APRIL 4,1865. , . . ^. , i rm, a ^ 
 
 Arrives in Richmond.— The Army of 
 
 the Potomac in the Field. — President 
 Lincoln Sends a Message From Richmond. — The New York Tri- 
 bune's Editorial of This Morning on the Fall of Richmond.— 
 The News at City Point, Virginia. — The News From Richmond. 
 — Pirates at Fair Haven, Herring Bay. — Sheridan's Cavalry Opera- 
 ting With the Second and Sixth Army Corps. — General Grant's 
 Telegram From the Field. — Federal Prisoners Brought Into Char- 
 lotte, North Carolina. — The Artillery Attack on Mobile, Alabama. 
 — Confederate News From Mobile. — Confederate News From Dan- 
 vTife, Virginia. — The Army of the Potomac in Pursuit of Lee's 
 Army. — The Time Sherman's Men are Having in North Carolina. 
 — Confederate Account From Montgomery, Alabama. 
 
 Sherman's Army at Goldsboro. — News 
 
 ..,.-r^.■.-o,^«^/ .r>«.. ^ ,„^^ Fiom Chai'leston, South Carolina.— Al- 
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL, 5, 1865. , ^ , ^r , 
 
 abama Overrun by i ankees. — T h e 
 
 Army of the Potomac in Pursuit of 
 Lee's Army. — Confederate Account of the Evacuation of Rich- 
 mond. — General Grant at Burkesville, Virginia. — Water Communi- 
 cation Opened at Richmond. — Confederate News From Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama. — General Sheridan's Letter to General Grant. 
 
 "Old Abe" in Luck.— Sherman's Men 
 
 THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1865. ^* f " ^^ ^^^ ^""^^ ^^ Richmond. -Han- 
 cock's Army Moving Down the Shen- 
 andoah Valley. — News in Washington. 
 -New York News. — The Second and Sixth Corps on the Wing. 
 
 The Sixtli Corps in Pursuit of Lee's 
 
 FRIDAY, APRIL 7. 1866. Army -Correspondence Between Gen- 
 
 erals Giant and Lee. — Johnston's Army 
 
 Reported as Going Toward Richmond. 
 
 — Sherman After Him.— New York Tribune's Editorial on 
 
 "Grant's Advance." — The Army of the Potomac in the Field. — 
 
 Texas Never Again to be a State in the Union.— An Auction Sale 
 
 at Augusta, Georgia. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. XI 
 
 Canby's Army at Mobile. — Selma, Ala- 
 bama, Captured and Burned. — Corres- 
 SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1865. /v.. ^ ^ ^ ^ i 
 
 pondence between Generals Grant and 
 
 Lee. — The Richmond News. — In the 
 Field After Lee. — The Opening of a Theatre in Richmond With the 
 Sentimental Song Sang on the Sta^e.— News From Fortress Mon- 
 roe, Virginia. — Account From Montgomery, Alabama. — The Daily 
 Constitutionalist, Augusta, Georgia, Editorial ''Individual Jaun- 
 dice." 
 
 The Surrender of Lee's Army at Ap- 
 
 pomatox Court House, Virginia. — News 
 SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 1865. . ^,r , • ^ a i \ft n^ a 
 
 at Washington. — Scliofield's Army in 
 
 North Carolina.— Sherman's Army 
 Hears of the Fall of Richmond.--The Twenty-fourth Corps at the 
 Surrender.— The Second, Sixth, and Fifth Corps at the Surrender.— 
 Mosby's Guerillas Disband.— Taking the Oath at Sandusky, Ohio. 
 —Sheridan's Cavalry at Appomatox, Court House, Viiginia.— Sher- 
 man's Men Called Bummers.— Confederate Account of Kirby 
 Smith's Forces. 
 
 News at Vicksbnrg. — Norfolk News. — 
 Nashville News. — Lee's Surrender at 
 MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1865. chattanooga.-Confederate Account of 
 Lee's Surrender. 
 
 Patrolling Lee's Army.— News From 
 
 Appomatox Court House, Virginia.— 
 
 TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1865. ^^^^^^^^^ j,^,^^^ Lynchburg, Virginia.- 
 
 The Market Prices at Columbus, 
 Georgia.— Lynchburg, Virginia, in the Hands of the Federals. 
 
 Mrs. R. E. Lee Insulted by Having a 
 Colored Guard Placed at the Front of 
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1865. ^j^^. Residence.-Mosby Says He Will 
 Not Give Up.— Longstreet's Corps Pa- 
 i-oled — The Stars and Stripes Afloat at Mobile —Stoneman's Com- 
 mand Captures Salisbury.— Thomas' Army Capture Montgomery. 
 —News From Washington.— Savannah News. 
 
xn THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 News From Charleston. — Kilpatrick's 
 
 THURSDAY. APRIL t3. t865. ^'"'"■■y '^J ^^1^'""'* "i'?'"; f ."^ 
 Fourteenth Army Corps Enter Raleish. 
 
 — Recruiting and Drafting Stopped. — 
 
 Sherman's Troops Go Into Raleigh. — Washington News. — News 
 
 From the Fourth Army Corp«. 
 
 One of the Songs Sang by Sherman's 
 
 FRIDAY. APRIL ,4. 1366. A"ny--Jol;nstO" Keported as Having 
 Surrendered. — The Stars and Stripes 
 Hoisted on Fort Sumter. — The New 
 York Tribune's Editorial.— General Stonemyn's Troops Reported 
 Between Danville and Greensboro. — The Assassination of President 
 Lincoln. — Attempted Assassination of Secretary Seward. — News 
 From Sherman's Left Wins:. 
 
 Mrs. John Tyler Compelled to Give up 
 SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1835. ^ Confederate Flag.-New York News. 
 — Johnston Preparing to Surrender. — 
 President Lincoln's Death. — A Reward 
 Offered for the Assassin. — Gloom in New York Over the Death of 
 PresidentLincoln.— Booth's Letter Written Before the Assassina- 
 tion. 
 
 Inaugaration of President Johnston. — 
 SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 1865. Confederate Force Under General Im- 
 boden in West Virginia Surrenders. 
 
 MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1865. 
 
 Sherman's Army at Raleigh. — Guerillas 
 Surrender at Louisville. — G u e r i 1 1 a s 
 About Washington. — Secretary Sew- 
 ard's Condition. — Generals Sherman 
 and Johnston in Conference. — Arniy of the Potomac in the Field. — 
 Mosby Surrenders. — General Sherman Goes to Durham Station. 
 North Carolin;!. — Confederate News at Augusta, Georgia. 
 
 Johnston Surrenders His Arm}^ — News 
 TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 1865, in Raleigh. — Artillery Capturt^d Since 
 December First by the Union Forces. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. Xlll 
 
 Ne«:otiations Between Generals Sher- 
 
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1865. man and Johnston Ended. — Kalei<i;h 
 
 News. — Funeral of President Lincoln. 
 
 The Dailyni Kebels Editorial on the As- 
 THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1865. sassination of President Lincoln. — N'ews 
 From Sherman's Army. 
 
 Moseby's Farewell Address to His Com- 
 FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1865. mand.— General E well's Last Letter to 
 General Lee. 
 
 Dispersion of the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 o.,M,.nx, .,,0.. «„ .o^r. —Union Prisoners From Andersonville 
 SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 1865. , . . tt- 1 i mu • ^\r 
 
 Arrive at Vicksburg on Their Way 
 
 Home. — General Stoneman's Account of 
 
 the Buining of Southern Prisons. 
 
 Confederate Editorial on the Assassina- 
 MONDAY, APRIL 24, 1865. tion of President Lincoln. — News From 
 Atlanta. 
 
 Tlie Completion of Johnston's Sur- 
 render with Graphic Account of Same. 
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1865. rnu r. ^ i 1. .-i f 4.u Ao 
 
 — The Capture and Death of the As- 
 
 JefF Thompson's Confederate Forces In- 
 FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1865. ^^^y^^^^ Missouri. 
 
 SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1865. Review of Wilson's Raid. 
 
XIV THE LAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Sherman's Army Start Home. — A Fare- 
 SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 1865. well to Jefferson Davis by the Ealeigh 
 
 Proo-ress. 
 
 Artenuis Wartl's Letter From Eich- 
 MONDAY, MAY 1,1885. mond.— Sherman's Army Homeward 
 Bound. 
 
 TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1865. 
 
 Lawless Conduct of Union Soldiers. — 
 Confederate Eesolutlons Passed b y 
 Hardeman's Brigade in Texas. — The 
 Twentieth Corps Homeward Bound. — 
 General Johnston's Farewell. 
 
 The Twentieth Corps Still Marching. — 
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 3. 1865. The Fifth Corps at Manchester, Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 THURSDAY, MAY 4, 865. 
 
 Confederate General Dick Taylor Sur- 
 renders. — Sherman's Army on its Way 
 to Washington. — Account of General 
 Taylor's Surrender. 
 
 Slierman's Line Keeps Moving. — The 
 FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1865. Sixteenth Corps Arrives at Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama. 
 
 A Southern Author Arrested and 
 SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1865. Placed in Prison.— General Dick Tay- 
 lor's Eemarks to His Command. 
 
"THE IvASI" P'OUR WKEKS OI^ O'HE WAR. XV 
 
 The Army of the Tennessee Reach 
 Petersburg. — Dick Turner the Confed- 
 MONDAY, MAY 8, 1865. erate Keeper of Libby Prison, is Locked 
 up in the Same and Does Not Appre- 
 ciate it. 
 
 Sherman's Army Arrives at Peters- 
 THURSDAY, MAY 9. 1865. burg.— Parolling Johnston's Army at 
 Raleigli. 
 
 Surrender of Confederate Forces in 
 WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1865. Florida to General McCook.— Capture 
 of Jefierson Davis. 
 
 Shernuiu's Army Passes Through Rich- 
 THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1865. mond.- The Rebel Ram Stonewall at 
 Havana. 
 
 MONDAY, MAY 15, 1865. 
 
 TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1865. 
 
 Governor Joseph Brown, of Georgia, a 
 Prisoner at Nashville. 
 
 General Sheridan's Account of the Bat- 
 tle at Five Forks. 
 
 SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1865. 
 
 Confederate General Imboden's Order 
 Against Union Prisoners of War. 
 
 TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1865. 
 
 The First Day of the Grand Review in 
 Washington. -Jefferson Davis a Prisoner 
 at Fortress Monroe, Virginia.-The l^ixth 
 Corps' March through Richmond. 
 
xvi THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 Kirby Smith Reiidy to Surrender.— Tlie 
 WEDNESDAY. MAY 24, 1865. Second Day of the Grand Keview at 
 Washinofton. 
 
 Gener tl Johnston's Cause for Surrend- 
 
 THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1 865. «"»« ^'' Army.-News From Texas.- 
 Alexander H. Stephans Arrives at Fort 
 Warren, Boston Harbor. 
 
 SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1865. Kirby Smith Surrenders. 
 
 General Sherman's Farewell to His 
 TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1865. 
 
 Army. 
 
 FRIDAY. JUNE 2, 1865. General Grant's Farewell to the Army. 
 
 THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1865. The lieview of tlie Sixth Corps. 
 
 FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1865. The Twenty-third Corps Mustered Out. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1865. General Meade's Farewell to His Army. 
 
Saturday, March 25, 1865 
 
 Turner's Division of Gibbon's 
 
 Army of the James Corps, Army of the James, was 
 
 ^'mTpcS "r^i'sBB^'" despatched to the Chickahominy 
 
 Union Account. for the purpose of Supporting 
 
 Sheridan in his crossing, in case 
 
 of an attack by the enemy. 
 
 At 5 o'clock this morning the 
 
 Ninth Army Corps. Rebels camc iu great force to cap- 
 
 '"^T*°?oI''fo«'.^'^'" ture Fort Steadman. The time 
 
 {March 25, 1865. • i • • i i 
 
 Union Account. occupicd lu crossiug the grouud 
 
 between the lines was but a mo- 
 ment, when they were in the rear of the fort. Here 
 they formed in line of battle, and while one portion ad- 
 vanced on the fort, the other swept the right, in toward 
 the Appomattox river, expecting to flank and capture 
 the whole line to that point. They were met by the 
 Seventeenth Michigan and driven back, after a severe 
 fight. The Rebels who attacked the fort were several 
 times repulsed by the garrison, but their numbers being 
 so superior to ours, they finally overpowered and took 
 prisoners all who were in it. General Wilcox's com- 
 mand now came from the right, and drove the enemy 
 from the line on the right of the fort. Gen. Hartranft's 
 Division, on the left, was quick on the ground with re- 
 enforcements, and assaulted the fort from the rear, which 
 the Rebels seemed determined to hold at all hazards. 
 Three repeated charges were made, and then the fight 
 was over. The Rebels surrendered. 
 
l8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Battery ii, to the left of Fort Steadman, was also in 
 the enemy's possession, but they could not hold it but 
 for a few moments. 
 
 Our loss in killed and wounded and prisoners, is be- 
 lieved to be about 500, one-third of whom are prob- 
 ably prisoners. 
 
 It was reported that the Rebels carried off three 
 mortars, but this has proven a mistake. They took one 
 over the side of the fort, but in their hasty retreat left 
 it just outside our breast-works. It will be brought in 
 to-night. 
 
 We have taken from the Rebels 1,800 prisoners, 
 among whom are about forty officers. The Rebel Gen- 
 eral Terry, who had charge of the assault, is reported 
 killed. 
 
 At one o'clock a flag of truce was arranged, between 
 General Hartranft and the Rebel General Gordon, to 
 bury the dead and care for the wounded, from two until 
 four o'clock p. m. While doing so, the works on both 
 sides were lined with soldiers, watching the proceedings. 
 
 The Third Maryland and the One Hundredth Penn- 
 sylvania exhibited great bravery to-day. 
 
 Five stands of colors were taken by General Wilcox's 
 Division. 
 
 The Ninth Corps has, to-day, paid the Rebels back 
 for their defeat at the Petersburg mine explosion, and 
 in the future the Rebels will esteem them. 
 
 At six o'clock this morning the 
 Army of the Potomac. enemy masscd four divisious of 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va. Qeueral Gordou's CorpS, COU- 
 IVlarch25, 1865. . . ^ ^ . ^ ^ -^ ' , 
 
 Union Account. sistiug of Bushrod Johusou's, 
 
 Evans' and Grier's commands, 
 in front of the point of our line held by the First Divi- 
 sion of the Ninth Army Corps. By a bold dash one of 
 the enemy's divisions made a rush at Fort Steadman, 
 capturing it with four guns, also our Batteries 9 and 10. 
 Into the fort and Battery 10 they swarmed, shot down 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 19 
 
 our gunners, and for a time held possession. They 
 quickly turned the guns on our men as they fell back, 
 firing canister into our ranks with fearful effect. This 
 state of affairs, however, was brief. The Third Divi- 
 sion of the Ninth Corps charged upon the rear of the 
 captured works and quickly had possession of our com- 
 plete works again, taking all the Rebels that were there. 
 This discouraged the enemy, when he fell back to his 
 line. 
 
 As soon as his attack was disposed of, a counter at- 
 tack was made by the left of our line. The Second 
 Corps advanced the left of its line, formed up the First 
 and Third Divisions, with the Second Division in re- 
 serve. After very hard fighting, the left of the line 
 gained about three miles of ground, the enemy falling 
 back to his rear line of breast-works. The Second 
 Corps is now near the Boydtown Plank Road, which is 
 held by the Rebels. 
 
 President Lincoln, with Generals 
 Army of the Potomac. Grant and Ingalls, came up from 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, q|^ p^-j^l- ^^ ^ special train. 
 
 March 25, 1865. ^ ■' . 1 r 1 -1 j 
 
 Union Account. They wcut mto the tield and 
 
 witnessed the attack made by the 
 Second and Sixth Corps. This is President Lincoln's 
 first appearance on a battle-field. The position he oc- 
 cupied was in range of the enemy's bomb-shells, several 
 of which exploded near him. 
 
 The result of to-day's battle dem- 
 Army of the Potomac. oustratcs the fact that the Rebels 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., ^ ^^g^ heart iu their CaUSC. 
 
 March 25, 1865. _. , j A 
 
 Union Account. Large uumbcrs are ready and 
 
 willing to lay down their arms 
 and give up the struggle. After they had gained pos- 
 session of Fort Steadman, they began at once to plun- 
 der the baggage in the tents, in spite of their officers' 
 
ao THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 protests. Those who remained in line fought with 
 nothing like the enthusiasm exhibited last summer. 
 When the Rebels determined to return to their line, 
 hundreds of their men ran and hid in our bomb-proofs, 
 waiting for our boys to take them prisoners. 
 
 At 1 1 o'clock this morning, Gen- 
 Lee's Army. eral Lee attacked the Yankee 
 m'*"'uo"'"^;oI^,:' Fort, Battery No. 5, near this 
 
 March 25, 1865. . ' . -^ . . ^\ 
 
 Confederate Account. City — the ouc that has been pour- 
 
 ing its shells through this city 
 
 for a long time, — and captured it with 700 prisoners and 
 
 several guns. This will interfere with Grant's left wing, 
 
 which is operating against the railroad. 
 
 It is reported that Grant is moving heavy bodies of 
 troops toward Weldon, to re-enforce Sherman. 
 
 It is very cold to-night. The wind is piercing to our 
 brave Southerners on the picket lines in front of this 
 city. 
 
 Our government has determined 
 Augusta, Ga., ^q avenpfc the recent official 
 
 March 25, 1865. , r r\ - • -r* n r tt- 
 
 Confederate Account. murdci of Captain Beall, of Vir- 
 ginia, who was hung recently 
 near New York City. It is said that the lot has fallen 
 to Maj. Gen. Crook, of the Yankee army, who will cer- 
 tainly be made " pull hemp " as an atonement for the 
 wicked murder of Captain Beall. 
 
 A desperate fight occurred be- 
 cairo, Illinois, twccu twenty of our troops and 
 
 March25. 1865. , ■' ... , , • , ^ m 
 
 Confederate Account. SCVCUty gUCrillaS, thirty milcS 
 
 from Paducah, Kentucky, on 
 Wednesday night. Twenty guerillas were killed in- 
 cluding McPougall, their chief. We lost Captain 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 21 
 
 McGregor, who was killed. General Meredith has de- 
 tachments out scouring the country with the expecta- 
 tion of cleaning the guerillas from the Kentacky shore. 
 
 The Yankees burned, destroyed 
 
 Augusta, Georgia, ^^^ CVaCUatcd DaltOU SCVCral 
 
 March 25, 1865, , ^^ ^ tttt j 
 
 Union Account. days ago. About i,ooo of Wood- 
 
 ford's cavalry command moved 
 to a point about eighteen miles north of Dalton, on a 
 tour of observation. 
 
 Louisville, Kentucky, Yesterday ii8 prisoners of war, 
 March 25, 1865, embracing several officers, 102 
 
 Union Account. privates and two citizens, left 
 
 the Military Prison here for Camp Chase in Ohio. 
 Among the lot were four seamen, of the defunct *'Con- 
 federate States Navy," captured near Kingston, East 
 Tennessee, while trying to burn the United States 
 boats on that stream. 
 
 This is now a very important 
 Goidsboro, N. c, point. General Sherman entered 
 
 March 25, 1865. Ti . • ^ -•, t 
 
 Union Account. the towu, m pcrsou, while the 
 
 bands played, the cannon boomed 
 and the town generally was brim full of joy. On 
 Thursday he reviewed the Army of the Ohio. Their 
 appearance, he was frank to say, was not as gaudy as he 
 had seen them, but, considering what they had done, 
 and the time in which they had done what they did, he 
 did not think they were an army to be ashamed of. He 
 knew what they were worth and what they could do 
 under such as General Schofield, and was proud of 
 them. 
 
22 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 
 
 Yesterday — Friday — that part of Sherman's Army in 
 this city was also reviewed. Many would have failed 
 to "pass muster" had it been any other place and any 
 other time than this. Many were but half clad ; some 
 without hats ; some barefooted ; and others minus a 
 coat, &c. They certainly looked like the tried and 
 true of many battles. 
 
 General Sherman, in his speech to-day, said, "We've 
 whipped Johnston and can do it again." 
 
 The entrance of Sherman's army into this place was 
 a very comical affair. Carts with a half dozen mules 
 hitched tandem, loaded with geese, turkeys, and chick- 
 ens, all of which were adding their say in the move- 
 ment, came in with the head, center and tail of the army. 
 Soldiers mounted on mules, some leading sheep, others 
 with hogs before and behind them, and the general 
 army carrying living supplies with them, was an amus- 
 ing sight. 
 
 At half past four o'clock this 
 Army of the Potomac momiuor, the cucmy, by a stronef 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, j ^ j -^i, ^ j 
 
 March 25, 1865. ^^^ suddcu assault, capturcd 
 
 Union Account. Fort Stcadmau, but after a vig- 
 
 orous contest the fort was re- 
 taken by our troops, with i,6oo prisoners, two battle 
 flags, and all the guns uninjured. Gen. McLaughlin 
 was captured by the Rebels. The enemy afterward 
 assaulted Fort Haskell, but were repulsed, with severe 
 loss. The Rebel prisoners we here captured number 
 2,700. The Rebels lost in killed and wounded, proba- 
 bly not less than 3,000. Our loss is estimated at 800. 
 During the Rebel assault on Fort Haskell, General 
 Humphrey's command opened up on the left with 
 great promptness, capturing 100 Rebels, and causing 
 the enemy to return the re-enforcements sent against 
 Forts Steadman and Haskell. 
 
 At the point where the enemy charged, the main 
 lines are only 150 yards apart. The ground between 
 
THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 23 
 
 the lines is level and free from obstructions, except the 
 usual rows of wire fastened near the ground to trip 
 the ambitious Confederate or Yankee, in his effort to 
 move forward with speed. 
 
 A Federal column of from 1,500 
 
 MaTcr2ri865' ^^ ^'^°° Stroug, StrUck the Ala- 
 
 Confederate' Account, bam a and Florida Railroad sev- 
 
 enty miles below here — in the 
 neighborhood of Garland station — yesterday morning. 
 The passenger train which left here Thursday after- 
 noon was captured by the enemy. The passengers 
 were robbed and the cars destroyed. They stated that 
 they were on their way to Greenville, forty-three miles 
 below here. 
 
 Our preparations for the protec- 
 Mobiie, Alabama, ^{^^ of ^i^jg ^ity are Complete. 
 
 March 25, 1865. ,^, ri ^ r^ 
 
 Confederate Account. We are uow able to meet any 
 force Canby can get together to 
 besiege the city. We have provisions for at least six 
 months, and now the ship is ready — let the foe come 
 on. He should, however, be met and whipped before 
 he reaches our defenses. Once there, he will com- 
 mence digging, and in a short time will have works as 
 strong as those thrown up at Vicksburg. Let Canby be 
 met, if possible, before he has an opportunity to ac- 
 complish much. If he be allowed to sit down, where 
 he chooses, and there fortify himself, we will have a 
 a great deal of trouble, when the time comes, to move 
 him. Shall we protect Mobile or not ? This is in your 
 hands and should be answered at once. 
 
24 
 
 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR, 
 
 New York, 
 March 25, 1865. 
 
 Robert Cobb Kennedy, con- 
 victed of being a Rebel spy, 
 was to-day executed at Fort La- 
 fayette. He was shockingly profane, and sang a song 
 while the executioner was adjusting the rope around 
 his neck as follows : 
 
 "Trust to luck, trust to luck. 
 Stare fate in the face, 
 For jour heart will be aisy 
 It" it's in the right place." 
 
 New York, 
 March 25, 1365. 
 
 Gold is quiet. Prices opened 
 at 157 >^, but was found too high, 
 and fell back to i53>^. 
 
 Newbern, N. C, 
 
 March 25, 1865. 
 
 Union Account. 
 
 This place has become one of in- 
 terest since Sherman's army is at 
 Morehead City. Everything in 
 the way of supplies is shipped 
 here, and the town is fast assuming importance as a 
 point of business. All supplies for Sherman, Schofield 
 and Terry's armies must pass through here and be re- 
 shipped. 
 
 The special agent of the Post Office Department has 
 just fitted up large rooms, as a distributing office for 
 Sherman's army. 
 
 '' At daylight this morning Gen. 
 Gordon assaulted and carried the 
 enemy's works at Hare's Hill, 
 capturing nine pieces of artillery, 
 eight mortars, and between 500 
 and 600 prisoners, among them one Brigadier General 
 and a number of officers of lower grades. The lines 
 
 Gen. Lee's Letter. 
 Petersburg, Va., 
 March 25, 1865. 
 Confederate Account. 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 25 
 
 were swept for a distance of 400 or 500 yards to the 
 right and left, and two efforts were made to recover the 
 works which were handsomely repulsed, but it was 
 found that the inclosed works in the rear could only be 
 taken at a terrible sacrifice of life, and the troops were 
 withdrawn to their original position. It being impos- 
 sible to move the guns captured owing to the ground, 
 they were dismantled and left." 
 
 Generals Bushrod Johnson and 
 Petersburg va Gordou stormcd the enemy's 
 
 March 25, 1865. ^ . ^ _ /. 
 
 Confederate Account. Dreast-WOrks On OUr left thlS 
 
 morning, and drove the enemy 
 one mile, capturing his works and 500 prisoners. We 
 captured the Yankee General Mclyaughlin and many 
 other officers. The enemy massed his artillery heavily 
 in the neighborhood of the captured fort, and was thus 
 enabled to pour such a terrible fire upon our ranks as 
 to cause our troops to fall back to their original posi- 
 tion. 
 
 Much unjust abuse has been 
 Raleigh, N, c. heaped upon the cavalry under 
 
 March 25, 1865. ^ ttti^ 1 n^v, j • 
 
 Confederate Account. Geu. Wheeler. The maraudmg 
 and plundering charged to them 
 has been done by others. A more orderly or well-be- 
 haved set of men than Gen. Wheeler's cannot be found 
 anywhere. We are of opinion that the Yankee sympa- 
 thizers know more than Wheeler's men as to where, 
 when, and how the plundering is done, as the woods 
 here are full of them. 
 
 There are no less than from 300 
 Raleigh, N. c, ^q ^qq dcscrtcrs in the lower end 
 
 clZTJaie \fclmi. of Pitt Couuty, N. C, committing 
 all sorts of depredations on cit- 
 izens by stealing their horses, negroes and provisions. 
 
26 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 
 
 It is reported they get $200 for every fine horse they 
 carry to the Yankees ; and $400 for every able-bodied 
 negro fit for service. They are stealing negroes and 
 horses every night in some portion of the country. 
 They also take all provisions, such as bacon and pork, 
 and leave families perfectly destitute. 
 
 General Lee has broken through 
 Petersburg, Va., Grant's liues, carrying them by 
 
 March 25, 1865, ,, . • i 
 
 Confederate Account. assault, capturiug a large num- 
 ber of prisoners, thus opening 
 the campaign in a different way from that Grant was 
 looking for. General Lee's army is the same to-day as 
 it was in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania Court House 
 and Gaines' Farm. The battle to-day demonstrates 
 this. The Yankee army is a body of new recruits, as 
 the old veterans have become disgusted and gone home. 
 Those who have staid in our neighborhood, sleep be- 
 neath a light covering of dirt, from the Rapidan to 
 Hatcher's Run. Lee's veterans still confront the 
 enemy, and when they make up their mind to do a 
 thing, they do it, and do it right. To-day has proven 
 this. 
 
 So far everything is encouraging. 
 Raleigh, N. c, jj^ ^]^g affair which occurred a few 
 
 March 25, 1865. ^ . , , - 
 
 Confederate Account. days siucc, between Hardcc's and 
 Sherman's forces, we repulsed 
 successfully five assaults upon our lines, and held the 
 position until our object was effected. In drawing oflf 
 we lost two guns, because the horses had been killed. 
 Our loss was about 400 killed and wounded; the enemy's 
 about 3,000. On Sunday we gained a decided advan- 
 tage, the enemy being driven several miles with heavy 
 loss. We captured some artillery and all told, did well. 
 We learn to-day that Goldsboro, N. C, has been evac- 
 uated, but it is not official. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEKKS OF THE WAR. 27 
 
 We also hear that some of our deserters are plunder- 
 ing the homes of the residents of Darke county, this 
 State. 
 
 Th^ Whig of to-day has an ac- 
 
 »?''''!"o".''\!L' count of a meeting held at Wythe- 
 
 March 25, 1 865. .,- - , ^ - / . 
 
 Confederate Account. Vllle for the purpOSC of receiving 
 
 contributions of food for Lee's 
 army in Richmond. The donations amounted to about 
 one day's short rations for the army now in this city. 
 
 The Whig also says : "The check administered by 
 Johnston to Sherman, at Bentonville, interferes essen- 
 tially with the campaign of that cocawhoop leader and 
 the combinations of Grant. The importance of the late 
 battle at Bentonville will be appreciated. The blow 
 struck there was as much a blow for the safety of the 
 city as that delivered at Cold Harbor last year. Gen- 
 eral Johnston, and General Lee, under whom he acts, 
 can be in no uncertainty as to the vital necessity of 
 continuing to oppose an unmovable front to Sherman's 
 advance. If he cannot be destroyed, as we devoutly 
 trust he may be, he must, at any cost, be kept from 
 coining forward — not that Richmond, as Richmond, is 
 of so much value, but that, for reasons which need not 
 be explained, its surrender to the enemy is a thing not 
 to be thought of while its defense is possible. In this 
 view we cannot award too much credit, or render too 
 much gratitude to the gallant leader and devoted men 
 who have said to Sherman, 'Thus far and no farther.' " 
 
 It is the talk here that Grant is 
 
 Richmond, Va., sendingre-eiiforcemeutstoGolds- 
 
 coSerate ^'c'ol;.. boro, N. C. This is not official, 
 
 however, nor do we believe it is 
 
 true. A single mistake by Sherman at this time, 
 
 would result differently from his calculations. 
 
28 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The Yankee papers chronicle the rise in the price of 
 flour here to $1,500 per barrel, which occurred a few 
 days ago. This is certainly proof of the fact that 
 every occurrence in Richmond is immediately known 
 in Washington. How can success be possible, with 
 every movement we make being known by the enemy 
 the very instant it occurs ? This city is evidently alive 
 with Unionists, who no doubt, are in some way con- 
 nected with a secret-service which is hard at work 
 against us. 
 
 Considerable interest is felt in the movements of 
 Pickett's division, and as to what their programme is. 
 They have been ordered to the Petersburg depot and to 
 proceed to Petersburg. Indications point to a decisive 
 movement of some nature. The marching of so many 
 of our troops, through the streets of this city to-day, has 
 led us to believe that there is foundation for the 
 rumor afloat, that L^ee is about to evacuate. 
 
 North Carolina refugees, who 
 
 ^March^25"'i865" havc just rcachcd this city, say 
 
 Union Ac'eount. that two-thirds of the people of 
 
 the State, in and about Fayette- 
 ville, are Unionists. The re-appearance of the Stars 
 and Stripes brought to many tears of joy. Provisions 
 they report as being plenty, but money is very scarce. 
 Flour is worth, in Confederate money, $750 per barrel; 
 corn meal, $60 per bushel; brandy, per glass, $10; 
 whisky, per glass, $5 ; men's shoes, $250 per pair ; 
 men's felt hats, $150 each ; shoddy coats are sold at 
 $500 and other things in proportion. One dollar in 
 gold is worth $125 in Confederate money. 
 
 Clothing has been sent to Beaufort, N. C., for Sher- 
 man's army. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 29 
 
 A gentleman just arrived from 
 Washington, D. c. Richmond, says that the Rebels 
 
 March 25, 1865. j . . ' ^^ , . 
 
 admit that Sherman's army has 
 damaged them to the amount of $50,000,000. He rep- 
 resents the strength of the Rebel army at Richmond as 
 all of 60,000, excluding 10,000 home-guards and emer- 
 gency men. He does not believe that Johnston has to 
 exceed 45,000 men, though he has drawn several divi- 
 sions from Richmond. Deep gloom prevails in Rich- 
 mond as everybody seems to believe that the day of 
 reckoning is not far off. 
 
 Five hundred Rebel deserters 
 Washington, D. c, havc bccu rcccivcd here since one 
 
 March 25, 1865. - 11 r 1 1 
 
 week ago, all of whom have 
 taken the oath of allegiance, and many are here pro- 
 vided with funds, as the government pays them for 
 their arms. 
 
 General Stoneman's command 
 
 Wautanga Bridge, Tenn., j^^g ^^ ^^^^^^ rapid advaUCC, UU- 
 March 25, 1865. '1 1 j j m r 
 
 Union Account. covcrcd over a hundred miles 01 
 
 railroad formerly controlled by 
 the Confederates. They move along at a speed that 
 the Rebels cannot check, and it is hard to tell just where 
 they will not yet turn up. It is not an easy matter to 
 follow Stoneman's boys. 
 
 This Corps was engaged at about 
 Second Army Corps, dark, to-day. Ovcr 400 prisou- 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., fg^^ ^^^^ ^^^ hauds. We are 
 
 March 25, 1865. . ^ tt .l 1 > -n 
 
 Union Account. Stationed near Hatcher's Run. 
 
 It is reported that the Rebel 
 General Gordon was seen urging his men to fight, and 
 
30 THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 swearing at them for their cowardice, ending with, 
 *'By God, just as I thought, — the men won't fight," 
 after which he left and was not afterward seen. 
 
 This corps made an attack to- 
 sixth Army Corps, day ou the front of Fort Fisher. 
 
 '"''M"arch^2ri'865^'^^'' ^^^ "^^^^^^ Divisiou led the 
 u^nion Account.' assault. Shortly after noon the 
 
 line of battle was formed and the 
 order to advance was given. In a short time we 
 had possession of the enemy's entire line of rifle pits, 
 and captured nearly all of the occupants. We brought 
 in over 600 prisoners. Our loss is small. 
 
 The Sixth Corps pushed forward 
 Another Account. to-day to test the Strength of the 
 
 enemy's line along the center 
 and right. The Rebel skirmish line fell back as the 
 Sixth went on under a fierce fire from their batteries, 
 and drove them into their defenses. We came to a 
 halt and took steps to hold the ground we had gained. 
 By this advance we are now entrenched in the Rebel 
 picket-line and will stay there. We lost to-day about 
 100 men. 
 
 Our losses are much larger than 
 Ninth Army Corps, supposcd. The First Divisiou 
 
 In Front of Peter sb^.rg, Va., ^^^^ inhospital l6o WOUudcd and 
 March 25, 1865. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Union Account. thirty are known to nave been 
 
 . killed. The Third Division hos- 
 pital has 166 wounded and about thirty- two killed. The 
 Second Division was not regularly engaged, yet they 
 have in the hospital 130 wounded. 
 
 The killed on both sides were exchanged late this 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR, 31 
 
 afternoon, the Confederates showing more courtesy than 
 heretofore. 
 
 Information from Weldon shows 
 Goidsboro, N. c, |-|^at the Rebels have removed 
 
 March 25, 1865. . r .1 • r ^1 • 
 
 Union Account. niost of their guns from their 
 
 works and are sending them to 
 Richmond. The enemy has some 12,000 cavalry in 
 our front, under Wheeler and Hampton. Yesterday 
 they captured and hanged three of our foragers, within 
 two miles of our out-posts. 
 
 Kilpatrick boys were engaged yesterday evening. 
 The firing was very heavy for two hours. Reports of 
 the fight have not yet come in. 
 
 Ivarge Rebel mails, just captured, show the utmost 
 despondency throughout the South. 
 
 The first train from Kinston arrived here this morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Our loss in the fighting of last week is estimated at 
 1,500. 
 
Sunday, March 26, 1865, 
 
 General Sheridan's whole cav- 
 Bermuda Hundred, va., ^jj-y fQ^-^e crossed the James 
 
 March 26. 1865. „.-^ ^-r^ t>,, , i .^ 
 
 Union Account. River at Deep Bottom to-day to 
 
 join Grant. Everything goes to 
 show that a decisive movement is near. 
 
 Sheridan and his cavalry have 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., :^^^ arrived and are moving to 
 
 the left of the line of the Army 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 March 26, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 The weather this morning is 
 Richmond, Va,, y^j-y disagreeable. The night 
 
 March 26, 1865. "^ ^ 1 -, j .■• • • 
 
 Confederate Account. WaS VCry Cold and thlS moming 
 
 it is very windy, making one 
 feel that summer is far away. 
 
 Five hundred Yankees, captured in front of Peters- 
 burg, were ushered into Libby Prison to-day. 
 
 Some say that Lee is a failure. That his position 
 should not be one of defense and that he should pounce 
 upon the Federals and drive them from our front. 
 This comes from a class who have not Southern blood. 
 They should be driven out of town. 
 
 General Breckenridge receives many dispatches from 
 the front. He holds every message with a tight grasp, 
 making us believe there is little encouragement in 
 what he receives. Possibly we will, before night, get 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 33 
 
 news from Lee that will please us. What a comfort 
 it would be at this time. 
 
 News of importance from General Johnston is very 
 scarce. Our whole interest is now in Lee and John- 
 ston, who, we hope, will give us cheering news before 
 the morrow. 
 
 The forces in East Tennessee, 
 Washington, D. c, under Command of General 
 
 March 26, 1865. ^^ ^ . - . . j 
 
 Union Account. btouemau, havc, m their rapid 
 
 advance, recovered more than 
 one hundred miles of railroad and are driving the 
 enemy, which is in confusion, before them. General 
 Stoneman is noted for putting in an appearance at a 
 time when the enemy are not looking for him. 
 
 The Rebels are drawn up in 
 In Front of Petersburg, va., double line of battle aloug their 
 Union Account. front from the Appoiuattox River 
 
 to Hatcher's Run, in anticipa- 
 tion of an attack by our forces. 
 
 Considerable skirmishing, sometimes very heavy, has 
 been the day's doings in front of the Second and Sixth 
 Corps. 
 
 Our troops are massing on the left, preparatory to 
 another movement on the South-side railroad. The 
 Rebels are also massing on their right, to offset the 
 movement we anticipate. Important movements are 
 in progress that it would not be policy to state at this 
 time. 
 
 It is noticed that the enemy are 
 Bermuda Hundred, Va., weakening: their force in our 
 
 IVIarch26, 186'5. ^ ^ ^^ 1 r^ j • -j 
 
 Union Account. ^^out. General Ord is wide 
 
 awake and will possibly make 
 
 an assault along this line from the James River to the 
 
34 ^HE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Appomattox before the day is over. From the noise we 
 hear on the Petersburg front our boys are stiil at it. 
 
 The march to-day of Sheridan's 
 Appomattox River, va., cavalry from Mrs. Wilcox's 
 
 March 26, 1865. ^ -' .. , -u ir r 
 
 Union Account. P^acc, a mile and a half from 
 
 James River, up along the 
 Charles City Road, via General Ord's headquarters, 
 and his pontoon bridge to this place, was not so pleas- 
 ant as yesterday, the road not being so good, etc., but 
 was not without interest. 
 
 A grand reception was given to General Sheridan's 
 braves by the veteran Army of the James, on our 
 entrance into General Ord's lines. The frowning, 
 bristling battlements swarmed with his men, coming 
 out to meet and welcome the recognized heroes of the 
 Valley. 
 
 The bands of the forts struck up stirring martial airs, 
 which were responded to by the bands of the cavalry 
 host. Old comrades recognized each other after long 
 separation, and fell upon each other's shoulders and 
 wept of sheer joy at the grand reunion. 
 
 The pontoon bridge across the James, through which 
 the River Queen, the Margaret Washington, and the 
 George Steers had just passed, was soon swung into 
 position, and the trampling host were seen winding 
 down the hills on the north side, across the river, over 
 the valley, and up the hills on the south side of the 
 James, where, at this writing, they are going into camp, 
 for probably a two days' stay, previous to further 
 important operations. 
 
 General Sherman sent word to 
 Faysor Depot, N. c. General Schofield that he would 
 
 Marcli 26, 1865. , , . ^ -i^ t^ 4. 
 
 union Account. meet him at Faysor Depot on 
 
 Sunday. He kept his word. We 
 reached here last night. 
 
THE I.AST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 35 
 
 We received this morning copies of the Richmond 
 papers of Friday, filled with extracts from our Northern 
 papers. They contain but little news from Mobile or 
 Richmond. 
 
 " Broad Cloth. This article is 
 
 Augusta, Georgia, ^^^ ^gj^J ^^ ^^q thoUSaud dollarS 
 
 March 26, 1865. , . . . . ^,, ^ 
 
 Confederate Account. per yard in this City. We have 
 seen no one daring enough to 
 indulge in the luxury of a new suit of broad cloth." 
 
 Gold, $60 stiff; silver buying at $55, selling at $60. 
 Confederate securities dull. Cotton 99c per pound ; very 
 few sales. Flour $500 per barrel; coffee $60 per pound; 
 sugar $20 per pound, crushed $25 per pound; rice $4.50 
 per pound; salt $4 to $5 per pound; iron $3 to $5 per 
 pound; whisky $100 to $200 per gallon; calico $20 to 
 $30 per yard ; pepper $12 per pound; chickens $8 to $12 
 per pair; eggs $6 to $7 per dozen; butter $10 to $13 per 
 pound; corn meal $40 per bushel, corn $35 per bushel. 
 [From the market report of the Daily Constitutionalist, 
 Augusta, Georgia.] 
 
 ^jg Preparations for defense are very 
 
 March 26, 1865. Complete, aiid provisions to last 
 
 Confederate Account. gj^ moilths are in the city. 
 
 A Yankee raiding party struck 
 
 Montgomery, Ala., ^\^q Alabama and Florida Rail- 
 
 CoSera.t'n„.. road, twenty miks below here, 
 
 yesterday, and captured a tram. 
 
 The enemy then moved down the railroad. His force 
 
 is said to be 2,500 strong. 
 
36 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Everything is quiet. Kilpat- 
 Goidsboro, N. c, rick's cavalrv have been in a 
 
 March 26, 1865. . . • 1 . j -.i tt i. 
 
 Union Account. skirmish to-day with Hampton, 
 
 above Cole's Bridge. 
 
 Sherman's bummers have foraged around this com- 
 munity so skillfully that the rooster fails to crow in the 
 morning because he is not here, and if he was, the 
 fence rail is not here upon which he can stand and flop 
 his wings. The boys, however, claim that no roost has 
 been tampered with, nor a fence been fired. 
 
 The Army of the James was 
 Bermuda Hundred, va., houorcd by a visit to-day from 
 
 March 26, 1865. , 13 -j . ^i, T • 1 4- 
 
 union Account. the President, the Lieutenant- 
 
 General, Admiral Porter, and 
 several other civil and military officials of note. The 
 coming of the President has always but briefly pre- 
 ceded activity in the army. He apparently desires to 
 see the troops for himself, to examine into their disci- 
 pline and general efficiency and to judge of their 
 capabilities as soldiers for the performance of the work 
 before them. At General Ord's headquarters every- 
 thing was unusually active. The Howlett House Rebel 
 battery keeps playing on Dutch Gap constantly. Very 
 little damage is done by it, however. 
 
 The Rebels are reported in large 
 Alexandria, La., numbcrs about here, and are 
 
 March 26, 1865. ^ ^1. • t^ i. -K t> 
 
 Union Account. Strengthening Fort ^ DeRussey. 
 
 They have been seizing prop- 
 erty of the citizens and have given the community, in 
 general, dissatisfaction. 
 
THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 37 
 
 We are informed that the I^egis- 
 canton, Miss., lature has decided that Georgia 
 
 March 26, 1865. . . , ^ • ^ ^^ 
 
 Confederate Account. IS gomg tO Operate agamst the 
 
 government in arming negroes. 
 We guess the negroes will go into the service regard- 
 less of the Legislature. This fight must be won, and 
 the slaves must be used in it when necessary. 
 
 The Confederate ram Stonewall 
 '■:,t:de:1X ■ ^as arrived here from Ferrol, 
 
 where she left the Federal war 
 steamers, Niagara and Sacramento, which are reputed 
 to have shunned a conflict. 
 
 General Steel's command, at 
 Pensacoia, Fia., Nutshcll's Fork, to-dav camc in 
 
 March 26, 1865. ^ ^ .^1 1! ^ • t,^ t,,. 
 
 Union Account. coutact With about eight hun- 
 
 dred Rebels. After a severe 
 fight the enemy scattered in the woods, while many 
 were captured. 
 
 A detailed account of the battle 
 
 Goidsboro, N. c, fought by Sherman's army in 
 
 "unT:„t'o'o!'t- their progress to a junction with 
 
 Schofield and Terry: 
 
 The first fight is called the battle at Moore's Cross 
 
 Roads. General Sherman, after leaving Fayetteville, 
 
 decided to form a junction near Goidsboro. 
 
 The enemy, General Hardee's forces, consisting of the 
 Carolina and Georgia troops, released from Charleston 
 and Savannah, had retired in the direction of Raleigh. 
 It was necessary to deceive him as to the line of march, 
 and make him believe Raleigh was the point proposed. 
 Accordingly, the corps of General Slocum's command, 
 the Twentieth, moved up the road to a point twelve 
 
38 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 miles in advance, where it halted, and allowed Kilpat- 
 rick's cavalry to pass and take the front. 
 
 As usual, he was in this case to cover the movement 
 of the army in the direction of Goldsboro, by 
 demonstrating and feigning well toward Raleigh. He 
 had passed the Twentieth Corps, and reached a point 
 four miles from Avery sborough, when the foragers, 
 mounted and dismounted, came dashing in from the 
 front, reporting the enemy's infantry to be advancing 
 in line of battle. 
 
 Kilpatrick deployed the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, 
 and sent them rapidly forward to attack and hold the 
 enemy in check until his troops could be brought for- 
 ward and massed. Colonel Walker's Fifth Michigan 
 Cavalry met and drove in the enemy's advance ; he 
 dismounted his entire regiment, and on foot forced the 
 Rebel infantry back across a ravine which the follow- 
 ing day became our line of battle. 
 
 Kilpatrick's cavalry had now been brought iip and 
 placed in position, dismounted, together with eight 
 pieces of artillery. In the meantime word had been 
 sent to General Williams, commanding the Twentieth 
 Corps, for re-enforcements. Before these could reach 
 our cavalry the enemy advanced in line of battle, with 
 every intention of charging Kilpatrick's position. 
 
 Colonel Walker fell back within the barricades when 
 the line advanced, but received so heavy a fire from the 
 artillery and carbines of the enemy that he fell back 
 again to the ravine. A brigade of infantry now came 
 up and was placed in position with the cavalry. 
 Everything remained quiet during the night. In the 
 morning Kilpatrick advanced with his whole force, the 
 infantry under Holly having the center. The enemy 
 was steadily forced back, and at last driven within his 
 works near Moore's Cross Roads. 
 
 Casey's brigade of Ward's Division, Twentieth Corps, 
 now came up and were shoved in upon the left and 
 directed, together with Colonel Spencer's Cavalry Brig- 
 
THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 39 
 
 ade, to assault the enemy's works upon the right. While 
 these preparations were going on heavy masses of 
 Rebel infantry moved upon Kilpatrick's right, and 
 partly succeeded in turning his flank. 
 
 Colonel Jordan's Brigade of Cavalry, consisting of the 
 Ninth Pennsylvania, Eighth Indiana, and Second and 
 Third Kentucky, was pushed in on our right to pre- 
 vent this movement. 
 
 The fighting at this point was very severe. The 
 enemy's infantry charged our cavalry repeatedly, but 
 the Eighth Indiana, Ninth Pennsylvania and Ninth 
 Michigan dismounted, held the position, and resisted 
 every attempt of the enemy to drive them from the 
 trees and their heavily constructed barricade. In the 
 meantime Major-General Williams came upon the field 
 with a portion of the Twentieth Corps, and soon after 
 Generals Sherman and Slocum arrived in person, and 
 the infantry upon the left was ordered to advance. 
 The enemy's works were carried, and he forced from 
 his position with the loss of his guns and his caissons. 
 One division after another of our infantry was now 
 pushed in upon the right and left. 
 
 Kilpatrick's cavalry had gone to the right and had 
 succeeded in reaching the Goldsboro road, which 
 placed him directly in the rear of the enemy, when a 
 heavy body of Rebel infantry, evidently re-enforce- 
 ments, struck the Ninth Ohio Cavalry in front and 
 flank, and notwithstanding the exertions of Colonel 
 Hamilton and the bravery of his men, the regiment 
 was thrown back upon the Ninth Pennsylvania Cav- 
 alry, which was also forced to retire, but so slowly as 
 to give time for Colonel Selvidge, commanding the 
 right of our infantry, to change front with his brigade. 
 
 The cavalry fell back on a line with our infantry, and 
 the Rebel infantry in advancing received a cross fire 
 from Colonel Selvidge's entire brigade, when Kilpat- 
 trick, with Colonel Jordan's cavalry brigade, charged 
 straight upon the enemy, driving him in confusion 
 
40 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 down upon the Goldsboro road, and back to his original 
 position. 
 
 This ended the fighting on the right and all further 
 attempts of the enemy to turn our flank in that direc- 
 tion. 
 
 The enemy stubbornly fell back before each attack, 
 and when night set in still held the cross-roads. Dur- 
 ing the night, however, he retired in the direction of 
 Raleigh, leaving his killed and wounded on the field. 
 
 This was the first real hard fighting of the campaign. 
 The troops did splendidly. The cavalry fought side 
 by side with the infantry, mounted and dismounted, 
 and were the admiration of the entire army. 
 
 The loss in the Twentieth Corps was quite severe, 
 and in the cavalry particularly so, the Eighth Indiana, 
 Colonel Jones, losing upwards of seventy killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 General Atkins and Colonel Jordan, commanding 
 the cavalry upon the right, deserve great credit for the 
 skillful manner in which they fought their commands 
 for the first time opposed to infantry. 
 
 The Rebel troops opposed in this fight were Mc- 
 Law's division of cavalry and Folliver's and Rhett's 
 artillery brigades. These are heavy artillery. They 
 composed the Southern garrisons, and from Colonel 
 Rhett, commandant at Fort Sumter, taken prisoner by 
 Kilpatrick, it appears that these organizations were 
 very full, his own regiment, for instance, at one time 
 numbering not less than fifteen hundred men. 
 
 The road to Goldsboro being now apparently open, 
 the left wing continued its march, without opposition, 
 until the 19th. 
 
 Meanwhile, Johnston having become completely sat- 
 isfied that Goldsboro was the real object, hastily 
 called in Hardee and moved from Smithfield down the 
 road to Bentonsville, where he intrenched himself, his 
 line of works extending from Mills Creek on the upper 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 41 
 
 side, and including the village, returned to the creek 
 again. 
 
 This position the Fourteenth Corps in advance dis- 
 covered. General Slocum immediately formed a well 
 chosen line, flanked upon the left by a ravine, where 
 he posted the artillery, and upon the right by a swamp 
 and open field. 
 
 The third battle is called the battle at Morris's Farm. 
 From this admirable line, Morgan's Division having 
 moved forward with the intention of establishing 
 another line a half-mile in advance, the enemy, who 
 had been retiring toward their own line for several 
 hours, here suddenly advanced with overwhelming 
 numbers, and attacked the brigades of General Robin- 
 son and General Buell, comprising Morgan's Division, 
 and drove them back in some confusion to the line of 
 the railroad already marked by General Slocum's 
 prompt and skillful eye as the proper rallying ground 
 for the emergency. 
 
 Here, by the exertions of our officers and the great 
 bravery of the men the enemy were checked. A hasty 
 work of rails and dirt was thrown up, and the whole of 
 the Fourteenth Corps and Colonel Selvidge's Brigade 
 of the Twentieth Corps, and General Kilpatrick's cav- 
 alry arrived and took up a position, Colonel Selvidge 
 upon the left, the cavalry in the rear. This was at four 
 o'clock p. M., and now began a series of desperate 
 charges by the enemy, only equaled by those at Frank- 
 lin, and mainly directed against the right, by the 
 diversion of the Georgians who had just before been 
 flanked and doubled down to this line. 
 
 The enemy charged in three columns, one after 
 another, each following up the other's repulse, making 
 at one time three charges in thirty-five minutes, and 
 with such desperation that when night closed in upon 
 their defeat not only was the ground in our front 
 strewn with their wounded, but their dead were packed 
 
42 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS* OF THE WAR. 
 
 Up in numbers within our lines, even around the head- 
 quarters of the Generals. 
 
 On the other hand, our men fought as only this 
 army can fight. Not a man left his post in line of 
 battle, and each time the enemy was hurled back in 
 confusion from in front of the very men whom over- 
 whelming and outflanking numbers had only forced to 
 retire in the morning. 
 
 The fighting in this engagement has been surpassed 
 by no other during the war. 
 
 It was a grand spectacle as described by a general 
 officer himself, from his position on the left, an eye 
 witness of the whole; the battle-field was in full view, 
 and notwithstanding the confusion of a sudden attack 
 and the rapidity with which the position had been 
 taken, a better could not have been found. 
 
 Considering these facts, and that General Johnston 
 commanded in person with a force of 40,000 men, out- 
 numbering our troops, Major-General Slocum, com- 
 manding, deserves great credit, and as he merits, will, 
 doubtless, receive the thanks of the nation. 
 
 The next morning, with all dispatch, starting at 
 three o'clock, the right was brought up from its 
 camp, in the neighborhood of Falling Church, and by 
 night a position had been taken, directed by General 
 Sherman in person. 
 
 The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps and Kilpat- 
 rick's cavalry upon the extreme left, reached to Mill 
 Creek, and were ready to take the offensive. 
 
 Tuesday was spent in intrenching, with the skir- 
 mishing attendant upon feeling the enemy in column, 
 and when night came down, Howard's guns, far upon 
 the extreme right, could still be heard long after dark. 
 Late in the evening the programme for the following 
 day reached the rear, which was for an advance, to be 
 covered in the rear by the cavalry and a brigade of 
 infantry. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 43 
 
 This amounted to a flank movement, the virtue of 
 which was apparent when in the morning the enemy 
 were found to be retiring without a skirmish to Smith- 
 field, leaving Sherman's progress to his base unop- 
 posed. The order of approach to Goldsboro was 
 then, that the left wing, the Fourteenth Corps in 
 advance, followed by the Twentieth, the troops that 
 had borne the battle, should pass through the right 
 wing, and cross the river first. 
 
 No land in the world is less favorable to a forced 
 march than that which has been traversed by Sher- 
 man's noble army. The rains of Winter and Spring 
 caught by the clay underlaying the land, forms one 
 vast and horrible quagmire, utterly impassable except 
 in the way the marvel was accomplished, by almost one 
 entire bridge from Savannah to the present base, over 
 felled, trampled forests. 
 
Monday, March 27, 1865, 
 
 The Enquirer of this morning 
 Richmond va g^ g . cc/J^2^g situation in North 
 
 March 27, 1865. ^ i- i -i 
 
 Confederate Account. Carolina becomes more and more 
 interesting. With his army 
 scarcely half organized, General Johnston has been 
 able to resist the advance of the enemy, from the time 
 he left the Cape Fear. On three occasions he has 
 given Sherman a severe lesson in the art of war, while 
 at Kinston he was severely punished by General Bragg. 
 The battle of Bentonville, on Sunday the 19th, was a 
 triumph to our arms. On the 20th the enemy was 
 entrenched, and no fight occurred. On the 21st there 
 was heavy skirmishing and some severe fighting, in 
 which the enemy were badly handled. General John- 
 ston maintains his position, and will be ready to meet 
 the enemy at all points." 
 
 The World of this morning, in 
 Marcr'27j8'65. ^^^ editorials, advises the Confed- 
 
 eracy to lay down their arms at 
 once and trust to chances. 
 
 "Judging from what we hear of 
 
 Raleigh, N.C., ^-^q position in the eastern and 
 
 ConfTd'^erate'Account. middle part of North Carolina, 
 
 we consider the signs more 
 
 encouraging, if not decidedly cheering. Sherman will 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 45 
 
 be prevented from crossing the North Carolina Rail- 
 road. Sherman and the Yankee nation will soon learn 
 that marching throngh a country is not conquering it." 
 
 The Flag of Truce boats, New 
 I'lIl^T'iaR.' York and Manhattan, arrived 
 
 iviarcn Z7, I Ubo. . , ^ . ^ 1 -, 
 
 to-day with thirteen hundred 
 and fifteen paroled prisoners and fifty ofiicers from 
 Varina Landing on the James River. The most of the 
 men were captured in North Carolina. 
 
 Early this morning heavy firing 
 White Oak, N. c, beeran and continued throughout 
 
 March 27, 1865. ^^ j r\ J ^,.4-^ 
 
 Union Account. the day. Our advance scouts 
 
 this evening report that citizens 
 and scouts from Sherman's main army, say that Kil- 
 patrick is fighting the Rebel General Hampton, be- 
 tween Goldsboro and Smithfield. Our cavalry are 
 driving the enemy and at dark the firing grew more in- 
 distinct. We do not know as to the result. The sud- 
 den sweep of Kilpatrick's cavalry upon Hampton must 
 be a surprise. 
 
 We are on the banks of the Neuse River, half-way 
 between Goldsboro and Kinston. The country is well 
 kept and supplies are abundant. 
 
 President Lincoln is still here. 
 City Point, va., Yesterday, in company with 
 
 u:r„'Ycoou''; General Grant, he rode out to 
 
 the front and witnessed the 
 fighting on our left. It is said he will go to Washing- 
 ton to-morrow. 
 
 Over two thousand Rebel prisoners have been sent 
 in from the front who witnessed the fighting at the 
 
46 THK LAST FOUR WKKKS OF THK WAR. 
 
 left of our line. They will be shipped to the prison- 
 ers' camp at Point Lookout. 
 
 Last night thirty-nine Rebel deserters came into our 
 lines on the Petersburg front and Army of the James, 
 bringing their muskets with them. 
 
 An engagement took place this 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., morning, which, thoUgh COufiued 
 March 27, 1865. ^ *^' ^. ' r ^T 1 • j 
 
 Union Account. to a Small portiou oi the line and 
 
 of short duration, was of quite a 
 severe character to the Rebels. A party of them, who 
 pretended they wished to desert, were allowed to 
 approach our lines, when they made a fierce attack on 
 the front of the Sixth Corps, just before daybreak, for 
 the purpose of recovering the advanced works from 
 which they were driven on Saturday. 
 
 The assault was so sudden and furious that the Sixth 
 Corps was for a moment forced back, but they instantly 
 rallied, repulsed the enemy at all points, and recovered 
 the ground lost. The Rebels lost heavily during the 
 short fight, while our corps met with very light loss. 
 The entire first line of Rebel works captured on Satur- 
 day by the Sixth and Second Corps we now hold and 
 propose to hold, regardless of the Johnnies' desire to 
 regain them. 
 
 Newbern, N, C. 
 
 ^ive hundred and fourteen bags 
 March 27, 1865. of mail arrived here yesterday 
 
 Union Account. ^^^ to-day for Shcrmau's army. 
 
 Orders were to-day received at 
 
 Army of the Potomac, ^l^^ varioUS field hospitals tO re- 
 
 March 27. 1865. ^, . . J ^ J J i. 
 
 Union Account. movc the sick aud wounded to 
 
 City Point and keep the hospitals 
 in readiness for any emergency that may arise. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 47 
 
 Our army began to-day the bom- 
 ^^*m'"Vo?iL7'' bardment of the Spanish Fort. 
 
 March 27, 1865. atai • • .1 t-. 1 -1 , n 
 
 Union Account. This IS the Rebels' strongest for- 
 
 tification at this point. It has 
 sixteen heavy guns. The enemy have been expecting 
 this movement no doubt. 
 
 The Rebel force in Mobile is reported at six thousand 
 in the city, and the same number at Blakely, on this 
 side of the bay of Mobile. 
 
 Daily skirmishing with a band of Guerillas, has been 
 the programme since the Thirteenth Corps left Fishing 
 Creek on Saturday. 
 
 Generals Canby, Granger and Smith are at their 
 posts and we hope soon to say that Mobile's lights are 
 out. 
 
 The strength of Sherman's army 
 Richmond, va., ^^g fouud in the head-Quarters 
 
 March 27, 1865. ^ r i, • /^ 1 r^ -^ 
 
 Confederate Account. OI One of hlS Gcuerals, after itS 
 
 owner had left. This represents 
 its strength without Schofield's troops which have since 
 joined it: 
 
 Ninety-six field pieces, none of which are more than 
 twenty-two poundeis. 
 
 Fourteenth Corps, Jeff. Davis in command, nine 
 thousand strong ; six four-gun batteries. 
 
 Fifteenth Corps, Logan in command, thirteen thou- 
 sand strong ; six four-gun batteries. 
 
 Seventeenth Corps, Blair in command, ten thousand 
 strong ; six four-gun batteries. 
 
 Twentieth Corps, Williams in command, ten thou- 
 sand strong ; six four-gun batteries, in small pieces. 
 Right wing is under command of Howard ; left wing 
 is under Slocum. 
 
 Bach regiment averages two hundred men ; each 
 brigade eight hundred men ; each division three thou- 
 sand men ; each corps twelve thousand men, the whole 
 army forty-two thousand men. 
 
48 THE I.AST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 There is a report prevalent that 
 Seima Ala., ^ cavalrv force, eis:ht thousand 
 
 March 27. 1865. ^ •' ' .^ - , 
 
 Confederate Account. Strong, was commg from the 
 North, by way of • Tuscaloosa. 
 Forrest no doubt will be able to take care of this party, 
 should there be any truth in this report. 
 
 There seems to be three Federal columns — one from 
 four thousand to six thousand last heard of at Pollard — 
 another operating on Spanish Fort, probably ten thou- 
 sand in number, and the North Alabama column, if 
 there be one, of eight thousand. We do not believe 
 the Federals could raise such a force. 
 
 There is but one regiment of 
 Richmond, Va., Yankee infantry this side of Mar- 
 
 iyiarch27, 1865. ^- -. 1, i ^i, ^ • -u .. 
 
 Confederate Account. tiusburgh, and that IS about 
 
 Kernstown and Winchester. Our 
 
 scouts, who were in Winchester last week, report that 
 
 this regiment had been ordered to another field, and 
 
 that they were preparing to leave. 
 
 Thirteen hundred Yankee prisoners were sent off by 
 flag of truce yesterday morning. 
 
 Five hundred prisoners, captured at Petersburg, were 
 given accommodations in Libby prison last night. 
 
 General Grant's report of this 
 City Point. Va., momiugsays: On the 25th in- 
 
 March 27, 1865. ^ ■ \ -^-u ^x, c ^^ ' 
 
 Union Account. staut wc met With the following 
 
 losses: Second Corps, fifty-one 
 killed, four hundred and sixty-two wounded, three hun- 
 dred and two missing ; Ninth Corps, sixty-eight killed, 
 three hundred and thirty-eight wounded, five hundred 
 and six missing. The Second Corps captured three hun- 
 dred and sixty-one prisoners; the Sixth Corps four 
 hundred and sixty-nine, and the Ninth Corps ten hun- 
 dred and forty-nine. 
 
Yh^ last ^our weeks oE the war. 49 
 
 The Second and Sixth Corps pushed forward, and 
 captured the enemy's strong intrenchments, and turned 
 its guns against him, and still hold it. 
 
 General Humphreys estimates the enemy's loss at 
 three times greater than ours. 
 
 General Lee telegraphs that his 
 ^^'^^/"""^'l^:' attempt to break the Federal 
 
 March 27, 1865. ,. ^ „ ^ ^ 
 
 Confederate Account ln^es ou Saturday was not suc- 
 cessful. A full report of the 
 result is not known here, but quite enough is current 
 to convince us that the army of Northern Virginia has 
 had a severe blow. From the report, which is from an 
 official source. General Gordon assaulted the enemy's 
 works at Hare's Hill, capturing several pieces of artil- 
 lery and mortars, as well as many prisoners. The 
 General's dash upon the enemy was a success. He 
 swept a portion of their line, capturing several promi- 
 nent and annoying forts and batteries, but was not able 
 to hold them without being compelled to withstand 
 heavy assaults, so it was deemed best to fall back upon 
 our own works, which was done. Our troops behaved 
 most handsomely. The sharp-shooters of General Gor- 
 don's corps, who led the assault, deserve the commen- 
 dation of all loyal Southerners. 
 
 Even in face of this news. General Lee's dispatch is 
 expressive of a nervous feeling on his part. We will 
 pray for news not in keeping with that from General 
 Lee, and hope to-morrow to state that General Lee's 
 dispatch was but a rumor. 
 
 Recruiting is dull everywhere 
 Washington, D. c, and drafting will be again re- 
 
 March 27, 1 865. sorted to, to obtain men. The 
 
 draft began in Baltimore this 
 
 Union Account. 
 
50 THE 1.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 It is this morning known that 
 Bermuda Hundred, va., Tumer's and Fostcr's Divisons 
 Union "cJount of the Twenty-fourth Corps and 
 
 Birney's Division of the Twenty- 
 fifth Corps, all under command of General Ord, will to- 
 day join the Army of the Potomac, going by the 
 pontoon bridge across the Appomattox at Point of 
 Rocks. May God's blessing accompany them, and 
 their next few weeks' efforts be crowned with glory. 
 
 Sheridan's long column of troop- 
 city Point, Va., gj-g havc tliis aftcrnoou gone in 
 
 " nio'n "■cou'n't' the vicinity of Haticock station, 
 
 keeping well to the rear of our 
 works, so that the enemy cannot see their movement. 
 The air, to-night, is full of all kinds of reports. 
 Some say that Goldsboro, North Carolina, will be Sher- 
 idan's aim; others that it is the Southside Railroad, 
 while others say that the Petersburg front will be 
 entirely abandoned and that our army will swing in 
 another direction. General Grant no doubt knows all 
 about it and for us to state a thing properly it would be 
 best to await his action. It is certain that a few days 
 more will chronicle a change. We are inclined to 
 think that it will be one pleasing to every loyal man. 
 
 We are in great distress. The 
 
 Fayetteviiie, N. c, Yankees have nearly destroyed 
 
 cltm^Li. both town and country. There 
 
 will be left not more than fifty 
 
 head of four-footed beasts in the country, and not 
 
 enough provisions to last ten days. Many houses were 
 
 burned and everything destroyed. Every store and 
 
 house in town and country have been robbed. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 51 
 
 "A Special messenger who left 
 
 Washington, D. c, Goldsboro, N. C, Oil the 22d 
 
 March 27, 1865. arrived here to-day, and reports 
 
 the occupation of that place by 
 
 General Schofield's forces. 
 
 ^'He also brings the highly important information 
 that General Sherman formed a junction with Schofield 
 and Terry at Coxe's Bridge on the Neuse River, a few 
 miles west of Goldsboro on the 21st. 
 
 ''The Fourteenth Corps of Sherman's army had a 
 fight with Hardee, at Avery sborough, on the i6th inst., 
 in which the latter was handsomely defeated, leaving all 
 his dead in General Davis's hands, and retreating to 
 Bentonville. 
 
 "At Bentonville on Sunday, the 12th inst, one divi- 
 sion of the Fourteenth Corps was attacked by John- 
 ston, and for a while turned back, but on being re-en- 
 forced by the rest of the divisions drove the enemy 
 back, and during Sunday night he abandoned Benton- 
 ville and fell back across the Neuse River to Smithfield 
 some ten miles west of Goldsboro. 
 
 "It is the merely temporary success in the first part 
 of the fight which the Rebels are boasting over as a 
 great victory. Sherman's loss will not exceed one 
 thousand. The army is in excellent condition. 
 
 "Detailed accounts of the foregoing, dated Goldsboro 
 March 21st, have also been received. 
 
 "On the 22d, Schofield moved out to Coxe's Bridge 
 on the Neuse River, six miles beyond Goldsboro, where 
 General Terry's forces were discovered laying pontoons 
 to cross the river, having marched all the way from 
 Wilmington. In a few moments some of Sherman's 
 trains of the Twentieth Corps were discovered moving 
 from Bentonville to Coxe's Bridge, and the junction ot 
 the right wing of Sherman's army with Terry's and 
 Schofield's forces was permanently made. 
 
 "General Sherman had notified Schofield that he 
 would be at Goldsboro on the 22d of March, and he 
 
52 THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 kept his word. Some of his staff were there during 
 that day. 
 
 "After his repulse at Bentonville, Joe Johnston fell 
 back to Smith field, to cover Raleigh. Desertions of 
 North Carolina troops from his army were numerous." 
 
 "I expect this campaign will be 
 Petersburg. Va., ^j-^^ hottest fighting of the war. 
 
 March 27, 1865. ., , .,.^. ^ ,. 
 
 Confederate Account. Old Abe Will have tO whip US 
 
 this trip or close up his shop and 
 quit. The exchange of prisoners was the clearest kind 
 of an admission of weakness on his part, and it was the 
 best thing in the world for us. Every Yankee prisoner 
 we can produce now will bring us a good fighting man. 
 Would it not have been a most excellent idea to have 
 saved the clothes of the doodles we buried at Ander- 
 sonville, and dressed up a little of the Georgia militia 
 and traded them as Yankees for good fighting men. 
 Many of the young men of Augusta, Georgia, who have 
 disgraced themselves could be made useful to their 
 country and the cause in the same way — for they are 
 dead beats now." — [From a letter to the Daily Consti- 
 tutionalist, of Augusta, Georgia.] 
 
 General Bailey, with about one 
 
 Baton Rouge. Louisiana, thoUSand Cavalry, made an ad- 
 
 March 27, 1865. J. T, ^ r^ ^ J 
 
 Union Account. vauce iroiii Batou Rougc toward 
 
 Clinton, a few days since. He 
 
 had several fights and skirmishes with the Rebels 
 
 thereabouts, and killed two and captured four. Our 
 
 loss was thirteen wagons. 
 
Tuesday, March 28, 1865 
 
 The Fourth Army Corps, un- 
 washir.gton, D. c, ^^^ General D. S. Stanley, is 
 
 March 28, 1865. ^ , . ^ „ ^ \.^ 
 
 Union Account. reported on its way to Knoxville 
 
 to join in the West Virginia 
 campaign, and its strength is estimated at from fifteen 
 thousand to eighteen thousand men. 
 
 A cavalry force, estimated at six thousand, has left 
 Knoxville under General Stoneman and is moving also 
 toward West Virginia. 
 
 President Lincoln, Generals 
 City Point, va., Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Han- 
 
 VZl Tcco!nt^" cock, Meade, and all the leading 
 
 Generals in the Army of the 
 Potomac and the Army of the James, had a private con- 
 sultation on board the President's boat, "The River 
 Queen," this forenoon, which revives the story about 
 Lee's desire to surrender. 
 
 We moved out from Kinston 
 White Oak, N. c, early this morning. General Cox 
 
 T^^:^: accompanying us. Rnggles' 
 
 First Division of the Twenty- 
 third Corps with McQuiston's Brigade led the column. 
 The Twelfth New York Cavalry headed the procession 
 and are now forward looking for game. 
 
54 "THE LAST rOUR WEEKS 6F THE WAR. 
 
 General Robert Anderson reach- 
 
 ™."roh?8:'<865: J^'^ ^^'^ ^o-day OH his way to 
 
 Union Account. Fort Sumter to raise the same 
 
 flag he was obliged to lower to 
 the Rebels four years ago on the 14th of April. 
 
 New York ^^^^ Opened at 154, went up to 
 
 March 28, 1'ees. '^SA-H ^ud fell again to 15414^. 
 
 Brown sheetings are quoted at 
 
 30 cents per yard; bleached sheetings, New York mills, 
 
 at 45 cents per yard. Calicoes are jobbing at 20 cents. 
 
 Nails are $6.50 per keg. 
 
 ''This afternoon, four hundred 
 mT2t\Vek ^"d eighty-seven Yankees-part 
 
 Confederate Account. 01 the several tllOUSaud hlVCd by 
 
 General Johnston's army in the 
 successive blows struck Sherman's horde in South Car- 
 olina by Hampton and Wheeler — were received from 
 Fayetteville. The dirty blue line crawled its way 
 down Main street, coiling itself up in Libby prison. No 
 description could convey the utter horror and loathing 
 with which their appearance was regarded by our citi- 
 zens. Dirty, begrimmed, ragged, scores of. them bare- 
 footed and bare-headed, with stolen toweling bandaged 
 about their feet and heads, limping, hobbling and curs- 
 ing, they appeared the scabs, scavengers and scum of 
 all creation, not a face or feature on which was not 
 written 'thief,' 'murderer,' 'house-burner' and 'woman- 
 ravisher.' Never since the war began has such a crew 
 of hell-born men, accursed and God-forsaken wretches, 
 polluted the air or defiled the highways of Richmond 
 with the concentrated essence of all that is lecherous, 
 hateful and despised. And these are a part and parcel 
 of that human fungi Johnston's noble army are con- 
 fronting. These are some of those who robbed, burned, 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 55 
 
 plundered and murdered in the fair homes of Georgia 
 and South Carolina. If we cannot successfully resist 
 them, God help Richmond and her citizens. Devils 
 from hell would show mercy when these would strike 
 and rob, murder, pillage and destroy. The only way 
 they can be permitted to come, must be on the terms 
 that those come to-day — as prisoners of war. The 
 majority of the horde that came in to-day were cap- 
 tured from Kilpatrick's thieves, and they may not 
 inaptly be called Kil-devils." 
 
 The grand combinations in the 
 Goidsboro, N^ c CaroHuas are now reaching their 
 
 March 28, 1865. - ^ ^ ^ ^_., ^ 
 
 Union Account. hual development. The roar of 
 
 artillery from our three grand 
 
 columns is reverberating this evening. This tells us 
 
 that a fight is now on and that Johnston's army are 
 
 resisting our further advance. 
 
 At 10 o'clock p. M., word comes to us from General 
 Sherman saying the battle just fought was all right for 
 us, and our loss light. 
 
 Military matters beyond the 
 Trans-Mississippi Department, Mississippi are entirely at a 
 
 MarGh28, 1865. ^ ^ ^f.f ^ - 1 1 -, 1 
 
 Confederate Account. Staud-Stlll. Our forcCS hold the 
 
 lower portion of Arkansas, along 
 the Washita River, commanding the greater portion of 
 the Red River. 
 
 A letter received to-day from 
 Washington, D. c, q^q of Shcrmau's mcu says : 
 
 IVIarch 28, 1865. ,, ^ . . . ^ -^ 
 
 Union Account. Our mcu are beginning to grow 
 
 feathers on the calves of their 
 legs, having feasted so long on chickens, turkeys, geese 
 and ducks.". 
 
56 
 
 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Newbern, N. C, 
 March 28, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 Supplies are rapidly going for- 
 ward from this place to General 
 Sherman's army. Quartermas- 
 ter-General Meigs is personally 
 superintending the transportation. 
 
 A general payment of all the troops in this depart- 
 ment has been ordered to be made up to December 31. 
 All is quiet at the front. The enem.y show no signs 
 of life. Where they are and what they are doing is a 
 matter of indifference to us just now. 
 
 Goldsboro, N. C, 
 March 28. 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 Bodies of Rebel cavalry 
 prowling about our 1' 
 
 are 
 pick- 
 
 prowling about our lines, pick- 
 ing up foragers and unprotected 
 squads that venture out beyond 
 
 our lines. 
 
 General Murray, in command 
 here, has issued an order to the 
 people to send away all non-com- 
 batants, and prepare for a vigor- 
 ous defense against the Federal troops. 
 
 Mobile, Alabama, 
 
 March 28, 1865. 
 
 Canfederate Account. 
 
 Bermuda Hundred, Va. 
 March 28, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 A selection of tried veteran regi- 
 ments was to-day made from the 
 Army of the James, or rather 
 Twenty-fourth Corps, 
 Ord they crossed the 
 dark, bound for the 
 
 from the 
 and under command of General 
 pontoon at Point of Rocks at 
 Petersburg front. 
 
 Our line from Dutch Gap to the Appomattox is quiet. 
 Rain is coming down in torrents. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 57 
 
 Everything has been quiet along 
 ^T/'^Voo^.'^^"'^"' this entire front, except the 
 
 March 28, 1865. 1 • 1 . r • . • -ul A 
 
 Union Account. usual picket firing at night. As 
 
 General Sheridan's cavalry were 
 
 passing an exposed point yesterday, the Rebels opened 
 
 upon them with shell, but, with a single exception, 
 
 their shot fell short and did no damage. 
 
 Sheridan's men and horses look remarkably well 
 considering their service, and the men are ready and 
 anxious to show us how they do things. They will 
 have an opportunity to do this very soon if there is 
 anything in appearances, as they are, at this time, on 
 the black-board for an advance. 
 
 At twelve o'clock last night, the 
 City Point, va., whole Amiy of the Potomac was 
 
 March 28, 18S5. , ^ .-^ ^ . -- . 
 
 Union Account. placed uudcr arms and held 111 
 
 readiness for movement at a mo- 
 ment's notice. It is not known as to General Grant's 
 plans, but it is settled to a certainty that the campaign 
 now on, he intends making the final one of the war. 
 Keep your eyes open. 
 
 President Davis, this afternoon, 
 Richmond, Va,, ^^[^ ^^..q veterans at Camp Lee a 
 
 March 28, 1865. ^ . .^ ^^-, ^^ ., ^ ^• 
 
 Confederate Account. visit. 1 he President carries an 
 expression of anxiety upon his 
 face, so diiferent from that generally found there. It is 
 no doubt his opinion that Lee and Johnston are in a 
 very uncertain position, and that with the Yankee 
 armies re-enforced, we are likely to be overpowered- 
 and forced to yield. He says but little to others than 
 those of his immediate official circle, but the news we 
 daily receive, lead us to imagine that he is more con- 
 cerned about the Confederacy than his expression 
 shows. 
 
58 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The day is one of clouds and sunshine. The weather 
 is fairly pleasant, yet cold enough to make it uncom- 
 fortable for our veterans now in the trenches fighting 
 for the Confederacy. 
 
 General Wilson's command met 
 Between Seima and Mont- porrest and Taylor's Rebel 
 Ifiarch 28.^1865. forces to-day between Selma and 
 
 Union Account. Montgomery, where a display of 
 
 the skill of both sides was shown 
 in the fierce engagement. The Rebels were totally 
 defeated, and a large number of prisoners were cap- 
 tured by General Wilson's cavalry. 
 
 General Ord, with the tried por- 
 '^'T ""'.^o' Poiomac, tj^oi^ ^f ^he Army of the James, 
 
 March 28, 1865. ^ , . '' . . ^ ' 
 
 Union Account. has taken a position on our 
 
 left and are temporarily en- 
 camped behind the line of the Second Corps on 
 Hatcher's Run. They reach us to participate in what 
 we hope will be the closing campaign of the war. 
 Everything is activity. No telling what a day will 
 bring forth. The Army of the Potomac' are ready for 
 the issue and hope to change position in spite of Lee's 
 protests. Every indication points to an advance on our 
 part. Where will we be in a week from now ? 
 
 We have been peppering away 
 In Front of Spanish Fort, ^^ Spanish Fort siucc yesterday 
 
 March 28, I860. ^. ^ . . . -'^ . . .-' 
 
 Union Account. mommg. Our skirmish line is 
 
 within two hundred yards of it, 
 and our artillery within three hundred. We have it 
 encompassed on the three land sides. Bartman's Brig- 
 ade of the Thirteenth Corps is holding the extreme 
 left near the bay ; Veach's division next and Benton's 
 next, all of the Thirteenth Corps. General A. J. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 59 
 
 Smith's Sixteenth Corps is holding the right, so the 
 only chance the Rebels have to escape is by water. If 
 our gunboats can get up the torpedoes and get within 
 range, we have them on the hip. 
 
 General Steele's forces have captured two trains 
 loaded with supplies, at Pollards, taking in also the 
 whole of the Sixth Alabama (Rebel) Cavalry. 
 
Wednesday, March 29, 1865. 
 
 At four o'clock this morning the 
 '"'''°j;'*"?.'l'''fo"=^'^^'' Fifth and Second Corps were 
 
 March 29, 1885. , . . ^ ^ . . - 
 
 Union Account. put lu march upon the right of 
 
 the enemy's line, the Fifth mov- 
 ing by the Quaker road. On coming to a point called 
 Skunk's Hollow, and mounting the brow of the oppo- 
 site slope, a breastwork was found abandoned by the 
 enemy. Passing about three-fourths of a mile beyond 
 this, the head of the column, at half-past five o'clock, 
 met a line of the enemy posted on the edge of a thick 
 pine-wood belting or clearing. Here a sudden and 
 heavy fire was opened upon our skirmish line, and it 
 was driven back upon a line formed of the First Brigade, 
 First Division, which at first fell back, but, on being 
 supported by the Second Brigade, rallied, and drove 
 back the enemy, with some loss in prisoners. In the 
 meantime, General Warren drew up the rest of the 
 First and the Third Divisions of the Fifth Corps in 
 line, in order to support the attack. After an action of 
 aboiit three-quarters of an hour, the enemy retreated in 
 haste, leaving his dead and most of his wounded on the 
 field. The force of the enemy engaged was one division 
 of their Fourth Corps, under General B. Johnson, its 
 strength being about six thousand men. Our loss was 
 three to four hundred men killed and wounded. That 
 of the enemy, in killed and wounded, appeared to be 
 about the same, but the number of prisoners — some 
 one hundred and fifty to two hundred— renders their 
 total loss greater than ours. Lieutenant Patterson, of 
 the Seventh Michigan, was killed in the engagement. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 6 1 
 
 Major McCueii, of the one hundred and ninety-eighth 
 Pennsylvania Regiment was also killed. At the close 
 of the day our original line, which extended on the left 
 to Hatcher's run, had been prolonged beyond the Run, 
 westward across the Vaughn and Quaker roads, facing 
 northward to within about two and a half miles of Din- 
 widdle Court House. In the meantime, our cavalry 
 corps under General Sheridan, made a detour east of 
 the Vaughn road, sweeping around the left of our 
 infantry at four o'clock p. m., toward Dinwiddle Court 
 House. 
 
 The route taken is the same over which a portion of 
 the army has traveled several times heretofore, namely : 
 The Vaughn and Halifax roads, running southwest 
 across Hatcher's Riin. Rebel prisoners said that the 
 move had been a complete surprise to them as they had 
 expected an attack in the vicinity of Fort Steadman, 
 and that their troops had been massed there to meet it. 
 
 General Grant's headquarters were this evening 
 established on the Vaughn road, near Gravelly Run, 
 General Meade being in the same vicinity. 
 
 A large portion of the Army of the James, under 
 General Ord, was withdrawn from the north side of the 
 Appomattox River, which, with the Sixth and Ninth 
 Corps, were left in charge of the works before Petersburg. 
 
 The route taken by a portion of 
 
 Army of the Potomac, ^j-^^g ^^^^^y |g ^j^g 5^^-^^^ q^^j- ^l^ich 
 
 March 29, 1865. .^ , -^ i . ^ i i -i 
 
 Union Account. it lias Several tiuics traveled, by 
 
 way of the Vaughn and Halifax 
 roads, running southwest across Hatcher's Run. 
 
 The column started at three o'clock this morning. 
 Sheridan's cavalry took the Halifax road toward Din- 
 widdle Court House. The infantry crossed Hatcher's 
 Run on the Vaughn road, but met with no opposition 
 until they reached within a short distance of the Boyd- 
 town plank road, when the enemy's pickets were found 
 and driven back. Griffin's Division went up the Qua- 
 
62 I'HE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 ker road and about three o'clock this afternoon a divi- 
 sion of the enemy were encountered. They did not 
 know as to the strength of our force when they formed 
 in line and charged. They were repulsed with heavy 
 loss. 
 
 A number of prisoners brought in say that they were 
 taken by surprise, as they expected an attack in the 
 vicinity of Fort Steadinan and their troops were there 
 massed to meet it. 
 
 It is believed the Rebels were hurrying their troops 
 toward the South-side Railroad all this afternoon, in 
 hopes of being able to prevent Sheridan taking posses- 
 sion of it. Sheridan is breaking for that point and we 
 hope will succeed in cutting off the supplies from Lee's 
 army. 
 
 The Fifth Corps had a sharp en- 
 
 Petersburg Front, couutcr with the enemy on the 
 
 ^unio^A^'clunf; Quaker road to-day. We lost 
 
 less than three hundred men 
 
 and drove the Rebels nearly a mile, with serious loss 
 
 to them and a number of prisoners. 
 
 General Thomas is moving upon 
 Washington, D. c, Richmond from the southwest, 
 
 March 29. 1865. -.i i r /tm 
 
 Union Account. With a hcavy force. The enemy 
 
 will be pressed so as to compel 
 him to give instead of receive a battle. 
 
 Turner's Division of the Twen- 
 Hatcher's Run, ty-fourth Corps made a iunction 
 
 March 29, 1865. -^ .. - . -K, , r .-u o J 
 
 Union Account. With the right of the Second 
 
 Corps just as the sun peeped out 
 
 this morning. This connection was made without 
 
 fighting. It was not expected, however, that we should 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 63 
 
 long exist in a quiet state. Hardly had we become 
 in position when our services were needed. The gal- 
 lant commands of both Foster and Turner made an 
 assault on the enemy's line and captured their rifle pits 
 with all that was in them. This advance was made 
 within six hundred yards of the enemy's main works. 
 Birney's Division held the right of Foster, and the 
 assault was simultaneous. Cheer after cheer went up 
 all along the line over the work of the gallant Twenty- 
 fourth Corps. Our loss cannot to-night be given accu- 
 rately, but is heavy. 
 
 A large number of Rebel soldiers, 
 
 Covington, Ky., belonging to Kcutucky regiments, 
 
 Union Account." who liavc been coufiued in 
 
 prison, have recently taken the 
 
 oath, and pass through here daily, bound for their 
 
 homes. 
 
 Messrs. W. A. Ramsey & Co., at 
 Augusta, Georgia, ^j^gj^ auctiou Sale ou Friday last, 
 
 March 29, 1865. - . , . ^ .. . -^ . ' 
 
 Confederate Account. obtained the followmg priccs I 
 Harness, $3,000 to $3,500 per 
 set ; carriages, $4,000 to $6,000 each ; Negro boys, 
 $3,000 to $3,500; Negro women, $3,700 to $4,100; 
 woman and two children, $4,500; silver spoons, $1,200 
 to $1,300 per dozen ; sewing machines, $500 to $1,500. 
 
 Scouts report a force landed at 
 Mobile, Ala., Cedar Point to-day. 
 
 March 29, 18G5. /^. ^j 1 n . r j 
 
 Confederate Account. ^^c Yankee fleet fired 3. num- 
 
 ber of guns, occupying all day. 
 Cause not reported. 
 
64 1'HE I. AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Rebel Guerillas have again made 
 Newport, Ky their appearance in the upper 
 
 March 29, 1865. ^ r \ - ^ ^^ 
 
 Union Account. end 01 this couuty and are com- 
 
 mitting many depredations. 
 They are reported at Twelve Mile Creek, where they 
 are ransacking stores, burning property and doing 
 about as they choose. 
 
 The downfall of the Confed- 
 city Point, Va., eracy is near at hand. Recent 
 
 P,/Iarch29. 1865. . / . , 
 
 Union Account. adviccs givc assuraucc that 
 
 neither Lee nor Johnston can 
 either retreat or offer battle without great destruction 
 to their armies. It is understood that steps will be 
 taken at Richmond at once, to convince General Lee, 
 that to longer attempt holding the Confederacy to- 
 gether means the loss of thousands of lives. We will 
 likely know the result of both Grant and Lee's inten- 
 tions in a very few days. 
 
 We are now here, but we do not 
 
 Near the Boydtown Plank Roaa, promise to Stay here very long. 
 
 '^unio'li^A^c'clunt^." General Meade's headquarters, 
 
 near the Aiken House at Park 
 Station, were broken up at six o'clock and at eleven 
 General Grant, accompanied by Generals Williams and 
 Ingalls, a number of his staff and several civilians, 
 arrived on a special train at Humphrey Station, the ter- 
 minus of the railroad, within a mile of Hatcher's Run 
 on the Vaughn road. Here Grant and his modest cor- 
 tege mounted their horses, and after visiting the head- 
 quarters of General Ord, near by, moved down to the 
 new line which had been formed, in compliance with 
 orders, south of Hatcher's Run. General Meade and 
 staff had already preceded him by several hours, and 
 was superintending the formation of the Second Corps 
 
I'HK LAST I^OUR WEKKS OF THE WAR. 65 
 
 line, which in the afternoon was advanced over a mile 
 northward. 
 
 The Rebel pickets across the run fell back before 
 the advance of the Second Corps, and the new line was 
 assumed without any opposition. Intrenching tools 
 were brought into requisition, and in a short time the 
 position was rendered secure against any attack. Dur- 
 ing this time the Fifth Corps was moving down the 
 Goshen road, a little west of south and several miles 
 east of the Vaughn. Five miles from the point of 
 starting, the corps struck another road, known as the 
 Old Stage road, leading west to the Vaughn, which it 
 crossed on a by-road to the Quaker or Military road, 
 leading north to the Boydtown plank road. Mean- 
 while, Sheridan was moving still farther to the left, in 
 the direction of Dinwiddle Court House. 
 
 Moving up the Quaker road, through a wooded coun- 
 try, with occasional clearings and small streams, the 
 Fifth crossed Gravelly Run at 2:30 p. m., and on arriv- 
 ing at May's farm, a short distance beyond, found a 
 line of Rebel earthworks and a number of huts deserted 
 by the enemy's pickets. A few hundred yards beyond 
 this point the Rebel skirmishers were encountered by 
 our flankers, who gradually advanced, followed by the 
 column, pushing the enemy before them, until they 
 reached another clearing. Here the brigade of General 
 Chamberlain, which had led the column, was disposed 
 in line of battle, and advanced across the clearing. 
 When well in the clearing the enemy opened from the 
 woods beyond, driving back our skirmishers upon the 
 line of battle, which now became hotly engaged. A 
 sharp engagement lasted for fifteen minutes, when the 
 enemy, who had used no artillery, showing no disposi- 
 tion to retire, Battery B of the Fourth United States 
 Artillery was brought up and posted on the right of 
 the road, to compel a retrograde movement on their 
 part. A few rounds, well directed, and the fire of 
 the enemy slackened. Chamberlain's brigade was then 
 
66 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 directed to charge, which it gallantly did, the enemy 
 falling back hastily up the Quaker toward the Boyd- 
 town plank road. General Warren then formed his 
 corps in line of battle, placing the left in reserve, 
 and moved up to the Rainie House at the junction of 
 the Quaker and Boydtown roads. Our loss in the 
 engagement was from three to four hundred in killed 
 and wounded, while the casualties of the enemy might 
 have been fewer, owing to his sheltered position. The 
 capture of one hundred and forty prisoners, however, 
 probably made his loss greater than our own. And 
 thus ends the history of to-day. Sheridan is near Din- 
 widdle, Warren at the junction of the Quaker and 
 Boydtown roads, in connection with the Second, whose 
 line extended from his right nearly eastward past Dab- 
 ney's Mills to the vicinity of Hatcher's Run. The new 
 line had been formed, and with the exception of a little 
 skirmishing along portions of the front, and the fight 
 of the Fifth Corps, all has been quiet during the day. 
 To-night the headquarters of Generals Grant and 
 Meade are near Gravelly Run, on the Vaughn road. 
 
 At nine mimites past ten o'clock 
 Petersburg, Va., to-uight the Federals opened on 
 
 March 29,1865. ^ < . ^xl ^ 
 
 Confederate Account. our extreme left, near the Appo- 
 mattox River, with a fearful artil- 
 lery fire, while a simultaneous movement was made on 
 the part of their infantry, the men charging upon our 
 breastworks in great masses. Our men, under the 
 gallant Gordon, were wide awake and received the 
 charge with a coolness and precision which caused the 
 assailants to recoil with evident dismay and consterna- 
 tion. The enemy made five assaults between that time 
 and midnight, the time I write this. In each assault 
 the "blue-bellies" were sent reeling back. We know 
 that the enemy has expended his greatest effort and we 
 are satisfied with the result. They came in swarms, 
 
THE I.AST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. (i'] 
 
 supposed to be several lines of battle deep, and in no 
 instance did they even get through our obstructions. 
 The slaughter was fearful. Our loss is light. It is 
 very dark at this time, being impossible to see farther 
 ahead than twenty paces. 
 
 The Confederate ram Stonewall 
 
 Lisbon, Portugal, ^i^s Sailed from this port. ^ The 
 
 March 29, 1865. Federal war steamers, Niagara 
 
 and Sacramento, have arrived 
 
 here. The Portuguese authorities prohibit their sailing 
 
 for twenty-four hours. 
 
 At 10:25 A. M., the Federal frigates, Niagara and 
 vSacramento, attempted to sail before the expiration of 
 the time fixed by the Portuguese authorities, and were 
 fired upon by the Beleu Fort. 
 
 The Niagara was struck on the poop, and a seaman 
 was killed. 
 
 The vessels thereupon anchored. 
 
 Mosby has six hundred men 
 Richmond, Va., doiug: gfood work iu the northern 
 
 March 29,1865. ^ r ^1 • o^ ^ mi. x. 
 
 Confederate Account. P^rt of this State. Three hun- 
 dred are in Louden county, and 
 the same number in Prince William, or all near Wash- 
 ington City. The daring deeds of Mosby and his 
 braves will never be forgotten by the true Southerner. 
 His work of destruction of Yankee property goes 
 right on. 
 
 The Armies of the Tennessee 
 
 Goidsboro, N. c, ^ud Cumberland have not been 
 
 "uTn'ccZ.'- supplied with Clothing and shoes 
 
 since they left Atlanta. Through 
 
 the stupidity and bad management of some one, sup- 
 
68 The: last i^our wekks of the war. 
 
 plies for the army did not reach Savannah until the 
 armies had moved out. The men are in great need of 
 everything. 
 
 About half of this army are mounted ; it rather don't 
 care to do much more walking. Nearly every one has 
 his own coach, cab, buggy, cart or wagon, drawn by 
 horses or mules — blind or lame — colts or old worn-out 
 horses or mules, anything that can draw something 
 after it, was "pressed in" and the result is. General 
 Sherman could now advertise a livery stable extensive 
 enough to supply the whole country, provided they 
 were not choice as to "rigs." A few soldiers turned 
 out this morning in a fine-looking coach, behind four 
 fat, sleek mules decked with silver-plated harness, with 
 the following card on the door : 
 
 "All aboard for Richmond via Camp Fifteenth Army 
 Corps. Fare (hard-tack and sow-belly) free." It is now 
 foregone that a soldier is not worthy of respect unless 
 he has his own coach and a span of trotters — jackasses 
 preferred. 
 
 The rear of the Seventeenth Corps presents a very 
 novel appearance. A number of vehicles were seen 
 there this morning, leading one to believe that there 
 was a funeral on hand, but the character of the occu- 
 pants soon convinced us of our mistake. One of the 
 boys said "it was the funeral of the Confederacy." The 
 owners of the trotting stock fed by this army have not 
 yet come after them, so we just try to enjoy them a lit- 
 tle for a change. Our feet are sore and we can't w^alk 
 quite so well as we could before we struck so many 
 things on wheels. 
 
 The Spanish Fort opened fire 
 Mobile, Alabama, early this momiuo:, and the e^uns 
 
 March 29, 1865. i ^1 • j -i i 
 
 Union Account. o^ the south Side wcrc Silenced 
 
 by our sharpshooters. As soon 
 
 as a Rebel made his appearance at a gun, he was picked 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 69 
 
 off. At about half past ten o'clock all was quiet. Our 
 boys getting tired of doing nothing, gave a yell, as if 
 about to charge, which proved a successful ruse, for 
 immediately the Rebel heads made their appearance 
 above the works, to look for the last time. 
 
 Several siege -guns and mortars have arrived from 
 Fort Morgan. 
 
 Our loss, up to to-night, numbers fifty killed and two 
 hundred wounded. The Rebel loss is not known. 
 
 The Rebel battery near Dog River, opened fire on 
 the gunboat Scotia, early this morning. The Scotia 
 was not hit. The iron-clad Milwaukee, put in an 
 appearance and drove the Rebel battery back. 
 
Thursday, March 30, 1865. 
 
 A sudden change of the weather 
 Richmond, Va., j^g^g brought rain upon us in tor- 
 
 March 30, 1865. ^ T^ • !-» • 
 
 Confederate Account. reuts- It IS very warm. Possi- 
 bly the Almighty has seen fit to 
 give us this change of weather, to defeat Grant in his 
 efforts to destroy General Lee's communications and 
 source of supplies. It is our prayer that such is the 
 case, as we surely need help from above at this time. 
 
 Reliable news reaches here this morning that Gen* 
 eral Thomas's Army is rapidly advancing from East 
 Tennessee into Virginia. Where next will the Yan- 
 kees strike ? With Grant in front of us, Sherman in 
 our rear and Thomas coming in on the southwest, 
 how can we long expect to get supplies? Their armies 
 are tenfold greater than ours. Appearances go to show 
 that we are short lived as a Confederacy, but we will 
 yet show them that we are able to hold Richmond in 
 spite of their immense force, for a long time to come. 
 
 Deserters arrived to-day from 
 
 Washington, D. c, Lcc's Army and report that 
 
 March 30, 1865. ucgrocs are being placed in the 
 
 fortifications in and about Rich- 
 mond, and that the Richmond citizens do not like it, 
 while the Confederate troops laugh at them. The 
 negroes improve every opportunity to desert, while 
 many have succeeded in making their escape. At 
 Belle Isle several thousand negroes are being drilled 
 with sticks in lieu of muskets. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 7 1 
 
 The transport Connecticut brought about four hun- 
 dred wounded here to-day, including fifty-eight Confed- 
 erates, which were sent to the different hospitals. The 
 Confederates report their loss at Fort Steadman will 
 amount to nearly four thousand. 
 
 An Alabama planter who arrived here to-day, states 
 that the Rebel authorities have placed negroes in the 
 trenches around Richmond, but they are afraid to trust 
 them in large bodies. 
 
 The telegraph between here and 
 - "«" Oh lo,"! 865: City Point has not been working 
 
 for five or six hours and if there 
 is any fighting it is unknov/n here. It is believed, 
 however, that a heavy battle took place to-day. 
 
 At four p. M. yesterday the ene- 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., j^y ^g^g seen tO be massiuo^ 
 March 30, 1865. ^ ^ . r ^r.r,.^^.^^ 
 
 Union Account. troops m front of that part of 
 
 our line held by the First Divi- 
 sion, Ninth Corps. This led General Wilcox to 
 strengthen that point, and to put his pickets on the 
 alert. At 10:15 a rocket shot up from the Rebel lines, 
 and at once a heavy fire was opened from their batter- 
 ies on the right and left of the point menaced. A little 
 later this was followed by a heavy musketry fire from 
 the nearest line of their defenses, distant about one hun- 
 dred and seventy-five yards from our line. For some 
 time this fire was kept up with vigor, and our batteries 
 replied to it as vigorously, while the Second and Third 
 Brigades of the division lay quietly ready to meet any 
 attack. Then the enemy showed outside of their de- 
 fenses the head of a strong column, as if to make an 
 attack upon Battery 11 and the line about it, but the. 
 
72 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF ;rHE WAR. 
 
 fire of our artillery forced the column to get hastily 
 under cover again. The firing was kept up some time 
 longer upon our defenses between Battery ii and Fort 
 Steadman, and finally ceased at i:io A. m. 
 
 This section of our line is that which was carried by 
 the enemy on the 25th instant, and which they were 
 forced to relinquish after a short struggle. 
 
 The object of the enemy in this attack appears to 
 have been to feel the strength of our line at the point 
 mentioned, and to draw off troops from our left, by an 
 attack, if the point was found to be weak, or by a show 
 of attack in case the line was found strong. The latter 
 seems to be the most likely, for they made a show of 
 the attack which they would not have done if any real 
 effort was meant, as on the 25th instant, when their 
 attack was quiet and sudden. 
 
 All the firing being done in the dark, the loss was 
 small on our side and could not have been great on 
 that of the Rebels. Only fifty-one men were hit on 
 our side, the only officer of rank killed being Major 
 Brown, Eighteenth New Hampshire Volunteers. 
 
 On the side of the Rebels the loss may not have 
 exceeded two hundred men, their force having been 
 only at one time from under cover. 
 
 Headquarters, Mar. ^o, i86s. 
 
 Army of Northern Virginia. r^ i r ^ r> i -j 
 
 Confederate Report. General /. C. BreckiuTidge, 
 
 Secretary of War: General Gor- 
 don reports that the enemy, at eleven p. m. yesterday, 
 advanced against a portion of his line, defended by 
 Brigadier-General Lewis, but was repulsed. The fire 
 of artillery and mortars continued several hours with 
 considerable activity. No damage on our lines re- 
 ported. '' R. E. Lee. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 73 
 
 At an early hour this morning a 
 
 Petersburg, Va., heavv force of the enemy, con- 
 
 March 30, 1865. . . •' - , . - -^ ' - 
 
 Confederate Account. sistmg of cavalry, infantry and 
 artillery, supposed to be headed 
 by "Cavalry Sheridan," made a detour around our lines 
 and advanced toward the Boydtown plank road, and, 
 between seven and eight o'clock, struck this thorough- 
 fare some six miles beyond Dinwiddle Court House. 
 Toward eleven o'clock we understand this force was in 
 the vicinity of the Court House, our forces skirmishing 
 heavily with their advance. 
 
 General Anderson, commanding 
 Richmond, Va., q^j- extreme rio^lit, demonstrated 
 
 March 30, 1865. • ^ ^1 , 1 • t, • 
 
 Confederate Account. agamst the enemy's works m his 
 front for the purpose of ascer- 
 taining his strength at that point, and, if possible, their 
 intentions. In pending operations our forces met with 
 a vigorous resistance. The object of the demonstration 
 gained, they fell back, the Yankees not pursuing. Late 
 in the afternoon, however, the enemy commenced ad- 
 vancing and skirmishing with our forces. Some severe 
 fighting may have occurred. Meantime let us all keep 
 cool, wait results, and trust in God, General Lee and 
 the gallantry of our brave troops for success. 
 
 An advance was made this morn- 
 Graveiiy Run, Va., ^j-jgr along: our whole left or opcr- 
 
 MarchSO, 1865. ,? 9 - . ^. 
 
 Union Account. atmg wiug, the enemy giving 
 
 way after indulging in some 
 spiteful sharpshooting, to his main works across the 
 Boydtown plank road. Our movement has developed 
 portions of his line, and discovered the fact that he still 
 maintains, with a bold front, his old earthworks cover- 
 ing the Southside Railroad. Our advance was perhaps 
 
74 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF- THE WAR. 
 
 most hotly contested opposite General Birney's division 
 and north of the intersection of the Vaughn road with 
 Hatcher's Run, where the enemy used considerable 
 artillery, doing us but little damage, however. A bat- 
 tery was likewise unmasked beyond Dabney's Mill, in 
 front of Smyth's brigade of the Second Corps, and sev- 
 eral shots thrown at our advance. 
 
 A reconnoissance was made to White Oak Grove this 
 morning by Merritt's Division of Cavalry, and the 
 enemy found to be guarding the different avenues ap- 
 proaching the Southside Railroad. 
 
 Our casualties in the skirmish to-day have been few, 
 and will not probably foot up to more than forty or fifty 
 at the highest estimate. 
 
 Our present line in general direction is the same as 
 yesterday. The whole movement thus far cannot, per- 
 haps, be more comprehensively explained than by say- 
 ing that our left or movable wing has executed what is 
 known in military evolutions as a right wheel with the 
 pivot of the wheeling line resting near the Vaughn 
 road at the point where it crosses Hatcher's Run. We 
 now have possession of the Boydtown plank road sev- 
 eral miles north of Dinwiddle Court House, and five 
 and a half or six miles from the Southside Railroad. 
 From the point where our left cuts the Boydtown 
 plank our line extends nearly eastward, almost the 
 entire distance through thick forests of pine saplings, 
 across Hatcher's Run to our original line and with it 
 forming an obtuse angle. South of and cutting the 
 Boydtown plank road a quarter of a mile above the 
 junction, the left of our line rests. 
 
 Reliable intelligence from City 
 Richmond, Va., Point represents the presence of 
 
 March 30, 1865. -^^ ^ . j^p ^ 
 
 Confederate Account. fifteen uiouitors and forty irou- 
 
 clad vessels in the James River 
 
 below Dutch Gap. Since our attempt to pass the Yan- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 75 
 
 kee obstructions, the enemy has doubled his vigilance 
 and increased his force. 
 
 Sheridan and his cavalry has passed around Lee's 
 right. 
 
 It is evident that April will witness a decisive turn, 
 one way or the other, to Grant's campaign. All we 
 need is to sustain our army and keep the Stars and 
 Bars flying for one month, when the mighty effort of 
 the Federal power will have been made and will have 
 failed, as usual. 
 
 There is no room on this line 
 
 Union Ac'Jounf.' Twcuty-fourth Corps has been 
 
 under fire all day long and it has 
 been rattlety-bang from morning until night. Birney's 
 Division has been in battle most of the day. Their 
 losses are heavier than the balance of the Corps. It is 
 acknowledged on all sides that the Twenty-fourth 
 Corps contains pluck and that their coming here at this 
 time means that they will make use of it. 
 
 To-night our boys are busy strengthening their 
 works, and before morning will have a line that the 
 Johnnies will find ''a hard road to travel." 
 
 Last night a heavy rain storm 
 City Point. Va., gg^- jj^ makinsf the treacherous 
 
 IVIarch 30, 1865. .< .11111 -1 
 
 Union Account. soil ouc vast slough all aloug and 
 
 in the rear of our works. 
 Through the woods leading to the front, caissons, guns, 
 wagons and ambulances might be seen at short inter- 
 vals mired in mud, and it at once became evident 
 that no advance would be made, from the fact that no 
 artillery could be thrown forward through the woods 
 until the roads were corduroyed. 
 
76 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF. THE WAR. 
 
 General Sherman issued the fol- 
 Newbern, N. c., lowing this moming : "All mail 
 
 March 30. 1865. ^ % . °^. . - 
 
 Union Account. 10^ officers and soldiers m the 
 
 army now with Major General 
 Sherman, will, after this date, be sent to Fortress Mon- 
 roe for distribution. No mail for civilians will be de- 
 livered unless addressed to the care of some officer to 
 whom they are personally known." 
 
 The first serious attempt at raid- 
 Goidsboro, N. c, jj^or or scoutius: arouud our lines 
 
 March 30, 1865. . ^ ^ ^. , 
 
 Union Account. siucc our occupatiou was made 
 
 to-day by Hampton's cavalry, 
 upon the right and center of our lines, northw^est of 
 Mosely Hall, eight miles from here. 
 
 A party of Kilpatrick's cavalry had been sent out on 
 a scouting expedition, when they fell in with a force oi 
 Hampton's cavalry who attacked them. A sharp skir- 
 mish followed, our men fighting and falling back. A 
 squad of the Twenty-third Michigan arrived just in 
 time to save our men, who were outnumbered three to 
 one. We captured two prisoners. A detail went out 
 from the Second Brigade to bring in the wounded and 
 bury the dead. 
 
 This morning's Sentinel says : 
 Richmond va. "Obviously there is extreme need 
 
 March 30, 1865. - -^ . - . , 
 
 Confederate Account. fo^ every exertiou which wc cau 
 possibly put forth. General 
 Lee needs men and needs provisions. He needs every 
 man and every ration we can give him. We must now 
 give him the militia, the reserve and the local troops to 
 the last man. We must all lend our efforts also, to the 
 encouragement of the enlistment of colored troops. 
 We must yield our slaves and encourage them to vol- 
 unteer, and do so speedily. We must, at whatever 
 
"THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 77 
 
 sacrifice, supply Lee's army with provisions. It is 
 superfluous to say that this is absolutely necessary. 
 There is no time to dole or to measure out our contri- 
 butions. Ivce's army must be fed, or we shall be over- 
 taken with speedy disaster and inevitable ruin." 
 
 . Admiral Thatcher's fleet, in con- 
 
 Near Spanish Fort, juuctiou witli General Canby's 
 
 March 30, 1865. forccs, movcd Up the bay above 
 
 Union Account. ^_. ' _ ^f ^ ^ 
 
 Howard's Landing and opened a 
 heavy fire at once, upon the Rebel gunboats and trans- 
 ports, compelling them to retire to a safer position. 
 
 The Thirteenth Corps under General Gordon Gran- 
 ger, drove the enemy back and secured a strong posi- 
 tion upon the left center and left, in this way opening 
 communication with the bay, and completely flanking 
 the Rebel right center, and right. The Sixteenth Corps 
 under General Smith, also succeeded in flanking the 
 enemy's left center and left. Thus about four thousand 
 Rebels were hermetically sealed in Spanish Fort. We 
 are now within thirty yards of Spanish Fort, behind 
 strong breastworks, dealing death to every Rebel who 
 has the temerity to raise his head above their works. 
 
 There is no doubt that the 
 Montgomery, Ala., ^uemy in heavy force are moving 
 
 March 30, 1865. dowu iuto tlic interior 01 the 
 
 Confederate Account. g^.^^^ f^-^j^^ points on the Tennes- 
 see River. 
 From department oflicers just arrived from Selma, 
 we learn that a Federal force of six thousand has 
 started from Tuscumbia. They divided at Jasper, one 
 column moving in the direction of Tuscaloosa, and the 
 other toward Montevallo. The troops, under the Yan- 
 kee General McCook, had with them a wagon train and 
 artillery. They came through Blyton an'd burned 
 
78 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 everything there. They also burned the Red Moun- 
 tain Iron Works. 
 
 We have information that the wires are being tam- 
 pered with by McCook's operators. The following 
 message came in to-day : ''How are you ? Will call 
 on you in Montgomery soon." 
 
 Since Sherman's capture of Sa- 
 savannah, Ga., vaunah two hundred and sixty 
 
 March 30, 1865. stcamcrs, fifteen ships, eight 
 
 Union Account. brigs and sixty-six schoouers 
 
 have entered the port. 
 Quite a number of adopted citizens were forced into 
 the Rebel ranks by one reason or another during the 
 progress of the war, and since Sherman's march 
 through Georgia, large numbers of them have found 
 their way back and are now peaceable citizens, appar- 
 ently glad that Savannah is again beneath the good old 
 flag. 
 
 "A heavy fight has been pro- 
 Petersburg, va., ofressinef all day at Dinwiddle, 
 
 March, 30 1865. ^ t-^.^, -, , f, • -.^ -i 
 
 Confederate Account. near Hatchcr's Ruu, eight milcs 
 from the city. Nothing official, 
 but reports up to five o'clock, deemed reliable, state 
 that three furious assaults were repulsed. 
 
 At half past two o'clock the Yankees came up in over- 
 whelming numbers and drove Bushrod Johnson's 
 Division one mile and a half. 
 
 We were then re-enforced, which turned the tide of 
 the battle, and we drove the enemy with great slaugter 
 to and beyond their original position in the morning. 
 The ground was strewed with dead and dying, and 
 seven hundred prisoners were sent to the rear. 
 
 The affair last night for roar of cannon and musketry, 
 which lasted two hours, exceeded anything ever heard 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 79 
 
 in this vicinity. It turned out to-day that both belliger- 
 ents conceived the idea that they were being charged 
 behind their works, when in fact, neither had left 
 their intrenchments. Hence the lavish expenditure 
 of amunition. It was one of the most novel events of 
 this remarkable war. 
 
 The loss was small on our side, and not supposed to 
 be large with the enemy. All quiet in front to-day. 
 
 The advance of Thomas's Army 
 Lynchburg, va., ^g Said to havc bccu at Carter's, 
 
 March 30, 1865. -^i • ^ . -i r -d • 4. 1 
 
 Confederate Account. Wlthm twenty milcS of BriStol, 
 
 on Sunday evening last. Tele- 
 graphic communication is open to Bristol. 
 
 Thomas no doubt is preparing to invade Southwest- 
 ern Virginia with a large force. There are large quan- 
 tities of provisions in that section that should be 
 promptly removed, or they will certainly be appropria- 
 ted by Thomas if he succeeds in his expedition. 
 
 Mosby still hovers around, 
 
 Nr^r'cha?lesto7va.. Occasionally dropping upon our 
 
 March 30, 1865. pickets and outposts. We hope 
 
 Union Account. ^^ gobble up this band of 
 
 Guerillas and their man Mosby very soon, and give 
 
 them a severe thrashing before doing so. 
 
Friday, March 31, 1865. 
 
 Washington, D. C, 
 March 31, 1865. 
 
 Substitutes are to-day receiving 
 eight hundred dollars a head, 
 and there is a good demand. 
 
 Goldsboro, N. C. 
 
 March 31, 1865. 
 
 Union Account. 
 
 "The Rebels have completed all 
 preparations to evacuate Ral- 
 eigh. All depots of the State 
 Government have been removed 
 to Gronsborough, as well as all surplus military stores. 
 General Schoheld has levied a contribution of one 
 hundred thousand rations of meat and flour upon the 
 citizens. A Newbern dispatch of the 28th says that 
 the armies in North Carolina are taking a brief repose. 
 Sherman's forces were much in need of shoes, clothing 
 and other necessaries prior to striking the finishing 
 blow to the Rebel Confederacy. All is quiet at the 
 front. The enemy show no signs of life. Where they 
 are or what they are about appears to be a matter of 
 indifference just now. General Sherman's headquar- 
 ters are to be removed from Savannah to Newbern. 
 General Howard's headquarters, from Beaufort, S. C, 
 are also to be removed to this point. Another batch of 
 five hundred Rebel prisoners arrived in Newbern from 
 Goldsboro on the 26th ultimo. They left on the 27th 
 for the North. More than half of them desire to take 
 the oath of allegiance." 
 
THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 8 1 
 
 A most imposing military execu- 
 
 wfarch 3T' 1V5"' ^^^^^ ^^^ j^^^ taken place about 
 
 Union Account. ^^^If a mile in front of the field 
 
 works, fronting the Provisional 
 
 Division, and running almost parallel with Little River 
 
 stream. 
 
 The condemned, James Preble, of the Twelfth New 
 York Cavalry, was executed for a rape committed on an 
 aged woman on the i6th inst., in the vicinity of 
 Kinston. 
 
 The whole of the Provisional Division of Schofield's 
 command was paraded on the occasion, and was, 
 together with the arrangements for the execution, 
 under the command of Colonel Classon, of the One Hun- 
 dred and Thirty-second New York Volunteers. 
 
 The division arrived on the ground at precisely one 
 o'clock, and was formed in two ranks in three sides of 
 a square, the rear rank ten paces in rear of the front 
 rank, which came to an about face when the unfortu- 
 nate condemned one was paraded through the ranks. 
 
 At about twenty minutes to three o'clock, the pro- 
 cession which attended the unfortunate man who was 
 soon to be summarily summoned into the presence of 
 his Maker, made its appearence in the following order: 
 A detachment of the One Hundred and Thirty-second 
 New York and Seventeenth Massachusetts Volunteers, 
 under command of Captain Keenan, Acting Provost Mar- 
 shal, four men carrying a coffin, an ambulance contain- 
 ing the condemned man and his two spiritual advisers, 
 the Reverend H. M. Bacon, Chaplain of the Sixty-third 
 Indiana, and the Reverend Mr. Dodd, Chaplain of the 
 Twenty-fifth Massachusetts. Upon arriving on the 
 ground the unfortunate man was taken from the ambu- 
 lance and escorted in mournful procession with Drum 
 Corps playing the dead march through the ranks form- 
 ing the three sides of the square. 
 
 James Preble did not appear to be more than twenty 
 years of age, and about six feet in height ; his appear- 
 
82 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ance in no way gave indication of the brutality which 
 would be naturally supposed to characterize the appear- 
 ance of one proved to have been guilty of so heinous 
 an offense. He marched with a remarkably steady step 
 all the way round the square, and but seldom raised his 
 eyes from the ground. 
 
 In the center of the space in the open side of the 
 square, Preble's grave was dug, and on arriving at it, 
 after marching around the square, the procession 
 halted, and the proceedings and sentence of his court- 
 martial, together with the order for his execution, was 
 read by the Provost-Marshal, after which he knelt down 
 by his coffin, with the Chaplain in attendance, and pray- 
 ed for about five minutes, when his eyes were bandaged 
 with a white handkerchief, and the firing party, con- 
 sisting of twelve men from the One Hundred and 
 Thirty-second New York and Seventeenth Pennsyl- 
 vania, were formed in line about twelve paces in front 
 of him. At precisely five minutes past three the order 
 to "make ready, aim and fire," was delivered in a clear, 
 audible tone by the Acting Provost-Marshal, and the 
 unfortunate man fell down dead, pierced with four 
 balls, one through the neck and three through the 
 breast. He was immediately examined by the Provost- 
 Marshal and the surgeon in attendance and pronounced 
 dead. The whole division then marched past the 
 corpse, which was placed on top of the coffin, by columns 
 of companies, and filed back to their quarters. This 
 will doubtless prove, as it is intended it should, a warn- 
 ing to evil disposed and reckless men, and they well 
 know that acts of barbarity will not be tolerated in an 
 army whose purpose is to restore law and order. 
 
 Along General Ord's front, not- 
 city Point, va., withstaudiuo^ the disadvantaere 
 
 March 31, 1865. p . ^. - ^ . 
 
 Union Account. oi the mud, au advance of 
 
 several hundred yards was made 
 
 by Turner's West Virginians and Foster's Division, 
 
THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 83 
 
 supported by Birney's colored command of the Twenty- 
 fifth Corps. Sheridan also pushed forward on Tuesday, 
 and night found him in the vicinity of Sutherland's 
 Station, on the Southside Railroad. 
 
 Not relishing Sheridan's alarming proximity to the 
 Southside Railroad, the enemy, having been re-enforced 
 by Pickett's Division, made an impetuous attack upon 
 him in front and on the flank, and at night had pushed 
 back our troops after heavy fighting, compelling us to 
 leave behind in the enemy's hands many of our dead 
 and wounded. As the Fifth Corps had, on the night 
 previous, assumed a line stretching nearly westward 
 from the Boydtown plank, where its right connected 
 with the left of the Second, by the repulse of Sheri- 
 dan, and his retirement through Dinwiddie Court 
 House on Friday afternoon, it was at once seen that a 
 change of front of at least the Fifth Corps would be 
 necessary, in order to meet any attack by a large force of 
 the enemy on its left and rear. Accordingly, at mid- 
 night the Fifth, leaving an interval to be supplied by 
 Miles's Division of the Second, left its position, and, 
 moving down the Boydtown plank toward Dinwiddie, 
 massed at the Butler House for the purpose of seizing 
 the White Oak road, which, several miles above the 
 junction of the Quaker and Boydtown, runs west from 
 the latter until it strikes the Claiborne road leading to 
 Sutherland Station. 
 
 Early in the morning the Fifth moved forward, while 
 the Second commenced demonstrating its front for the 
 purpose of masking our real intention, viz., the posses- 
 sion of the White Oak road. The charge of the Fifth 
 was temporarily successful, the enemy being pushed 
 back to a point near the coveted road, when he rallied, 
 and in turn assaulted the Fifth, which retired some- 
 what hastily to the vicinity of the Boydtown road, 
 where it took shelter behind a line of temporary works. 
 At this junction the division of Miles was directed to 
 strike the victorious enemy on the flank, and massing 
 
84 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF JHE WAR. 
 
 his brigades in echelon, he began moving to the leTt 
 and west from his position on the Boydtown PlanL. 
 The remainder of the Second was meanwhile engaged 
 in heavy skirmishing across the Boydtown Plank. 
 General Humphreys moved his headquarters to the 
 Rainie House, at the junction of the Boydtown and 
 Quaker Roads, and it was near this point that his A. 
 A. G., Major Miles, was killed by a round shot from 
 one of the enemy's batteries. 
 
 At about half past ten o'clock in the forenoon, the 
 column of Miles struck the Rebel left in front of War- 
 ren, surprised it, and moving rapidly forward, drove the 
 enemy like frightened sheep down Warren's front, cap- 
 turing prisoners, guns, and colors, and then wheeling to 
 the right, still pursuing the flying enemy, established 
 iiimself on the White Oak Road, across which Warren 
 afterward formed his command, facing northeast, and 
 connecting with Miles's Division of the Second. Thus, 
 after a severe engagement of several hours, we had, at 
 the cost of several hundred lives, compassed our origi- 
 nal intention. 
 
 Army of the Potomac, ^ 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., FrIDAY NIGHT, V 
 
 March 31, 1865. ti/t 1 o^ I 
 
 Union Account. March 31, 1865. j 
 
 There was severe fighting to- 
 day. Notwithstanding the disadvantageous circum- 
 stance of mud, the left of our line was pushed forward 
 at daybreak this morning, bringing on a heavy engage- 
 ment in front of the Fifth Corps and General Miles's 
 Division of the Second, the final result of which was 
 the pushing back of the enemy across the White Oak 
 Road, and its occupation by our troops. 
 
 At daybreak this morning Griffin's Division of the 
 Fifth Corps, the left of which rested on the Boydtown 
 Road, a short distance above the Quaker Road, moved 
 by the left flank down the Boydtown Road to the But- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 85 
 
 ler House, where it was massed behind the commands 
 of Generals Crawford and Ayres, for an advance upon 
 the enemy, covering the White Oak Road. 
 
 The object of the advance was the possession of this 
 road, which, diverging from the Boydtown Road, 
 several miles north of its junction with the Quaker 
 Road, runs westward to the Claiborne Road, leading 
 northwest to the Southside Railroad. 
 
 At about eight o'clock this morning, the Division of 
 General Ayres, supported by those of Crawford and 
 Griffin, began their advance upon the enemy, which 
 was immediately resisted by the Rebel skirmishers, 
 Avho were slowly pushed back, however, to within a 
 mile of the White Oak Road. 
 
 At this juncture the enemy, gathering all his avail- 
 able force, and with his usual yell, charged our advanc- 
 ing columns, which, wavering for a time, finally gave 
 way to the impetuous assault, retiring slowly toward 
 the Boydtown plank road, and halting only when 
 they arrived at the brow of a hill, where supported by 
 Griffin's Division, which had just reached that point, 
 they took shelter in the temporary breastworks con- 
 structed by them last night. Several ineffectual at- 
 tempts were then made by the enemy to dislodge them, 
 our fierce musketry fire, aided by Batteries D and H of 
 the First New York Artillery, meanwhile pouring death 
 and destruction into their ranks. 
 
 The firing on either side soon subsided into heavy 
 skirmishing, and the rapid interchange of solid shot 
 and shell, lasted until one o'clock this afternoon, our 
 troops in the mean time retaining possession of their 
 original line. 
 
 At this hour the Division of General Miles, which 
 had been thrown to the left of Boydtown plank road to 
 close the interval made by the withdrawal of Griffin 
 in the morning, was ordered to strike the enemy in 
 front of Warren on his left flank, while the Fifth Corps 
 again essayed to obtain possession of the White Oak 
 
86 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Road by advancing simultaneously. The second ad- 
 vance of Warren was led by General Chamberlain's 
 Brigade of Griffin's Division, and that of Miles on 
 the right moved in echelon in the following order 
 from right to left : 
 
 First Brigade, Colonel Scott, of the Sixty-first New 
 York commanding; Irish Brigade, Colonel Nugent, 
 Sixty-ninth New York; Third Brigade, General 
 Medill; Fourth Brigade, General Ramsey. At one 
 o'clock, as before mentioned, Warren's Corps again 
 moved forward upon the enemy, who stubbornly 
 held his ground for some time, when the rapid 
 volleys from the right, and the loud cheer that 
 followed, told of the successful issue of Miles's at- 
 tack on the Rebel flank as he rolled up the enemy's 
 line now broken, routed and falling back incontinently, 
 followed by Warren, who was soon in possession of the 
 coveted White Oak Road, which we now retain. 
 
 While all this was going on, heavy skirmishing was 
 taking place on our line as far as Hatcher's Run. 
 Under cover of a strong skirmish line. Turner's 
 Division during the afternoon advanced several hun- 
 dred yards, strongly intrenching, and with its Sharp- 
 shooters silenced the guns of several batteries in its 
 front. The brigades of General DeTrobriand and Mc- 
 Allister, of the Third Division of the Second Corps, 
 were likewise heavily engaged in skirmishing during 
 the day, and succeeded in assuming an advanced line. 
 
 Our casualties will probably reach eighteen hundred 
 or two thousand, of which the Fifth Corps is believed 
 to have sustained the loss of nearly one-half. 
 
 Major Glenn, of the One Hundred and Ninty-eighth 
 Pennsylvania, has the honor of capturing with his own 
 hands, during the engagement of the Fifth Corps to- 
 day, one stand of Rebel colors, belonging to Horral's 
 brigade of Pickett's Division. General Miles also dis- 
 played at his headquarters, this afternoon, a. Rebel 
 color taken by his division. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 87 
 
 From nine o'clock this morning 
 
 Near Hatcher's Rim, va., until dark the Second Division 
 
 March 31, 1865. ^ -^ Twcntv-fourth Corps weie 
 
 Union Account. ^^ "-^^^ , . , -^ , • r . 
 
 engaged with the enemy m Iront 
 of that part of our lines lately held by the Second Corps. 
 The enemy in our front was found to be their Third 
 Corps under Hill, and the division engaged that of 
 Heth. 
 
 The ground held up to last evening by the pickets of 
 this force was won by the Second Division, Twenty- 
 fourth Corps, which at once threw up a strong line of 
 log breastworks. 
 
 At an early hour to-day a strong skirmish line was 
 sent out, which pushed up to within a few hundred 
 yards of the Rebel batteries and kept up such a deadly 
 fire that the gunners were unable to work their guns 
 for a time. They tried to fire, but the men were shot 
 off as fast as they showed the least part of their bodies. 
 Findino- our fire to be so deadly the enemy quickly lay 
 under cover of their defenses, only returning a sharp 
 fire of musketry. 
 
 At eleven o'clock this morning the fighting along our 
 line from the center of the left was sharp. The left of 
 the Twenty-fourth Corps connected with the Second 
 Corps, which had the Fifth on its left, and along the 
 front of those three bodies there was for some time an 
 incessant fire, the artillery on the left being loud, but 
 in front of our center, where the Twenty-fourth Corps 
 fouo-ht, it was nearly silent. By this incessant and 
 deadly fire the First and Second Divisions of the 
 Twenty-fourth Corps gained some ground, and steps 
 were taken to hold it. The line of Sharpshooters kept 
 the Rebel guns silent, while a strong line was pushed 
 forward, and, under cover of this fire, threw up a new 
 line of breastworks. Behind this our line lay while the 
 skirmish line gained, step by step, but very slowly, 
 
 more ground. cni r^ 
 
 Th^ Second Division of the Twenty-fifth Corps, 
 
88 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF I'HE WAR. 
 
 under General Birney, was held in reserve to the line 
 of the Twenty-fourth all day, and was not called upon 
 to fire a shot, but the colored troops were steadily 
 engaged and showed no lack of spirit. Two brigades 
 of the division were held in line behind the rear breast- 
 work, while the other two — there being four in the 
 division — stood further to the rear in reserve. 
 
 The ground was a mixture of pine and clearings, like 
 most of the scenes of action in Virgini:i. A long line 
 of woods hid the Rebel batteries from view, and in those 
 woods was drawn up one line under cover of its log 
 breastworks, with the skirmish line thrown out in front 
 close to the Rebel works. In the rear of the woods the 
 ground was open and along it, about three-quarters of 
 a mile from the woods, ran the old line of defenses 
 lately held by the Second Corps. 
 
 At six o'clock in the afternoon it was thought by 
 General Gibbons, of the Twenty-fourth Corps, that by 
 a sudden charge the First Division might be able to 
 carry the batteries in its front, as the skirmish line had 
 pushed up so near to them that the line would have 
 only a few hundred yards to cross to reach the works, 
 and the loss would be small. Dusk was thought a good 
 time to make this attempt. After some consideration 
 it was decided to defer this attack until a more proper 
 moment. It may be that the possibility of there being 
 some rear defenses which would command those in 
 front, if taken. General Gibbons, who is a careful 
 man, concluded to wait until he could better see what 
 defenses were to be met. At daybreak to-morrow the 
 attack may be made, and if the enemy have weakened 
 their line to send troops to their right, the attack will, 
 it is likely, succeed. 
 
 The loss of the Twenty-fourth Corps in this day's 
 fight will not exceed two hundred men, and the only 
 officer of any rank in the list of casualties was Captain 
 G. H. Brown, of the Sharpshooters, who was wounded 
 fatally and died ten minutes after he was struck. The 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 89 
 
 loss of the enemy it is not easy to guess, as their artil- 
 lery must have lost a good number of men; but their 
 line was kept well under cover of their defenses, so 
 that their total loss could not have been great. 
 
 About two hundred men came in from the Rebel line 
 during the day, and there was an evident wish on the 
 part of their men to desert when a chance offered. 
 
 A detachment from General 
 Goidsboro, N. c, Lilly's Command was sent out on 
 
 March 31, 1865. ^ J . ^ j 1 j 
 
 Union Account. ^ teconiioissance to-day beyond 
 
 Little River. They found the 
 enemy's cavalry in considerable force, but drove them 
 back some three miles, returning without any loss what- 
 ever. The Rebel forces are north of Tar River. 
 
 While Generals Sherman and 
 Newbern, N. c, Palmer were out riding to-day 
 
 March 31, 1865, . . ^11./ 
 
 Union Account. m a Carriage, the horses took 
 
 fright and ran away. Fortu- 
 nately they escaped without injury. 
 
 The Rebels we locate to-day, for the time being, 
 between Smithfield and Raleigh. 
 
 When General Sherman returned to Newbern, he 
 said, "There is no such thing as peace with the Rebels 
 by negotiation. The issue must be fought out. Even 
 this in face of the fact that it will be but few days until 
 I lose a portion of our troops, and muster out of the 
 service, at the expiration of four months, one of the 
 bravest and best armies that ever trod the earth." 
 
 Raleigh and Weldon are being strongly fortified by 
 the Rebels. They cannot imagine when and where 
 Sherman will turn up. 
 
90 THE LAvST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 At half-past twelve o'clock to- 
 ^''^^^if\l^- day General Grant telegraphed 
 
 March 31, 1865. td -j ,. t • i r n 
 
 Union Account. President Lmcoln as follows: 
 
 "There has been much hard 
 fighting this morning. The enemy drove our left from 
 near Dabney's House, back well toward the Boydstown 
 plank road. We are now about to take the offensive at 
 that point, and I hope will more than recover the lost 
 ground." Later he telegraphed again, as follows : 
 "Our troops, after being driven back to the Boydstown 
 plank road, turned and drove the enemy in turn and 
 took the White Oak Road, which w^e now have. This 
 gives us the ground occupied by the enemy this morn- 
 ing. I will send you a Rebel flag captured by our 
 troops in driving the enemy back. There have been 
 four flags captured to-day." 
 
 General Sherman returned last 
 Goidsboro, N. c, night after an absence at City 
 
 March 31, 1865. ^ '^ r -, r i tt 
 
 Union Account. Pomt of nearly five days. He 
 
 has had a consultation with Gen- 
 eral Grant and the President, and doubtless ere long 
 the points of that consultation will be made manifest 
 to the world. 
 
 General Meigs arrived here in a special train with 
 General Easton, the Chief Quartermaster of the military 
 division of the Mississippi, on Wednesday afternoon. 
 They are using every exertion and straining every 
 nerve to expedite the forwarding of supplies to this 
 army. 
 
 When General Sherman held his review of the troops 
 composing his army, on the occasion of their marching 
 into and occupying this town, a large portion of the men 
 were barefooted, coatless, and some few actually pant- 
 less. By the almost superhuman exertions of the 
 various Quartermasters having this important matter in 
 charge the army is now nearly entirely clothed and 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 91 
 
 shod, and it will not be many days before they will be 
 fully prepared to take the field. 
 
 The railroad to Wilmington has been thoroughly 
 repaired and is now in working order. We captured 
 eight engines and forty-five freight cars on the occupa- 
 tion of Wilmington, which have been turned to good 
 account in assisting in bringing up the needful supplies 
 to this army. 
 
 There has been some considerable excitement in 
 camp over the rumor that General Grant has had a 
 severe fight with Lee at Richmond, defeating him with 
 a loss of some twenty thousand killed and wounded and 
 fifteen thousand prisoners. It is impossible to trace 
 the origin of this story, which is doubtless, like many 
 other camp stories, the work of some imaginative wag. 
 
 The men composing this army are confident that the 
 war will be over in sixty days, and are already calcula- 
 ting on the probabilities of their being mustered out of 
 service by the Government, in consequence of a lack of 
 occupation for them. 
 
 Extensive fortifications and field-works have been 
 erected all around Goldsboro, and are of the most 
 formidable dimensions of any your correspondent has 
 ever seen. If Lee and Johnston should both unite their 
 forces with all the others in Rebeldom they could be 
 easily kept at bay by the impregnable works which 
 have been erected by Sherman's army since its arrival 
 at this place. 
 
 Refugees continue to go north in great numbers ; not 
 a train leaves here but is loaded down with them. 
 They are principally destitute white people and con- 
 trabands going to the plantations at Beaufort, S. C, and 
 other places set apart by General Sherman for their 
 benefit, and where white people are prohibited from 
 settling. 
 
92 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The western mail train from 
 Baltimore, Md., |^g^g fo^ Wheeling, yesterday, 
 
 March 31, 1865. ^ ,, tx/t t, , r^ m 
 
 Union Account. was captured by MosDy's Gueril- 
 
 las, and all the cars except five 
 were burned. The passengers were all robbed. 
 
 Rebel deserters in the vicinity of 
 Cairo. III., Meridian, Mississippi, defy the 
 
 March 31, 1865. . .^.' i fi . 
 
 Union Account. authorities and threaten to 
 
 annihilate the militia, and to 
 burn their houses if they attempt to oppose them. On 
 the other hand, Forrest declares if the militia fails to 
 arrest deserters, he will go there in force and hang 
 every organized deserter that is around. 
 
 It is certainly believed here that 
 New Orleans, La., ^yg shall soon have ncws from 
 
 March 31, 1865. ^ ,. , • i l i. ^i j 
 
 Union Account. Tcxas that Will Startle and 
 
 gratify the whole country. It is 
 known that a message has been received at Washing- 
 ton from the Trans-Mississippi Department, proposing 
 that enough cotton should be shipped down the river 
 to pay off the Rebel troops in greenbacks, and that they 
 should then be disbanded and allowed to take the oath 
 of amnesty. A new Legislature is then to assemble, 
 fresh from the people, to decide the question of inde- 
 pendence or of return to the Union. The Rebel chiefs 
 are, in consideration of a special amnesty for them- 
 selves, to exercise their influence in electing a Legisla- 
 ture favorable to reconstruction. 
 
 Great anxiety is felt to learn the result of General 
 Lew Wallace's mission to Brownsville, and as to the 
 purport of the late communications with Galveston. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 93 
 
 Prominent refugees from that State who are in this 
 city, who profess to have information from officers, are 
 highly excited, and anxiously awaiting news from the 
 pending negotiations at Galveston. 
 
Saturday, April 1, 1865, 
 
 The establishment of General 
 ^j^y.^rJ-J^-' Grant's headquarters to-day, on 
 
 April 1,1865. ^-u T7 -u J U /t M 
 
 Union Account. the Vaughn road, about half 
 
 a mile west of Hatcher's Run, 
 certainly means that more than usual is calculated on 
 for to-day or possibly to-night. 
 
 The weather is cool and pleasant. 
 
 Richmond, va,, Excited couricrs have arrived 
 
 con^federlte^ Account. fyo^ ofF the line of the South- 
 
 side Railroad and report the 
 
 Yankees as fighting their way through our lines, and 
 
 their numbers as so great that we cannot much longer 
 
 hold Petersburg. 
 
 The number of Virginians reported absent from their 
 regiments without leave, will, this morning, exceed 
 fifty thousand. What can this mean? A few more 
 days will certainly decide as to whether we will suc- 
 ceed in longer holding together the Confederacy. 
 With Sherman's army seemingly driving northward, 
 and now reported at Goldsboro, N. C, it will be but a 
 short time, in case Johnston does not crush him, until 
 Lee will be completely pocketed. 
 
 News reaches us to-night that General Pickett has 
 lost control of his troops at Five Forks, and that the 
 Yankees are gradually moving toward Richmond. It 
 seems that our troops have become discouraged and are 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 95 
 
 easily confused. The Yankee assault on Pickett's Divi- 
 sion has completely demoralized it, if reports are true. 
 
 General Sherman returned this 
 Goidsboro, N. c, moruiug froui his consultation 
 
 Union Accoun^t. with General Grant at City 
 
 Point, Va., accompanied by his 
 brother John Sherman, and Edwin Stanton, son of Sec- 
 retary Stanton. 
 
 Major General Cox assumes command of the 
 Twenty-third Corps to-day. This Corps has won for 
 itself an enviable reputation, and certainly is one of the 
 finest bodies in the war. General Cox's appointment 
 is pleasing to all of our boys. 
 
 Troops sent down from Grant's army, to capture the 
 Rebel Fort Fisher, have arrived. 
 
 Our reorganization is about perfect and we are ready 
 to begin movements toward a final campaign. 
 
 A reconnoissance was made yesterday by Anderson's 
 Third Brigade, and Reilly's Third Division of the 
 Twenty-third Corps. They crossed Little River, drove 
 back Wheeler's Rebel Cavalry pickets and a Rebel for- 
 age train. They secured an abundance of corn and 
 came back grinning from ear to ear. 
 
 Deserters from Johnston's army say that he has con- 
 centrated a force at Two Rivers, where, with a heavy 
 detail of negroes, he is fortifying his army and felling 
 trees across the roads to impede our northward march. 
 This is in anticipation of our movement to connect 
 with Grant, at or near Petersburg, Va. Johnston's 
 army is still in the direction of Smithfield. His sup- 
 plies, we understand, have been moved to Raleigh. 
 
 A deserter from Johnston's army, who arrived here 
 to-day, reports Johnston to have said that he lost five 
 thousand men in the battle at Bentonville. 
 
q6 the last eour weeks of the war. 
 
 The weather is pleasant and the roads are in excel- 
 lent condition. We are in splendid spirits and ready 
 for the command, Forward ! 
 
 The advance of General Stone- 
 Knoxviiie, Tenn., man's forcc entered and captured 
 
 April 1,1865. ^i ^ r -n xt "ta ^ 
 
 Union Acount. the town of Boonc, N. C, at 
 
 twelve o'clock to-day. The 
 Rebels lost ten killed and sixty-five wounded and 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 The Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry lost a few men. 
 Stoneman's command is going straight into the north- 
 ern portion of North Carolina, and if not checked will 
 soon strike the very heart of the Rebellion. 
 
 , . . Sheridan has chan2:ed his posi- 
 
 Slieridan's Army, . ^ , , ° ^ ^ ^ 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, va., tiou ot yesterday and has gone 
 Apriii 1865. east of Diuwiddic Court House, 
 
 Union Account. , . , r r , 
 
 rendering a change of front on 
 the part of the Fifth Corps imperative. The troops 
 under Warren's command were, in consequence of 
 Sheridan's change moved across the White Oak road at 
 midnight, and down the Boydtown plank road to the 
 Butler House, where they took a road leading west 
 toward the Southside Railroad. 
 
 . . „ We are waiting the development 
 
 Fifth Army Corps, c <^\^ • ;i j 4.1. 1 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., 01 bneridan'S attack UpOU 
 
 April 1,1865. Pickett's Rebel troops, which 
 
 Union Account. ... ^ . ^ . atm 
 
 Will decide our movement. The 
 constant and fierce rattle of musketry and artillery is 
 gradually coining nearer us, which means that Sheri- 
 dan is driving the enemy toward us. The signal 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF' THEi WAR. 97 
 
 department keeps Warren informed, and we are wait- 
 ing orders to move toward the enemy. 
 
 We are advancinef northwest- 
 
 3:30 O'clock p. m. , , x. 4. r x, 
 
 ward and are but a few hours 
 from an engagement, as the Rebel troops are in front 
 of us in large numbers. 
 
 The enemy has taken a deter- 
 p. m. mined stand to check Warren 
 
 from further advancing. 
 
 A desperate battle is now raging, 
 
 5 : 30 O'clock p. m. .. -^ -. j • 
 
 with our forces advancing 
 steadily. The enemy are fighting bravely, but are 
 yielding slowly, while our troops are taking every 
 advantage possible. 
 
 The fight of this afternoon has 
 "■""■ been one of the most furious of 
 
 the war, and continued until dark. The cannonading 
 lias ceased and we are considerably nearer the South- 
 side Railroad than we were at five o'clock. The loss 
 of both sides is very heavy. 
 
 As nearly as can be understood, the left of our line 
 lias changed from its former position. Miles is reported 
 to have retired from the left of the Second Corps and 
 is now on Warren's right, holding his line along the 
 Boydtown plank road. 
 
 With the exception of an assault 
 
 i^n'^RonfoTp'lt^rsbu^g'r^ of Fostcr's Divisiou of the Twen- 
 
 Aprii 1 , 1 865. ty-fourth Corps, supported by two 
 
 Union Account. ^f q^^,^ Brigades, on Ft. Gregg, 
 
 at one o'clock this afternoon, the rest of our line has 
 
 remained undisturbed during the day. 
 
 The enemy first attacked Foster upon his advanced 
 position gained yesterday, about an hour before day- 
 break, and succeeded in capturing thirty of our men 
 
98 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 and a portion of the works held by the One Hundredth 
 New York. This lasted but a moment, when the gal- 
 lant Eleventh Maine and Tenth Connecticut immedi- 
 ately charged, retaking our former position, driving 
 the Rebels back and capturing one hundred prisoners. 
 The battle was desperate and of great interest to our 
 army. 
 
 The Rebels have completed 
 Goidsboro, N. c, their arrano^ements to evacuate 
 
 April 1, 1865. -n. 1 • 1 A 11 1 1 
 
 Union Account. Raleigh. All the departments 
 
 of the State government have 
 been removed to Greensboro. 
 
 It is evidently the intention of 
 TriTr'i'ses" President Davis and the Con- 
 
 confiderate Account. federate Government officers to 
 move from this city. An evacu- 
 ation and surrender of the capital is not far off. The 
 assets of the banks have been sent off by the Danville 
 Road; the machinery of the percussion cap factories 
 have gone, and much of the Tredegar Iron Works 
 machinery is being placed on the cars ready to leave. 
 
 Our army is reported not to have to exceed ten days' 
 supplies in this city. 
 
 Nothing has been heard from Alexander H. Stephens, 
 who seems to have deserted President Davis. 
 
 Flour is fifteen hundred dollars per barrel; tea, one 
 hundred dollars per pound; coffee, fifty dollars; bacon, 
 eighteen dollars; beef, fifteen dollars; and eggs are this 
 morning quoted at thirty-five dollars per dozen. 
 
 Army of the Potomac, "^^'^ ^^^^^ of the CUCmy tO-day 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., tO Carry OUr line lU frout of the 
 
 April 1, 1865. Twenty-fourth Corps, having 
 
 Union Account. 1 r 1 -i. • 2.' j 
 
 been unsuccessful, it is noticed 
 that there is unusual activity on their side at this hour, 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 99 
 
 nine o'clock in the evening. The rays of light from 
 their camp fires show that a movement of some sort is 
 anticipated. 
 
 Our left is quiet. Our right on the line directly in 
 front of Petersburg is in action at this time. The con- 
 stant roar of cannon tells of an unusually fierce artillery 
 duel. Considerable musketry is also heard and it is 
 not improbable that a charge is being made near the 
 Appomattox River. 
 
 The general impression current here this evening is 
 that an assault will be made on the entire Rebel line 
 before daybreak. Our boys are in excellent spirits and 
 are anxious to enter into what they hope may be the 
 closing conflict of the war. 
 
 Gold is one dollar and fifty-one 
 New York, ccuts to-day. Sales have been 
 
 April 1, 1865. made at one dollar and fifty-two 
 
 and one-half cents and one dol- 
 lar and fifty-three cents, but the demand was not large. 
 Flour, eight dollars and twenty-five cents for family; 
 wheat, one dollar and fifty to one dollar and sixty cents; 
 oats, sixty cents; rye, one dollar; barley, one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents; clover seed, twelve dollars and sev- 
 enty-five cents; lard, seventeen and one-half cents; 
 coffee, thirty-one cents; sugar, thirteen cents; butter, 
 thirty cents; eggs, eighteen cents; hay, twenty-seven 
 dollars. 
 
 Clothing has been issued and our 
 Goidsboro, N. c, \yQy^ [^ j^^^ Uniforms present a 
 
 April 1, 1865. 1 r 1 >ta 
 
 Union Account. morc chccrful appearance. To 
 
 see Sherman's army in its dress 
 of to-day is a striking contrast from that of its entrance 
 into Goidsboro. 
 
too THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 The health of the army is all that could be desired. 
 Few are sick and our hospital accommodations are 
 ample. 
 
 The enemy, we understand, has 
 Petersburg, Va., throwu Up intreucliments on the 
 
 April 1, 1865. ,. r i • . - • -j 
 
 Confederate Account. ^^e of his recent extension, and 
 still occupies the position on the 
 Boydtown plank road. It is believed that the enemy 
 is still at Dinwiddle Court House. Thursday afternoon 
 General Fitz Lee attacked and dislodged a division of 
 Sheridan's cavalry from a position it had taken be- 
 tween the plank road and Southside Railroad, and 
 drove the Yankees some distance. 
 
 A few prisoners were captured who reported them- 
 selves as belonging to Merritt's Division. On Friday 
 forenoon the enemy then attacked the position on 
 White Oak road, to the right of Burgess's Mills, and 
 were met by a charge of our troops and handsomely 
 driven back. They were pursued some distance south 
 of the plank road, where they took refuge behind the 
 main line of their works. It was deemed impracticable 
 to attack them there, and our troops retired. The 
 charo^e of our men is said to have been one of the most 
 beautiful of the war. They advanced in perfect order 
 and swept the opposing ranks before them like chaff. 
 We sustained some loss, but not heavy. We captured 
 upward of three hundred prisoners yesterday morning, 
 who will probably reach this city to-day. 
 
 The enemy keeps his flank well guarded. 
 
 Our lines are secure against all attacks of the enemy. 
 On the whole, all goes well with us, and ere long we 
 hope to be able to chronicle a glorious victory for our 
 arms and a crushing defeat to the enemy. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. lOl 
 
 A courier iust arrived from 
 
 Army of the Potomac, ^^ . , , / , .,i -, • 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., Shendail's Iront With gloriOUS 
 
 April 1, 1865. news. Slieridaii's cavalry and 
 
 Union Account. ^,7. > • r 1. j ^ 
 
 Warren's infantry advanced 
 against the enemy this afternoon, driving them 
 several miles and capturing about five thousand 
 prisoners and several pieces of artillery. The Rebels 
 fell back to Two Forks, where they were flanked by a 
 part of the Fifth Corps, which had gone down the 
 White Oak road. It was here that a desperate fight 
 was held and the captures made. The Johnnies then 
 retreated south along the White Oak road, and were 
 hotly pursued by Sheridan, while McKenzie's cavalry, 
 from the Army of the James, advanced west on the 
 Ford road toward the Southside Railroad, which they 
 expect to strike before morning. Should the Rebels 
 lose this railroad to-night, what will become of them ? 
 This is their only line of supply and with its capture 
 they will be compelled to abandon both Petersburg and 
 Richmond. 
 
 Heavy cannonading is now — midnight' — heard in the 
 neighborhood of the Sixth Corps. An engagement on 
 that part of the line is generally desperate and the re- 
 sult is anxiously awaited. 
 
 General Meade has decided to 
 
 Army of the Potomac. . .1 ^^^^^,. *-,^ fi»^c» f/^ 
 
 in Front of Petersburg, Va., glVC the eucmy UO time tO 
 
 April 1, 1865. scud re-euforcemeuts against 
 
 union Account. Sheridan. At nine o'clock to- 
 
 night Meade orders the Second, Twenty-fourth, Sixth 
 and Ninth Corps to make a simultaneous attack on the 
 enemy. Only Meade and the Corps Commanders are 
 aware of the movement at this hour, half past nine. 
 Messengers are in front of Meade's headquarters with 
 their horses ready to carry dispatches to each command, 
 and before morning a great conflict can be expected. 
 
I02 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 General Thomas has ordered a 
 
 Fourth Army Corps, i . r i ir i i j i 
 
 Shields Mills, Tenn., lot of half brokeii-down horses 
 April 1, 1865. to be sold to the people for 
 
 Union Account. - . ^ ^ 
 
 farming purposes. 
 
 Our First Division made a march here from Straw- 
 berry Plains without burning a rail or stealing a chicken. 
 For the first time in the history of this Division has 
 any kind of poultry had the cheek to cross our path 
 without paying the penalty of death. 
 
 A large squad of our men, who have escaped from 
 Salisbury and Columbia Rebel prisons, passed through 
 here to-day. 
 
 The condition of our troops is the best. Although 
 we are not as actively engaged as are some of our 
 brothers, yet we look upon the strife with approving 
 satisfaction, and that what glory has been achieved in 
 the Carolinas and Virginia, we helped bring about in 
 the masterly destruction of Hood's army. 
 
 All day lono^ this corps has 
 
 Second Army Corps, ^ 1,1 '^i • 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va.. foUght the CUCmy With Vigor, 
 
 April 1,1865. and gradually fixed its line 
 
 union Account. ^^^^^^ -^ ^^.^^ ^^ ^j^^-^ ^^^^^p 
 
 firing. The left of our corps extends beyond the 
 Boydtown road and rests on the White Oak road, where 
 we connect with the Fifth Corps. In our front is a 
 part of Hiirs (Rebel) Third Corps; the other part of 
 that corps lies in front of the Twenty-fourth Corps,, 
 which is on our right. 
 
 The ground on which our corps has fought all day 
 is mostly thick with woods. While it affords what 
 might be called good cover they were unfavorable for 
 the action of our line in close order, and the ground 
 was, in fact, more favorable to the enemy than tQ VS, 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 103 
 
 , . . „ At four o'clock this morning- the 
 
 Twenty-fourth Army Corps, t-» 1 1 ^ r . . ^ 
 
 Near Hatcher's Run, va., Rebels made a fierce attack on 
 April 1,1865. our corps, with their usual yell, 
 
 Union Account. -^^ ^|^^ ^^^^ ^^ taking US by sur- 
 
 prise. At one point they were successful, driving the 
 One Hundredth New York picket line back from our 
 line, but they could not hold it long. The Eleventh 
 Maine and the Tenth Connecticut came down upon the 
 enemy and quickly forced thern out of the point gained 
 and back to their own line. Another attempt was not 
 made by the enemy to-day. 
 
 A sharp firing has been constant along our front all 
 day. Our Sharpshooters are picking off the Rebel 
 gunners nearly as fast as they dare approach their bat- 
 teries, making it hard work for them to keep their 
 heavy guns in action. 
 
 The day has been what might be 
 
 Sixth Army Corps, , 1 . , j.-u • r i. 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., termed a qUlCt OUC OU thlS frOUt, 
 
 April 1, 1865. the Rebels seemingly being con- 
 
 Union Account. ^^^^ ^-^^^ ^^^ '^^^^ of being 
 
 allowed to hold their line at this point. Our corps has 
 laid all day in readiness for activity if deemed advisa- 
 ble, while it is noticed that the enemy was weakening 
 their line, which we deem prudent to observe closely. 
 
 Quietness has reigned along the 
 
 .„ Fr::"':,*;e7eX va., front of this corps for the greater 
 
 April 1,1865. part of the day. Only a few 
 
 Union Account. gj^^^g j^^^g bccu fired OU the 
 
 picket line as compared with former days. ' We are 
 ready for an attack and expect orders for a move for- 
 ward every moment. Our line, on both sides, has been 
 in action to-day, and, from what can be learned, has 
 been successful. 
 
I04 THE LAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Firing is now heard in front of 
 the Second Corps, which is rap- 
 idly coming this way. 
 
 .^^^^, . , The Rebel batteries have opened 
 
 10:30 O'clock p.m. .^ 4.r^i,o j/^ j 
 
 m front of the Second Corps and 
 the pine woods resound with the din of a heavy fight 
 on their front. 
 
 ,,„, . . The firing: has reached iis and 
 
 11 O'clock p. m. ^r , . , 
 
 cannonading and musketry are 
 heard in every direction. A great battle is now raging 
 and many dead and wounded are being carried to the 
 rear. 
 
 The few shots of fifteen min- 
 
 Second Army Corps, . .1 .... 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va., ^^tCS agO, OU the picket hllC On 
 
 April 1, 1885. our frout, has now grown into a 
 
 Union Account. desperate rattle. All of the 
 
 10: 15 p. m. T-r • -I -r» 1 1 1 
 
 Union and Rebel batteries are 
 active, and a fierce battle is now on. 
 
 11 O'clock p. m. ^^^ fig^t still continues and the 
 
 heavens glitter from the explo- 
 sion of mortar shells in the air and the flash of powder 
 from along our line. 
 
 .« «, . ■ .... . ... Firing- on our front has nearly 
 
 12 O'clock Midnight. 1 ^ -, ^ - 
 
 ceased. Our boys are cheering. 
 The Johnnies received the worst of it. 
 
 .r , . ,^ . „ At ten o'clock to-nis^ht we are 
 
 Twenty-fourth Army Corps. . , . - ^ ^ »_.- 
 
 In Front of Petersburg. Va., again engaged lu battle. The 
 April 1, 1865. euns OU both sides are as active 
 
 Union Account. *=* . . ., , _ - - 
 
 as it IS possible to find them 
 The bomb proofs are vacant and the rear of every sand 
 bag on this front is hugged by our infantry men with 
 their rifles working. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 105 
 
 Cheers are heard from the posi- 
 11 O'clock p. m. ^.^^^ ^^ ^^^ g^^^^^^ ^^^pg^ ^^.^^^ 
 
 means that we have again repulsed the enemy. 
 11:45 O'clock p. m. Firing has died down. 
 
 The quietness of to-day has now 
 changed. Every gunner on both 
 sides is now hard at work and a 
 terrible battle is now being 
 fought. The air is a stream of 
 fire from the explosion of mortar shells. 
 
 The line on our front has quieted 
 down and firing nearly ceased. 
 
 Sixth Army Corps, 
 
 In Front of Petersburg, Va. 
 
 April 1, 1865. 
 
 Union Account. 
 
 10 O'clock p. m. 
 
 11:50 O'clock p. m. 
 
 Petersburg, Va., 
 
 April 1, 1865. 
 
 Confederate Account. 
 
 Flour sold to-day at the mod- 
 erate price of $1,100 per barrel. 
 Sugar and bacon are equally 
 reasonable in price. 
 
 General Steele's command has 
 
 Pensacoia, Fia., -j^q^ with much Opposition, but 
 
 u'nioi Account no regular battle was fought 
 
 until it reached Mitchell's Fork 
 
 on Tuesday morning, March 28, when the enemy, 
 
 numbering about eight hundred, made a stand, and 
 
 after a severe fight were repulsed and scattered in the 
 
 woods, many being captured. 
 
 Rebel steamers ply regularly 
 between Mobile and the Span- 
 ish Fort, conveying re-enforce- 
 ments and guns. 
 Two of our men have been injured by torpedoes 
 near Mobile. 
 
 New Orleans, La., 
 April 1, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
Io6 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OV THE WAR. 
 
 General Grant telegraphs at 
 Washington, D. c, j^^lf past four tliis aftemoon that 
 
 April 1, 1865. . -^ _ ^. i- r 
 
 Union Account. he had a continuous line of 
 
 troops and in a few hours would 
 be intrenched from the Appomattox below Petersburg 
 to the river above. The whole captures since the 
 army started out would not amount to less than 
 twelve thousand men and probably fifty pieces of 
 artillery. 
 
 It is stated here that Grant promised the entry of 
 President Lincoln into Richmond within the next 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 Information received to-day 
 New Orleans, La., states that a portiou of Canby's 
 
 April 1, 1865. .^1 . ~ .- -^ r 
 
 Union Account. army was withm five miles of 
 
 Mobile and siege guns were in 
 
 position from which shells could be thrown into the 
 
 suburbs of the city. The attack on Fort Blakely, the 
 
 main defense of Mobile, had already commenced. 
 
 Maury is in command at Mobile, and Gen. Dick 
 Taylor commands the Spanish Fort. Generals Canby 
 and Granger were up Fishing Creek on the twenty- 
 fourth. Our gunboats were shelling the woods at 
 the mouth of Fishing Creek. 
 
 The East Tennessee and Vir- 
 ^T''-!1\lH^' ginia Railroad has been com- 
 
 April1,1865. 1 ^ J ^ -n, 11, ^ rr r 
 
 Union Account. pleted to Bull's Gap, fifty-five 
 
 miles east of here. Trains are 
 now making regular trips. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 107 
 
 The schooner St. Mary was to- 
 Baitimore, Md., ^^^y boarded bv a o:ang of pirates 
 
 April 1,1865. ' T^ . 4- -D- -U c^^;A 
 
 Union Account. ^ Pawtuxet River, who said 
 
 they had captured eight schoon- 
 ers that were lying at anchor in various rivers between 
 here and Point Lookout. The crews were paroled and 
 released. 
 
 We have advices that the Reb- 
 in Front of Mobile, Ala.. ^j JQgs iusidc Spanish Fort is 
 uSion Account. ^vc hundred killed and wound- 
 
 ed, out of four thousand. Our 
 total loss, based on the estimates of two corps, is prob- 
 ably the same. The proportion of killed is small. 
 
 The Seventh Corps is investing Fort Blakely, six 
 miles above Spanish Fort. 
 
 General Thomas, with the Fourth Corps and a corps 
 of cavalry, are expected in the rear of Mobile. 
 
 The Sixteenth Corps is laying a pontoon bridge over 
 the river near Fort Blakely. We think it is the Toni- 
 bigbee River. 
 
 The Yankees, yesterday, were at 
 seima, Ala., Randolph, on the Blue Moun- 
 
 April 1, 1865. ^ . t~,^-i j • ^ j 
 
 Confederate Account. taiu Railroad, coiniug toward 
 Selma. 
 
 Look for a fight near Selma to-day or to-morrow. 
 We feel sanguine. Trains are running through to Pol- 
 lard. 
 
 Forrest is in front of the enemy with considerable 
 force. The big fight will probably be at Plantersville. 
 
lo8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 The enemy invested Spanish 
 
 Mobile. Ala., ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^' ^^^ ^^^'^ erect- 
 
 Aprii 1, 1865. ed a heavy battery south of the 
 
 Confederate Account. foj-t, from which he keepS Up a 
 
 steady fire. 
 
 The enemy, to-day, moved up toward Blakely, and 
 it is expected that he will attack the place to-morrow. 
 
 Firing has been heavy all week, but the Yankees 
 made no impression on our works. Our loss is light, 
 while that of the enemy is heavy. 
 
 All things go well. 
 
Sunday, April 2, 1865 
 
 At one o'clock this morning, 
 '" ''A°"rii°2 7865*'"'^' General Wilcox had orders to 
 Union ^Aclount. demonstrate on the right of the 
 
 line so as to draw the Rebels 
 from the left, preparatory to operations in that quarter. 
 Shortly after this Admiral Porter and all the artillery 
 in the works on the right, were also set to work. Wil- 
 cox's skirmish line was advanced, the Rebels were 
 aroused, and soon sharp volleys of musketry were 
 heard, indicating that they were also at work. Amid 
 the noise and smoke the skirmishers pushed on until 
 reaching the outskirts of Petersburg, where they met 
 a heavy body of Rebels advancing upon them. 
 
 A brisk fight followed, but we were overpowered and 
 compelled to fall back. General Wilcox then massed 
 for an attack on the Rebel Fort Mahone. While this 
 was being done, similar dispositions were making for 
 the line to the left of Fort Mahone. A system of sig- 
 nals had been agreed upon by cannonading, fixing a 
 time of starting, that all might assault simultaneously. 
 Owing to a heavy fog on the field, the enemy failed to 
 observe our movement closely. At four o'clock the 
 signal was given. The men, with fixed bayonets, ad- 
 vanced steadily and in perfect order. That it was a 
 calculation to advance and hold any position was 
 proven by seeing a detachment of heavy artillery ac- 
 company the infantry, that they might be prepared to 
 turn and work the enemy's guns. 
 
 Presently musketry was heard, and the Rebel picket 
 line was reached; now a hearty cheer, followed by the 
 
110 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 roar of musketry. Soon the whole line was in action. 
 Now came the report of the artillery on both sides, 
 where two hundred big guns belched forth their thun- 
 der and missiles of death. Brigadier . General Harri- 
 man, of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin, gave the order 
 to charge; up and away our noble boys went, over 
 breastworks, riflepits, abatis, chevaux-de-frise — the 
 parapet of the first, into the main works, and the 
 deed was accomplished. The thunderstruck Rebels 
 looked but an instant and then took to their heels, but 
 our boys were too fleet for them and captured two 
 hundred and fifty. Nine guns were found in this fort, 
 and, quickly turned, were set at work on the Rebel bat- 
 teries. This, with the simultaneous action further left, 
 cut the Rebel line in two, took from them their com- 
 manding position and many of their heavy guns. 
 Scarcely did we recognize our position, when the 
 Rebels reorganized their forces and came upon the 
 fort determined to regain it. The assault they made 
 was desperate, and in the face of terrific discharges 
 of grape and cannister and withering volleys of mus- 
 ketry. It was no use ; they were sent back in dis- 
 order and suffered very heavily. The Rebel General 
 Hill is reported as having been killed in this assault 
 while leading his men up to retake their lost ground. 
 Meantime the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Corps, hav- 
 ing broken through the Rebel lines in their front, 
 were swung around to their rear, and, coming down 
 both upon their rear and flank, it was evident that 
 Petersburg was lost to the Rebellion. The movements 
 of the Sixth Corps were so rapid that General Lee 
 himself narrowly escaped capture. As it was his 
 headquarters fell into our hands. 
 
 At half past four o'clock this 
 
 Sixth Army Corps, momiug wc left our lines to 
 
 uSion^Aclount. attack the Rebel left center. We 
 
 moved in echelon, so as to enable 
 
 us to throw forward our left and flank the works of the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. HI 
 
 enemy one after another. In a moment a battery of 
 four guns opened upon our First Division, but by a 
 rapid change of the First Brigade it was immediately 
 captured. The enemy's batteries now opened from 
 every point, but on, on went our gallant braves. The left 
 soon reached the enemy's works in their front, and one 
 by one they fell into our hands. At half past ten 
 o'clock a grand picture of war presented itself. The 
 line of our corps with its left in advance was sweep- 
 ing on toward two heavy Rebel forts. The Rebels 
 plied their guns vigorously^ and shells were bursting 
 everywhere on our line. On pushed the left division 
 until it struck the Southside Railroad. Against 
 the two Rebel forts went the Second Division, 
 our artillery playing its part well on the Rebel forts, 
 from a commanding position, until we were close up to 
 them. Then came a dash of our line which was met 
 by a terrible storm of cannister, compelling us for a 
 moment to realize where we were. Again we pounced 
 upon the Rebel line and met with success ; but so reso- 
 lute were the Rebels that some of them used the bayo- 
 net for a short time. When we had possession, such a 
 cheer as went up from our line cannot be pictured ; the 
 enemy meanwhile flying to their inner lines, there to 
 stay a further advance from us. Just here General 
 Sheridan appeared on the field amid the cheers of the 
 Sixth Corps. Our entire line was changing its long 
 front to the right, and slowly before it the enemy gave 
 way and fell back upon their inner defenses. 
 
 Against the line to which they fell back a heavy 
 force was now pitted, composed of portions of the 
 Twenty-fourth, Sixth and Twenty-fifth Corps. A lull 
 took place and when the force was ready to move it 
 was plain that a distinct action was to be fought. Dusk 
 is now upon us and to reasonably predict the action of 
 this army before the morning's rays of light appear 
 would be impossible. 
 
 The Second Corps, connecting with the right of the 
 
112 I'HE LAST li^OUR WEEKS O^ THE WAR. 
 
 Fifth Corps, was also victorious, notwithstanding they 
 had, perhaps, the roughest ground to fight over, and a 
 brave and desperate foe in the Rebel Third Corps on 
 their front. 
 
 The line of the Ninth Corps was stronger than at 
 any other point. It delivered many assaults during 
 the day and met with severe loss. To-night it is close 
 up to the main line of defenses, but unable to go 
 further. The First Division of the Tenth Corps aided 
 the Ninth Corps greatly. 
 
 To-day came bringing with it a 
 In Front of Petersburg, va., guu dimmed ouly by the battle 
 u^nion ^Aclount. smokc of the four days preced- 
 
 ing and the Indian-summery haze 
 which for a week had hung over the two armies. Sher- 
 idan's legion of prisoners began to arrive at Humphrey 
 Station on their way to City Point, seemingly well 
 pleased with the change in their condition. A grand 
 right wheel of the whole line south , of the Appo- 
 mattox had been decided upon by General Grant. 
 The Sixth and Ninth Corps, the latter east and the 
 former southeast and south of Petersburg, had been 
 ordered to make a grand and combined assault upon 
 the enemy's works in their front, while the command 
 of General Ord on both sides of Hatcher's Run moved 
 to their support, followed by the Second, which was 
 to connect on the left of the Sixth, southwest of the 
 town. 
 
 Early in the morning Turner's and Foster's Divisions 
 of Ord's command, moved to the support of the Sixth 
 Corps, leaving Birney, of the Colored Division, to 
 charge the enemy simultaneously with the Second on its 
 left. The charge of the Second Corps and of Birney's 
 Division of the Twenty-fourth was almost a bloodless 
 one ; no enemy but a few pickets were found in their 
 front, and Birney's and the Second and Third Divisions 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEKKS OE THE WAR. II3 
 
 of Humphrey's Corps continued their grand right 
 wheel, and at or about eleven o'clock in the morning- 
 were on the line of the Sixth, southwest of Petersburg. 
 But the gallant old Sixth and Ninth had already 
 accomplished the work assigned them. The Sixth, 
 supported by Ord, had advanced two miles, carried a 
 complete line of formidable works, including a number 
 of forts, and had seized the Southside Railroad, while 
 the Ninth, almost as successful, had, by a series of 
 assaults, forcibly pos.sessed three almost impregnable 
 salients, and occupied Fort Mahone in front of Fort 
 Hell, the three Corps alone capturing thirty-two guns, 
 nearly three thousand prisoners, and an indefinite num- 
 ber of colors. And thus it was accomplished. 
 
 Glorious news has just arrived 
 In Front of Petersburg, va., f^^j^^ Sheridan. Hchasstruck 
 
 Union Account. the Soutlisidc railroad, which he 
 
 now holds. In the engagement 
 yesterday afternoon he captured four thousand prison- 
 ers and several batteries of artillery. 
 
 The Fifth Corps, which was supporting the cavalry, 
 liave also taken fifteen guns and about two thousand 
 prisoners, enabling Sheridan to drive back the force 
 which in the latter part of yesterday checked his 
 advance in the vicinity of Dinwiddle Court House. 
 
 On receiving the news it was determined to give the 
 enemy no time to send troops to their right, and at 
 once a simultaneous attack was ordered all along the 
 lines by the Ninth, Sixth, Twenty-fourth and Second 
 Corps. 
 
 The order was given about nine o'clock at night, and 
 in less than an hour a furious assault began on the 
 Rebel intrenchments in the fronts of their several com- 
 mands, resulting in the enemy being driven in con- 
 fusion from their first into their second line of works, 
 with a loss of over five thousand prisoners, several forts 
 and about twenty pieces of artillery. 
 
ri4 I'HE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OT THE WAR. 
 
 The Second Corps was engaged all day with the 
 enemy in their front, and in spite of the terrible fire of 
 musketry poured into their ranks by the Rebels behind 
 their works succeeded in maintaining their new line 
 several hundred yards in advance of the line they occu- 
 pied in the morning. Two divisions of Hill's Corps held 
 the Rebel line in front of the Second Corps, the other 
 division being opposed to the Twenty-fourth Corps, 
 which joins the Second on the right; the ground over 
 which the Second Corps fought was for the most part 
 covered with pine forests, which, while affording good 
 shelter to our men, were unfavorable for flank move- 
 ments and the maintenance of our lines in close order. 
 
 The Twenty-fourth Corps occupies the center of our 
 line, holding the position previously occupied by the 
 Second, its left connecting with the Second at Hatch- 
 er's Run, and its right joining the left of the Sixth 
 Corps. 
 
 Before daylight this morning the Rebels made a furi- 
 ous assault on this position of our line, driving a por- 
 tion of the Third Brigade from their breastworks, and 
 capturing about eighty or a hundred prisoners. Their 
 success, however, did not last long, the Two Hundred 
 and Sixth Pennsylvania, by a gallant charge, compel- 
 ling them to abandon their position and driving them 
 back beyond their first battle line. A sharp fire was 
 kept up all day by both sides. Owing to the hot fire 
 by our Sharpshooters, the enemy was unable to work 
 his guns, and consequently very few casualties occur- 
 red on our side from shells. Our batteries, however, 
 rained an incessant fire into their intrenchments, 
 which must have caused them some loss. 
 
 There was little fighting in front of the Sixth Corps 
 until night, when considerable shelling occurred. 
 
 Quiet also reigned along the Ninth Corps front. 
 
 So matters stood until ten o'clock, when the Second 
 Corps v/ere started into sharper attention by a few 
 shots on their front, soon swelling into battling volleys. 
 
THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. II5 
 
 The batteries joined their deep bass to the martial mu- 
 sic and the pine woods rang with the clamor, and were 
 fitfully illuminated by the g^lare. The firing spread 
 rapidly to the front of the Twenty-fourth Corps, and 
 on to the Sixth, then away to the right till it reached 
 the Ninth Corps, about eleven o'clock, by which time 
 the fighting was at its height. Presently cheers broke 
 out on the front of the Second, as the fire slackened. 
 By half past two the fire had nearly ceased along the 
 whole line, but at four o'clock in the morning it sud- 
 denly broke out again, nearer than ever to the Second 
 Corps, while sharp artillery practice was heard far to 
 the right, and again the crash of battle sped from end 
 to end of the line. 
 
 The battle is raging fiercely, and thank God the col- 
 ors are advancing all along the line. 
 
 The tocsin this morning early 
 Richmond, Va., ^^s heard and the militia or- 
 
 con?rdera1e\^c?ount. dcrcd iuto the fortificatious to 
 relieve some regiments belong- 
 ing to Longstreet's Corps that were posted on this side 
 of the James River. They were hurried to Petersburg, 
 where no doubt they will be engaged to-day. 
 
 Rumors afloat are to the effect that our loss near the 
 Southside Railroad yesterday was fearful, and that our 
 troops were overpowered by the Federals. There is 
 evidence of truth in this report, as unusual activity all 
 through the city in military and Government circles 
 proves it. 
 
 At one o'clock intense excitement is found in every 
 section of the city. Reliable information is in circu- 
 lation that President Davis received a message from 
 Geneial Lee, while listening to the Rev. Dr. Hoge, at 
 St. Paul's Church, stating that it was impossible to 
 longer hold out against Grant, and that the surrender 
 
Il6 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 of Petersburg was imperative. This news spread so 
 quickly that the congregations in all of our churches 
 were dismissed before the completion of religious ser- 
 vice. A notice was given from the pulpit by Dr. Min- 
 negerodo that General Ewell desired all local forces in 
 this city to assemble at three o'clock in the afternoon. 
 This will result in no further service in the churches 
 to-day. 
 
 Excited women are moving about with fear, in 
 anticipation of what the next twenty-four hours may 
 bring forth. 
 
 It is reported that Mrs. Davis has sold all her furni- 
 ture. This is not true. Not a single piece has been 
 taken away, nor will it be. Some pieces, rather dilap- 
 idated, were sent to the different stores some time ago 
 for disposal, but none that were of modern construc- 
 tion or of particular value. 
 
 Last night a squad of twenty- 
 shieids Mills, Tenn., f^^^ hearty, able-bodied negroes 
 
 April 2, 1865. . ^^ . . -d i i 
 
 Union Account. Came lu, fleeing irom Rebel con- 
 
 scription. 
 
 We pride ourselves on being in the best condition of 
 any corps in the army, both as to numbers and effi- 
 ciency. The First Division under General Kimball 
 try to claim that they are the most perfect in the 
 corps but they must admit it as a whole and not in 
 pieces. 
 
 We are about seventy miles from Knoxville. Lee 
 will possibly not come down this way. Should he 
 try it, he will find the Fourth Corps ready for action 
 on a moment's notice. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. II7 
 
 Nine thousand Federal troops 
 
 Augusta, Ga., attacked Selma this evening. 
 
 con?e'dera1e Account. ^hey drove our forces from the 
 
 intrenchments, and turned our 
 
 left flank. Our loss in prisoners is very large. The 
 
 Yankees have possession of Selma. 
 
Monday, April 3, 1865 
 
 The first number of a Union 
 Petersburg, Va„ newspaper, twelve by twenty 
 
 April 3, 1865. . . ^ ^ .' , -^ . , , ^ 
 
 Union Account. inclies, printed on one side only, 
 
 has been started here and called 
 "Grant's Petersburg Progress." Its motto is, "Eternal 
 vigilance is the price of liberty." 
 
 The leading editorial has the appropriate heading, 
 "We are here," and under the firm' of "We, Us & Co." 
 they say : "Our intentions are strictly honorable. We 
 intend to publish a live paper as long as circumstances 
 will permit; that is, as long as we can steal the paper 
 and get men detailed to set the type. Our terms will 
 be ten cents a paper and invariably in advance, except 
 to Lieutenant, Major and Brigadier Generals; no credit 
 given to others on any consideration, except im- 
 mediately before the advent of the Paymaster. 
 
 "We are not particular as to the medium of exchange, 
 and will take hard-tack, greenbacks, cigars, postage 
 stamps, and in fact most any available currency, Con- 
 federate bonds and contrabands always excepted. 
 
 "For politics, the color of our cloth will be a suf- 
 ficient guarantee that we are not very deeply imbued 
 with a sense of the beauties of the secession firm in the 
 village north of us. We believe in the United States, 
 one and indivisible; in Abraham Lincoln, our adopted 
 father, in U. S. Grant, Captain of the Hosts, and our- 
 selves as the principal sojourners in the Army of the 
 Potomac; and the Freedom of the Contraband, tl:e 
 speedy extinction of the Rebellion and the perdition ot 
 Jeff. Davis here and hereafter." 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. II9 
 
 Richmond has fallen. It was 
 Richmond, va., surrendered to our troops by 
 
 April 3, 1865. ^, r .1 ^ ^ ' 1 . 
 
 Union Account. the mayor of thecity at eight 
 
 o'clock this morning. The Sec- 
 ond Brigade of the Third Division of the Twenty- 
 fourth Corps, commanded by General Ripley, led the 
 advance upon the town, Major General Weitzel and his 
 staff heading the column. 
 
 Upon entering the suburbs of the city. General 
 Weitzel sent a small detachment of the Fourth Massa- 
 chusetts Cavalry to meet the Mayor of the city, from 
 whom General Weitzel received the keys of the public 
 buildings. The Army of the James then marched 
 triumphantly into the Rebel capital, having met with 
 no opposition whatever. 
 
 After leaving our works in front of the Rebel in- 
 trenchments, our army was greeted with enthusiastic 
 cheers by the populace, who have thus far behaved in 
 a becoming manner, and have shown us every respect. 
 
 The colored population were excessively jubilant and 
 danced for very joy at the sight of their sable brethren 
 in arms, the Twenty-fifth Corps, who followed close 
 upon the heels of General Rij)ley's brigade of the 
 Twenty-fourth Corps in the entree of the Union forces 
 into Richmond. 
 
 About daylight this morning our forces were formed 
 in line of battle in front of our works confronting Rich- 
 mond, and were then moved up by General Weitzel. A 
 few stray shots were fired by the retreating Rebels, in- 
 juring no one. Beyond this no opposition was offered 
 us and our troops filed into the Rebel works and up 
 the Osborne and Newmarket road to the city. 
 
 An inspection of the Rebel works disclosed the fact 
 of their having left in great haste. Many of their 
 quarters were left without a thing being taken out of 
 them. Pistols, revolvers, carbines and arms of every 
 description were found in profusion, clothing of 
 every description was in abundance, and in some of 
 
I20 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 the officers' quarters were found their pri\aLe corre- 
 spondence, diaries, &c. 
 
 While stragglers were pillaging the deserted camps 
 our army continued its march toward the city. The 
 enemy had planted torpedoes in front of Fort Gilmore, 
 and so thickly that it was found necessary to march the 
 column in single file through the fort. They had at- 
 tached to every torpedo a stick with a piece of red 
 webbing tied on it, to mark the locality of the infernal 
 machines. This precaution they had observed for the 
 safety of their own men. General Weitzel had some 
 days previously been informed of the fact of their hav- 
 ing planted the torpedoes and how they were marked. 
 
 The General's precaution of not moving until day- 
 light over the ground immediately in front of Fort 
 Gilmore was a very wise one, as, had the torpedoes 
 been exploded, the destruction of life must necessarily 
 have been great. 
 
 A couple of hours more brought us into the heart of 
 the Rebel city. 
 
 The sight of the burning buildings was truly sorrow- 
 ful. That part of the city along the river front known 
 as the main business part was one vast sheet of flame. 
 
 What with the roaring and dashing and clashing, 
 burning and tumbling buildings, the shouts of our sol- 
 diers moving up the main streets to the Capitol, the 
 music of Union bands playing the Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner, the shouts of welcome and the excitement of the 
 people, was a scene of grandeur and magnificence never 
 to be eflfaced from memory. 
 
 The thought of entering the city of Richmond, that 
 city seemingly the objective point of a four years' war, 
 in such a style without a struggle, after many hard- 
 fought battles to possess it, in which thousands of our 
 brave heroes have been slain, was calculated to thrill 
 the hearts of all in the column. 
 
 General Weitzel immediately established his head- 
 quarters in the State Capitol, in the hall lately occupied. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 121 
 
 by the Virginia House of Delegates, and immediately 
 instituted measures to restore order to the town, as all 
 was a Babel of confusion. 
 
 The Rebel rear guard, a small body of cavalry, re- 
 treated in the direction of Lynchburg only a few min- 
 utes before our advance entered the town. The main 
 body of the enemy commenced to retreat about ten 
 o'clock Sunday evening. Their destination was be- 
 lieved to have been Lynchburg, but whether they will 
 strike for that point, when they come to learn the strait 
 in which Lee, with the main body of his army, has 
 been forced into, is doubtful. 
 
 Jefferson Davis remained in the city till dark last 
 night, having, however, sent his family to Charlotte, 
 N. C, some time during the preceding week. 
 
 The inhabitants generally were not informed of the 
 contemplated evacuation until they saw the Confeder- 
 ate troops passing through the town from the east. 
 Then the truth flashed upon them that they were to 
 be left to the mercy of the Yankees. 
 
 A number of these, fearful that their past misdeeds 
 would not recommend them to the clemency of the 
 United States Government, hastily left their all to share 
 the fate and fortune of the Rebel army, an army so 
 shattered that it can hardly be dignified by that name. 
 
 Libby prison still stands with 
 
 Richmond, va., burning ruins on all sidcs. It is 
 
 Union Account. ^ow filled with Rebel soldiers. 
 
 The roof of Libby is black with 
 
 Confederate soldiers, over whom proudly floats that 
 
 greatest of all flags, the Star Spangled Banner. 
 
 Castle Thunder also remains as she did when thou- 
 sands of our boys were confined there, excepting the 
 contents now are clothed in grey instead of blue. 
 
 General Weitzel learned at three o'clock this morn- 
 ing that Richmond was being evacuated, and at day- 
 
122 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 light moved forward, first taking care to give his men 
 breakfast in the expectation that they might have to 
 fight. He met no opposition, and on entering the city 
 was greeted with a hearty welcome from the mass of 
 the people. The Mayor went out to meet him and to 
 surrender the city, but missed him on the road. Gen- 
 eral Weitzel finds much suffering and poverty among 
 the population. The rich as well as the poor are desti- 
 tute of food. He is about to issue supplies to all who 
 take the oath. The inhabitants now number about 
 twenty thousand, half of them of i\frican descent. It is 
 not true that Jeff Davis sold his furniture before leav- 
 ing. It is all in his house. He left at seven o'clock 
 last evening by the Danville Railroad. All the mem- 
 bers of Congress escaped. Hunter has gone home. 
 Caron Smith (?) went with the army. Judge Campbell 
 remains in Richmond. General Weitzel took one thou- 
 sand prisoners, besides the wounded. These number 
 five thousand in nine hospitals. He captured cannon 
 to the number of at least five hundred pieces. Five 
 thousand muskets have been found in one lot. Thirty 
 locomotives and three hundred cars were found. The 
 Petersburg Railroad bridoe is totally destroyed, that of 
 the Danville road partially, so that connection with 
 Petersburg cannot easily be made. All the Rebel ves- 
 sels are destroyed except an unfinished ram, which has 
 her machinery in her perfect. The Tredegar Works 
 are unharmed. Most of the editors have fled — 
 especially John Mitchell. 
 
 The origin of the great fire here 
 Aprirr'i'seV ^^^ occasioned by the Rebels 
 
 Union Account". firing a number of the Confed- 
 
 erate storehouses, containing to- 
 bacco, and other stores, which they were unable to 
 remove before the evacuation of the city, owing to the 
 confusion existing in all quarters. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 123 
 
 No trustworthy estimate can be formed of the 
 amount of property destroyed. The Court House 
 and all the bridges over the James River leading into 
 Manchester were burnt. 
 
 The Dispatch and Examiner newspaper offices are 
 also in ruins, and the streets in the vicinity of the fire 
 are littered with the debris of household furniture, &c. 
 
 Private and public papers and documents are scat- 
 tered over the streets, subject to the winds and the ra- 
 pacity of the pickaninnies who in innumerable swarms 
 — in danger of falling walls — were diving with their 
 little black hands into every place that suggested a re- 
 ward for their pains 
 
 The colored people were extremely enthusiastic over 
 our arrival and greeted us with the heartiest welcome 
 in a characteristic manner, and "De Lord bless the 
 Yankees" was heard on every side. 
 
 The whites thus far have treated us with great cor- 
 diality, and on our first entry into the city cheered us 
 vociferously. A few of the loud-mouthed and hasty 
 "Rebs" got themselves into trouble by a too free use 
 of their tongues, and they speedily found themselves 
 confined to close quarters in a room in the building 
 occupied by the Provost- Marshal. 
 
 General Weitzel has taken for his private residence 
 the mansion of Jeff. Davis. A portion of his staff are 
 quartered with him, and the remainder in a splendid 
 dwelling a few doors below. 
 
 The interior of Davis's house presented the appear- 
 ance of having been very hastily evacuated by him. 
 Everything is in fine order and good repair. Many of 
 Mrs. Davis's little nicknacks and ornaments are yet to 
 be found on the mantels and bureaus of her room. 
 
 The number of guns captured in the works around 
 the city are roughly estimated at about three hundred. 
 They were all spiked, but otherwise left uninjured. 
 
 The powder magazine in Fort Darling, and the 
 Rebel rams in the James River below were blown up 
 
124 'I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 with a terrific noise. The shock was distinctly felt 
 for miles around. 
 
 All the steamers at the wharves — with the excep- 
 tion of the William Allison, Rebel flag-of-trnce steamer 
 — were destroyed, together with a new ironclad upon 
 the stocks. 
 
 The yard around the State Capitol is literally covered 
 with the household utensils of the burned out families. 
 The Capitol itself has not been injured. 
 
 The residents here firmly believe that the Rebellion 
 has received its death-blow, and are rejoicing over 
 their release from the tyranny of Jefferson Davis. 
 
 Our soldiers have conducted themselves in a becom- 
 ing manner, much to the astonishment of the people, 
 who expected that vengence would be visited upon 
 them. 
 
 The Jubilee in Wall street was 
 New York, onQ of the most extraordinary 
 
 April 3,1865. demonstrations that the city has 
 
 ever witnessed. Its spontaneity 
 its vigor, and its overwhelming enthusiasm were be- 
 yond all precedent. It sprang from accident. Clusters 
 of eager citizens gathered toward noon near the Cus- 
 tom House to exchange congratulations and to spread 
 the glowing intelligence that came in with equal 
 rapidity and profusion. It was not long before all were 
 united in one vast and harmonious assemblage, for the 
 expression of whose exuberant feeling some direct and 
 effective method seemed necessary. Loud calls were 
 made for a number of prominent gentlemen who were 
 seen mingling with the crowd, or standing upon the 
 steps of the Custom House. Without preparation, 
 without organization of any kind, a "meeting" was 
 formed. Spirited and energetic addresses were off'ered 
 by Moses F. Odell, General Butterfield, Senator 
 Andrews, Wm. M. Evarts, Simon Draper, Prosper M. 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 1 25 
 
 Wetmore, S. B. Chittenden and George Francis Train. 
 By one o'clock the multitude had swelled to such pro- 
 portions as to completely block all the thoroughfares in 
 the neighborhood. Business was suspended, not by 
 formal prearrangement, but through natural and 
 irresistible sympathy with the joyous sentiment ot the 
 hour. The scene was most inspiring. Wall street, the 
 center of craft and trade and rigid commerce, turned 
 from its busy purposes to the heartiest, fullest, most 
 genuine thanksgiving that our victories have called 
 forth. There has been nothing like it. At times the 
 masses, unwilling to confine their happy utterances to 
 cheers and outcries, broke into exultant songs, and 
 made the coin-vaults ring with choruses like "Glory, 
 Hallelujah," and "Rally Round the Flag," Nor was 
 the more serious meaning of the day forgotten. With 
 uncovered heads the people joined, fervently and earn- 
 estly, in the anthem of "Old Hundred." Voices long 
 unaccustomed to melodious uses lent power and pathos 
 to that chant. It is difficult to describe the strange 
 and touching effect which it produced. The sudden- 
 ness of the gathering ; the time — most absorbing of the 
 financial day ; the place — devoted to cold commercial 
 fact, and never yet suspected as the shrine of warm 
 human feeling ; the union of the best and most honored 
 of our citizens in the demonstration ; and the dignity of 
 sentiment which was everywhere manifested, combined 
 to make the event more impressive, and more memora- 
 ble than any of the kind that we can call to mind since 
 the opening of the war. It was thrillingly dramatic, 
 not only as a broad picture of popular faith, devotion 
 and energy, but even in the little incidents with which 
 it was crowded. An example will show: One of the 
 speakers, Mr. Train, called attention to the significant 
 and afironting fact that while the Nation's flag was 
 everywhere else gaily flying, the house of August Bel- 
 mont, directly opposite, was like a house of mourning, 
 without an indication of life or action. In less than 
 
126 THE LAS'T FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 five minutes, a flag appeared at the lower window — a 
 very little flag, and excessively new, with the air of 
 very recent purchase all about it, but equal to its duty, 
 and as vehemently welcomed as the biggest of its fel- 
 lows. And, furthermore, in less than half an hour, 
 laborers were seen upon the roof, preparing to spread 
 yet another flag, equally new and considerably larger, 
 from the long-neglected staff. The ropes were tangled 
 and were broken, and new ones had to be supplied. 
 The simple process of flag-hoisting seemed to have 
 been so long dormant there as to present unusual 
 embarrassments. But at last the work was done, and 
 the banner rose. It shivered a little at first, as a timid 
 stranger in a hostile society might do, but presently 
 asserted itself with all the boldness and breadth, and 
 flapped exhilarating responses to the cheers of the mul- 
 titude. This was the culminating incident of the 
 meeting. Popular enthusiasm felt that it had the right 
 there to expend itself. The force of justice and retri- 
 bution could no further go. 
 
 The news of the fall of Rich- 
 
 washington, D. c, moud cauic upou the Capital 
 
 April 3, 1865. shortly after breakfast, and while 
 
 all were awaiting oflicial bulle- 
 tins that should announce the renewals of the fight- 
 ing. It ran from mouth to mouth and from street 
 to street, till within ten minutes the whole town was 
 out, and for a wonder Washington was in a state of 
 genuine old-fashioned excitement such as it has not 
 experienced since the memorable second Bull Run 
 battle. 
 
 The Treasury Department first caught the infec- 
 tion. General Spinner heard the good news, got out 
 the drummers of the Treasury Guard Regiment, and 
 in a moment had the whole force, nearly two thou- 
 sand strong, men and women, cheering until the 
 
l^HE hAS't I^OUR WEEKS OE 'THE WAR. 127 
 
 roof seemed in danger. Meanwhile the War Depart- 
 ment clerks got waked up, and some of them ap- 
 plied to Secretary Stanton to be excused from duty. 
 His reply was characteristic. ^^// the clerks donH know 
 enough to take a holiday for themselves on such an occa- 
 sion as this^ I pity them!''' 
 
 The Interior Department clerks heard the news 
 almost simultaneously and all rushed into the long 
 corridors that run along the building, raised a cheer 
 that roused that whole section of the town. The Com- 
 missioner of Pensions was first called out and made a 
 few remarks; next the Secretary, then the Commis- 
 sioners of Patents and of the Land Office, and the 
 whole body of clerks united in singing "Rally Round 
 the Flag, Boys." By this time the streets were 
 thronged with clerks, citizens and strangers crowding to 
 the War Department. Mr. Stanton was called out and 
 made a few happy remarks, after which the crowd sang 
 "Rally Round the Flag," and cheered till they were 
 hoarse. 
 
 Presently Mr. Stanton appeared again at an upper 
 window, and after prolonged efforts obtained a cessa- 
 tion of the shouts while he read Weitzel's dispatch 
 announcing the occupation of Richmond. After each 
 sentence the cheers burst out afresh, utterly irrepres- 
 sible. The sentence saying: "The enemy left in great 
 haste," was greeted with tumultuous and derisive 
 laughter, and that saying Richmond was on fire, with 
 cheers louder than ever before. When it was said that 
 efforts were being made to put it out, they cried, "Let 
 it burn! let it burn!" but when a moment afterward the 
 enthusiasm of the inhabitants at the entrance of our 
 troops was mentioned they burst out again, "All right, 
 put it out! put it out!" 
 
128 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The ringing of the alarm bells 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa.. caused a grand turn out of all 
 
 April 3, 1865. the firemen, who congregated 
 
 in front of Independence Hall 
 
 with their fire engines under steam. After prolonged 
 
 cheering they formed an impromptu procession, and 
 
 with bells ringing and steam whistles screaming in 
 
 full blast, they passed through Third street, making an 
 
 uproar of rejoicing such as was never heard here before. 
 
 The firemen's procession was about an hour in pass- 
 ing the American Telegraph building. One company 
 had a gun from which they were firing salutes, as they 
 passed along. 
 
 A grand salute is now thundering from the roof of 
 The Bulletin building. 
 
 The scene in the vicinity of Third street to-night 
 is one of great brilliancy and intense excitement. 
 The offices of The Ledger, Inquirer, Press, Evening 
 Bulletin, Telegraph, Sunday Dispatch and Transcript 
 are illuminated. Chestnut street is crowded with en- 
 thusiastic spectators. Fire companies are running their 
 glittering carriages through the streets, and most of 
 their houses and many private residences are illumi- 
 nated. The general rejoicing is at its height. 
 
 Bells are pealing, salutes firing, 
 Boston, Mass., and flags flying everywhere, and 
 
 April 3, 1865. Qur citizcus are in the highest 
 
 state of jubilee over the fall of 
 
 Richmond. 
 
 Selma, Alabama, was attacked 
 Seima, Ala., ^y |-]^g eucmy, uiuc thousand 
 
 April 3, 1865. / o j a -i n^i 
 
 Confederate Account. Strong, Sunday, April 2. They 
 drove our forces from the in- 
 trenchments and turned our left flank on that evening. 
 Our loss in prisoners is very large. The city was cap- 
 tured by the Yankees. 
 
THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 129 
 
 The cavalry under Sheridan 
 
 Grant's Army, made an important capture of 
 
 ApHrrisek. prisoners, guns and wagons. It 
 
 Union Account. appears that Lee's army was 
 
 moving as rapidly west as his 
 
 limited transportation and the demoralized condition of 
 
 his troops would permit, on the road between Amelia 
 
 Court House and Jetersville. 
 
 The cavalry having gained possession of the Dan- 
 ville Railroad some time previous, were not long in 
 discovering his whereabouts. The Fifth Corps being 
 well up in support, and having built intrenchments, 
 preparations for an attack were soon made. 
 
 The country here is very uneven, with woods and 
 deep ravines, making it extremely difficult for cavalry 
 to operate to any advantage. 
 
 The Second Division, under General Davies, was 
 principally engaged, and the gallant manner in which 
 they charged and drove the enemy is highly spoken 
 of by those who witnessed it. 
 
 But the Rebel infantry came up to the support of 
 their cavalry, forming in the woods and attacking under 
 cover. 
 
 Our men were, therefore, forced back on the infantry, 
 but not until one thousand prisoners, six guns, a mile 
 of wagon-trains, together with the drivers, were in pos- 
 session of the brave Second Division. 
 
 Five of the guns were new and of the Armstrong 
 pattern, said to have been a present from the English 
 Government to the Confederacy, and had not yet been 
 used. They are beautiful specimens of manufacture. 
 
 The wagons, about two hundred in number, were 
 mostly empty and were burnt after the mules had been 
 cut loose and brought in. Along with the train was a 
 wagon belonging to General Fitzhugh Lee, containing 
 his baggage, &c. 
 
 In this engagement, Sheridan took three hundred 
 prisoners, among whom was General Bragg's chief of 
 
130 Tnn LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 artillery. The flag of the Artillery Headquarters of 
 Northern Virginia, with many other trophies, was also 
 captured. 
 
 The prisoners taken the past three days foot up fif- 
 teen hundred, including a number of officers. 
 
 To the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 C'*y.P°'"*'gVa-' Secretary of War : This morn- 
 
 9:30 O'clock a. m. ing Lieuteueut General Grant 
 
 reports Petersburg evacuated, 
 
 and he is confident that Richmond also is evacuated. 
 
 He is pushing forward to cut ofi", if possible, the 
 retreating Rebel army. 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 Second Dispatch. 
 
 To Maior General Dix: I^ 
 
 secona uispaicn. -'p t , , -. ^ 
 War Department, appears from a dispatch of Gen- 
 Washington, D. c, eral Weitzel's, just received by 
 in^ni'M^^^' this Department, that our forces 
 
 10 clock a. m. ^ ^\ ^ -7-17 
 
 under his command are in Ktch- 
 mond^ having taken it at a quarter past eight o'clock 
 this morning. 
 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 __ „. To Major General Dix: The 
 
 Third Dispatch. - -, . -^ ^^ . , ^ . ~ 
 
 War Department, following omcial counrmatiou 01 
 
 Washington, D. c, the Capture of Richmond, and 
 
 i^'^'cfock^Noon. the announcement that the city 
 
 is on fire, has been received. 
 E. M. Stanton, 
 Secretary of War. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 131 
 
 To Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary 
 of War : General Weitzel tele- 
 graphs as follows : 
 
 ''We took Richmond at a quar- 
 ter past eight o'clock this morn- 
 ing. I captured many guns. The enemy left in great 
 haste. The city is on fire in one place. Am making 
 every effort to put it out. 
 
 Fourth Dispatch. 
 
 City Point, Va., 
 
 April 3, 1865. 
 
 1 1 O'clock a^ m. 
 
 "The people receive us with enthusiastic expressions 
 of joy. 
 
 "General Grant started early this morning with the 
 army toward the Danville road, to cut off Lee's retreat- 
 ing army, if possible. 
 
 "President lyincoln has gone to the front." 
 
 T. S. Bowers, 
 Assistant Adjutant General. 
 
 Petersburg, Va., 
 April 3, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 The United States colored 
 troops are this morning march- 
 ing through the streets sing- 
 ing : 
 
 Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa 
 
 Wid de muffstash on his face. 
 Go along de road some time dis mornin' 
 
 Like he gwine to leab de place? 
 He seen a smoke way up de ribber, 
 
 Whar de Linkum gunboats lay. 
 He took his hat an' lef berry sudden, 
 An' I spec' he's run away! 
 De massa run, ha! ha! 
 
 De darkey stay, ho! ho! 
 It must be now de kingdom comin', 
 An' de yar ob Jubilo. 
 
132 'I'HE tASl" I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 He six foot one way, two foot tudder, 
 An' he weigh free hundred pound, 
 His coat so big, he couldn't pay de tailor, 
 
 An' it won't go halfway round. 
 He drill so much, dey call him Cap'an, 
 
 An' he get so drefful tanned! 
 I spec' he try an' fool dem Yankees, 
 For to tink he's contraband. 
 De massa run, ha! ha! 
 
 De darkey stay, ho! ho! 
 It must be now de kingdom comin', 
 An' de yar ob Jubilo. 
 
 De darkeys feel so berry lonesome, 
 
 Libing in de log house on de lawn, 
 Dey move dar tings to massa's parlor. 
 
 For to keep it while he's gone. 
 Dar's wine an' cider in de kitchen. 
 An' de darkeys dey'll hab some ; 
 I spose dey'U all be cornfiscated, 
 When de Linkuin sojers come. 
 De massa run, ha! ha! 
 
 De darkey stay, ho! ho! 
 It must be now de kingdom comin', 
 An' de yar ob Jubilo. 
 
 De oberseer he make us trouble. 
 An' he dribe us round a spell. 
 We lock him up in de smoke-house celler, 
 
 Wid de key trown in de well. 
 De whip is lost, de han'-cuff broken, 
 
 But de massa'll hab his pay, 
 He's ole enuff, big enuft", ought to know better 
 Dan to went an' run away. 
 De massa run, ha! ha! 
 
 De darkey stay, ho! ho! 
 It must be now de kingdom comin' 
 An' de yar ob Jubilo. 
 
 Selma, Ala 
 Aprils, 1865 
 
 General Wilson's cavalry column 
 has taken possession of this city, 
 unbn Account. In doing SO he captured large 
 
 quantities of artillery, machinery, 
 &c., &c. 
 
THE IvAvST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 133 
 
 ^'At half past eleven o'clock 
 Richmond, Va., yesterday morning^, while seated 
 
 April 3, 1865. • 1 • ^1 1, v ^ • 4. 
 
 Union Account. ^ his pcw at chiirch listening to 
 
 the lucubrations of the Reverend 
 Doctor Hoge, JefF. Davis was handed a dispatch from 
 General Lee. Thereupon he instantly arose, and 
 walked hurriedly down the aisle, beneath the question- 
 ings of all the eyes in the house. The dispatch was to 
 the effect that Richmond must be evacuated during the 
 coming night. And so his ex-Bxcellency, the late 
 President of the late Confederacy, went forth from the 
 sanctuary where prophesied the favorite high priest of 
 his realm to pack up his "portable property," in hasty 
 preparation for a journey on the Sabbath day. Like a 
 thief in the night, he stole away with trepidation and 
 fear, and with an agonizing sense of the shortness of 
 time. 
 
 As the preacher closed the services the colored sex- 
 ton handed him a note from his ex-Excellency. The 
 face of the preacher waxed sickly with despair, while 
 that of the sexton glowed with joy too great for conceal- 
 ment. The chagrin of the one was quite as marked as 
 the grin of the other. The former begged his congre- 
 gation to tarry, and told them in sad utterances that he 
 did not expect to minister to them any more. His 
 farewell over, he too proceeded furiously to the pack- 
 ing of "portable property" — he also intended to journey 
 on the Sabbath. This Doctor Hoge, it will be remem- 
 bered, visited England two years ago, ostensibly to pro- 
 cure a supply of Bibles, but really as an emissary of 
 the Rebellion. He was largely feted by the British 
 adherents of the South, and doubtless did much harm. 
 Since his return he has been in the habit of making 
 camp speeches, full of hot unction and perorated with 
 presumptions appeals to the God of battles. A pro- 
 slavery fanatic of considerable ability, he has been pet- 
 ted and used by Davis, whose own enormous cunning 
 
134 I'HE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 and wickedness have nothing of the element of fanati- 
 cism. The two worthies fled together. Requie-scat ! " 
 
 When Grant began the move- 
 Richmond, va., ment on Petersbure: last night 
 
 April 3, 1865. ^ , ^^j ., . i r. • ^ 
 
 Union Account. General Weitzel was left m com- 
 
 mand of our line north of the 
 river, with two divisions of his own corps — the Twenty- 
 fifth Colored, and General Devins's Division, the Third 
 of the Twenty-fourth Corps. At three thirty this morn- 
 ing, Captain Bruce, of Devin's staff, being in charge of 
 the picket line, visited the out-posts, and his suspicions 
 for some reason aroused, he sent three men to recon- 
 noiter. They penetrated the Rebel line and reported 
 no enemy. These three, like the three children of 
 Israel dispatched by Moses, spied out the land of 
 Canaan. At once advancing his whole picket line by 
 skirmishers, and opportunely falling in with a deserter 
 by whom he was piloted, he, himself, first passed 
 through. The deserter pointed out a tortuous path 
 through three lines of chevaiix de friese which had 
 been used for egress and ingress of their picket reliefs, 
 and was, unlike the rest of the line, free from thickly- 
 planted torpedoes. Ordering his men to deploy widely 
 and continue to advance, Captain Bruce rode rapidly to 
 General Devins, who instantly telegraphed the facts to 
 Weitzel. That energetic officer by daylight was ad- 
 vancing his entire force. By that hour a series of 
 heavy explosions, and the smoke and flames of Rich- 
 mond burning, put the fact of the evacuation beyond 
 question. Major Stevens, of Weitzel's staff, Lieutenant 
 W. J. Ladd, of Devins's, and Major Brooks, of the 
 Eighth Vermont, were the first in the city — by virtue 
 of the excellence of their horses. Within that hour 
 Weitzel, Devins, Ripley, Shepley, and other Generals, 
 had come up; the heads of their columns were push- 
 ing up parallel streets, and all the prpminent points 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 135 
 
 were in our possession. It is said to have been a 
 jolly sight, the colored troops marching in great rap- 
 ture with long strides and ecstatic shouts, their wel- 
 come by their brethren in the city, who, men and 
 women and pickaninnies, embraced them, ran by their 
 sides, cried and laughed, and, in their own extrava- 
 gant way, thanked the Lord and took courage. 
 
 When we entered, the city had been burning three 
 hours. To prevent large quantities of tobacco and 
 other stores from falling into our hands, on the direct 
 order of Breckinridge, millions of private property was 
 subjected to the flames, and one of the fairest cities on 
 the continent ruined. Indeed, it is said that Breckin- 
 ridge, in person, superintended the great arson, and 
 only left by the last train twenty minutes before we 
 came in. 
 
 That the entire city was not destroyed is due en- 
 tirely to the Union army. The first order issued was 
 for every exertion to be used to stay the conflagra- 
 tion, while regiment after regiment, without orders 
 other than from their own officers, stacked arms, piled 
 knapsacks, and lent willing and tireless energies to 
 save the property of their enemies. Whole squares 
 were tumbling and smoldering to ruin, and when the 
 flames were extinguished, the debris and the smoke, 
 the crumbling walls and the tottering chimneys of a 
 thousand structures, many of them costly, all of them 
 valuable, testified to the relentless cruelty of the Rebel 
 authorities — unpitying even to their friends and their 
 dupes. Included in the destruction are the large mills 
 and warehouses on the river, and the entire business 
 part of the town. 
 
 Passing up Main street, at the left were the crumb- 
 ling walls and tottering chimneys, and the smoke still 
 rising from the debris of the great fire. At the right, 
 the sidewalk covered with negroes and poverty-stricken 
 whites, timid women peering from the windows, or 
 bolder ones in untidy garb standing in the doorways, 
 
136 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 or the doors were closed and the blinds shut — the deni- 
 zens gone or hiding within. 
 
 About nine o'clock this morning, terriffic shell ex- 
 plosions, rapid and continuous, added to the terror of 
 the scene, and led to the impression that the city was 
 being shelled by the retreating Confederate army from 
 the Southside ; but the explosions were soon ascertained 
 to proceed from the Government arsenal and labora- 
 tory, then in flames. 
 
 The Custon House, late Confederate Treasury, passed 
 through the ordeal of fire unscathed, from the fact that 
 the edifice is of granite and fire-proof. The Bank of 
 the Commonwealth presents a granite front, but is a 
 mere shell, as also is the Bank of Virginia. At one 
 time during this morning the Spottswood Hotel was in 
 great danger, the flames leaping toward its location 
 with great rapidity ; but a merciful Providence caused 
 a lull in the breeze, and blew the flames out of their 
 track. 
 
 One of the pillaging soldiers engaged in robbing the 
 stores on Main street, was shot from the inside by the 
 proprietor, while he was knocking in the show-glass. 
 A charge of buckshot entered his stomach, and it is 
 believed he died in a short time, but we could not learn 
 what became of his body. 
 
 At the Government clothing store, corner of Cary 
 and Pearl streets, a man, while pillaging clothing, fell 
 through the hatchway and broke his neck. 
 
 While hundreds of families have been rendered home- 
 less and houseless by the conflagration, a great many 
 persons who live in sections spared by the flames have 
 accumulated small fortunes by rescuing large quantities 
 of goods from the burning buildings. Clothing, shoes, 
 dry goods of every description, were saved in large 
 quantities, and are now stored away in the houses of 
 those who saved them. Part restitution would be 
 the proper thing in cases where the owners are known. 
 
 Confederate bonds, Confederate notes, bank checks, 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 137 
 
 bills, flecked and whitened the streets in every direction 
 — all so worthless that the boys would not pick 
 them up. 
 
 The scene at the commissary depot, at the head of the 
 dock, beggared description. Hundreds of Government 
 wagons were loaded with bacon, flour and whisky, and 
 driven off in hot haste to join the retreating army. 
 Negroes with their peculiar "heave oh ! " sweated and 
 worked like beavers ; but the immense piles of stores 
 did not seem to diminish in the least. Thronged about 
 the depot were hundreds of men, women and children, 
 black and white, provided with capacious bags, baskets, 
 tubs, buckets, tin pans and aprons, cursing, pushing and 
 crowding, awaiting the throwing open of the doors, and 
 the order for each to help himself. When the Govern- 
 ment wagons had gotten off all the stores possible, it 
 was found that several hundred barrels of whisky 
 remained in the upper story. 
 
 One after another, in hasty procession, the barrels 
 were rolled to the hatchway, the heads knocked out, 
 and a miniature whisky Niagara poured continuously 
 down, pouring into the dock in a current almost strong 
 enough to have swept a man off his feet. Between two 
 and three hundred barrels were thus poured out — a big 
 drink to the finny inhabitants of the river. 
 
 The doors were opened to the populace, and a rush, 
 that almost seemed to carry the building off its founda- 
 tions, was made, and hundreds of thousands of pounds 
 of splendid bacon, flour, &c., went into the capacious 
 maw of the public. 
 
 And here we may remark that while the Confederate 
 Government was making such a poor mouth over the 
 reported failure of supplies — while the people were 
 being starved that the army might be fed, this immense 
 storehouse was bursting with fullness and plenty to 
 come finally to utter wreck and waste. 
 
 During the night, stragglers from the retreating army 
 inaugurated a reign of terror and pillage. Jewelry, 
 
138 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 clothing and liquor stores, and a few private houses, 
 were sacked. The fire revealed immense amounts of 
 provisions — whether the accumulations of the Govern- 
 ment or of speculators does not appear, although citi- 
 zens say the latter. Thousands immediately engaged 
 in the scarcely reprehensible work of removing to their 
 houses family supplies. "The niggers got it all," said 
 a leading citizen, with a wrath he made little attempt 
 to conceal. 
 
 To the celerity of our movement 
 Petersburg, Va., this momiug and to the military 
 
 April 3, 1865. skill displayed in the maneuver- 
 
 ing of the troops, we may con- 
 fidently attribute the results of this the last campaign 
 in Virginia. There was none of the old-time Antietam 
 and Gettysburg halting after the retreat of Lee became 
 known; no council of war was held to determine the 
 propriety of following up the demoralized foe; but right 
 onward and alongside of the flying foe our columns 
 were pushed and maneuvered with a celerity and skill 
 which has astonished the world. 
 
 But a small portion of our army was gratified with 
 an interior view of Petersburg. On ascertaining the 
 line of the enemy's retreat, and discovering that he 
 was rapidly moving westward toward the Danville road, 
 our several columns were pushed as swiftly towards 
 Burkesville for the purpose of intercepting him. Sheri- 
 dan with his cavalry, the Fifth, and two divisions of the 
 Second Corps, formed our left column, while the re- 
 mainder of the troops moved along the south side of the 
 Appomattox, by what is known as the River road, to 
 Sutherland's Station, near which the whole army are in 
 bivouac to-night, having as yet encountered no opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Petersburg was occupied by the blue coats at three 
 o'clock this morning. For the first time since the begin- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 1 39 
 
 ing of the war have the Stars and Stripes been allowed 
 to corne in without a protest. We are here and propose 
 to stay here, and propose also to plant our proud ban- 
 ner in every city in the Southern States before we get 
 through. 
 
 It is hard to realize the fact that 
 Richmond, Va., the oucc sfrcat clastic spinal col- 
 
 April 3, 1865. r- ^iT ^ r 1 
 
 Union Account. umu of the most powcrful Com- 
 
 bination in arms against the 
 Union has been broken and crushed, and that Lee, 
 with his ragged, disheartened and disorganized forces, 
 is flying from our advancing columns, which are rapid- 
 ly bearing down upon him to complete the work now 
 so nearly finished. And yet, to-day, from many a dizzy 
 height, our flag floats in the bright sunlight over Rich- 
 mond and Petersburg ; the long lines of earthworks 
 around those cities, a few days ago, bristling with guns 
 and seemingly so impregnable, are silent and tenantless 
 now ; our advance is marching on, and to-day the 
 streets of Richmond and Petersburg are trod by the 
 soldiers of the Union, and, mark it, by men in uniform 
 whose skin nature made dark — men whom the 
 boasted chivalry of the South call slaves^ whose toil re- 
 ceives only the remuneration of the lash, but who are 
 men nevertheless, and who have made valid their claim 
 to the title by their deeds. 
 
 This morning at daybreak the 
 Petersburg Va Federal troops were all astir; 
 
 April 3, 1865, ^ . ^ , . , ' 
 
 Union Account. kuapsacks wcrc bemg slimg, 
 
 blankets rolled, and every 
 preparation made for an immediate advance. Portions 
 of our troops had occupied the town two hours before, 
 but the majority were denied the enviable pleasure of 
 breakfasting in the Cockade City. A general fusilade 
 
140 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 was sounding all along our whole line, and, as if it were 
 impossible to indulge sufficiently in other noisy demon- 
 strations, muskets were emptied of their charges to add 
 to the universal din. Bands were playing "Hail 
 Columbia," "Yankee Doodle," "Kingdom Comin'," 
 "We'll all Drink Stone Blind," "Lanigan's Ball," 
 polkas, waltzes, in fact almost everything of a patriotic 
 or an enlivening character. It seemed as if Orpheus 
 himself had gone mad, and was trying to render from 
 all of his creations of lighter music a grand, triumphant 
 and Heaven-swelling chorus in honor of the occasion. 
 Amid this torrent of mellifluous sounds arose from one 
 of the bands that grand old refrain, 
 
 "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, 
 Praise Him ye people hear below ;" 
 
 indicating that some, at least, believed it but just and 
 proper to blend thanksgiving with the general jubila- 
 tion. And thus did the noble old Army of the Poto- 
 mac and its brethren from above the James celebrate 
 the victory won by their long years of persevering toil. 
 But few evidences were discovered, on entering 
 the town, of great destruction of life on the Rebel side. 
 They had removed their dead and wounded, to hide 
 from the eye of our victorious army the full extent ot 
 their disaster. Along the Boydtown road leading to 
 Petersburg was noticed but one poor fellow sacrificed 
 to the devilish ambition of his implacable masters, Davis 
 and Ivce. He was dead ; but the dark, swarthy counte- 
 nance almost led one to believe, until he touched his 
 cold and pulseless hand, that life still lingered in his 
 emaciated, half-clad body. He lay in a ditch or gully 
 along the highway, with the water from a pure, peren- 
 nial spring above trickling musically beneath him ; his 
 blanket was neatly rolled and slung across his shoulder ; 
 his head was resting upon his arm as if in repose, but 
 the death-glaze upon his eyes told that he slept the 
 sleep that knows no waking. A hideous orifice in the 
 side of the head, surrounded by clotted gore, showed 
 
THE lyAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 141 
 
 where a fragment of shell had saved him from living to 
 see the overwhelming shame and disgrace which awaits 
 the deluded followers of his former leaders. 
 
 The city presents the appearance usually noticeable 
 in every Rebel town falling into our possession. Doors 
 were closed and window blinds shut ; but, if I mistake 
 not, I saw many a curious eye intently peering into the 
 street. True, the number of contrabands of all ages 
 and sizes congregated on street corners was legion, and 
 of ancient and crippled whites not a few ; but the fairer 
 sex kept close within doors, disdaining to exhibit their 
 peerless charms to our men in blue. Well, the Union 
 boys took it philosophically enough, seeming to care 
 but little for Confederate calico or linsey, and went 
 marching along as if only intent on the capture or dis- 
 persion of Lee's defeated army. 
 
 The eastern portion of the town exhibits on every 
 side marks of the solid shot and shell thrown by our 
 guns during last summer. The buildings in Boling- 
 broke street, which run nearly east and west, are 
 literally perforated in every part. Chimneys have 
 been razeed on every building, windows knocked and 
 splintered to pieces, brick walls crumbled and torn, 
 porches carried away — ruin and desolation reign su- 
 preme. Almost every house is deserted in this street, 
 but in the center and other portions of the city but lit- 
 tle damage seems to have been done by our fire. 
 
 A singular rumor was in circulation this noon to the 
 effect that a party of Johnnies still held a certain fort 
 on the line south of the city; that they refused to surren- 
 der, and that our forces there had deemed it most 
 judicious to starve them out without shedding the 
 blood always attending an assault. Reports of cannon 
 were occasionally heard during the afternoon in that 
 direction, which seemed to give an air of trustworthi- 
 ness to the strange rumor; but, nevertheless, no one 
 attached sufficient importance to the story to investi- 
 gate it. It was explained to-night and proved to have 
 
142 THE LAST EOUR WEEK5 OF THE WAR. 
 
 originated in the explosion of shells lying around the 
 works by some of our stragglers, who were strolling 
 about outside the city, and who fired them by means 
 of trains for their own amusement. 
 
 From midnight Saturday to Sun- 
 
 in Petersburg va., ^^y mornine: a furious cannon- 
 
 April 3, 1865. ^. ^ . , - , 
 
 Union Account. adiug, accompanicQ by sharp 
 
 skirmishing, was kept up from 
 the Rebel works in front of the Sixth and Ninth Corps. 
 The enemy had probably discovered our plan, and 
 were endeavoring to thwart our intentions. Their 
 efforts were in vain, however, for before daybreak the 
 Sixth Corps, in compliance with orders, were massing 
 between Forts Fisher and Welch, regardless of the storm 
 of shot and shell, for the final charge. In massing, 
 more were killed and wounded by the fire of the enemy 
 than in the assault which followed, as the rapidity 
 with which the advance was made soon placed our men 
 where the missiles of the Rebels whistled and howled 
 harmlessly over their heads. 
 
 Just before daybreak in the morning the Sixth Corps 
 moved on the enemy's works as follows: In this ad- 
 vance the division of General Getty formed in two 
 lines, supported on the right and left respectively by 
 the divisions of Wheaton and Seymour, formed in 
 echelon of brigades, moving left in front to facilitate a 
 flank attack upon the enemy's forts. The advance of 
 the Sixth Corps, in which General Ord's command co- 
 operated, was one of the grandest military spectacles 
 ever witnessed on the battlefield. A bright wall of 
 bayonets firmly grasped by masses of determined men, 
 undaunted by the death-dealing fire from the enemy's 
 forts, which were actually obscured by the volumes of 
 smoke which were vomited forth by a hundred cannon, 
 was a sight, once seen, never to be forgotten. Moving 
 through this murderous fire to the attack, with a line 
 
"THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 1 43 
 
 of white smoke piifFs telling where the shells of the 
 enemy were bursting, the charging columns still ad- 
 vanced and were soon under the guns of the Rebels, 
 who now almost ceased their fire of artillery and 
 opened with musketry. But the doom of the Rebels 
 was sealed; from all sides our columns were bearing 
 down upon them. Two unsuccessful assaults were made 
 to capture the enemy's forts, when the First Division 
 was formed in front with the Second, and a third 
 charge essayed which proved more successful; Fort 
 Gregg (in which fell the Rebel General A. P. Hill, 
 pierced by three bullets), Battery Forty, and the whole 
 line in front of the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Corps fall- 
 ing into our hands. In carrying the works the Third 
 Division of the Sixth Corps formed to assault the 
 enemy's works on their left flank, taking them without 
 any considerable opposition. 
 
 At eleven o'clock the engagement ceased, and the 
 Southside Railroad within three miles of the town was 
 in our possession. The operations of the Ninth Corps, 
 although gratifying, were not equally successful with 
 those of the Sixth and Twenty-fourth. The active 
 participants in the assault of the Ninth Corps were 
 Harriman's Brigade of Wilcox's Division and the divi- 
 sions of Generals Potter and Hartranft. The main 
 attack was to be made by the two divisions last named, 
 supported on their right by Harriman's Brigade upon 
 the earthworks in front of Forts Hell and Rice, the 
 most formidable of which was Fort Mahone confronting 
 Fort Hell. 
 
 Now every one has heard of Fort Hell — has read of 
 the fierce artillery duels which have occurred between 
 it and its antagonist, Fort Mahone, during the winter. 
 It was this same Fort Mahone, with its labyrinth of 
 moats and abatis, that was assaulted by the left of the 
 Ninth Corps on Sunday morning, and which ultimately 
 fell in our possession after fighting of the most desper- 
 ate character. At an early hour Wilcox, in obedience 
 
144 'I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 to orders, had made a strong demonstration in front of 
 his position on the Appomattox, while on the left Pot- 
 ter and Hartranft had at the same time charged, carried 
 and held Fort Mahone and two other earthworks on its 
 left against the repeated attempts of the enemy to 
 repossess it. 
 
 At Fort Mahone, the struggle was longer and more 
 determined on both sides. Carried at about eight 
 o'clock in the morning, it was found necessary to aban- 
 don its northern face as the enemy had, on being 
 driven out of it, retired a short distance to the rear or 
 inner work, from which they swept with cannon-shot 
 and musketry the locality mentioned. The main part, 
 however, was still in our possession. At about eleven 
 o'clock in the morning the enemy made a most furious 
 sortie to retake it, and for a time our chances of retain- 
 ing it seemed dubious. The enemy assaulted in over- 
 whelming numbers, and it was plainly evident had 
 received re-enforcements. Fortunately a portion of the 
 Sixth Corps and the provisional Brigade, under the com- 
 mand of Brigadier General C. H. T. CoUis, arrived in 
 the nick of time, and, again charging the enemy, they 
 were again driven from the fort, which he made no 
 further attempt to reoccupy during the day. 
 
 Previously the Second Corps had carried the works 
 in its front with but trifling opposition, and was wheel- 
 ing to the north to co-operate in the attack of the Sixth, 
 Ninth and Twenty-fourth Corps. It was too late, how- 
 ever, to participate in the glories of the assault, arriving 
 up the Boydtown road in the afternoon, when the 
 enemy had retired into his inner defenses near the city. 
 The Division of General Miles had been sent to the left 
 to join Sheridan in the morning, and having heard no 
 intelligence from it, the command of General Mott was 
 sent to join it. 
 
 Sheridan was somewhere on the left with the Fifth 
 Corps endeavoring to intercept the retreat of the Rebel 
 forces, cut off from Petersburg by the advance of the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WKKKS OF THE WAR. 145 
 
 Sixth and Twenty-fourth Corps. Our line was within 
 a mile and a half of the city, and our left rested west of 
 it, on the Appomattox. 
 
 The headquarters of Generals Grant and Meade at 
 night were established at the Ritchie House, on the 
 Boydtown road, three miles from the town, and within 
 easy shelling range of the enemy's batteries. But the 
 enemy was content to rest quietly in his works, send- 
 ing over a shell occasionally to remind us that he 
 was still there. The battle ended at about eleven 
 o'clock in the morning. From noon until nightfall the 
 enemy exhibited unusual inactivity, and many began 
 making inquiries as to what it boded. Some, with 
 a wise look, believed that Lee was only maneuvering, 
 in order to attack us in some unexpected quarter. 
 Everyone said, "This lull means something!" Most 
 assuredly it did mean something, and that something 
 the retreat of the major part of Lee's forces across the 
 river north of the town. All the afternoon three or 
 four dense columns of smoke were seen ascending from 
 the city, and it was evident that extensive fires were 
 raging. 
 
 At dusk a pontoon train, under the guidance of 
 Major Paine, of the Topographical Engineers, at Gen- 
 eral Meade's headquarters, was sent out to span the 
 Appomattox for the crossing of troops to the west and 
 northwest of the city during the night, from which the 
 inference may reasonably be drawn that Grant knew 
 of the retreat of Lee, or that not aware of it, he was 
 drawing a circle about them from which it would be 
 impossible to escape. At any rate the city was vir- 
 tually in our possession, and should Lee fail in all of 
 his assaults to break our lines, the retreat of his army 
 would inevitably follow. And then arose the question, 
 "Where will he go?" Officers high in authority said 
 to Richmond, and on referring to that point as no 
 longer tenable, admitted Lee's inability to hold it over 
 a few days at most, but stated that now that he had 
 
146 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS of^ THE WAR. 
 
 been thoroughly defeated, he would fight only for 
 effect; that the Rebel authorities would endeavor to 
 make known to the world the fact that they were bat- 
 tling in a holy and righteous cause, and that, should they 
 fail, they would, with their expiring breath, announce 
 the intention of the coming generation to accomplish 
 the work which they had left uudone. 
 
 Night came, and with it our troops reposed on their 
 laurels. Bright columns of light rose from the Cockade 
 City, and until one o'clock on Sunday morning occa- 
 sional shots were interchanged between our and the 
 Rebel lines. From that time until morning silence 
 reigned over both lines. At half past four o'clock on 
 the morning of Monday four reports of cavalry from 
 Birney's front were heard, and four shells following one 
 another in rapid succession sped, with a hollow, rushing 
 sound, toward Petersburg. The reports awakened our 
 weary men, and, after an interval of perhaps a minute, 
 loud and prolonged cheers were heard from one end of 
 the line to the other, bands commenced playing patri- 
 otic airs, and every one was wide awake and sensible 
 of the fact that Petersburg had been evacuated. 
 
 Colonel Ralph Ely, commanding the Second Brigade 
 of the First Division of the Ninth Corps, is credited with 
 the honor of being the first to enter the city. There 
 are several other claimants to the honor, among them 
 a brigade of the Sixth Corps and the colored division 
 of General Birney, of the Twenty-fifth. The latter 
 claims that at an early hour on the morning of Monday 
 a Rebel deserter came into our lines and reported that 
 the Rebel picket line had just been withdrawn; that he 
 immediately advanced his skirmish line, which entered 
 the town at daybreak, meeting with no opposition, and 
 that Lieutenant West, of his staff, was the first to set 
 free four hundred prisoners, white and colored, from 
 the city jail. 
 
 Be this as it may. Colonel Ely, of the Ninth Corps 
 has the official credit of being the first to enter the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. I47 
 
 town, and has therefore received its Provost-Marshal- 
 ship. 
 
 On entering the town the tobacco and cotton ware- 
 houses were found smoldering heaps of ruins. They 
 had been fired soon after we gained the Southside 
 road on Sunday, and it was this conflagration which 
 was observable on the afternoon of that day. About 
 eleven thousand dollars worth of cotton and fifteen 
 hundred hogsheads of tobacco were destroyed by the 
 fire kindled by Lee on his exit from the city. Never- 
 theless, innumerable bales of tobacco were found in the 
 different stores and were appropriated by our soldiers, 
 to whom that article has become as necessary as it is 
 noxious. 
 
 In the afternoon, President Lincoln, accompanied by 
 Admiral Porter, arrived in the city from City Point; 
 but so quiet was their arrival and departure that but 
 few knew of their movements until the evening. 
 
 At an early hour this morning, the army was again 
 moving westward toward Sutherland's Station in pur- 
 suit of Lee's retreating columns. At present, no one 
 seems to know the enemy's exact whereabout. 
 
Tuesday, April 4, 1865. 
 
 To-day, at about noon, Mr. Lin- 
 Richmond, va,, coin came up from City Point, 
 April 4, 1865. taking the boat to Varina, and 
 there taking horses to this city. 
 Along with him came Admiral Porter, with a few other 
 persons. The party entered the capital with feelings 
 that can better be imagined than described. It is not 
 known whether the occasion reminded Mr. Lincoln '*of 
 a little story," but it is presumed that it did. 
 
 This coming of the President seems to point to peace. 
 It is said that he intends to issue a proclamation to the 
 people of the South, calling upon them to return to 
 their allegiance. By this act the President will ignore 
 the existence of the Rebel Government, and appeal to 
 the common sense of the people, who, worn out by a 
 long and bloody war, will no doubt set their rulers 
 aside and make peace on any terms. 
 
 It is estimated that there are twenty thousand Union 
 people in the city, who will gladly return to the starry 
 folds of their proper flag. It was only by force of arms 
 that they bowed to the acts of the Rebel Government. 
 To this class will be added the half-way men, who now 
 will of course be good Union citizens. 
 
 The Whig appears this morning as a Union paper, 
 with the name of the former proprietor at its head. 
 
 The reception of President Lincoln to-day was 
 enthusiastic in the extreme. 
 
THE l^AST FOUR WKKKS OF THE WAR. 149 
 
 General Weitzel telegraphed the Secretary of War 
 that twenty-eight locomotives, forty-four passenger and 
 baggage cars, and one hundred and sixteen freight cars 
 were captured in this city. 
 
 . .. „ This day was spent by the army 
 
 Army of the Potomac. . •' ,. ^ ., c , ^ 
 
 In the Field, m an activc pursuit 01 the 
 
 April 4 1865. cucmy. It is a foot race again 
 
 Union Account. , , ■' - , ^t*^'- 
 
 between the two great bodies for 
 a certain goal. The point for which General Lee is 
 thought to be in march is Danville. Under cover of 
 his left he drew off from his lines on the night of the 
 second, and began a rapid march in the hope of gaining 
 a good start upon us, in which he has failed, for this 
 army is well up with his rear guard, the Second Corps, 
 under General Gordon, which held the left of his lines 
 on the day of the great battle. 
 
 By the Cox road the bulk of this army went on Mon- 
 day, through Petersburg, in pursuit, and the cavalry 
 has been on the heels of the enemy all this day, taking 
 two thousand more men from their ranks, which are 
 fast dwindling away. It is thought that there cannot 
 be more than thirty-five thousand men now with Gen- 
 eral Ivce, and as they go on the men quit the ranks and 
 find their way home. 
 
 Our cavalry gives no rest to the broken enemy, and 
 is pressing hard upon the rear of Gordon's Corps (their 
 second). It is from it that most of the prisoners are 
 taken by our cavalry. In many of the houses along the 
 line of march, parties of wounded men are found, who, 
 having been able to march from the late field of battle, 
 were taken along and had to fall out on the way. It is 
 only a very sanguine Rebel who cannot see that all is 
 lost with the lately great army of northern Virginia. 
 
 It may not exist as an organized body thirty days 
 longer. If it can reach the force under General Joseph 
 Johnston, a second heavy fight will take place; this 
 
150 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 time with General Sherman ; but the Army of the 
 Potomac would in less than ten hours enter into the 
 fight, and the result to the Rebel forces would be a dis- 
 aster, which would be final. 
 
 The first of May may see the end of this war, for 
 nothing but a heavy line of defenses could enable the 
 enemy to make a stand again, and time to throw up 
 such a line is now wanting. The enemy can only flee 
 from point to point for a short time. 
 
 Hill's loss to the enemy is great, for he led their 
 Third Corps with ability, and was perhaps only second 
 to General Lee in importance to the Rebel army. In 
 the late fight his corps was almost ubiquitous. It ex- 
 tended from Hatcher's Run to Battery Gregg, and 
 fought our Twenty-fourth and Sixth Corps. It was in 
 that work that Hill was struck by three balls, which 
 made his death wounds. 
 
 To-day the cavalry and the leading corps made a 
 long march. The Ninth Corps is some distance in the 
 rear, as it left Petersburg only to-day, but the rest of 
 the army is well in hand, and the cavalry, under the 
 untirino^ Sheridan, is doing great service. 
 
 There are many reports of extravagant success on our 
 part flying about. One is that twenty thousand of the 
 enemy have been forced to lay down their arms, but 
 this is at least premature. It is the old story of bag- 
 ging. The army is doing well, but has not made such 
 short work of the enemy as that. 
 
 Burkesville may be the point at which another great 
 fight will take place. It is sixty miles from Peters- 
 burg, and the army has not made more than about half 
 that distance up to this evening. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln received a dispatch 
 Washington, D. c, from the President to-day, dated 
 
 April 4, 1865. as follows: "From Jefferson 
 
 Davis's late residence at Rich- 
 mond." Correspondents from City Point state that 
 
THK I.AST FOUR WEKKS OF THE WAR. 151 
 
 Lee has divided the remnant of his army, and is re- 
 treating in two small columns. Our prisoners at noon 
 on the third exceeded twenty-five thousand. The 
 Rebel destruction of property on their retreat literally 
 beggars description. Stragglers and deserters are even 
 in excess of what was anticipated. 
 
 This morning's Tribune con- 
 New York, tains the following editorial: 
 
 April 4,1865. RICHMOND OURS! The fall 
 
 of Richmond and Petersburg so 
 closely following the victories of Saturday and Sunday, 
 has gladdened the hearts of the loyal millions as no 
 other event has done or had power to do. Newbern, 
 Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis, Norfolk, Vicksburg, 
 Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta, Savannah, Charles- 
 ton, Columbia, Wilmington, Fayetteville, were each 
 important, and its capture was hailed with satisfaction ; 
 but even Charleston the cradle of Secession, was not 
 so generally esteemed the cockade of the Rebellion as 
 Richmond, the seat of the Confederate Government, 
 but lately deserted by its Congress, and till yesterday 
 the focus of all that was left of its authority and pres- 
 tige. " Richmond is Ours ! " as it was yesterday flashed 
 to Madawaska and to Oregon, awakened more shouts 
 of exultation than if it had been telegraphed that Lee 
 had surrendered his army. 
 
 For Richmond has been long an eyesore to the Re- 
 public. The sudden and secret plunge of Virginia into 
 the abyss of Treason — the instant rush upon the 
 National Army and Navy Yard within her borders — 
 the sudden transformation of the entire State into an 
 active volcano of hostility to the National existence 
 — the violence and terrorism wherewith Unionism was 
 instantly suppressed from the Atlantic to the crests of 
 the AUeghenies — the perils wherewith the National 
 Capital was suddenly environed — above all, the Ion- 
 
152 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 and wearying efforts to plant the Old Flag once more 
 on the battlements of the Rebel Metropolis — the 
 precious lives sacrificed in those persistent efforts — all 
 contributed to highten the joy wherewith Unionists 
 yesterday grasped each other's hands and shouted 
 "Richmond is Ours!" 
 
 It might have been ours long ago. It could have 
 been taken with little loss by the tens of thousands 
 whom General Scott persistently held idle and useless 
 around Washington throughout May and June, 1861. 
 It might easily have been taken by McClellan in the 
 spring of 1862, had that illustrious professor of the art 
 How Not To Do It really and zealously tried. It 
 might have been taken, but was not, for God's time 
 had not yet come. At last, that time has come, and 
 millions joyfully echo "Richmond is Ours!" 
 
 On Sunday night before the 
 City Point, va., evacuatiou of Richmond, the 
 
 u^niorAclount. Rebels blcw up their forts and 
 
 rams in the James River, the 
 explosion of which was terrific, resembling an earth- 
 quake, and was heard for miles around. Our gunboats 
 have moved up the James River, and are now engaged 
 in removing the obstructions. General Weitzel, upon 
 entering Richmond, was directed by General Grant to 
 allow no one to leave the city, or permit any one to en- 
 ter, who was not connected with the army or had au- 
 thority to do so. Petersburg was occupied by our 
 troops on Monday morning. The Rebels fired Peters- 
 burg in several places before evacuating the town, but 
 the fire was speedily extinguished. Over five thousand 
 prisoners have already been received at City Point, and 
 others are constantly arriving. In fact there were so 
 many prisoners there that a sufficient number of troops 
 c )uld not be spared to guard them, and consequently 
 detachments of sailors and marines were taken from 
 
THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 1 53 
 
 the gunboats and placed in charge of them. The en- 
 tire number of prisoners captured by our troops up to 
 yesterday was estimated at thirteen thousand by well- 
 informed officers. Our wounded are being sent in to 
 City Point as rapidly as possible and hospital boats are 
 there taking them on board for shipment to Baltimore 
 and Washington. The Rebel deserters in the Bull 
 Pen at City Point appeared to receive the news of the 
 fall of Richmond with as great enthusiasm as our own 
 troops, and gave cheer after cheer. 
 
 April 4, 1865. 
 Union Account. 
 
 A pontoon bridge now spans the 
 Richmond, Va., Tamcs Rivcr, connectine: Rich- 
 
 mond with Manchester. The 
 only trace on the river of the 
 Petersburg Railroad bridge are the huge stone piers 
 that were left when the bridge was fired on the night 
 of the second instant. 
 
 We are now on the Danville 
 "'I'n'Jhe'FieiT'' Railroad south of Amelia Court 
 
 April 4, 1865. Housc. Shcridau has urged 
 
 Meade to hurry forward the Sec- 
 ond and Sixth Corps, by the River road. If the troops 
 can get here in time, we have hopes of capturing the 
 whole of Lee's army. 
 
 We are moving with our left wing under command 
 of General Ord by the Burkesville road. 
 
 We hear that Lee is at Amelia Court House from 
 men of that army who have become disgusted and are 
 going home, generally unarmed. 
 
154 'THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 General Grant has sent the fol- 
 sutheriand Station, Va., lowing teles:ram : 
 
 April 4, 1865. ..„& l ot, -J • 1 J 
 
 Union Account. ''General Sheridan picked up 
 
 twelve hundred prisoners to-day, 
 and from three to five hundred more have been gath- 
 ered by our troops. The majority of the arms that 
 were left in the hands of Lee's Army are now scattered 
 between Richmond and where his troops now are. 
 The country is full of stragglers. The line of retreat is 
 marked with artillery, ammunition, burned or charred 
 wagons, caissons, ambulances, &c." 
 
 Five hundred Yankee prisoners 
 
 Augusta, Ga., froiu Sherman's Army, were last 
 
 confe'derate Account. week brought iuto Charlotte, N. 
 
 C. The Charlotte Democrat is 
 
 informed that some of these prisoners, when told that 
 
 they would be immediately exchanged, remarked that 
 
 "if that was known in their army, Sherman would not 
 
 have enough men to take him to Washington." 
 
 A daring act of piracy was per- 
 Baitimore, ivid., petrated to-day at Fairhaven, 
 
 April 4, 1865. u ' -D u ^ xzr^. '^ 
 
 Union Account. Hemug ^ Bay, about fifty miles 
 
 below this city, the steamer Har- 
 riet Deford, being seized by a company of Rebel soldiers 
 in disguise. The Deford had scarcely left Fairhaven 
 wharf before a dozen or more of newly received passen- 
 gers threw off their overcoats, and drawing revolvers, 
 revealed to the astonished gaze of the passengers the 
 uniform of Rebel soldiers. 
 
 The passengers, about seventy in number, thirty 
 being ladies, were ordered to the saloon, and guards 
 placed over them, while the balance of the pirates pro- 
 ceeded to take command of the steamer. Captain and 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 1 55 
 
 officers were forced into obedience at the muzzle of the 
 pirates' revolvers. One of the pirates assumed control 
 of the wheel, the pilot and engineer being compelled 
 to proceed to sea. 
 
 Mr. A. Donnell, clerk of the Deford, believing that 
 he had met the leader of the outlaws on a former 
 occasion, accosted him as Captain Fitzhugh, when the 
 latter acknowledged the recognition, and said he was 
 Captain of the Fifth Virginia cavalry, and acting under 
 orders of superior officers. 
 
 Under the persuasive eloquence of a revolver, the 
 clerk handed over to the pirates nearly twelve hundred 
 dollars belonging to the owners of the steamer and 
 different firms in this city, which Fitzhugh carefully 
 fobbed. 
 
 When about a mile from Fairhaven, Fitzhugh com- 
 pelled the engineer to sound the steam whistle three 
 times, in answer to which signal three boats, contain- 
 ing thirty-two men, put off from each side of the river 
 and stood for the steamer. The crews of these boats 
 having been taken aboard, the steamer was headedt 
 down Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 On the way down Captain Leage, Captain Dayton, 
 officer in charge of steamer, and several old gentlemen, 
 with ladies and children, were placed on board of the 
 schooner Hiawatha, bound for this city. The balance 
 of male passengers, engineer, firemen and twenty 
 colored freedmen were retained as prisoners. The De- 
 ford was valued at fifty thousand dollars, and had a 
 cargo of tobacco, potatoes, grain, furs, &c., valued at 
 eighty thousand dollars. 
 
 Fitzhugh would not permit his men to rob passen- 
 gers. The captured steamer is a fast sailer, having 
 repeatedly made fourteen knots per hour. The intention 
 of the pirates could not be learned, but it is supposed 
 they will endeavor to run outside of the Capes, transfer 
 the cargo to a larger vessel, burn the Deford, and pro- 
 ceed to Nassau. 
 
156 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The looked for artillery attack 
 In Front of Mobile, Ala., oti the Rebel Spatiish Fort was 
 
 Apni 4. 1365. . . 1 ,1 • • a 11 r 
 
 Union Account. instituted this evening. All of 
 
 our guns, both field and siege 
 pieces, numbering upward of one hundred, were en- 
 gaged for two hours in a terrific bombardment of the 
 fort. An assault was not attempted. The Rebels 
 threw their missiles with spirit and showed no signs of 
 giving up. 
 
 Spanish Fort contains at least four thousand Rebel 
 troops and three generals. No body of troops can pos- 
 sibly escape from it without being captured. 
 
 The enemy's gun boats make no attempt to approach 
 the fort. Battery Smith, manned with thirty-pound 
 Parrott guns, controls the bay in front and keeps the 
 Rebel boats at a distance. 
 
 Reliable news reaches us to-day 
 Mobile. Ala ^^^^^ ^j^^ Federals captured Selma 
 
 April 4, 1865. . ^ j 1 r 
 
 Confederate Account. yesterday With a great deal of 
 Government property, twenty- 
 three pieces of artillery, ammunition and all of our 
 valuable machinery. 
 
 The evacuation of Richmond 
 Danville, Va.. commenced Sunday afternoon, 
 
 confedllt J Account. President Davis and Cabinet 
 arrived here Monday. Very few 
 persons were able to leave Richmond, except Govern- 
 ment officials, in consequence of the suddenness of the 
 movement. 
 
 No telegraph communication beyond the Junction. 
 The Richmond arsenal has been removed. All the 
 valuables of the Richmond banks w'ere brought away 
 and also the specie belonging to the Government. 
 
ITHE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 157 
 
 The last passenger said he saw a lot of low class 
 foreigners burning the mills and warehouses and plun- 
 dering stores as he left Richmond. 
 
 The enemy had not occupied the city at last account, 
 which was on the night of the second inst. 
 
 This morning came and found 
 
 Army of the Potomac, eVCry OUC aS aUxioUS tO COUtinUC 
 
 April 4, 1865. .1 •. -r 
 
 Union Account. the pursuit as ever. Lee was on 
 
 the march for the Danville road, 
 and had possibly reached it already, and delay on our 
 part would have been criminal. Let it be understood 
 that at this time Grant was south of, and marching 
 parallel with Lee; and that, on the possession of the 
 railroad mentioned, were based all our hopes of effect- 
 ually preventing the escape of the enemy. According- 
 ly, our columns were again in motion early this morn- 
 ing, one pushing down the Southside railroad to Wil- 
 son's Station, and another moving up the Namozine 
 road toward Amelia Court House. Considerable skir- 
 mishing in front of the last mentioned column occurred 
 during its advance, but the enemy was continually 
 forced back upon his main body with the loss of guns 
 and prisoners. 
 
 General Forrest estimated the 
 Montgomery, Ala., Yankees iu Selma at nine thou- 
 
 Con?edera'te\Tount. saud mounted infantry. Our 
 force in Sunday's fight was Arm- 
 strong's and Roddy's brigades, some militia and seven- 
 teen pieces of artillery. The enemy turned our left, 
 captured our wagons, artillery and a number of prison- 
 ers, and occupied Selma. 
 
158 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 It is reported they burned only Government build- 
 ings in Selma. 
 
 The Yankees say they are going to Mobile. 
 
 Some accounts say our forces burnt the cotton and 
 Government stores. 
 
 Forrest is all right, and in the proper place. Not 
 much excitement. 
 
 No official information of the enemy leaving Selma. 
 
 The Dispatch newspaper is the only one saved. 
 
 The Kentucky brigade lost heavily at Plantersville. 
 Plenty of rumors. No immediate danger apprehended 
 here. 
 
 It is not the intention to allow 
 Goidsboro, N. c, ^|-^^g fine, campaiornins: weather 
 
 April 4, 1865. , ' . -t^ ^ - ^^ - 
 
 Union Account. to pass uuimproved. Every ef- 
 
 fort is being made for an advance. 
 Cavalry scouts report Rebel infantry pickets at 
 Moseley Hall, twelve miles northeast of us. This indi- 
 cates an attempt to interfere with our railroad com- 
 munication. They can't hope to succeed, as our guards 
 are strong. 
 
 A flag of truce, from the Rebel General Hampton, 
 made its appearance yesterday in front of General 
 Cox's line. The dispatches were received by Cap- 
 tain Knapp, of the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio, 
 and sent to General Schofield. Hampton, it is under- 
 stood, wants an exchange of prisoners now on hand. 
 An answer has not yet been given him. 
 
 A walk through the streets of Goidsboro to-day would 
 convince you that the name '^Yankee" — which the 
 Rebels seem determined shall cling to us — is well ap- 
 plied. Every corner and crossing is crowded with 
 soldiers peddling tobacco, cigars, stationery, canned 
 milk, or some other article. Everyone is as earnestly 
 at work as though his livelihood depended on success. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 1 59 
 
 The query is, where are the buyers ? All the capital- 
 ists seem to be dealers. The paymasters have not been 
 seen for months, and yet there is sufficient of "the 
 medium" here to keep up a lively business. Another 
 thing that is not explained is, where do these dealers 
 get their supplies ? There is mystery even here as to 
 how some things are done, and that mystery we cannot 
 solve. 
 
Wednesday, April 5, 1865, 
 
 To Lieutenant General U. S. 
 ^!"'.?l'"!'o!^' Grant: I send you the inclosed 
 
 April 5, 1865. . ^^ ^ r,- x^ '^^ 
 
 Union Account. letter, ^ which Will give you an 
 
 idea of the conditioiif of the 
 enemy and their whereabouts. I sent General Davie's 
 brigade this morning around on my left flank. He 
 captured at Fame's cross roads five pieces of artillery, 
 about two hundred wagons, and eight or nine battle 
 flags, and a number of prisoners. 
 
 The Second Army Corps is now coming up. I wish 
 you were here yourself. I feel confident of capturing 
 the army of Northern Virginia if we exert ourselves. 
 I see no escape for Lee. I will put all my cavalry out 
 on our left flank except McKenzie, who is now on the 
 
 right. 
 
 H. Sheridan, 
 Major General. 
 
 Without intending to convey 
 Goidsboro N c, aj^y information to the enemy, 
 
 April 5, 1865. . t , , - . , / ' 
 
 Union Account. it IS a matter oi pride to see the 
 
 numbers and material of which 
 this army is composed. There is now a right, left, and 
 center army, commanded respectively by Generals 
 Howard, Slocum and Schofield, and if they should have 
 the opportunHy afforded them of again meeting the 
 
 * This letter is omitted. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. l6l 
 
 enemy in the field in a pitched battle, will strike a 
 blow which will use up the last vestige of Johnston's 
 army, now thoroughly demoralized by fear of Sher- 
 man's victorious legions. 
 
 With the exception of slight picket firing there has 
 been no change in the monotony of camp life, and we 
 would have no idea of our proximity to an enemy. 
 
 Sherman's army has been thoroughly reclothed and 
 prepared for the coming campaign, and before this 
 reaches you our army will be on the march. 
 
 Refugees arriving inside our lines report the evacua- 
 tion of Raleigh. It is impossible to know how much 
 credence is to be placed in this rumor, but it is not alto- 
 gether improbable that Johnston may have moved his 
 command further north, in order to try to make a 
 junction with I^ee. 
 
 News reaches us that a band 
 of guerillas made a dash upon 
 uii'ion ^Account. Summcrvillc to day, captured a 
 
 few negroes, and threatened to 
 shoot all the whites who have taken the oath. 
 
 Charleston, S. C. 
 Aprils, 1865. 
 
 Alabama is over-run by Yankee 
 Augusta, Ga., cavalry, under Wilson and other 
 
 April 5, 1865. -^ ' . ^ t 
 
 Confederate Account. COmmaudcrS, mOVlUg t O W a r d 
 
 Mobile. 
 McCook's forces burned Red Mountain Iron Works 
 and the town of Eltoton. They have tapped the tele- 
 graph in several places, sending dispatches to our 
 officers. Two columns of Yankees are also reported 
 advancing from Columbus, Miss. 
 
l62 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 This afternoon Sheridan and the 
 
 Army of the Potomac, Fifth Corps had, by dint of hard 
 
 un^ion ^Account. marching, reached the Danville 
 
 road near Jettersville, and had 
 
 already thrown up temporary works to dispute the 
 
 passage of the enemy at this point. 
 
 Later in the day the force was strengthened by the 
 arrival of the Second and Sixth Corps, which were 
 placed in a position supporting Sheridan and the Fifth 
 Corps. Our tactics proved the accuracy of the Lieu- 
 tenant General's calculations. Lee, having crossed the 
 Appomattox at Devil's Bend, was with his army in the 
 vicinity of Amelia Court House, and had counted on 
 his ability to reach Danville, his objective point, via 
 the road of the same name^ and on discovering the 
 formidable force in his front, and the utter impossibility 
 of penetrating our lines, changed his direction from 
 southwest to west, with the intention of reaching 
 Lynchburg, or possibly of heading us off, crossing the 
 Southside west of Burkesville, and by a rapid detour, 
 striking the Danville road south of the junction. 
 
 But whether his objective point is Lynchburg or 
 whether he still adheres to his original intention of 
 reaching Danville, it matters not; subsequent events 
 proves his inability to reach either, and leaves him 
 a prisoner cut off from Richmond, Lynchburg and 
 Danville, in the region around Appomattox Court 
 House, with no alternative but absolute surrender. 
 
 While the cavalry with the infantry force named was 
 marching toward Jettersville to seize the railroad at 
 that point, the column of Ord was moving rapidly down 
 the Southside to Burkesville where it bivouacked to- 
 night, while our right wing is thrown into position 
 across the Danville road at Jettersville. 
 
 The position of both armies on to-night may be 
 explained by saying that the enemy held one side, 
 the west, of a triangle formed by the junction of the 
 Southside and Danville railroads. Ord's column is at 
 
THE LAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 163 
 
 Burkesville, Sheridan with the Second, Fifth and Sixth 
 Corps is higher up on the Danville road at Jettersville, 
 while Lee with the remnant of his army is still fur^ 
 ther up in the vicinity of Amelia Court House. Sheri- 
 dan has by a series of heavy attacks demonstrated the 
 fact of Lee's presence at the point mentioned, and has 
 telegraphed to Grant this evening expressing the opin- 
 ion that, if pressed, the enemy would surrender. 
 
 „ . . „ Honorable Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 Burkesville, Va., „ r ttt t • ^ L 
 
 April 5. 1865. Secretary or War: Lieutenant 
 
 10 O'clock p.m. General Grant received the fol- 
 
 Union Account. , . ,. ., , ■, ^ r . • 
 
 lowing dispatch at half past six 
 o'clock in the evening while on his way to this point, 
 and at once proceeded to General Sheridan's head- 
 quarters. 
 
 General Grant desired me to transmit the dispatch 
 to you on the opening of the telegraph at this place, 
 and to say that the Sixth Corps without doubt reached 
 General Sheridan's position within an hour or two after 
 the dispatch was written. Two divisions of the 
 Twenty-fourth Corps will encamp here to-night, and 
 one division of the Twenty-fifth Army Corps at Black's 
 and White Station, Southside railroad. 
 
 S. Williams, 
 
 Brigadier General. 
 
 Richmond and Petersburo: have 
 
 Danville Va 
 
 April 5, 'i865. fallen; they have gone down in 
 
 The Evacuation of Richmond, a blazc of glory, and with a 
 
 Confederate Account. , ^ P ^-^ ' ■, ^ . r 
 
 record unstained by one blot of 
 shame. All that the enemy have gained, has been pur- 
 chased at a terrible price in blood, while our own army, 
 although suffering severely, is still strong, intact, and 
 ready for its future work. 
 
164 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Of the events of the last five days I can give you but 
 a cursory view, and even this is obscured by the yet 
 fresh smoke of the battle. 
 
 Grant commenced his grand movement as early as 
 Tuesday, the 28th. It was not unanticipated. 
 Our only doubt was as to the exact point at which he 
 would make his main or decisive demonstration. He 
 felt our lines at different localities along their entire 
 length. Hence General Lee was compelled so to dis- 
 tribute his forces as to be prepared to repel the princi- 
 pal assault with the least possible delay. 
 
 On the Tuesday in question the enemy advanced on 
 the south side to within one mile of the Boydtown plank 
 road, threw up entrenchments and built a large fort in 
 the vicinity of the Lewis house. During the night, his 
 skirmishers pushed forward a few hundred yards fur- 
 ther. Wednesday, we fought this column with varying 
 success, and night drooped on a drawn battle. At 
 Hatcher's Run, during the afternoon, there was also 
 heavy fighting, in which the enemy lost heavily. 
 Thursday heavy skirmishing and movement of troops. 
 Friday the efforts were resumed and with greater deter- 
 mination. The Federal cavalry swept around our 
 works towards the railroads, but were met by General 
 Fitz Lee and repulsed. The Yankee infantry, upwards 
 of forty thousand strong, were massed near Burgess^ 
 Mill, and here battle was joined in earnest. Of its 
 results I know nothing definite, save that the enemy 
 gained no substantial advantage, and suffered greatly. 
 We captured between four and six hundred prisoners. 
 
 On Saturday and Sunday, the fighting was fearful — the 
 shocks of conflict the most terrible of the war, and the 
 casualties on both sides immense. Our entrenchments, 
 in many places, were held by a thin line only, but this 
 stood nobly to its post, throughout Saturday. On Sun- 
 day, however, Grant resumed his old vocation of 
 ^'Butcher." Finding that he could make little or no 
 impression in the ordinary way, he massed his troops 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 165 
 
 several columns deep against a portion of the line on 
 the right, and then driving them relentlessly forward 
 succeeded at last after frightful sacrifice of life in 
 obtaining possession of a section of the works. It was 
 not in the power of any men, however brave, to have 
 withstood these desperate assaults without greater sup- 
 port — Longstreet had not yet come up, although hurry- 
 ing from another part of the field. Meanwhile the 
 Federals were rolling forward and recoiling like waves 
 — those behind impelling those before — until a lodge- 
 ment was effected, the works mounted, a flanking posi- 
 tion and enfilade fire secured, and the battle sub- 
 stantially won. 
 
 Our grape and canister mowed the enemy down by 
 hundreds, our rifles told with unerring precision, and 
 the ground was literally carpeted with the dead and 
 wounded, but sheer physical brute force proved at last 
 superior to everything else, and the defenses were 
 taken. 
 
 We know nothing yet of the military movements of 
 the day in detail. But every statement that reaches us 
 confirms the fact that our officers and soldiers fought 
 like heroes. 
 
 General A. P. Hill is said to have been killed or 
 mortally wounded. He was passing through the 
 woods and came upon two Yankees, whose surren- 
 der he demanded, but instead of yielding one of 
 them drew sight and shot him through the body. 
 Whether he was killed outright or not we don't 
 know. It is thought by some that he is in the 
 hands of the enemy and probably still alive. Gen- 
 eral Gordon is reported mortally wounded. He was 
 one of the lions of the day. General Pickett is said 
 to have been killed. These reports may all prove 
 premature, and I recommend that they be received 
 with caution. Our total losses are estimated at from 
 eight to fifteen thousand, of whom a considerable 
 portion are prisoners. That of the enemy can only 
 
1 66 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 be guessed at; but officers who were engaged at the 
 front and saw something of the slaughter, state that 
 it cannot be less than from forty to fifty thousand. 
 
 The scene in Richmond, on the reception of the 
 news, beggars all description. While preparations for 
 an evacuation had been in progress several weeks, the 
 suddenness of the movement took every one by sur- 
 prise. The President was at church ; officials were 
 resting in comparative quiet, waiting the dispatches of 
 General Lee: citizens were confident and hopeful. No 
 one anticipated disaster. When, however, the truth 
 was foreshadowed, such hurrying to and fro, such gath- 
 ering of goods, disposition of effects, and endeavors to 
 leave the city, as took place has had no parallel during 
 the war. The streets were thronged by an excited 
 populace. The departments were alive with swarms of 
 officials packing and removing the public records. The 
 torch was freely applied by order of the Government to 
 all species of public property. In some instances the 
 patriotic owners set fire to their own premises— Libby's 
 prison, tobacco warehouses and flour mills, whole acres 
 of "Virginia weed," commissary stores and buildings, the 
 Laboratory and Arsenal, in brief everything that could 
 afford sustenance to the Yankee army, or incite pillage 
 was given to the flames. During Sunday night many 
 of the stores were broken open and robbed of their con- 
 tents; and others were thrown open to the poor and 
 needy. 
 
 Before sunrise flames and smoke were coiling above 
 and around the sacrificial pile in every direction, and 
 I recalled amid the bursting bombs, the rush and 
 roar of conflagration, the movement of trains, and a 
 thousand other incidents of the hour, the siege of Se- 
 bastopol in the Crimea. Our Malakoff had fallen, our 
 noble fleet of gunboats were either sunk or blown up 
 as on that memorable occasion, and our men might 
 have been seen, with the lurid light of their burning 
 capital glimmering on their faces, retreating slowly 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 167 
 
 from the place. Take it all in all, it was one of the 
 most fearful sights I have ever contemplated. Im- 
 agination can scarcely fill the picture. 
 
 On Monday, up to the hour of my departure, the 
 excitement still continued and the work of destruc- 
 tion progressed. The superb railroad bridge across the 
 James was burned, and other similar structures above 
 and below it. Little railroad rolling stock, if any, re- 
 mained. The last train left on Monday morning. 
 
 At what hour the enemy entered I am not now in- 
 formed. But as their advance was within seven miles, 
 I presume a column must have marched up during the 
 day. An officer who escaped from Richmond in a 
 canoe, says that when he left, a Yankee officer was ad- 
 dressing a crowd from the Washington monument. 
 
 So far as we have advices, they show good spirits 
 still prevailing in the army and a general determina- 
 tion not to succumb to the temporary difficulties by 
 which they have been enshrouded. People are gener- 
 ally beginning to regard the event as one necessary to 
 our final success. We hope for the best. 
 
 Rapidly is Richmond assuming 
 Richmond, Va., prominence as a point of Feder- 
 
 Apnl 5, 1865. ^. ^ • ata j ^l. 
 
 Union Account. al occupatiou. To-day the 
 
 James River at Rocketts shows 
 that our vessels have successfully passed the torpedoes 
 long since placed by the enemy in the river, to be ex- 
 ploded in case of an attempted advance on Richmond 
 by the Federal gun-boats. Our navy have already 
 cleared the greater portion of these obstructions from 
 the channel of the river, and our water communication 
 is now open. The United States hospital transport 
 Hero of Jersey arrived to-day under charge of Surgeon 
 John F. Pratt, and is now at the wharf, flying the stars 
 and stripes, giving to Rocketts the appearance of be- 
 ing again a port of the United States. 
 
l68 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OI^ THE WAR. 
 
 All apprehension of an immedi- 
 Montgomery, Ala., ^^g advance of the enemy on this 
 
 con?rderat'e\Tount. city has passed away. The ex- 
 citement incident to first reports 
 has subsided, and, although business has not been re- 
 sumed, a much quieter state of feeling pervades the 
 public mind, and were the enemy to come to-day, a 
 pretty stout resistance would be made. General 
 Buford, who is in command of our local defenses, 
 leaves with his command this morning, in obedience to 
 orders received from General Forrest last night. 
 
 The enemy's force is estimated at six thousand. 
 They have made no positive attempt to advance in any 
 direction, but seem to rest quietly in the midst of their 
 recent successes. Forrest and his command are at 
 Marion Junction, and it does not seem possible, from 
 the combination now making, for a single man of the 
 enemy to escape. 
 
Thursday, April 6, 1865, 
 
 The Cincinnati Commercial of 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, this moming says: >'01d Abe" is 
 
 April 6, 1865. in luck. He has Jeff. Davis's Ara- 
 
 bian "boss," puts his knees under 
 Jeff. Davis's mahogany, occupies Jeff, Davis's house, pos- 
 sibly sleeps in Jeff. Davis's bed, and, if reports be true, 
 came very nigh having possession of Jeff. Davis's wife, 
 and even Jeff, himself. 
 
 The capture of Richmond and 
 Goidsboro, N. c, tiie or^-eat victory of General 
 
 April 6, 1865. ^ f ^, -lj-l ^t,- 
 
 Union Account. Grant wcrc telegraphed here this 
 
 morning from Newbern, and the 
 joy and enthusiasm which the good news creates in 
 Sherman's army is beyond description. The Union 
 citizens in Raleigh have also celebrated the event in 
 spite of the Rebels who are now powerless to prevent 
 such loyal manifestations of joy, which refugees say are 
 also being openly displayed in different parts of the 
 State. Here, at Newbern and at other points in this 
 department, bells were rung and guns fired. 
 
 Carl Shurz has just arrived at Newbern, and it is 
 rumored that he is on the way to Raleigh. 
 
 No movement for the return of North Carolina to the 
 Union will probably be made until Raleigh is occupied 
 by our troops, though it is now the general desire of the 
 people throughout the State. 
 
170 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 A portion of General Sherman's army was under 
 orders to move prior to the reception of the news that 
 Richmond was captured. It was generally believed 
 both in and outside of our lines that Sherman would 
 move from this point to assist Grant in the capture of 
 the Rebel capital. 
 
 Some curious cattle of African breed, imported by 
 General Wade Hampton, consisting of a bull, cow and 
 calf, captured on his plantation near Columbia, S. C, 
 were brought here and delivered over to General 
 Meigs, who has forwarded them to New York to be 
 placed in Central Park. On the same plantation 
 was captured a band of minstrels, consisting of thirteen 
 slaves, among whom were two white brothers, all of 
 whom now travel with General Logan, their deliverer, 
 for the amusement of himself and friends. 
 
 The delay in reopening the port of Newbern causes 
 much anxiety there. All the avenues from Beaufort to 
 Newbern are still used exclusively for the public ser- 
 vice, and not a pound of food can go to the relief of the 
 inhabitants until that port is reopened, for which its 
 authorities petitioned over a year ago. 
 
 Hancock's column is moving up 
 Washington, D. c, ^j^g Sheuaudoah Valley toward 
 
 un^'iol. Account. Lyuchburg. Should Lee man- 
 
 age to survive Grant's blows 
 in front, Hancock will strike his rear. The Eighth 
 Corps is ready to meet the enemy, and we are now on 
 the war path. 
 
 The Navy Department has re- 
 washington, D. c, ccivcd information of the destruc- 
 
 Aprii 6, 1865. ^[q^ of ^\^q exteusivc Rebel salt 
 
 works on Buro Neck, in Mc- 
 intosh county, Georgia, by an expedition from the 
 United States steamer Ladona. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 171 
 
 The War Department has been perfectly inundated 
 with applications for passes to visit Richmond, from 
 parties having friends or property there, curiosity 
 seekers and tobacco or cotton speculators. It is stated 
 that passes have been forged by parties assuming the 
 character of representatives of the press. To such an 
 extent has the Government transportation been 
 monopolized that on the fifth, Secretary Stanton issued 
 orders that no more passes are to be granted persons 
 not in the military service. 
 
 To-day's City Point boat brought up the band of the 
 Fourteenth Virginia, They numbered twenty-seven 
 pieces, and deserted to us last Sunday. They have 
 been playing "Yankee Doodle," "Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner" and the like in our streets to their own and our 
 citizens' extreme delight. 
 
 One hundred and eighty-five Rebel officers captured 
 the last few days, came up in the same boat. They 
 confess the fate of the Confederacy as hopeless. 
 
 The hospital steamer, State of Maine, arrived at Alex- 
 andria this evening with six hundred wounded Union 
 soldiers. Two other vessels similarly freighted have 
 arrived here to-day. 
 
 Extensive hospitals are to be erected upon Craney 
 Island, near Old Point, for the vast number of Rebel sick 
 and wounded who have fallen into our hands. 
 
 General Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisoners, 
 has gone to City Point to see to the disposal of the 
 thousands of Rebel prisoners in our hands. The sud- 
 den and enormous acquisition causes much embarrass- 
 ment. 
 
 The steamers Decatur and Jer- 
 
 NewYork, scy Bluc arrived at Fortress 
 
 April 6,1865. Mouroc ou April 2d, from New- 
 
 bern, North Carolina, with an 
 
 aggregate of eight hundred Rebel prisoners and about 
 
172 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 two hundred refugees. The condition of these refugees 
 is of the most distressing nature, many of them being 
 incumbered with numerous children, barefooted, rag- 
 ged and half-starved. They were taken charge of by 
 the Provost-Marshal and will be sent north in a few 
 days. 
 
 A gentleman, recently arrived from Richmond, states 
 that the best informed there believe that Davis has 
 fled to Georgia, and that he will attempt a re-establish- 
 ment of his government at Augusta, which possesses 
 strong natural defenses and has been elaborately 
 fortified. As a singular coincidence, it may be stated 
 the elder Mr. Blair made this prediction weeks ago. 
 
 Letters received by the Sanitary Commission from 
 Wilmington state that three thousand paroled Union 
 prisoners have arrived there, and that sanitary supplies 
 in abundance were at hand. 
 
 The New York, from Fortress Monroe, arrived at 
 this port yesterday with one thousand three hundred 
 prisoners. The Weybosset also arrived from Wilming- 
 ton with one hundred refugees and seven hundred and 
 fifty Rebel prisoners. 
 
 Daylight this morning found the 
 The Union Army, eucmy ou his way westward 
 
 April 6, 1865.' toward Farmvillc, and then be- 
 
 gan the grand race for High 
 Bridge, on the Southside railroad at the point where 
 it crosses the Appomattox. 
 
 Previous to the discovery of the enemy's whereabouts, 
 however, our forces on the right were advanced several 
 miles in the direction of Amelia Court House; but, on 
 finding that the enemy had gone westward, the direction 
 of the cavalry and Second and Sixth Corps was imme- 
 diately changed to the west in hot pursuit of Gen- 
 eral Lee. The Fifth continued its march northward 
 toward Painesville, in hopes of striking the rear of the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 1 73 
 
 enemy's column, but, with the exception of a large 
 number of stragglers, met nothing to resist its progress, 
 and subsequently wheeled to the left, connecting with 
 the Second and Sixth Corps late in the day in the 
 vicinity of High Bridge. 
 
 Meanwhile we were not ignorant of the enemy's 
 intention to cross at High Bridge, and from Ord's 
 column at Burkesville, had been sent out a detach- 
 ment consisting of the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania, One 
 Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio, and two squadrons 
 of the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, the whole under 
 command of Brevet Brigadier General Reed, Chief of 
 Staff to General Ord, with orders to hi)ld the bridge 
 against the enemy if possible, and if not to destroy it 
 by fire. 
 
 The expedition met with a sad fate, and, after making 
 a desperate and heroic stand near the bridge against the 
 overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who afterward 
 completely encircled them, was almost literally cut to 
 pieces or made prisoners. In the encounter General 
 Reed was killed, shot it is said by the Rebel General 
 Dearing, whom he engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict. 
 The contest was a short and unequal one. General 
 Reed, whose sword-arm had been disabled by a wound 
 through the shoulder, received at Gettysburg, was 
 shot by his antagonist while refusing to surrender. 
 Three charges were then made by Colonel Washburne, 
 commanding the cavalry detachment, in an endeavor 
 to cut his way through the enemy toward the bridge, 
 but only with the result before stated — the capture of 
 the whole of his detachment. 
 
 This morning we find the Sec- 
 second and Sixth Corps, q^^^ moviug ou the cucmy's 
 
 Vp^re, 1*865^.^' ^^^^^ toward Deatonsville. On 
 
 its left, and advancing on a line 
 
 parallel with it, was the Sixth Corps, while still on the 
 
174 ^HE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 left of Wright dashed the indomitable Sheridan, his 
 horses on the gallop, and his men at short intervals 
 amusing themselves with murderous dashes upon the 
 flank of the thoroughly demoralized Rebels, in which 
 prisoners, guns, colors and wagons were remorselessly 
 gobbled. 
 
 The Second had in the meantime, struck the enemy 
 at Ferguson's Bridge, across a small stream east of 
 Deatonsville, and, after a brief but sharp encounter 
 forced him back, crossed, and was again in pursuit, 
 toward Sailor's Creek, moving m line of battle for 
 nearly twelve ^ miles through a country broken up 
 into deep wooded ravines, and making in that distance 
 five distinct charges against as many determined 
 stands of the enemy, and in every instance compelling 
 his retirement with severe loss. 
 
 Shielding his rear as much as possible, the enemy 
 continued his rapid retreat toward High Bridge. In- 
 tervening was Sailor's Creek, a tributary of the Appo- 
 mattox, which he must cross on his way to the last 
 named stream. But the forces of Sheridan, Wright, 
 and Humphrey were bearing rapidly down upon him, 
 and, late in the afternoon, the Second Corps, forming 
 the right of our pursuing columns, came up with his 
 rear at Sailor's Creek, where, to cover the passage of 
 his artillery and wagons, he made a desperate stand on 
 a high bluff east of the stream. 
 
 Finding the enemy prepared to hold their crossing 
 at Sailor's Creek, the First and Third Divisions of the 
 Second Corps were immediately formed for the pur- 
 pose of dislodging the enemy from his position, and, if 
 possible, of capturing his train, which was then cross- 
 ing. The assault was highly successful. The enemy 
 was driven from his position, and a large number of 
 prisoners, together with two hundred and twenty-five 
 wagons, fifty ambulances, and eleven colors captured, 
 and all with but slight loss on our side. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 1 75 
 
 Meanwhile the Sixth Corps and Sheridan were en- 
 gaging the enemy on the left of the Second Corps 
 toward the Southside railroad, and at nightfall had suc- 
 ceeded in the capture of six or seven thousand prison- 
 ers, among them seven general officers of the Rebel 
 army, including Ewell, commanding a corps. In this 
 brilliant affair the cavalry had operated on the left, or, 
 on the right flank of the enemy, who was then endeav- 
 oring to cross the Southside railroad near Rice's 
 Station, on his way to Danville, the Sixth Corps in the 
 center, and the Second on the right. The Fifth, 
 which, as before stated, had in the morning moved 
 north towards Painesville, was meanwhile returning to 
 the position of the Second and Sixth, but it reached it 
 too late to participate in the engagement mentioned. 
 During to-day General Hayes, commanding the Second 
 Division of Humphrey's Corps, was summarily relieved 
 from command for tardiness of movement, and suc- 
 ceeded by General Barlow, formerly of the First Divi- 
 sion, who had reported for duty. General Smyth in 
 the interim had commanded the division previous to 
 the arrival of Barlow. 
 
 Exhausted by their arduous labors of to-day, the 
 Second and Sixth Corps bivouacked near Sailor's 
 Creek to-night, while Sheridan, with the Fifth Corps, 
 which had, after the fight at Sailor's Creek, swept 
 round to the left, is again westward toward Appomattox 
 Court House, toward which point it has been ascer- 
 tained the enemy was retreating. 
 
 Ord's command, which this morning was at Burkes- 
 ville, has pushed up the railroad toward Lynchburg, 
 and, on arriving at Rice's Station met the advance of the 
 enemy, who was still persisting in his attempt to reach 
 the Danville railroad, but who, on finding our forces 
 again intervening, changed his course from south to 
 northwest toward Appomattox Court House, with the 
 hope of there passing our advance arid gaining the 
 coveted railroad. 
 
176 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Here again, Lee had counted without his host as sub- 
 sequent events demonstrated. To-night our pursuing 
 army rests from Sailor's Creek on the right to Prince 
 Edward's Court House on the left, to which point a 
 detachment of Sheridan's cavalry has already been sent 
 simultaneously with the advance of Ord's column up 
 the railroad to Rice's Station. 
 
Friday, April 7, 1865. 
 
 Sixth Army Corps, ^^^e Appomattox here is a mere 
 
 In Pursuit of Lee, shallow creek running over a 
 
 April 7, 1865. sandv bed. Three bridges span- 
 
 Union Account. j '•. i_ • ^.t. -i j 
 
 ned it, one being the railroad 
 bridge, a second the Cumberland, and the third the Buf- 
 falo. All these were destroyed by the enemy after they 
 had crossed. They passed at eight in the morning 
 with a long wagon train. On our coming in sight of 
 the Appomattox, we found the railroad bridge on fire 
 and the other two destroyed. 
 
 The Second Corps soon passed the stream, covered 
 by a strong skirmish line. Very little artillery was 
 used, not more than twenty shots being fired. 
 
 The ground about the Appomattox here is hilly, and 
 offered good positions for our batteries, which could 
 have swept the other bank of the stream if the enemy 
 had made a stand there. 
 
 Farmville is a small town, divided by the Appomat- 
 tox, and has perhaps two thousand inhabitants. Its 
 site is a rather picturesque one, on the slopes of the 
 little stream. It has a thriving look, but was found by 
 our foragers to be very poor in food. The people took 
 their change of situation very quietly, and, for the most 
 part, stayed in doors. The place is about fifty miles 
 from Lynchburg. 
 
 The Rebel army is said by the people to be very 
 much reduced — not to number half of ours. It can not 
 have more than thirty-five thousand men left, and in 
 
178 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 guns it must be very deficient. By the heavy "bag" 
 made by us yesterday — the first really large body of 
 prisoners taken by us at one time — General Lee has 
 also lost some of his best Generals, Ewell being one of 
 them. 
 
 Our advance has been quite rapid, and has given no 
 time to the enemy to recover the heavy blows dealt at 
 them. The cavalry and Second and Fifth Corps lie on 
 the other side of the Appomattox, while the Sixth is in 
 bivouac on the hills this side (east) of the stream. The 
 Ninth and Twenty-fourth Corps and a Division (the 
 Second) of the Twenty-fifth are in the rear. The army is 
 well in hand, and in fine spirits. 
 
 The roads are much broken about a mile back from 
 the Appomattox, and the rain to-day rendered them 
 nearly impassable ; but the weather so far has favored 
 us. To-day the scene along the line of march was the 
 same old Virginia one of rain, mud, and a long line of 
 wagons splashing through a broken load, drawn by 
 mules covered with mud from hoof to the tips of their 
 long ears. 
 
 The line of march to-day was through a hilly but 
 fresh country, many of the farms being in a state of 
 good cultivation, and small stacks of corn were found 
 on most of them, though the half of last year's crops 
 had been taken by the Rebel Government as a tax. In 
 most of the houses the women remained and some of 
 the old men. As to the young men they were "in the 
 army," that is, in the Rebel army. Very little live 
 stock was to be seen, and the lowing of a cow made our 
 foragers prick up their ears, so to speak. 
 
 On the east side of the Appomattox, about half a 
 mile from this point, and on a fine plantation of 
 ground, is the Venable House. There General Joseph 
 B. Johnston was born, and the family has given several 
 men to the army, one of whom is Major Venable, on 
 General Lee's staff. The house was an object of 
 interest to us as we passed. 
 
THK LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 179 
 
 Sheridan is far in the front, sweeping on with untir- 
 ing vigor, the Murat of our army. His cavalry pick 
 up prisoners in parties. In the course of the day some 
 five hundred prisoners were taken, many of whom were 
 very glad to get out of their bondage. 
 
 There has been a good deal of pillage done by our 
 men, and the consequence is that some of them have 
 been found shot, or throat cut, in the woods. This is 
 the fate of pillagers in the country of an excited enemy. 
 The Provost-Marshals did much to put a stop to ma> 
 rauding. I saw two of them drub with the flat of their 
 sabers a squad of these fellows, who ran off as fast as 
 their legs could carry them. 
 
 The enemy have only six hours' start of us, and we 
 are gaining in this grand foot race. 
 
 The following correspondence 
 '"Tn^IheFiefd^''' ^^ to-day betwecu Generals 
 
 April?, 1865. Grant and Lee will explain 
 
 itself: 
 General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A., 
 
 General: The result of the last week must convince 
 you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part 
 of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I 
 feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from 
 myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, 
 by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Con- 
 federate Southern Army, known as the Army of North- 
 ern Virginia. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General, 
 Commandino^ Armies of the United States. 
 
 To Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, Commanding 
 
 Armies of the United States. 
 
 General : I have received your note of this date. 
 Though not entirely of the opinion you express of the 
 
l8o THE LAST FOUR WEEKS 0*F THE WAR. 
 
 hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the 
 Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire 
 to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore before 
 considerino^ your proposition ask the terms you will 
 offer on condition of its surrender. 
 
 R. E. Lee, General. 
 
 Johnston is reported retreating 
 toward Virginia, attempting to 
 unVon Account. joiu L c c. Sherman is after 
 
 him. 
 
 Goldsboro, N. G 
 April 7, 1865 
 
 The Tribune's editorial on the 
 
 New York, N. Y„ •,• r r^ ^, 
 
 April?, 1865. positiou oi Grant's army is as 
 
 follows : 
 
 Grant's Advance. One of Sheridan's electrical, 
 and yet practical, business-like, and soldierly dispatches 
 came over the wires yesterday afternoon and announc- 
 ed him at Jettersville, on the Danville road, twelve 
 miles northeast of Burkesville, on the 5th of April at 
 five o'clock in the afternoon. At the same time, two 
 infantry corps, the Second and Sixth, were close up to 
 him, and would reach Jettersville within an hour. 
 General Grant with Ord's command was then at 
 Burkesville, and General Grant himself forthwith start- 
 ed to join Sheridan, who besought his chief to come 
 up, saying that he saw no escape for Lee's army if 
 matters were vigorously pushed. Seeing affairs in this 
 light, Grant instantly started to take command in 
 person. 
 
 The march from Petersburg to Burkesville will rank 
 among the swiftest and most remarkable of the war. 
 It is fifty-three miles and was done in about two days 
 and a half. Grant distributed his forces into three 
 columns, as above indicated, and he himself entered 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. l8l 
 
 Burkesville without any sort of opposition. Lee has 
 not ventured to re-cross the Appomattox since the 
 evacuation of Petersburg. He has not been able to 
 make any sort of an attempt to get to Burkesville, and 
 yet Burkesville is the very first place to which he 
 must have meant and expected to go on leaving Rich- 
 mond. Losing it, he is cut off from Johnston, and has 
 no more hope of getting to Danville than to New York. 
 With the dispirited remnant of his army he is shut up 
 in that irregular belt of territory between the James 
 and the Appomattox, and his position, more even than 
 the condition of his army, justifies the opinion of Sher- 
 idan that he has no chance of escape. The Appomat- 
 tox bends far to the north, where the Danville road 
 crosses it, and its course so lengthens Lee's march, 
 that if he does not get on the south bank of the river, 
 he is hopelessly outmarched by Grant's pursuing 
 columns, and may be cut off from Lynchburg as he has 
 been from Danville. It is passing strange that a 
 soldier of Lee's reputation should be so completely out- 
 maneuvered as he seems to have been during the last 
 week." 
 
 Something might be pardoned to Sheridan's enthu- 
 siasm if he over-estimated the chances of surrounding 
 or dispersing the army of Lee. But on the coolest sur- 
 vey of the field, of the line of retreat forced upon Lee, 
 and of the positions of the different columns, we can- 
 not irnpeach the soundness of his judgment, nor doubt 
 that Lee's best hope of retreat is gone. It is Grant who 
 is now operating on interior lines, and who takes the 
 chords of the arcs which Lee has to describe. And the 
 soldiers of Grant are marching with that elate step 
 which follows and foretokens victory, while Lee's 
 beaten forces are haggard and sluggard with the de- 
 spair of defeat. So with Sheridan we " see no escape 
 for Lee," or none but in the daily increasing distance 
 between the advancing columns of Grant and their base 
 of supplies at Petersburg. We do not know how much 
 
l82 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 of the Southside road was torn up, nor how soon the 
 cars can be sent to Burkesville, but every energy will 
 be bent to get that line in order, and then for aught we 
 can see, Grant can go ahead indefinitely. 
 
 And even were it necessary to stop at Burkesville, 
 the possession of that intersection of the two railroads 
 is a victory. The separation of Lee and Johnston is 
 another victory. The enforced retreat of the former to 
 Lynchburg — if he could even get there — is another. 
 Every dispatch from the front is more hopeful than the 
 last, and it is likely enough that to-day will bring news 
 to supersede all these speculations, and announce 
 positively that Lee is cut off and hemmed in, and 
 brought to bay with nothing to do but surrender to an 
 * overwhelming force. 
 
 This mornino: dawned and found 
 
 Grant's Army - ^ . ^^ 
 
 In Pursuit of Lee, the enemy again on the wmg 
 
 April 7, 1865. toward Farmvillc and Appomat- 
 
 Union Account. , ^ . tt a • . i* 
 
 tox Court House. Again the 
 pursuit was resumed and again we struck the rear of 
 the enemy at High Bridge, where the Southside rail- 
 road crosses the Appomattox. The river at this point 
 is about one hundred feet in width, and is spanned by 
 two bridges, one the railroad structure elaborately con- 
 structed and of great height, and the other an ordinary 
 bridge for the passage of vehicles. Both were fired on 
 the crossing of the Rebels and four spans of the Hio^h 
 Bridge destroyed before our advance, consisting of Bar- 
 low's Division, were able to extinguish it. 
 
 To insure the complete destruction of these bridges, 
 Mahone's Division had remained behind on the other 
 side, where, forming in battle line, it prepared to dis- 
 pute our further pursuit. 
 
 A sharp engagement ensued from either side of the 
 stream on the arrival of Barlow, and the enemy still 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 183 
 
 doggedly holding his position, a light battery of Miles's 
 Division was brought up and posted on the eastern 
 bank of the river, its fire soon compelling the retire- 
 ment of the Rebel Mahone. 
 
 The crossing of the Second Corps was then made, 
 and, covered by skirmishers, we again advanced toward 
 Farmville. In the advance the brigade of General 
 Smyth led the van, and from the High Bridge to Farm- 
 ville were constantly engaging the enemy, who as his 
 chances of escape grew fainter fought the more desper- 
 ately, and only retired when charged impetuously. 
 
 It was about three miles from Farmville, where, with 
 the flush of victory on his cheek, and the shout of tri- 
 umph still ringing on his lips, that General Smyth fell 
 mortally wounded, while leading in person his skirmish 
 line against the enemy. 
 
 In a number of important engagements General 
 Smyth, during the absence of General Gibbon, com- 
 manded the Second Division of the Second Corps, 
 and always so creditably as to win from his admirer, 
 the gallant Hancock, a meed of the highest praise. 
 If there was any formidable position to be stormed 
 in which daring and skill were requisite. General 
 Smyth with his brigade was always selected for the 
 undertaking. Dashing and soldier-like in appearance, 
 he never failed to secure the entire confidence of 
 his men, and when with true Irish impetuosity he 
 lifted his cap and at the head of his column swept 
 with a cheer down, Sheridan-like, upon the enemy, 
 his purpose was sure to be accomplished. 
 
 He was shot in the mouth by one of the enemy's 
 sharpshooters — a branch of the service, by the way, 
 which has inflicted upon us more loss in general 
 officers than the remainder of the Rebel Army. The 
 ball, passing through the mouth, lodged in the spi- 
 nal column, paralyzing the whole body and rendering 
 him almost insensible to suffering. He retained his 
 consciousness until his death, early on Sunday 
 
184 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 morning; and, on inquiring of the Surgeon as to his 
 chances for recovery, and receiving no definite answer, 
 he said, "Don't hesitate. Doctor, but speak candidly, 
 for I am no coward and not afraid to die !" 
 
 But to resume. Barlow still led the advance with 
 the Second Division toward Farmville, through v/hich, 
 after making several obstinate stands, the enemy re- 
 treated, leaving at every step guns, wagons, and camp 
 equipage in his wake. General Humphrey, mean- 
 while, with the First and Third Divisions of his 
 corps, was pushing forward on the right toward 
 Lynchburg, in the direction of which it soon became 
 evident the enemy were retiring. At three p. m., 
 Barlow was ordered to rejoin the main body of 
 Humphrey's command, soon after which the First 
 and Third were directed to again demonstrate against 
 the enemy. 
 
 A charge of the First Brigade of Miles's Division 
 is represented as having been unusually gallant, al- 
 though unsuccessful, as the main body of the enemy 
 was struck northwest of Farmville. Darkness then 
 came on and put an end to further operations. The 
 captures of the corps during the day were five hun- 
 dred prisoners, nineteen guns, a number of colors, 
 besides wagons and ambulances in great numbers. 
 
 Texas has very materially in- 
 Taiiadega. crcascd in both population and 
 
 April 7. 1865. .. . . ^ ^ . . ^ 
 
 Union Account. Wealth siucc the beginning of 
 
 the war; and is to-day as earnest 
 for the prosecution of the war, and as much opposed to 
 reconstruction as she was in 1861. Texas will 
 never again be a State, or province, or dependency 
 of the United States. Whatever may be the destiny 
 of the seceding States of Cis-Mississippi, the States 
 of the Trans-Mississippi, especially Texas, will remain 
 free, separate, and independent States. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 185 
 
 Prices at Auction — Messrs. 
 Augusta, Ga.. ^ ^ Ramsav & Coiiipanv, on 
 
 April 7, 1865. ttt 1 1 1 ^ .. ^t 4-- 
 
 Confederate Account. Wednesday last, at the auction 
 sale at the late residence of Mrs. 
 Thomas Gardiner, obtained the prices annexed: One 
 china dinner set, three hundred and eighty-one pieces, 
 $5,100; one green china set, eighty pieces, $1,550; 
 one white china set, ninety-five pieces, $5,000 ; celery 
 glasses, $18 to $22 each ; punch glasses, $19 each ; 
 champaigne glasses, $12 to $12}^ each ; wine glasses, 
 $20 to $22 yz each ; cordial glasses, $25 each ; decanters, 
 $120 to $150 each; celery stands, $105 each; glass 
 pitchers, $62 to $255 each; ice cream bowls, $300 each; 
 finger bowls, $8 to $18 each; vases, $190 to $475 each; 
 gas fixtures, $80 to $300 each; tumblers, $25 to $50 
 each; jelly glasses, $13 each; bed room sets, crockery, 
 $425 to $850 each; china egg cups, $4 to $y each; doll 
 heads, $100 each; one baby house, furnished, $1,500; 
 one tapestry carpet, $7,000; one medallion carpet, 
 $10,500 ; one brocatelle set parlor furniture, $15,000 ; 
 one rosewood set, bedroom furniture, $17,000; one 
 rosewood piano, $28,000. 
 
Saturday, April 8, 1865, 
 
 By the arrival of the Merrimac 
 
 New York, N. Y., / ,.1, • . 1, • ^ . 
 
 April 8. 1865. ^^ ^^^^ P^^t we have important 
 
 intelligence from Mobile. Gen- 
 eral Canby had landed on the eastern shore of Mobile 
 Bay, and laid siege to Spanish Fort, which is the main 
 defense of the city at that point. The Rebel General 
 Maury was in command at the Fort. Our skirmishers 
 had advanced to within eighty yards of the Fort, while 
 three or four of our batteries were stationed within 
 three or four hundred yards. The Fort was invested 
 by the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Army Corps, and 
 from the 26th to the 30th ult. heavy skirmishing and 
 artillery firing had occurred. The Union killed and 
 wounded in the two corps up to the 31st were estimated 
 at about eight hundred. Two of our iron-clads, the 
 monitors Milwaukee and Osage, were blown up in 
 Mobile Bay on the 28th and 29th ult. by Rebel torpe- 
 does, killing four men and wounding seven. It is 
 thought that the vessels may be raised, as they sunk in 
 shallow water. The water and land for miles around 
 Mobile were filled with torpedoes. On shore several 
 casualties had occurred from them, and many had been 
 dug up by the troops. The navy was actively co-op- 
 erating with the army. A fleet of Rebel iron-clads was 
 lying on Blakely river, below the city, and a battle be- 
 tween them and our fleet was hourly expected. It was 
 believed at Dauphin Island on the 31st ult. that the 
 fight had already taken place, as heavy firing in the 
 direction of Spanish Fort was heard throughout the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 187 
 
 day. General Steele's column from Pensacola had ar- 
 rived at Blakely, six miles from Spanish Fort, opened 
 communication with General Canby, and commenced 
 hostilities on the 29th. He had captured one Brigadier 
 General, twenty-two other officers, four hundred men, 
 four hundred and fifty horses, and two wagon trains. 
 
 The Bulletin this evening says a 
 Tp^fs^'mt" report prevails, and is well 
 
 authenticated, that Selma, Ala- 
 bama, was captured and burned a few days ago by the 
 cavalry force of General Thomas's command. 
 
 To-day the army left the Appo- 
 
 Sixth Army Corps, ^^ ■' • • ^1 1 
 
 In Pursuit of Lee, mattox, moviug lu three columns 
 
 Aprils. 1865. by as many roads which con- 
 
 union Account. verge at Appomattox Court 
 
 House, on the way to Lynchburg. 
 
 The cavalry and Fifth Corps took a road to the left 
 of the old stage road. The Twenty-fourth Corps went 
 by another road to the right of them, and the Second 
 and Sixth Corps took the old stage road. This was the 
 one followed by the enemy. 
 
 The plan of movement is for the cavalry and Fifth 
 and Twenty-fourth Corps to head off the enemy from 
 any route to Danville, which General Lee still seems 
 to seek, and to force him to go toward Lynchburg, 
 which is said to be now in the hands of General Stone- 
 man. 
 
 The action about the Appomattox yesterday was 
 more serious than I was led to suppose. The First 
 Brigade of the First Division, Second Corps, 
 commanded by Colonel G. W. Scott, lost heavily, and 
 this gallant officer was himself struck by a spent ball. 
 
/ 
 
 1 88 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF, THE WAR. 
 
 During this day the Sixth Corps met with no enemy, 
 and the Second Corps was equally free in its march. 
 The two corps marched about sixteen miles over a 
 good road. 
 
 The line of march passed through a finer and 
 fresher country than any part we have seen yet. As 
 we go west the farms appear better cultivated, and less 
 devoid of stock. There was the same pillage to be 
 seen to-day as on the march to the Appomattox, and 
 the number of stragglers was shameful. They showed 
 an utter disregard for discipline; yet there was no ex- 
 cuse for all this marauding, for the men had drawn 
 three days' rations. 
 
 To-night I learn that the cavalry have taken fourteen 
 more oruns and one thousand two hundred to one thou- 
 sand five hundred prisoners. This loss must leave Gen- 
 eral Lee with less than thirty thousand men, and very 
 little artillery. A few more days of such work, and the 
 enemy will be undone. 
 
 To-morrow the Sixth Corps will effect a junction 
 with the Second, and the two will move on together 
 toward Lynchburg, on the heels of the enemy, while 
 the cavalry and Fifth and Tw^enty-fourth Corps moving 
 by a road to the left, will turn them, from any route that 
 leads to Danville. 
 
 The following correspondence 
 Appomattox c. H.. Va., j^^^^j to-day between Gen- 
 
 Apnl 8, 1865. / 
 
 erals Grant and Lee: 
 To General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A. 
 
 General: Your note of last evening in reply to mine 
 of the same date, asking the conditions on w^hich I will 
 accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia 
 is just received. In reply I would say that peace being 
 my first desire, there is but one condition that I insist 
 upon, viz: That the men surrendered shall be disquali- 
 fied for taking up arms again against the Government 
 
THK lyAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 1 89 
 
 of the United States until properly exchanged. I will 
 meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you 
 may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable 
 to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the 
 terms, upon which the surrender of the Army of 
 Northern Virginia will be received. Very respectfully, 
 your obedient servant. 
 
 U. S. Grant, 
 
 Lieutenant General. 
 
 Commanding Armies of the United States. 
 
 To Lieutenant General Grant Commanding Armies of 
 the United States. 
 
 General: I received at a late hour your note of to-day 
 in answer to mine of yesterday. I did not intend to 
 propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be 
 frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call 
 for the surrender. But as the restoration of peace 
 should be the sole object of all, I desire to know 
 whether your proposals would tend to that end. I cannot 
 therefore meet you with a view to surrender the Army 
 of Northern Virginia, but so far as your proposition may 
 affect the Confederate States forces under my command 
 and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased 
 to meet you at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, on the 
 old stage road to Richmond, between the picket lines 
 of the two armies. Very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 R. E. Lee, 
 
 General C. S. A. 
 
190 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The Second Division of the 
 Rfchmond va., Twentv-fourth Army Corps was 
 
 Aprils, 1865. . j • j i. rf 1 
 
 Union Account. to-day reviewed by General 
 
 Devins. It was witnessed by 
 nearly the whole population of Richmond, and passed 
 off in a creditable manner. 
 
 The First and Third Divisions of this corps under 
 General Ord, are chasing Lee in his flight from Peters- 
 burg. They are no doubt in the direction of Lynch- 
 burg to-day, and are having a different kind of review 
 from what the Second Division has passed for to-day. 
 
 All the hospitals of Richmond have been taken 
 possession of by the military authorities and are used 
 for the care and comfort equally of the Union and Con- 
 federate sick and wounded. A number of Confederate 
 surgeons left in the city have been paroled to attend 
 to the Confederate sick and wounded. More than half 
 of General Pickett's Division has been brought in or 
 captured, and the country between Richmond and 
 Amelia county is said to be full of Confederate soldiers, 
 nearly all of them Virginians, making their way to 
 their homes. The Castle is used as a receptacle for 
 citizen prisoners, of whom quite a number are gathered 
 there. 
 
 It was found this morning that 
 Grant's Army, j^^^ j^^^^ ag^ain disappeared from 
 
 In Pursuit of Lee. . f- . r f 1 •. 
 
 Aprils, 1865. our immediate irout, and it was 
 
 soon discovered that he was 
 moving northwest to reach the road running south- 
 west across the Southside railway from Appomattox 
 Court House, and again with the apparent desire of 
 " heading us off" and ultimately reaching the Danville 
 railroad. Again, and for the last time, did we success- 
 fully prevent the consummation of his desperate plan 
 for escape. 
 
mU LAST FOUR WEEKS OE ^HE WAR. 191 
 
 The command of General Ord had during the night 
 received orders to move rapidly up the railroad to Ap- 
 pomattox Court House, while Sheridan was to lead the 
 advance on its right, having the same objective point. 
 The Second and Sixth Corps were ordered to march 
 northward, taking up a position east of the Court 
 House, and thus almost completely encircling the rem- 
 nant of Lee's army. 
 
 The theatres have opened and 
 A^riiT'ises*.' ^^^ lighted with tallow '^andles. 
 
 There is not much to be seen, 
 but the singing is enjoyable. Imagine a Richmond 
 theatre, one week ago, and then the following as was 
 sung on its stage to-night : 
 
 To Richmond town the Yankee came 
 
 To whip the southern Rebel ; 
 There old Bob Lee did make a stand 
 
 And got whipped like the devil ; 
 Their handbills they distributed, 
 
 Their heads were full of fun ; 
 Of course thev say the ball commenced 
 
 With round-shot, grape and bum (bomb 
 
 Chorus — Let 'em bum-let *em bum — 
 The way is always clear : 
 And while they are bumming 
 We'll take 'em in the rear. 
 
 Now talk about your horses fast, 
 
 Or take a two mile heater. 
 But if you turn a Rebel loose 
 
 He's much the fastest creeter. 
 Now, we would to the Rebels say, 
 
 To one and all fair warding — 
 If once the Yankees catches them 
 
 The Lord have mercy on 'em 
 
192 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF'THE WAR. 
 
 Now, here's a health to General Grant! 
 
 Who all his words fulfills 
 And always to the Rebels gives 
 
 His lead and iron pills : 
 And when Phil Sheridan catches them 
 
 Oil Lord! how bad thej fare; 
 He flanks them on the right and left, 
 
 And bags them in the rear. 
 
 'Twas neck and neck on either side ; 
 
 And neither thought the best, 
 The Yankees and the Rebels, then 
 
 Were fighting breast to breast; 
 'Twas then Bob Lee rode up his lines, 
 
 And rising in his saddle, 
 He waved his sword and gave command 
 
 To right face and skedaddle. 
 
 While this was being sung there were sufficient 
 Yankees present to show that it was appreciated, which 
 was done in anything but a silent manner. 
 
 Parties have arrived from Dan- 
 ^°'' Apri] 1 1 865.^'" ville within our lines, who report 
 
 that the fugitive insurgent, Jeff. 
 Davis, arrived at Danville on the afternoon of the third, 
 covered with dust and perspiration. His only baggage 
 consisted of three dilapidated trunks, which looked 
 hardly fit for a journey to Mexico. Jeflf. was accom- 
 panied by two or three members of his cabinet, and the 
 whole party seemed to be in an extremely demoralized 
 condition. Breckenridge, the Rebel Secretary of War, 
 had not turned up, and was not heard from although 
 diligent inquiries were being made for him. 
 
 *'The force which advanced upon 
 Montgomery, Ala., Sclma was uiue thousaud 
 
 April 8, 1865. . 1 • r . 
 
 Confederate Account. mounted infantry, to oppose 
 
 which Forrest had but seventeen 
 
 hundred men. The enemy, owing to the' bad conduct 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 193 
 
 of Roddy's men, made a rapid advance in overpowering 
 numbers, but were met on the breastworks by Forrest, 
 who there manfully fought them, hand to hand, face to 
 face, but unavailingly. About seven hundred of For- 
 rest's men were captured. 
 
 Selma is now garrisoned by nine thousand Yankees." 
 
 There are persons amongst us — 
 Augusta, Ga., multitudiuous unfortuuately — 
 
 cont'lfL^te^rc^Lnt. whose souls are too small to 
 comprehend the vastness of a 
 struggle for freedom, too selfish to appreciate the ne- 
 cessity ol a sacrifice, and too ignorant to fathom the 
 depth of manhood through which the strong heart la- 
 bors for the rights of man. After every reverse to our 
 arms, these dreary and ephemeral creatures are whipped 
 and subjugated, nor do they hesitate to confess their cra- 
 ven fears and seek to impregnate others with them. 
 Such men are the fungi, the barnacles which cluster 
 about the Ship of State, only for its evil. We would 
 to Heaven that such men were well out of a country 
 which they secretly despise, or openly calumniate; and 
 rid thereby of a cause which they are too shallow to 
 understand, and too pusillanimous to uphold. A rot- 
 ten apple amongst a barrel of sound ones is not more 
 pernicious in its effects than a rotton heart in a true 
 community. 
 
 A great many men who, at this juncture avow them- 
 selves conquered, were, four years ago, blatant about 
 the principles which they now malign. 
 
 Are not these principles the same now as formerly? 
 Are they not to noble natures ten thousand times dear- 
 er in this hour of trial, sanctified by the blood of the 
 brave and the dolor of the poor, than when our eagles 
 soared triumphantly over the battlefield and our starry 
 banner flamed along the coast? It is the part of mag- 
 
194 I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 5 
 
 nanittiity to persevere unflinchingly and hold that 
 thing or principle the more closely because it has suf- 
 fered calamity. If such, however, be the action of a 
 great soul, the reverse is equally true of ignes fatui^ 
 called souls, which abandon every thing at the first 
 blush of alarm and help the panic which they have dis- 
 mally contributed to engender. 
 
 We are almost inclined to believe that such men 
 are not of the porcelain clay from which the glorious 
 heroes of the world were fashioned; but rather of the 
 wreck which remained from the creation of their su- 
 periors. We deem that such monstrosities are worthy 
 neither of heaven nor earth. 
 
 For ourselves we embraced this cause in the begin- 
 ning, because we deemed it right. We have clung to it 
 since, through good and evil report, because the com- 
 ing times brought confirmation of its rectitude. With 
 the blessing of God — that God who promises his rest 
 and liberty only to those who persevere to the end — we 
 shall continue to maintain our ancient sentiments to 
 the last. 
 
 We loved our country when its flag nodded under 
 the triumph-gates; we will not desert that country in 
 the day of disaster. A land may be subjugated in a 
 material sense, but the soul of a man, just and tena- 
 cious of his purpose, will walk abroad, in spite of 
 tyrants and their machinations. 
 
 In the same proportions as our territory contracts 
 our love of it expands. Like the Sybliline leaves, it 
 becomes the more precious for the partial loss. 
 
Sunday, April 9, 1865. 
 
 Lieutenant General Grant: 
 
 War Department, Thanks be to Almighty God for 
 
 aVh 9°"865. ' ^^^^ great victory with which He 
 
 9:30 O'clock p. m. lias tliis day crowned you and 
 
 the gallant armies under your 
 
 command. The thanks of this department, and of the 
 
 Government, and ot the people of the United States — 
 
 their reverence and honor have been deserved — will be 
 
 rendered to you and the brave and gallant officers and 
 
 soldiers of your army for all time. 
 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 10 O'clock p. m. 
 
 Ordered : That a salute of two 
 hundred guns be fired at the 
 headquarters of every army department, and at every 
 post and arsenal in the United States, and at the Mili- 
 tary Academy at West Point, on the day of the receipt 
 of this order, in commemoration of the surrender of 
 General R. B. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia 
 to Lieutenant General Grant, and the army under his 
 command ; report of the receipt and execution of this 
 order to be made to the Adjutant General, Washington, 
 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
196 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 It has come. Here it is : 
 Appomattox cj,urt^House, Va., u Qg^eral R. E. Lee, Command- 
 ing C. S. A. 
 General : Your note of yesterday is received. As I 
 have no authority to treat on this subject of peace, the 
 meeting proposed for ten o'clock this morning, could 
 lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I 
 am equally anxious for peace with yourself; and the 
 whole North entertain the same feeling. The terms 
 upon which peace can be had are well understood. By 
 the South laying down their arms they will hasten that 
 most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, 
 and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. 
 Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled 
 without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, 
 very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 U. S. Grant, 
 Lieutenant General U. S. A." 
 
 To Lieutenant General Grant, Commanding United 
 
 States Armies. 
 
 " General : I received your note this morning on 
 the picket line, whither I had come to meet you and 
 ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your 
 proposition of yesterday with reference to the surrender 
 of this army. I now request an interview in accord- 
 ance with the offer contained in your letter of yester- 
 day for that purpose. Very respectfully, your obedient 
 
 servant, 
 
 R. E. Lee, 
 
 General." 
 
 In answer to this communication General Grant re- 
 plied that, at the time of receiving the note, he was on 
 the Farmville and Lynchburg road, four miles west of 
 
THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 197 
 
 Walter's Church, but that he would immediately go to 
 the frout for the purpose of meeting General Lee. 
 The following additional correspondence transpired 
 previous to the surrender: 
 
 " General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A. : 
 
 In accordance with the substance of my letter to you 
 of the 6th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of 
 the Army of Northern Virginia, on the following terms, 
 to-wit : Rolls of all the officers and men to be made 
 in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer desig- 
 nated by me, the other to be retained by such officers 
 as you may designate. The officers to give their indi- 
 vidual paroles not to take arms against the Government 
 of the United States until properly exchanged, and each 
 company or regimental commander sign a like parole 
 for the men of their commands, the arms, artillery, and 
 public property to be parked and stacked and turned 
 over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. 
 This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor 
 their private horses or baggage. This done, each 
 officer and man will be allowed to return to their 
 homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority 
 so long as they observe their parole and the laws in 
 force where they may reside. Very respectfully, 
 
 U. S. Grant, 
 Lieutenant General." 
 
 ''Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, Commanding U. 
 S. A. 
 
 General : I have received your letter of this date, 
 containing the terms of surrender of the Army of 
 xNorthern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they are 
 substantially the same as those expressed in your letter 
 of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will proceed 
 
198 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations 
 into effect. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 R. E. Lee, 
 General." 
 
 General Slocum assumes com- 
 Goidsboro, N. c, mand of the New Army of 
 
 April 9, 1865, ^ . "^ 
 
 Union Account. (jCOrgia. 
 
 The trains are all loaded, the 
 troops clothed, and the armies prepared for a move- 
 ment. No opposition is looked for until the crossing 
 of the Neuse River, at Smithfield, is attempted. 
 
 We have orders from General Sherman to be pre- 
 pared for rapid marches, so that speedy results may 
 follow. The Rebel army in his front will be promptly 
 dealt with. 
 
 Johnston's Army is reported as at same place as for 
 the past few days. It is expected that Johnston will 
 endeaver to hold Raleigh as long as possible. 
 
 The glad tidings from the Army 
 Goidsboro, N. c, Qf ^]^g Jamcs, Came at an oppor- 
 
 April 9, 1865. ^ ^ . nAt, • 
 
 Union Account. tuuc m o m c u t. The army is 
 
 rested from its long and weari- 
 some labors, and with such cheering news as "Rich- 
 mond is Ours," they begin the new campaign — now of 
 a far different nature — with more confidence of a 
 speedy triumph. Nothing could have exceeded the 
 wild enthusiasm with which the news was received. 
 It was announced to the troops in an "extra," printed 
 in hand bill form, containing the dispatches to General 
 Sherman. It was at first received with doubt. "Too 
 good to be true" the boys would say. The official an- 
 nouncement, however, cleared all doubt, and as the 
 real magnitude of the victory was finally realized, the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 199 
 
 excitement reached its height. Each one manifested 
 his joy as best suited him. All kinds of enjoyment was 
 the go. Some found their hidden bottle and dished 
 out its contents; some mounted their gay steeds and 
 galloped up and down the dusty streets, no matter how 
 lame his muleship was, while some filled their can- 
 teens, bottles and boxes with powder and fired a salute. 
 The bands played; the flags proudly floated in the 
 breeze; a genuine hand shaking was had and a wild 
 time was had in rejoicing over the fall of the Rebel 
 Capital. 
 
 . , *u o 4 After a march of about twelve 
 
 Army of the Potomac. • . 
 
 Near Appomattox c. H., va., milcs, the columu of the army 
 April 9, 1865. moviug by the old stage road to 
 
 Union Account. ^ynchburg, camc to this point. 
 
 The Second and Sixth Corps formed the column, and 
 the Second was in front, with its First Division lead- 
 ing. At this point a flag of truce was seen in front of 
 the skirmish line, and General Miles, in command of 
 the division, sent one of his staff, Captain J. D. Cook, 
 A. D. C, to meet it. On going out, this officer found 
 Colonel Taylor, General Lee's Chief of Staff, with a 
 written communication for General Meade. Captain 
 Cook took in the note, which made a request that this 
 army would suspend hostilities until General Lee 
 could fully consider the terms offered him yesterday 
 by General Grant. To this the Commanding General 
 replied, that he was not authorized to grant a suspen- 
 sion of hostilities, but that he would give two hours for 
 General Lee to accede to the terms, and if at the end 
 of that time he did not do so, this army would continue 
 its advance. The two hours were passed by us in 
 agreeable suspense. At the end of that time the order 
 was given to advance, and the Second Corps was 
 hardly ten minutes in motion when a staff officer of the 
 enemy came in with a note from General Grant, sent 
 by General Sh^ridaUj directing the Commanding Gen- 
 
200 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 eral of this army to suspend hostilities until further 
 orders, and adding that General Grant would be with 
 him in half an hour. On receipt of this, General 
 Meade gave the necessary order, and the army came to 
 a halt. 
 
 At two-thirty in the afternoon General Grant arrived 
 and held a conference with General Lee, the result of 
 which was that the latter agreed to surrender the re- 
 mainder of liis army, now reduced to about twenty 
 thousand men, as prisoners of war, to be paroled and 
 sent home not to serve until duly exchanged, and signed 
 articles to that effect. 
 
 From the staff officer who came in we learn that 
 General Lee ordered all their trains and the carriages 
 of such guns as they did not intend to use — everything, 
 in fact, that could not be carried on horseback — to be 
 burned last night, in order that they might be free to 
 cut their way through our cavalry. This they tried to 
 do to-day, but met the Fifth Corps, which was with the 
 cavalry, on a road to our left. Finding himself thus 
 met. General Lee abandoned his intention, which 
 might have been successful if there had been only cav- 
 alry to fight at the point where he expected to find 
 only cavalry. 
 
 Colonel Taylor, the Chief of Staff of General Lee, in 
 chatting with Captain Cook, said that the General, 
 though calm, was in low spirits at the straits to which 
 he saw his army reduced; and that for the two last days 
 he was in rear of his main column, not more than ten 
 minutes ride from our advance, so closel}^ did he watch 
 the movements of this army. 
 
 The officers and men of the Rebel army were anxious 
 to hear what was to be done with General Lee, and 
 showed great concern for him, saying that they did not 
 care for themselves. 
 
 There can be only one view of our operations, and it 
 is that they have been short, sharp and decisive. They 
 
 \ 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 20I 
 
 have been a fine combination against the enemy, which 
 has been well executed. To our strong force of cavalry 
 and the untiring activity of General Sheridan may be 
 ascribed the decisive success that our arms have met 
 with; but it must be added that the action of the Sixth 
 Corps, on the 2d instant, in taking the Southside Rail- 
 road, and the support of the Second, Fifth and Twen- 
 ty-fourth Corps, have contributed greatly to the re- 
 sults. All our corps commanders have done well, 
 but Generals Sheridan and Wright have, owing to 
 circumstances, been able to strike more vital blows 
 at the enemy than those of the other officers. 
 
 In eleven short days these great results have been 
 gained. Who would have thought it? From our 
 great numerical superiority, I thought the campaign 
 would be over in thirty days, and in one of my letters, 
 mentioned the first of May as the time it would likely 
 come to an end; but the time has been even shorter. 
 
 A copy of the articles of surrender is not to be had 
 at headquarters to-night, but one will no doubt be 
 officially published to-morrow. 
 
 To-morrow the formal surrender of the remainder of 
 General Lee's army will take place, when one of the 
 most striking scenes of the war will be witnessed by 
 this army. No event in the history of the United 
 States can compare with it in importance, and the 
 gladness of a people thus saved from the danger of half 
 ruin will be great. 
 
 Our feelings are in a state of gladness that can hard- 
 ly be imagined. Men see in the capture of the great- 
 est army of the enemy an end to their hardships and a 
 return to their homes. All the bands are filling the 
 air with sounds of jubilee, and cheer after cheer comes 
 from the ranks of the brigades as they file into their 
 bivouac grounds for the night. 
 
202 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely 
 Mobile. Ala., were captured to-day. We 
 
 April 9, 1865. ^ ^ , - - ' . 
 
 Union Account. secured seven hundred prisoners 
 
 at Fort Blakely and five thousand 
 
 at Spanish Fort, with a large amount of guns and 
 
 ordnance stores. Our troops have entered Mobile and 
 
 are this evening in full possession. 
 
 General Smith's forces led the advance into Mobile. 
 
 Mobile, the last remaining Rebel 
 Mobile, Alabama, strongfhold east of the Mississippi 
 
 Aprils. 1865. _, . ^ ^ j. .. j • • f if 
 
 Union Account. River, has fallen and is m the 
 
 quiet possession of our troops. 
 From the 3d to the 9th of April — Selma on the 
 3d, Richmond on the 3d, and Mobile to-day — what a 
 week of victories the past week has been, will never be 
 forgotten. 
 
 At five o'clock yesterday — Saturday afternoon — all 
 of our land batteries opened on Spanish Fort and Fort 
 Blakely with our Parrott guns, the shells of which did 
 great work against the sand-works and their be- 
 leaguered defenders. A heavy and constant fire was 
 kept going until about seven o'clock in the evening 
 when the signal for advance was given. Two brigades 
 of the Third Division, sixteen corps, which occupied 
 our extreme right, made a gallant charge on the Rebel 
 works and captured three hundred yards of them, then 
 clambered on the inside and secured three hundred and 
 fifty prisoners — the greater part of two Confederate 
 regirnents. As it was now dark, we entrenched ourselves 
 and lay upon our arms. Many of the Rebels had be- 
 stowed themselves so deep in their caves of sand, or 
 bomb-proofs, that they were taken completely by sur- 
 prise. A Rebel officer said, ''The first thing we knew 
 was, that the Yankees were dragging us out of our 
 quarters and beds, saying, surrender, boys, at once." 
 This surprise soon had its effect, and at one o'clock 
 
'THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 203 
 
 this morning the whole fort surrendered. We secured 
 in this surrender twenty-five commissioned officers and 
 five hundred and twenty-seven enlisted men. 
 
 This city IS quiet and fast assum- 
 
 Ninth Army Corps, . / . ^ ,. ., ►tm • 
 
 Petersburg, Va., ll^g ^ DUSllieSS activity. ThlS 
 
 April 9, {865. corps is guarding the railroad as 
 
 far through as Burkesville. We 
 are anxiously waiting for news from Grant. 
 
 Three companies of Mosby's 
 
 Washington, D. c, gucrillas disbanded on Wednes- 
 
 Aprii 9, 1865; day last at Culpeppei; Court 
 
 House, and dispersed for their 
 
 homes. Mosby has less than three hundred men left, 
 
 mostly operating on a neck of land running down Cynia 
 
 Creek and Fredericksburg. 
 
 The old flag was raised and 
 
 Sandusky. Ohio, lustily clieercd by the oath-takers 
 
 April 9, 1865. in block No. I, of the Rebel 
 
 prison on the island. While the 
 
 oath-takers cheered the flag, the dyed-in-the-wool 
 
 Rebel hissed it. 
 
 If this hissing element was turned loose in our 
 midst and resort to such doings, the lamp posts of San- 
 dusky would be kept ornamented for a few hours at 
 least. 
 
204 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The position of affairs just before 
 Sheridan's Cavalry, f^e surrender was as follows: 
 
 "^ A^rii'^g, TsGs'/^ ' Sheridan's Cavalry had struck 
 Union Account. the Rebel columu ou the main 
 
 Lynchburg Road and cut it in 
 two, west of the Appomattox Court House, and, to- 
 gether with his infantry support, was now facing east 
 and driving the rear portion of the column ( which was 
 the main portion ) back the way it had come, while the 
 Second and Sixth Corps, which had been following it 
 up on the same road, now lay as a lion in the path of 
 retreat. In other words, the main portion of the Rebel 
 column, with General Lee in the midst of it, was com- 
 pletely cut off, surrounded and hemmed in. There 
 was no chance of escape. The column had been driv- 
 en from the Danville to the Lynchburg Road, and now 
 its course on the latter was stopped. There was no 
 other road for it to take. Twenty-five thousand men — 
 nearly one-half of whom had already thrown away 
 their arms in their demoralization — were at the mercy 
 of twice or three times as many victorious muskets and 
 sabers ! 
 
 While the Second and Sixth Corps were pounding 
 the column forward with their artillery, and Sheridan's 
 Cavalry and the Twenty-fourth and Fifth Corps were 
 driving it back with all arms, like sheep in a slaughter 
 pen. The Rebel General Gordon, who w^as in the be- 
 leaguered column, sent forward to General Sheridan's 
 lines a flag of truce, proposing a surrender of the entire 
 command and asking an armistice until the terms of 
 capitulation could be agreed upon. The order was im- 
 mediately passed along General Sheridan's lines to 
 cease firing, which was promptly obeyed, followed by 
 the cheers of the troops who understood the reason for 
 the order. 
 
 Our skirmish line going east had now been advanced 
 to within a quarter of a mile of the Court House, and 
 the armies were within full view of each other. General 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 205 
 
 Sheridan's forces resting on a circle of cleared hills im- 
 mediately west of the Court House, and the head of the 
 Rebel column, well closed up, lying in a valley about 
 a mile to the eastward. Orders were issued to both 
 sides for the troops to remain in the same position as 
 they were, when the flag-of-truce was sent forward and 
 the firing ceased. On the reception of the flag-of-truce 
 and accompanying message by General Sheridan, he 
 sent an aid to accompany General Gordon, at his re- 
 quest, to the Court House, to talk over the matter of a 
 surrender. Soon General Gordon arrived, accompanied 
 by the Rebel General Wilcox, and they were met in 
 the village by Generals Sheridan and Ord ; these were 
 also joined by General Longstreet, who soon afterward 
 came up. 
 
 The result of this interview was a reference of the 
 matter of a surrender to Generals Grant and Lee, both 
 of whom, it was understood, were within reaching dis- 
 tance, consequently a messenger was sent by General 
 Sheridan down the Lynchburg road to the rear of the 
 Rebel column, near which General Grant had his 
 headquarters ( in the saddle ) and in the course of an 
 hour or so the General arrived, in response to the mes- 
 sage, at General Sheridan's headquarters in a dooryard 
 in the west end of the village. Lieutenant Colonel 
 Price, of General Sheridan's staff, was then dispatched 
 into the Rebel lines to escort General Lee to the vil- 
 lage, to be met on intermediate or neutral ground by 
 General Grant. In a short time General Lee, accom- 
 panied by Colonel Price and two or three of his own 
 aids, rode up to the residence of Major McLean, alight- 
 ed and went in. To mak.i sure of his identity I asked 
 an aid of General Long, who was on a visit to General 
 Sheridan at the time, what officer that was. 
 
 '^ That," said he, " is the greatest man the coun- 
 try ever produced, General Robert E. Lee." 
 
 That General was soon joined by General Grant, 
 with two or three of his staff, at Major McLean's, 
 
2o6 THE LAST J^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 the two being introduced by Colonel Price. After 
 an exchange of the usual civilities, General Lee 
 opened the negotiations by saying : 
 
 ''Well, General, you have got us in a tight place, 
 and to save the useless effusion of blood, I propose 
 to surrender this command on such honorable condi- 
 tions as you, as a magnanimous General may pre- 
 scribe." 
 
 " You are right. General," replied General Grant, 
 " in expecting magnanimous terms, magnanimity and 
 liberality, I am happy to say, is the policy of the Gov- 
 ernment I represent. As you ask nothing, I take the 
 more pleasure in tendering the most liberal terms in my 
 power. I therefore propose the surrender of all officers 
 and men as prisoners of war, subject to exchange or 
 parole, and, of course an unconditional surrender of all 
 public property, such as trains, supplies, arms, ordnance 
 and other munitions of war. If I could have the assur- 
 ance of General Lee that it would be safe for us, I 
 would gladly parole every officer and man on the spot 
 and allow him to go to his home." 
 
 General Lee — "I think I can safely promise that no 
 officer or private of the Army of Northern Virginia 
 would knowingly and willfully violate his parole of 
 honor." 
 
 General Grant — "To what forces does this surrender 
 extend?" 
 
 General Lee — "I can only surrender that portion of 
 the Confederate forces now in your power; I cannot 
 speak for the remainder at present." 
 
 General Grant — "Well, that is all we can ask at this 
 time. I understand the surrender to embrace all the 
 men and material of the Army of Northern Virginia 
 now in transit in this column? " 
 
 General Lee — " You are right. I will recall the ad- 
 vance of the column, which I consider in your power." 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 207 
 
 General Grant — "Well, I propose to take immediate 
 possession of all the public property, and parole all the 
 officers and men on the spot, the officers to retain their 
 side-arms and private horses." 
 
 General Lee — " That is all we can ask! " 
 
 The terms of capitulation were accordingly drawn 
 up on this basis, at the dictation of General Grant, by 
 one of his aids, and after some further exchangee of 
 social civilities, the interview terminated, General Lee, 
 with his white hair and beard flowing in the soft April 
 wind, mount^'ng his fine grey horse and riding back to 
 camp, and General Grant repairing to his new head- 
 quarters on the west side of the town. 
 
 General Lee looks well, though somewhat anxious 
 and careworn, and a good deal whiter about the head 
 and face, they say, than he was four years ago. It is 
 understood that on being paroled he will immediately 
 start for Richmond, where his family is. 
 
 After the surrender General Gordon addressed his 
 troops, intimating to them that the war was about 
 over, and advising them on being paroled to repair to 
 their homes and become good citizens again of the old 
 Union. This advice was received with the most vocif- 
 erous cheering by the Rebel soldiers. They even went 
 so far as to fire a salute in honor of the surrender and 
 no more fighting. 
 
 The Rebel arms and trains, and various munitions 
 of war, have been taken possession of this afternoon by 
 infantry detachments from the Fifth and Twenty- 
 fourth Corps, and the paroling will be attended to to- 
 morrow. The number of prisoners is estimated at 
 about twenty-five thousand, with two thousand supply 
 wagons, two hundred artillery guns and twelve thous- 
 and stand of small arms, a great many of these having 
 been thrown away. 
 
2o8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 This army the Rebels speak of 
 ^^"''I'r'/i^' as Sherman's '' Bummers." Pos- 
 
 April 9, 1865. ^u^ ^^ J ^ u i 
 
 Union Account. sibly the iiame does not belong 
 
 to us. The name was given us 
 by the enemy because our boys would walk around the 
 country and try to pass the time pleasantly. Had they 
 not kept out of our way and had they stood up like 
 men and fought, our men would not have had time to 
 do any "bumming." 
 
 The title of "bummers" was given at the early part 
 of the late campaign to such men as were in the habit 
 of foraging on their own account, independent of the 
 details made for foraging on every day's march. The 
 "bummers'" first object was to get "transportation" for 
 his proposed "pick up" which will account for the pres- 
 ence of so many coaches, buggies, &c., in this army. 
 After having "borrowed" rolling stock, he must also 
 have freight, so he solicits it generally from that same 
 locality, and carries a few cluckers with other "presents" 
 into camp, and for this is called a "bummer." If there 
 is anything wrong about this the enemy should keep us 
 so busy that our boys would have no time for "bum- 
 
 We learn from a reliable source 
 ^"Sj'g^'^g^; that our Trans-Mississippi army 
 
 confe'derate Account. is uot ouly very large, but like- 
 wise very efficient. The com- 
 plaint which has existed, heretofore, with regard to its 
 supineness, will soon be dissipated. Movements are in 
 progress which will electrify the country. 
 
 General Kirby Smith, very far from being the specu- 
 lator he has been reported, is so poor that he had to 
 sell his favorite battle horse; the one he rode at Manas- 
 sas and Richmond. He works incessantly and, though 
 not advanced in years, has become much worn and grey. 
 His proper sphere is the field, and there he will soon 
 be we trust. 
 
^HK LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 209 
 
 The Yankees have a post at Morganza, commanded 
 by General (Judge) Davis, the renegade Texan of 
 Corpus Christi. Captain Collins, a true hearted son of 
 the Lone Star State, who was promoted from the ranks 
 at Perr3'ville for distinguished gallantr}^, keeps the gar- 
 rison in perpetual terror with his band of scouts. Col- 
 lins is the Mosby of Louisiana. With a small force he 
 has neutralized and decimated a large garrison. 
 
 At one time Davis tlireatened to burn the house of 
 every person that fed Collins and his men. As soon as 
 our partisan heard of this, lie communicated with the 
 renegade general and told him if this threat was ever 
 executed, he would hang ten Yankees for every dwell- 
 ing destroyed and five more for every lady insulted. 
 As Collins had managed to pick up a number of "blue 
 bellies" and was known to be a man of his word, the 
 people around Morganza and the bayou Fordoche re- 
 main unmolested. 
 
 Governor Allen is universally beloved. With him as 
 the State Executive and Dick Taylor military chief, 
 the army of the Trans-Mississippi would not long re- 
 main torpid. 
 
Monday, April 10, 1865 
 
 We are reliably informed that 
 vicksburg, Tenn., Seliiia, Alabama, is added to the 
 
 April 10,1865. .. ' ' . 
 
 Union Account. Ime of Federal occupancy. It is 
 
 said that Forrest, by the skin of 
 his teeth, only succeeded in getting away. 
 
 It is beyond dispute that Wilson's boys are doing 
 their share of the work. Their ambition has led them 
 through the roughest of roads without fear, and their 
 work will prove this. 
 
 Wilson's cavalry dismounted and made their charge 
 of the 2d inst., against Forrest, one of the most deter- 
 mined of the war. They carried everything before 
 them. 
 
 With the capture of Selma, also comes the news of 
 the surrender or capture of Montgomery. Did you 
 ever hear of so many good things as are coming our 
 way this April ? I guess not. 
 
 An expedition, composed princi- 
 
 A^riMo' 1^865 ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 u'nion Account! Mouutcd Riflcs, left Norfolk on 
 
 the ist inst., for reconnoitering 
 purposes up the Chowan River, with the intention, if 
 possible, of reaching Weldon, N. C. The expedition 
 was under the command of Colonel Tanner, of the First 
 Mounted Rifles, and resulted in entire success. The 
 cavalry struck the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad and 
 
THE LAST P'OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 211 
 
 demolished the track for a considerable extent. While 
 thus engaged, they were attacked by a force of six 
 hundred Rebels, and after a severe fight succeeded in 
 repulsing them. The cavalry then fell back to Mur- 
 freesborough where the booty was delivered to the gun- 
 boats. Among the captures were one hundred bales of 
 superior cotton, a large amount of tobacco and snuff, 
 and thirty prisoners. Parties of the cavalry scouted to 
 within a few miles of Wei don, and from the prisoners 
 taken it was learned that the town was strongly forti- 
 fied, and garrisoned by a force of one thousand Rebels, 
 with several batteries of artillery. The expedition re- 
 turned last Saturday night. This expedition — said to 
 be the largest sent into northern North Carolina — 
 accomplished a great deal of good in ascertaining the 
 exact locality of the Rebel forces in that section of the 
 State. 
 
 A scout of Union troops sent out 
 
 Knoxvilie, Tenn., fj-^^^^ pQ^|- DoUClsOU, iu COUl- 
 
 April 10, 1865. , r t • ^ I /^ i l 
 
 Union Account. Hiaud of Lieuteuaut Colonel 
 
 Brott, met a gang of guerillas in 
 the vicinity of the Cumberland River, between Clarks- 
 ville and the fort, and a brisk engagement ensued. A 
 number of the outlaws took refuge in an old mill, and, 
 thus sheltered, kept our troops at bay. One of the 
 guerillas, Hardis Wiley, was shot and killed. Two 
 others belonging to the band refused to surrender, 
 when the mill was fired for the purpose of driving them 
 from their shelter. The outlaws were firm, and boldly 
 stood their ground. The building burned rapidly, and 
 the two desperate men were consumed in the flames. 
 
 To-day, at ten o'clock, the grati- 
 
 Chattanooga, Tenn., ^ . -^ ' , _. ' '^^ 
 
 April 10, 1865. fyi^g ucws that I^ce has surren- 
 
 dered was received at General 
 Steedman's headquarters, creating the wildest excite- 
 
212 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS DE THE WAR. 
 
 meiit. As the news spread the men gathered in 
 crowds and rent the air with the most vociferous 
 cheers. The Twenty-ninth Indiana was ordered to 
 " fall in " without arms, and then followed a regimental 
 *' three times three " that would have done your heart 
 good to hear. At noon the forts that crown the crests 
 of the hills about town, fired a salute of one hundred 
 guns, the whistles of the locomotives and machine 
 shops screamed, while everybody feels good. 
 
 A bright, clear, beautiful day, 
 
 Lee's Surrender, but it Opened gloomily. Our 
 
 1fpMrro°i865.' a^"^y ^^^d reached Appomattox 
 
 Confederate Account. Court HoUSe, OU the road tO 
 
 Lynchburg. Thomas, with his 
 army, had arrived before us and effected a junction with 
 Grant ; cavalry, infantry and artillery completely sur- 
 rounded our little command. We had from five to eight 
 thousand prisoners, and only eight thousand effective 
 men with muskets, all told. The supply of ammunition 
 was nearly exhausted. In this emergency General 
 Lee determined to cut his way through. Orders were 
 given for a grand charge, and our troops massed ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 General Grimes' division led the charge, followed 
 successively by two others. The engagement com- 
 menced shortly after sunrise, and was continued until 
 our men had broke through the Federal lines, driven 
 them nearly a mile and a half and captured several pieces 
 of artillery,' and some hundreds of prisoners. The old 
 spirit of fight was unsubdued. Meanwhile a heavy force 
 of cavalry threatened our flanks. For some reason 
 General Lee issued orders to the troops to cease firing 
 and withdraw. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 213 
 
 Subsequently an officer, said to be General Custer of 
 the Yankee cavalry, entered our lines with a flag of truce. 
 Whether his appearance was in response to a request 
 from General lyce, or he was the bearer of a formal de- 
 mand for the surrender initiated by General Grant, we 
 are not informed. At this time, our army was in line of 
 battle on or near the Appomattox road, the skirmishers 
 thrown out, while two hundred and fifty yards from 
 those, on an eminence, was a large body of Federal 
 cavalry. 
 
 Soon after the return of General Custer to his lines, 
 General Grant, accompanied by his staff, rode to the 
 headquarters of General Lee, which were under an apple 
 tree near the road. The interview is described as ex- 
 ceedingly impressive. After the salutatory formalities, 
 which were doubtless brief and business-like. General 
 l^ee tendered his sword to Grant in token of surrender. 
 That officer, however, with a courtesy for which we must 
 accord him due respect, declined to receive it, or re- 
 ceiving it declined to retain it, and accompanied its re- 
 turn with substantially the following remarks: 
 
 "General Lee, keep that sword. You have won it by 
 your gallantry. You have not been whipped, but over- 
 powered, and I cannot receive it as a token of surrender 
 from so brave a man." 
 
 The reply of General Lee we do not know. But 
 Grant and himself are said to have been deeply affected 
 by the occasion, and to have shed tears. The scene oc- 
 curred between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon. 
 When the sad event became known to the army, officers 
 and men gave way to their emotions and some among 
 the veterans wept like children. A considerable num- 
 ber swore that they never would surrender and made 
 their way to the woods. Generals Gary of South Caro- 
 lina and Rosser of Virginia, with a few followers, cut 
 their way out and escaped. But the bulk of the army, 
 the men who for four years have done battle so nobly 
 for the cause, together with leaders like Longstreet, 
 
214 I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Gordon, Kershaw, and others whose names are forever 
 distingnished, were obliged to accept the proffered 
 terms. 
 
 These were — capitulation with all the honors of war — 
 officers to retain their side-arms and personal property 
 and the men their baggage. Each one was thereupon 
 paroled and allowed to go his way. 
 
 During Sunday and Monday a large number of Federal 
 soldiers and officers visited our camps and looked 
 curiously on our commands, but there was nothing like 
 exultation, no shouting for joy and no word uttered that 
 could add to the mortification already sustained. On 
 the contrary every symptom of respect was manifested, 
 and the Southern army was praised for the noble and 
 brave manner in which it had defended our cause 
 
 The force of the Yankee army is estimated at two hun- 
 dred thousand men. Our own, at the time of surrender, 
 embraced not more than eight thousand effective in- 
 fantry and two thousand cavalry, but it is said that the 
 total number paroled was about twenty-three thousand 
 of all arms and conditions. 
 
 All the Federals spoke of General Lee in unbounded 
 praise. The remark was frequently made "he would 
 receive as many cheers in going down our lines as 
 General Grant himself." 
 
 It is understood that Generals Lee, Longstreet and 
 other officers are now on parole in the city of Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 The following is a true copy of General Lee's Ad- 
 dress to his army, issued after the surrender to General 
 Grant at Appomattox C. H., on Sunday, April 9th, 1865. 
 
 Headquarters Army Northern Va. 
 
 April loth, 1865. 
 
 General Orders, \ 
 
 No. 9. J 
 
 After four years of arduous service, marked by unsur- 
 passed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern 
 
THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 215 
 
 Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming 
 numbers and resources. 
 
 I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard 
 fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last, 
 that I have consented to this result from no distrust of 
 them. But feeling that valor and devotion could ac- 
 complish nothing that could compensate for the loss 
 that would have attended the continuance of the con- 
 test. I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of 
 those whose past services have endeared them to their 
 countrymen. 
 
 By the terms of the agreement officers and men can 
 return to their homes and remain until exchanged. 
 You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds 
 from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, 
 and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to 
 you His blessing and protection. 
 
 With unceasing admiration of your constancy and 
 devotion to your country and a grateful remembrance 
 of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I 
 bid you an affectionate farewell. 
 
 R. E. IvEE, 
 
 General. 
 
 Below is a special order embracing General Grant^s 
 order for the passage of paroled soldiers to their homes 
 and also the form of pass given them : 
 
 Headquarters Army of N. V. 1 
 April loth, 1865. J 
 Special Order, \ 
 No. — J 
 
 All officers and men of the Confederate service 
 paroled at Appomattox C. H., Va., who, to reach their 
 homes are compelled to pass through the lines of the 
 
2l6 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Union armies, will be allowed to do so, and to pass free 
 on all Government transports and military railroads. 
 By command of Lieutenant General Grant, 
 
 E. S. Parker, 
 Lieutenant Colonel A. A. G. 
 By command of R. E. Lee, 
 
 C. L. Venabee, 
 
 A. A. G. 
 
Tuesday, April 1L 1865, 
 
 The process of paroling I^ee's 
 Fifth Army corpj. A r m v IS slowlv proo^ressiiigf. 
 
 Near Appomattox C. H.,Va., ^. U r t ^ ^ 
 
 Apriii 1.1335. The Confederate omcers are 
 
 hard at work in furnishing in- 
 dividual paroles for those lately under their command. 
 As fast as the Confederate soldier gets his parole, that 
 quick does he start for home. 
 
 On the surrender of Lee it was 
 
 Appomauox c. H., va., estimated that his army con- 
 
 ApriM 1,1865. sistcd of about thirty thousand 
 
 men. It will therefore astonish 
 the country to learn that of paroled prisoners we prob- 
 ably received at the surrender not more than eight 
 thousand. The question naturally arises, what became 
 of the remaining twenty-two thousand? Rebel officers 
 aver that on learning of Lee's intention to surrender, 
 thousands, among them the Rebel cavalry, left, either 
 for their homes or to join the army of Johnston before 
 being paroled, and that these men will doubtless soon be 
 found in the fighting ranks of the Rebel armies else- 
 where. 
 
 After the surrender, the Fifth Corps was ordered to 
 remain for the purpose of superintending the removal 
 of the surrendered property. Sheridan and the com- 
 mand of General Ord marched for Danville, while the 
 Second and Sixth returned to Burkesville for supplies. 
 
2l8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The Ninth Corps took no part in the pursuit of Lee's 
 army from Petersburg, but remained behind for the 
 purpose of guarding the railroad at Burkesville. 
 
 Lee, it is said, attributes the capture of his army to 
 his endeavors to save his wagon train, which greatly 
 delayed his progress. Had he abandoned it he might 
 possibly have reached the Danville Road before us, and 
 escaped with his army southward. He will doubtless 
 learn wisdom by experience. 
 
 Near the Appomattox, and at the point where Sheri- 
 dan and Wright achieved their brilliant success of Fri- 
 day, lay the ruins of army wagons, ambulances, forges, 
 caissons, and the debris generally of the Rebel army. 
 On the white canvas cover of an army wagon some 
 wag, possibly a good-natured Johnny, had written in 
 glaring capitals, " WE UNS have found the last 
 DITCH." From the scene presented in the gorge referred 
 to one might very easily believe that it was the long- 
 vaunted "last ditch" of the expiring "Confederacy." 
 
 The keys of this city are to-day 
 
 ApriMi'^is^'s'B: ^^ t^^ ^^^^^ ^f Griffin's Union 
 
 scouting party, and will be given 
 to General MacKenzie upon his arrival, which is 
 momentarily expected. The citizens show signs of 
 satisfaction over the result and are courteous. The 
 streets are filled with Confederate soldiers who are 
 anxiously awaiting the result of the change. We hope 
 that Sherman is meeting with success. We are now 
 ready to digest good news from him, which, with 
 Johnston bagged, must close up the deal. 
 
 The following prices are to-day's 
 Columbus. Ga., market values: Tobacco, com- 
 
 April 11, 1865. „ , m. • 
 
 Confedarate Account. mou, $4.22 tO $7-10; ClgarS per 
 
 thousand, $200; one sole leather 
 trunk, $610; powder, $20; one negro woman, thirty- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 219 
 
 five years old, and four children, $5,500; four per cent, 
 certificates, 33c.; cotton, 60c.; diamond rings, $1,500 
 to $2,400; cane syrup, per gallon, $16 to $17.50; salt, 
 $2.60 to $2.75; Irish potatoes, $15 to $16; gold watches, 
 $800 to $3,300; oranges, 55c. ; horse, $2,000. 
 
 The capture of this important 
 Lynchburg, Va., place this momino" without 00- 
 
 Aprii 11. 1865. ^ . . . 1-1 1, ^ 
 
 Union Account. positiou, shows plainly what 
 
 other places in this section may 
 allow. The people here — or the majority of them — 
 are glad that the "Old Flag" has come back. 
 
 So important a town as this in our hands, is another 
 great loss to the enemy. Here, the center of three 
 railroads, and the depository of vast supplies is given 
 over to a squad of men under the command of a lieu- 
 tenant. The base of guerilla warfare that has been 
 promised to exist for tv/enty years to come, is now 
 under Federal authority, and another page written in 
 the history of Southern expectations. 
 
 Lynchburg is now where it will possibly stay ; an- 
 other of those cities belonging to the United States 
 exclusively. 
 
Wednesday, April 12, 1865, 
 
 Mrs. General Lee is seriously in- 
 
 Richmond. Va., disposed. A iiegro guard was 
 
 April 12. 1865. placed in front of the home she 
 
 is occupying, but on it being 
 
 represented that the color of the guards was an insult 
 
 to Mrs. Lee, they were withdrawn and white guards 
 
 substituted. 
 
 Colonel Gamble, commanding 
 
 Fairfax Station. Va., the Uniou forccs at this poiut, 
 
 April 12. 1865. received a message from the 
 
 Rebel General Mosby, in which 
 
 he says he does not care about Lee's surrender, and 
 
 that he is determined to fight so long as he has a man 
 
 left. 
 
 General Longstreet's entire corps 
 Fifth Army Corps, marclicd from their camps and 
 
 Near Appomattox C. H., Va., ^ -. ^. . ^ .r.i 
 
 April 12, 1865. lomied lu line m front oi the 
 
 First Division of this corps and 
 stacked their arms, flags, &c., when they slowly and 
 sorrowfully returned to their camp. It is a sight that 
 cannot be pictured properly to those who have not 
 witnessed it. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 221 
 
 General Longstreet wore a smile on his face while 
 General Gordon's expression was very different. Gen- 
 eral Pendleton disliked to give up Lee's artillery, 
 but did so. 
 
 The^ Stars and Stripes were 
 
 Mobile, Ala., hoisted ou Batteries Porter and 
 
 April 12, 1865. Mackintosh at half past ten this 
 
 morning. The most prominent 
 
 church steeple also had our flag placed on it at half 
 
 past two o'clock. General Granger's forces are now 
 
 in full possession of this city. 
 
 The Rebels commenced evacuating on the loth and 
 continued until yesterday when they had all left. 
 
 Stoneman's command, at ten 
 saiesbury N. c, o'clock this mornino^ captured 
 
 April 12 1865 . . . 
 
 Union Account. this placc, and with it eight stand 
 
 of colors, nineteen pieces of 
 artillery, eleven hundred and sixty-five prisoners, one 
 thousand stand of arms and accoutrements, one million 
 rounds of small ammunition, together with clothing, 
 bacon, salt, sugar, rice, wheat, &c. 
 
 The greater part of these supplies came from 
 Raleigh. We destroyed on our way, an equipped 
 arsenal, six depots, two engines and trains, and several 
 bridges. - 
 
 We lost few killed in the engagement this morning. 
 
 News now comes that General 
 Thomas's Army Thouias has capturcd Selma and 
 
 Washington, D. C, t., ai i ^ i 
 
 April 12, 1865. Montgomery, Alabama, and has 
 
 defeated and captured Forrest's 
 
 and Roddy's entire command. When will these good 
 
 things end? A few more days and there will not 
 
 be a grease spot left of the Rebel armies. 
 
222 THE LAvST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 General Lee has obtained per- 
 ApriTi2"'i865.' mission to visit Weldon, North 
 
 Carolina. His army is still at 
 the point where it surrendered. The work of prepar- 
 ing the Rebel rolls, duplicates of which have to be 
 made, and the turning over the property of the army is 
 progressing as fast as possible. In a few days every 
 detail necessary to complete the surrender will be con- 
 cluded. The army will then be permitted to disperse, 
 according to the terms agreed upon. General Lee and 
 the officers surrendered by him, are overwhelmed with 
 gratitude for the generosity displayed by Lieutenant 
 General Grant. 
 
 Lee surrendered less than eight thousand fighting 
 men to Grant. Less than five thousand muskets were 
 surrendered. It is the opinion of many patriots at 
 Washington that the morale of our success only should 
 be celebrated, and that with exceeding modesty. 
 Grant had one hundred and twenty-three thousand 
 men under his command. General Lee confessed to 
 General Grant that Johnston's entire force would not 
 number more than ten thousand. 
 
 Jeff. Davis is reported at Macon, 
 ZTA%se^. Georgia, on the loth. It is also 
 
 stated that he has one hundred 
 and sixty thousand dollars in gold on deposit in 
 Havana. 
 
 If this Revolution has produced 
 
 Augusta, Ga., somc of the meanest and most 
 
 confelrat Account. grovclliug of mankind, it has 
 
 held an even balance by the 
 
 example of some of the most exalted and aspiring 
 
 souls — the true lords of the creation. The grub worms 
 
 who prosper now, bloated with profit — a profit that 
 
 has been sternly but veraciously denominated the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 223 
 
 sweat of the poor and the blood of the brave — these 
 earth bugs, we say, shall be blotted from the records of 
 the book of memory, or recollected only with infamy, 
 while the anointed names of a thousand heroes shine 
 in perpetual splendor. 
 
 Out of the mass of those who have done well and 
 gloriously a few arise who possess individual traits of 
 superiority, which are calculated to elevate them above 
 their fellows and make them memorable. 
 
 We do not allude, at the present writing, to the Ti- 
 tans of our time who have had the world for an applaud- 
 ing audience. Their fame is secure. We would select 
 an humbler worker in the vineyard of liberty, and one 
 who has recently yielded for his country the sacrifice of 
 life. Who can read of the death of Marcus Jerome 
 Clarke — the romantic " Sue Munday" — without a thrill 
 of horror and admiration — horror at his murder ; ad- 
 miration for his courage and demeanor. " I die be- 
 fore MY MANHOOD, AND YET I HAVE BEEN A MAN 
 
 TO MY COUNTRY !" Such is the language of a noble 
 spirit, and such the sentiment which shoiild animate 
 the bosom of every Confederate youth. What a stigma 
 does such language fix upon those lusty lads and brawny 
 men who seek every avenue of escape from service and 
 are not ashamed to deny their masculinity by cowardly 
 evasion and finesse. You, skulker in the swamps, can 
 you read the words of this young man unmoved ? You, 
 sleek young fellow, with herculean shoulders and iron 
 thews, how can you caper about at concerts and crawl 
 in bomb-proofs, while the country bleeds and such men 
 as Jerome Clarke die because of paucity of numbers in 
 the ranks ? Read that last utterance of sublime faith 
 and patriotism with which the young Kentuckian bade 
 farewell to the hopes of youth and the vanities of the 
 world. Strive to emulate his magnificent career. Be 
 A MAN to the country which the Lord your God has 
 given you, and the imps of Satan shall not wrest it 
 away. 
 
Thursday, April 13, 1865. 
 
 Evidently one of our opponents 
 Raleigh, N. c, ^as had what they call ''His 
 
 April 13. 1865. fill of it." The following letter 
 
 picked up on our entrance here 
 states the case, and does it in a very pointed man- 
 ner. The letter is given exactly as it was written : 
 
 "deers sister libby: i hev conkludid that the dam 
 fulishnes uv tryin to lick shurmin Had better be 
 stoped. we hav bin gettin nuthin but hell & lots uv 
 it ever sinse we saw the dam yankys & i am tirde uv 
 it. shurmin has a lots of pimps that dont care a 
 dam what they doo. and its no use tryin to whip em. 
 if we dont git hell when shurmin starts agin i miss 
 my gess. if i cood git home ide tri dam hard to git 
 thare. my old horse is plaid out or ide trie to go 
 now. maibee ile start to nite fur ime dam tired uv this 
 war fur nuthin. if the dam yankees Havent got 
 thair yit its a dam wunder. Thair thicker an lise on 
 a hen and a dam site ornraier. youre brother jimi." 
 
 This morning at about nine 
 Raleigh, iM. c, o'clock Kilpatrick's cavalry en- 
 
 Apriii3, 18G5. tcrcd the city, and were soon 
 
 after followed by the First Divis- 
 ion of the Fourteenth Corps, commanded by General C. 
 C. Walcutt. A Provost-guard was immediately placed 
 at every house to prevent stragglers from molesting the 
 
THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 225 
 
 citizens, who have since remarked that there has been 
 more quiet and order since the advent of our troops 
 than there was when Johnston's command were here. 
 
 Wheeler's men have treated the people shame- 
 fully, breaking into houses and stores, and robbing 
 everybody, friend and foe alike. The people all 
 through the country, as well as those m this town, 
 represent them as acting more like a band of rob- 
 bers than an organized body of troops. 
 
 After the city had been formally surrendered, and 
 while Kilpatrick was marching through the town, an 
 officer belonging to Wheeler's command, who, with some 
 of his men, were engaged in plundering a store near 
 the Market House, rushed into the street and fired his 
 revolver at Kilpatrick, who was riding at the head of the 
 column; the ball fortunately missed Kilpatrick, but 
 wounded one of his staff. Chase was instantly made, 
 and the ruffian captured. In less than ten minutes he 
 was swinging by his neck from a tree. 
 
 The march from Goldsboro was a very severe one in 
 consequence of the rain and naturally bad roads over 
 which the army was obliged to pass. 
 
 The pioneer corps and large details from different 
 regiments were worked day and night, corduroying the 
 roads for nearly half the distance marched. 
 
 The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, commanded 
 respectively by General Blair and Logan, and which 
 are commonly known as the right wing of the Army of 
 the Tennessee, under General Howard, took the ex- 
 treme right on the inarch to Raleigh, which, in conse- 
 quence of the circuitous route traveled, amounted to 
 nearly sixty-four miles. This inarch was accomplished 
 in three days and a half, an almost incredible short time 
 when it is taken into consideration that the roads had to 
 be made for full one-half the distance, amid a drenching 
 rain storm which to any ordinary army would have 
 made the roads impassable; but Sherman's veteran and 
 victorious troops have learned how to overcome almost 
 
22 6 THE LAvST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 every obstacle to success, and they accordingly accom- 
 plished this march in the short time stated. The same 
 march could not have been made in the same time by 
 any other army in the world. 
 
 With the exception of some slight cavalry skirmish- 
 ing this wing of the army has had no enemy to con- 
 tend with or to impede their progress since they left 
 Goldsboro. 
 
 Those few of Wheeler's men, not amounting to over 
 fifty or one hundred, who kept in our front were easily 
 driven and kept at a respectful distance from our ad- 
 vance, which consisted' of the Seventh Illinois Mounted 
 Infantry of Major General Course's Division of the Fif- 
 teenth Corps. 
 
 The news that ''Lee has surren- 
 
 April 13. 1865. 
 
 Charleston, s. c, dered" reached here this evening. 
 
 Many are so intoxicated with 
 delight that they are wild. 
 
 Patriotic songs are heard all over the city. Little 
 sleep can be expected for to-night. Even the residents 
 are joining in the jubilee. Charleston is, this evening, 
 doing her share in the jollification. 
 
 There is truth in the report that 
 ^rpJiM3";865.'' recruiting and drafting has 
 
 ceased. Orders were issued to- 
 day to that effect from the War Department. War will 
 soon have become a thing to look back upon, and the 
 horror will never be fully known. 
 
 With every hour comes news from all sections, 
 announcing the success of our army and the rapid 
 destruction of opposition. Every loyal man, no matter 
 if he is in affliction, wears an expression of satisfaction 
 over the result of April so far. The end is near at 
 hand, thank God. 
 
THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 227 
 
 The Capital of North Carolina 
 Raleigh, N. c, ^^g^g entered and occupied this 
 
 April 13. 1835. . , , ^t • 
 
 Union Account. niommg by the Union troops, 
 
 and the Stars and Stripes wave 
 from the ample dome of the State House. The First 
 Division of the Fourteenth Corps, General Walcutt, 
 was the first infantry command to enter the city. In 
 accordance with General Sherman's order, the citizens 
 were notified that they could all have a guard by ap- 
 plying for it. On entering the city about half past two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, I found a guard at every 
 door, and a Sabbath-like quiet pervading the place. 
 Kilpatrick's cavalry came in early in the morning, 
 as the cavalry of General Wheeler — the rear guard 
 of Johnston's army — withdrew. The latter ransack- 
 ed and robbed a large number of stores during 
 the last night of their stay. They held high car- 
 nivals, got drunk, insulted the citizens, and kept 
 up a reign of terror during the last days' occu- 
 pation of the city. It was unsafe for ladies to 
 walk the streets, and they kept shut up in their 
 houses. General Johnston, whose troops proper 
 were kept under the strictest discipline, had with- 
 drawn. 
 
 The greatest panic prevailed among a portion of 
 the people on account of the exaggerated stories 
 which had been circulated concerning the outrages 
 they might expect from our troops. Their surprise 
 and gratification at the good order and perfect quiet 
 which prevailed upon the entry of the army, knew 
 no bounds. It was an immense relief to the people. 
 One of Wheeler's Cavalry who remained among the 
 last, against the remonstrances of the citizens, fired 
 upon some of Kilpatrick's men as they rode up to- 
 ward the capital. He attempted to escape, but was 
 shot in the mouth, his horse fell, and he was cap- 
 tured and hung. The act of firing upon our men af- 
 ter the surrender of the city, was in violation of all 
 
228 THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 propriety, and fully justified the fate which he met. 
 General Johnston's army, consisting of twenty 
 thousand infantry in a very good condition, and a large 
 body of cavalry, some reports say ten thousand, in 
 poor condition, evacuated Raleigh on yesterday 
 morning, marching toward Hillsborough. 
 
 The army of General Sherman, divided into three 
 grand columns, and a column of Kilpatrick's cavalry, 
 advanced from Goldsboro by three or four differ- 
 ent roads. General Slocum had the left; ^ General 
 Schofield, with General Cox's Twenty- third Army 
 Corps, the center, and the Army of the Tennessee, 
 General Howard, the right. General Terry with the 
 Tenth Corps, part of Schofield's command, kept up 
 the south side of the Neuse to unite with the other 
 portion of General Schofield's army, near Smithfield. 
 Before we had reached the latter place, it became 
 known to General Sherman that Johnston would fall 
 back from Raleigh. The army was accordingly 
 pushed forward as fast as possible. When General 
 Sherman arrived at Clayton's depot, he was met by 
 a deputation from Raleigh, sent forward by Governor 
 Vance, to make terms of surrender, and to secure 
 protection. 
 
 The wish to secure his own person from arrest, and 
 to perpetuate his lease of power, and that of the Legis- 
 lature elect was evidently another — perhaps the chief 
 object of the mission. The party was of the highest re- 
 spectability, consisting of ex-Governor Graham, and 
 ex-Governor Swain, President of the University. Gen- 
 eral Sherman received them with great politeness, and 
 listened with attention to their remarks. The inter- 
 view was brief and cordial, and, at its close. General 
 Sherman assured them of full protection, on condition 
 that his troops should not be molested or fired upon 
 during their further march into the city. The assur- 
 ance was given by the Commission that the city would 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 229 
 
 be evacuated by General Johnston, and no opposition 
 made to our advance. 
 
 Hereupon General Sherman issued the following 
 order, which was promulgated to the troops through 
 the different commanders the same evening : 
 
 Headquarters Military Division of the^ 
 
 Mississippi, In the Field, Gauley's > 
 
 Store, N. C, April 12th, 1865. J 
 
 All officers and soldiers of the army are commanded 
 to respect and protect the Government of North Caro- 
 lina, and all officers and agents of the State Govern- 
 ment, the Mayor and citizens of Raleigh — provided no 
 hostile act is committed against the officers and men of 
 this army. 
 
 W. T. Sherman, 
 Major General Commanding. 
 
 It is understood that Governor Vance instructed his 
 Commissioners to ask of General Sherman an armistice 
 to enable him to convene the Legislature to take steps 
 for bringing the State back into the Union. Vance, 
 who has been very violent and made a rabid speech to 
 the troops only five days ago, left last evening on 
 horseback, as was supposed, in company with Captain 
 Guthrie, late of the navy. A delegation has been sent 
 after the fugitive Governor to get him back. 
 
 General Kilpatrick's Cavalry, which had been skir- 
 mishing with the cavalry of the enemy during the pre- 
 vious day on the Smith field road, were met a mile out 
 of the city by the Mayor, Wm. H. Harrison, who was 
 accompanied by the Honorable Kenneth Rayner. The 
 latter addressed General Kilpatrick, speaking for the 
 Mayor and the citizens of Raleigh. He desired to sur- 
 render the city, and requested protection for the citi- 
 zens, the women and children, and for the two asylums 
 near the city, viz.: the Insane and the Deaf and Dumb. 
 The Presidents, or a delegation from the goverment of 
 both these institutions were present. General Kilpat- 
 
230 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 rick assured them of protection, and he and his staff 
 then rode forward, entering the city at the eastward, 
 while Wheeler's Cavalry retired in the opposite direc- 
 tion. At about eight o'clock in the morning they rode 
 to the capitol, and the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, ascending to 
 the top, planted the American flag upon the State 
 House dome. Some of Wheeler's men, against the 
 earnest entreaties of the citizens, remained to get a 
 final shot at the Yankees. The result was that one of 
 them got a halter for his pains, and no sympathy from 
 the the citizens. 
 
 Adjutant James, the Rebel Provost-Marshal, who 
 was suspected of conniving at the act, was arrested. 
 
 General Schofield and staff arrived at General Sher- 
 man's headquarters about half past two o'clock in the 
 afternoon. During the evening there was a meeting of 
 the Generals and prominent Union citizens at head- 
 quarters. 
 
 The city is perfectly quiet. Scarcely a soldier is to 
 be seen — only the guards; the stores are all closed, and 
 the main streets seem like Sunday. General Slocum 
 and staff soon followed and General Sherman and 
 staff arrived and took quarters at the Governor's 
 mansion between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. 
 The Governor was not at home to receive him, having 
 urgent business at Hillsborough. General Sherman, 
 however, made himself quite at home, as he had pre- 
 viously done at the mansions of other Southern Gov- 
 ernors. A splendid American flag hung over the main 
 entrance, fronting Fayetteville street. 
 
 The Central or Gasten Depot was set on fire by some 
 of the Rebel troops before leaving, and together with a 
 large quantity of corn, which was stored in the 
 building, destroyed. The object was supposed to be the 
 destruction of the corn to keep it out of our hands. A 
 portion of it had previously been distributed among in- 
 digent families. I learn that a pretty clean sweep has 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEKKS OF THE WAR. 23 1 
 
 been made of the corn throughout this region by 
 Johnston's troops. 
 
 Prominent Rebel citizens here had information that 
 Jeff. Davis had been heard of on his way to Cheraw, 
 South Carolina. More recent news, however, locates 
 him at or near Hillsborough, where he will probably 
 put himself under the wing of Johnston's army from 
 the Yankee raiders who are now thronging all the main 
 roads of western North Carolina. 
 
 Jeff, telegraphed to Johnston that the news from 
 Lee was of the most disastrous character ; that he could 
 not depend upon that army, and must make the best 
 defense he could unaided by it. 
 
 Hardee, before leaving Raleigh, remarked that if 
 General Lee had surrendered, and he had no doubt of 
 it, any further slaughter of men in battle was only mur- 
 der. He is believed to express General Johnston's opin- 
 ion on this point; and intelligent North Carolinians ex- 
 pect to see a surrender of Johnston's army within a few 
 days. 
 
 It is reported that there was a large amount of specie 
 accumulated at Danville — the proceeds of the late tax 
 on gold and silver — with which it is expected Jeff., Jew 
 Benjamin and their associates in treason will try to 
 smuggle with themselves out of the country. 
 
 Great anxiet}^ prevails everywhere among the people. 
 The State is thoroughly impoverished, and distress and 
 starvation must overtake them unless an immediate 
 cessation of hostilities affords the opportunity to plant 
 a crop during the present spring. Days, even hours, 
 are now more precious than gold to those who must de- 
 pend upon this year's crop for support for themselves 
 and families. 
 
 General Grant is here, in consul 
 tation with the President. I 
 headquarters are hereafter to 
 in Washington. He goes to Philadelphia to-morrow 
 
 X'rii7ri865.^" "^^^^^^ w^^^ ^^^ President. His 
 
 headquarters are hereafter to be 
 
232 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Lee visits Johnston to stay bloodshed. He is truly 
 penitent. Kwell is on his parole at the Metropolitan. 
 
 General Lee was at City Point yesterday, but was 
 expected to proceed to Richmond to-day. He will be 
 present at the convening of the Rebel Virginia Legis- 
 lature, and urge the immediate passage of a resolution 
 restoring the Old Dominion to the Union. 
 
 General Stanley has issued the 
 
 Greenville, East Tenn., following Order: 
 
 Fourth Army Corps Headqariers, ,,n^i ■, • r i 
 
 April 13. 1865. " 1 he glorious succcss of the 
 
 National armies under Lieuten- 
 ant General Grant, being no longer a matter of any 
 doubt, the army under his command having killed, 
 wounded, captured and forced the capitulation of the 
 entire principal army of the Rebels, including their 
 Commander-in-chief, to-morrow, which is the day ap- 
 pointed by the War Department for the raising of 
 the old flag over Fort Sumter, where it was first in- 
 sulted and pulled down by insolent traitors, will be 
 kept as a holiday and a day of thanksgiving in this 
 corps. A salute of one hundred guns will be fired at 
 twelve o'clock noon, under the direction of Major 
 Goodspeed, chief of artillery. All military duty except- 
 ing necessary police and guard duty, will be suspended. 
 It is recommended that chaplains of regiments hold 
 services in their respective places of worship, to ren- 
 der thanks to Almighty God for his goodness and mer- 
 cy in preserving us as a nation and giving us the 
 great victory over our enemies. Let us in our thank- 
 fulness, remember in tears the many brave men who 
 have fallen at our sides in this great and terrible 
 war. Who among us has not lost a brother, a rela- 
 tive, or a dear comrade? Let us reflect, and we may 
 profit by so doing, that great national, as great personal 
 sin, must be atoned for by great punishment." 
 
Friday, April 14, 1865, 
 
 Sherman's Bummers have a new 
 A^p'rii'?^; ^865. song that is expressive of the 
 
 present feeling of his army : 
 
 Tune: — " When Johnnj Comes Marching Home." 
 
 Old Tecumseh is in the lead, 
 
 Oh, Ho, Oh! Ho! 
 Help from Grant he does not need, 
 
 Ah, Ha! Ah, Ha! 
 For now he's oriving the Johnnies enough. 
 To try the quality of their stuff. 
 The times they're having are mighty tough. 
 While Sherman's boys they're trying to bluff. 
 
 Oh, Ho*! Oh, Ho! Ah, Ha! 
 
 We've been flying around from town to town. 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh, Ho! 
 We've found no one that could do us up brown, 
 
 Ah. Ha! Ah, Ha! 
 We're on the wing and going along 
 Not caring a cuss for Johnston's throng 
 For while he's pounding his worn out gong, 
 We're dropping right in, as it were, headlong. 
 
 Oh. Ho! Oh, Ho! Ah, Ha! 
 
 Now we're in Old Xorth Caroline, 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh. Ho! 
 Chewing things that are sublime. 
 
 Ah, Ha ! Ah, Ha ! 
 Our bellies are full of chicken breast. 
 Our boys are taking in the best. 
 While Old Tecump is taking a rest. 
 Before he again drops on the pest, 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh, Ho! Ah, Ha! 
 
234 I'HK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Another week, and where will we be, 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh, Ho! 
 On our march from bv the sea ? 
 
 Ah. Ha! Ah, Ha! 
 Perhaps Old Johnston with his bad licked crowd, 
 Will be screaming to Cump, in a voice real loud 
 Come on old Yank, we're done up proud. 
 Take awaj'^ that s^ang, you've got us cowed." 
 
 Oh,^Ho! 'Oh, Ho! Ah. Ha! 
 
 It's bound to come in a few days. 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh, Ho! 
 Even if the Johnnies don't like our ways, 
 
 Ah, Ha! Ah Ha! 
 If thev don't come up to General Cump. 
 And offer to give it up in a lump. 
 We'll give thetn another Yankee thump 
 That will surely settle every chump, 
 
 Oh, Ho! Oh Ho! Ah, Ha! 
 
 The Steamer George Leary, 
 
 Fortress Monroe, Va., whicli has arrived from City 
 
 April 14, 1865. Point, this afternoon, brings 
 
 down a rumor that Johnston has 
 
 surrendered to Sherman. It lacks confirmation. 
 
 Major Anderson, before a dis- 
 
 charieston, s. c, tinguishcd assemblage, hoisted 
 
 April 14, 1865. the Stars and Stripes on Fort 
 
 Sumter, to-day. The flag had 
 
 an evergreen wreath attached. The occupants of the 
 
 stage all joined in taking hold of the halyards, and 
 
 helped hoist the beautiful banner, while the enthusiasm 
 
 was unbounded. There was a simultaneous rising, 
 
 and cheering, and waving of hats which lasted fully 
 
 fifteen minutes. 
 
 General Anderson then introduced the Rev. Henry 
 Ward Beecher who made the leading address. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 235 
 
 To-day the anniversary of the 
 Raleigh, N, c. capture of Fort Sumter, the 
 
 April 14, 1865. right wiug of Shemiau's army 
 
 made its triumphant march into 
 the capital of North Carolina, to the intense delight of 
 a goodly number of loyal citizens, who never favored 
 Secession, and who would at any time during the pres- 
 ent Rebellion have gladly sought refuge under the folds 
 of the old flag, if they could have done so with safety 
 to themselves and families. 
 
 Two days ago a committee of gentlemen proceeded 
 to General Sherman's headquarters at Clayton Station, 
 on the Goldsboro railroad, and surrendered the city. 
 They were: Ex-Governor L. Swain and William A. 
 Graham, with Dr. Warren, Surgeon General of the 
 State, on Governor Vance's Staff, acting as Secretary. 
 General Sherman received the committee very kindly, 
 accepting the surrender of the city and promising to 
 afford every protection to citizens and their property. 
 
 This morning's Tribune has 
 New York, N.Y., the following editorial on the 
 
 April 14, 1865. situatiou I 
 
 The path of Peace opens 
 pleasantly before us. There may be thorns in the way 
 as we advance, obstacles to be removed, pitfalls and 
 snares to be avoided, but we look back to the dread 
 road we have traveled for four long and weary and 
 painful years, and the road before us smiles only 
 with Summer sunshine. It is natural for man to in- 
 dulge in hope, and hope is not always illusive. 
 That the war is over is a mighty fact. The cour- 
 age, the endurance, the patriotism, the self-sacrifice 
 that have stood the test of this gigantic struggle 
 have borne the heaviest burden that can be laid up- 
 on the heart and the character of a nation, and 
 whatever else may be before us we accept the future 
 
236 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 with a cheerfulness that needs no abatement, with 
 a joy that should be dimmed with no gloomy antici- 
 pations. There are ships that will encounter the 
 toughest storms and rot to pieces in the calms that 
 succeed them. But ours is not one of these. The 
 storm caught us with our rigging unbraced, our sails 
 flapping, our decks in disorder, our yards unmanned, 
 our rudder unshipped. A ship put in order to en- 
 counter peril amid such multiplied dangers, and that 
 then rode out the tempest, is too stanch and too well- 
 conditioned to fear any wind that blows or any swell 
 it can upheave. With flag and pennant stream- 
 ing gaily out upon the breeze, she takes a new 
 departure upon a smiling sea. 
 
 It is a moment only for rejoicing. The hours of des- 
 pondency — how many we have passed through! — the 
 fears that courage, or strength, or resources might fail 
 us, have passed away. The good fight has been fought; 
 the Right has triumphed. We are a Nation, no longer 
 divided against itself, but one, indivisible, united. 
 Free. The darkness, the gloom, the doubts, the fears, 
 have gone forever, and the hearts of all the people sing 
 together for joy. Even those that are stricken with a 
 sorrow that can never be forgotten, smitten with be- 
 reavements for which there can be no earthly cure — 
 even these will rejoice with a tenderer joy inasmuch as 
 the gifts they have laid upon the country's altar are 
 above all price. 
 
 The war is over. The house is to be set in order, 
 but the cause of disorder exists no longer. Within the 
 week the President has issued two Proclamations giv- 
 ing notice to the world that we are not now a distract- 
 ed household, that the nations are to conduct them- 
 selves accordingly, and cannot again be permitted to 
 take advantage of our disturbed condition. To-day we 
 publish an order from the War Department, that the 
 draft and recruiting are to be stopped; that no more 
 arms and ammunition are to be purchased; that the 
 
O^HE LAST ^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 237 
 
 expenses of the military establishment are to be reduced; 
 that military restrictions upon trade and commerce are 
 to be removed; that the Government, in short, no 
 longer needs to call upon the country for men and means 
 to carry on the War, for the gates of the temple are 
 swinging on their hinges, and will close presently, 
 firmly and silently! The dispensation is over; the new 
 era begun ! The throes, the pains, the tortures of birth 
 are finished. A new world is born, and the Sun of 
 Peace rises in splendor to send abroad over the land its 
 rays of warmth and light ! Never before had nation so 
 much cause for devout Thanksgiving; never before had 
 a people so much reason for unrestrained congratula- 
 tion and the very extravagance of joy. 
 
 There is but one army left to 
 ApriM4, 'i865. thosc of the Rebellion, large 
 
 enough to be kept together for 
 even a few weeks. While it is reported that Johnston's 
 Army amounts to fully forty thousand men, but little 
 truth is given this report, as we hear, every day of de- 
 sertions by the hundreds, and that the news of Lee's 
 surrender has so completely disheartened Johnston's 
 command as that it will not be possible to hold them 
 together. If Johnston is determined on meeting Sher- 
 man, with a respectable army, it must be done very 
 soon. The result of a contact would surely paint a 
 picture for Johnston that is in keeping with the one 
 Lee now looks upon. If Johnston retreats, which is 
 about the only thing he ever did, he will have to aban- 
 don Raleigh ; then to take up a march in this direc- 
 tion he would run against more than he could possibly 
 handle, and if he chooses to go in a westerly direction 
 he will find Stoneman's forces far from asleep. Now 
 what will he do is the question? His army at this 
 time is an absurdity, and the sooner Johnston comes to 
 realize this fact, the earlier will peace be declared. 
 
238 THE LAST ^OVR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Information has been received 
 
 Washington, D, C, , ^ a r^ 4.) \ j . 
 
 April 14, 1865. at General Grant s headquarters, 
 
 from scouts, that General Stone- 
 man has arrived with his command upon the railroad 
 below Danville, and between Danville and Greens- 
 borough. He will doubtless capture Greensborough, 
 and cut the railroads around it, rendering Johnston's 
 escape from Sherman impossible. It is highly probable 
 that Johnston will be compelled to siirrender to Sher- 
 man as Lee has to Grant. If he attempts to fight Sher- 
 man, he will be annihilated, and it is impossible for him 
 to get away from him. General Carl Schurz has arrived 
 in Goldsboro, with orders to report to General Sher- 
 man for duty. 
 
 Special advices from Goldsboro to April lo, state that 
 positive information had been received at Goldsboro 
 that Johnston's army was within fifteen miles north- 
 east of that place. 
 
 President Lincoln and wife, 
 President Lincoln's Assassination, ^j^}^ other fricuds, this eveuinef 
 
 Washington. D. C, . , ^ ^ j ^' ^ ,^ 
 
 April 14, 1865. visitcd Ford's Theater for the 
 
 purpose of witnessing the per- 
 formance of the American Cousin. The President and 
 Mrs. Lincoln did not start for the theater until a quarter 
 after eight o'clock. Speaker Colfax was at the White 
 House at the time, and the President stated to him 
 that he was going, although Mrs. Lincoln had not been 
 well, because the papers had announced that General 
 Grant and they were to be present, and, as General 
 Grant had gone North, he did not wish the audience to 
 be disappointed. He went with apparent reluctance, 
 and urged Mr. Colfax to go with him, but that gentle- 
 man had made other engagements, and with Mr. Ash- 
 mun, of Massachusetts, bid him good night. 
 
 The theater was densely crowded, and everybody 
 seemed delighted with the scene before them. During 
 
THK LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 239 
 
 the third act, and while there was a temporary pause 
 for one of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol 
 was heard, which merely attracted attention, but sug- 
 gested nothing^ serious, until a man rushed to the front 
 of the President's box, waving a long dagger in his 
 right hand, and exclaiming, ^^ Sic semper tyrarmis^'^^ and 
 immediately leaped from the box, which was on the 
 second tier, to the stage beneath, and ran across to the 
 opposite side, making his escape amid the bewilder- 
 ment of the audience, from the rear of the theater, and 
 mounting a horse, fled. 
 
 The screams of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact 
 to the audience that the President had been shot, when 
 all present rose to their feet, rushing toward the stage, 
 many exclaiming, "Hang him, hang him ! " 
 
 The excitement was of the wildest possible descrip- 
 tion, and of course there was an abrupt termination to 
 the theatrical performance. 
 
 There was a rush toward the President's box, when 
 cries were heard, "Stand back and give him air." 
 " Has any one stimulants? " On a hasty examination, 
 it was found that the President had been shot through 
 the head, above and back of the temporal bone, and 
 that some of the brains were oozing out. 
 
 He was removed to a private house opposite to the 
 theater, and the Surgeon General of the army and other 
 surgeons sent for to attend to his condition. 
 
 On an examination of the private box, blood was dis- 
 covered on the back of the cushioned rocking chair on 
 which the President had been sitting, also on the parti- 
 tion and on the floor. A common single-barreled 
 pocket-pistol was found on the carpet. 
 
 A military guard was placed in front of the private 
 residence to which the President had been conveyed. 
 An immense crowd was in front of it, all deeply 
 anxious to learn the condition of the President. The 
 shock to the community was terrible. 
 
240 I'HE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 At midnight the Cabinet, together with Sumner, 
 Colfax and Farnsworth, Judge Curtis, Governor Ogles- 
 by, General Meigs, Colonel Hay and a few personal 
 friends, with Surgeon General Barnes and his immedi- 
 ate assistants, were around his bedside. 
 
 The President was in a state of syncope, totally in- 
 sensible, and breathing slowly. The blood oozed from 
 the wound at the back of his head. The surgeons ex- 
 hausted every possible effort of medical skill, but all 
 hope was gone. 
 
 The assassin is said to have gained entrance to the 
 President's box by sending in his card, requesting an 
 interview. In the President's party were Mrs. Lincoln, 
 Miss Harris, daughter of Senator Harris, and Captain 
 Rathbone, of Albany. Immediately upon opening the 
 door he advanced toward Mr. Lincoln with a six-barrel 
 revolver in his right hand, a bowie-knife in his left. 
 The President, who was intent on the play, did not 
 notice his intrusion; and the gentleman who was seat- 
 ed beside him arose to inquire the reason of his entry. 
 
 Before he had time to ask the assassin what he want- 
 ed he fired one charge from his revolver which took ef- 
 fect in the back of the President's head. The ball 
 passed through and came out at the right temple. 
 Capt. Rathbone attempted to arrest the murderer, and 
 in trying to do so, received a stab in his arm. 
 
 So sudden was the affair that for some moments after 
 its occurrence the audience supposed that it was a part 
 of the play, and were only undeceived when it was an- 
 nounced from the stage by the manager that the Presi- 
 dent of the United States had been shot. 
 
 The shock fell upon the audience like a thunderbolt, 
 and loud cries were immediately made to capture or 
 kill the assassin. The scene which ensued cannot be 
 described. Men and women rushed for the doors cry- 
 ing and shouting for vengeance on the murderer. 
 
 The murderous emissary of the Slave Power escaped 
 easily and rapidly from the theater, and mounted a 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 24I 
 
 horse and fled. The President, insensible, was carried 
 out and taken to a house opposite the theater. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln fainted in the box and was borne out 
 after her husband. The mass of the evidence is that J. 
 Wilkes Booth committed the crime. 
 
 When the excitement at the the- 
 washington, D. c, ^tcr was at its height, reports 
 
 April 14, 1865. wcrc circulated that Secretary 
 
 11:30p.m. Seward had also been assassin- 
 
 ated. 
 
 On reaching this gentleman's residence, a crowd and 
 a military guard were found at the door, and on enter- 
 ing, it was ascertained that the reports were based on 
 truth. 
 
 Everybody there was so excited that scarcely an in- 
 telligible word could be gathered, but the facts are sub- 
 stantially as follows : 
 
 About ten o'clock a man rang the bell, and the call 
 having been answered by a colored servant, he said he 
 had come from Dr. Verdi, Secretary Seward's family 
 physician, with a prescription, at the same time hold- 
 ing in his hand a small piece of folded paper, and say- 
 ing, in answer to the refusal, that he must see the Sec- 
 retary, as he was entrusted with particular directions 
 concerning the medicine. 
 
 He still insisted on going up, although repeatedly 
 informed that no one could enter the chamber. The 
 man pushed the servant aside, and walked heavily 
 toward the Secretary's room, and was then met by Mr. 
 Frederick Seward, making the same representation 
 which he did to the servant. What further passed in 
 colloquy is not known ; but the man struck him on the 
 head with a " billy," severely injuring the skull and 
 felling him almost senseless. The assassin then rushed 
 into the chamber and attacked Major Seward, Paymas- 
 ter of the United States Army, and Mr. Hensell, a 
 
242 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 messenger of the State Department, and two male 
 nurses, disabling them all. He then rushed upon the 
 Secretary, who was lying in bed in the same room, and 
 inflicted three stabs in the neck, but severing, it is 
 thought and hoped, no arteries, though he bled pro- 
 fusely. The assassin, then run down stairs, mounted 
 his horse at the door, and rode off before an alarm 
 could be sounded, and in the same manner as the 
 assassin of the President. 
 
 It is believed that the injuries ot the Secretary are 
 not fatal, nor those of either of the other, although both 
 the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary are very 
 seriously injured. 
 
 Secretaries Stanton and Welles, and other prominent 
 officers of the Government called at Secretary Seward's 
 house to inquire into his condition, and there heard of 
 the assassination of the President. They then pro- 
 ceeded to the house where he was lying, exhibiting, of 
 course, intense anxiety and solicitude. An immense 
 crowd was gathered in front of the President's house, 
 and a strong guard was also stationed there, many 
 persons evidently supposing he would be brought to 
 his home. 
 
 The entire city to-night presents a scene of the 
 wildest excitement, accompanied by violent expressions 
 of indignation, and the profoundest sorrow; many shed 
 tears. The military authorities have dispatched 
 mounted patrols in every direction, in order, if possi- 
 ble, to arrest the assassins. The whole Metropolitan 
 police force are likewise vigilant for the same purpose. 
 
 The attacks, both at the theater and at Secretary 
 Seward's house, took place at about the same hour — 
 ten o'clock — thus showing a preconcerted plan to 
 assassinate those gentlemen. Some evidences of the 
 guilt of the party who attacked the President are in 
 the possession of the police. 
 
THE LAS']" EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. ^43 
 
 Sherman's Army, We have receivcd some news to- 
 
 Near Raleigh, N. c, day froiii the forces co-operating 
 April 14, 1865. ^^[^^^ ^|^J5 army asfainst Johns- 
 
 Union Account. i . i • r • 
 
 ton, which if true is very im- 
 portant, and indicates the speedy envelopment of the 
 last Rebel army of note in a strategic net, the meshes 
 of which it will be impossible to break. Stoneman, we 
 learn, has succeeded in cutting the railroad behind 
 Johnston, between Greensborough and Salisbury. 
 This, if true, will sadly embarrass the Rebel host in its 
 plans of retreat. Another report which is very generally 
 credited, and is probably true, states Sheridan to be 
 ivithin one day^s march of Johnston, with a large body 
 of cavalry. Retreat as fast as the Rebel Chieftain may, 
 he cannot escape scathless, and probably cannot elude 
 us at all. In this present position it would certainly 
 be the part of a wise man to make a virtue of necessity, 
 and surrender at once his army. He could doubtless 
 obtain as favorable terms as were granted to General 
 Lee, and to pursue the war further is simply to prosecute 
 murder. It is strongly hoped in the army that John- 
 ston will take this view of affairs and will prevent 
 further bloodshed by a manly submission to irrevocable 
 fate. If he does not, however, a rapid pursuit of his 
 flying forces will be made, and when brought to a 
 stand he will be annihilated, for our soldiers are not in 
 a humor to trifle, and would feel very savage at a use- 
 less prolongation of the war, and the consequent sacri- 
 fice of lives and happiness. 
 
 The allurements of an easy life in a capital city have 
 speedily vanquished from the minds of all who enter- 
 tained hopes of realizing it, for no intermission has 
 been permitted in movements of the army. The Four- 
 teenth Corps marched out of town early this morning. 
 The Fifteenth was reviewed by General Sherman, and 
 to-morrow will go on its way after Johnston. The 
 Seventeenth is to be reviewed this afternoon and at 
 daylight to-morrow will go on its way in chase of the 
 
244 "^HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 enemy, and at daylight to-morrow the Twentieth Corps 
 will leave its camp and be reviewed on its march 
 through the city by Sherman. The town is to be gar- 
 risoned by a brigade of the Twenty-third Corps, which 
 General Schofield has detailed for that purpose. It is 
 supposed that the General will remain in the 
 city in person for a time and act as Military Gov- 
 ernor until another is regularly appointed to that 
 position. North Carolina is to be permanently occu- 
 pied as a Union State, and Raleigh is to be converted 
 into a vast depot of supplies. The railroad to Golds- 
 boro is so nearly completed that a train is con- 
 fidently expected to reach here from Newbern to- 
 morrow morning. 
 
 Raleigh possesses many features of interest to the 
 observer of public institutions. The most prominent 
 of these to the generality of people, is of course the 
 State Capitol, This is a fine structure, as State Capi- 
 tols generally are. It confronts one end of the main 
 street and gives to that thoroughfare an aristocratic 
 appearance. From the dome one obtains a very fine 
 view of the surrounding country, which contains some 
 excellent scenery. 
 
 At the other end of Fayetteville (the main) street 
 stands the Executive Mansion. This is occupied by 
 General Sherman, and thus it happens that from the 
 same building whence issued the fiery pronunciamentos 
 of Vance, in aid of the Rebellion, proceed the calm, 
 clear orders of Sherman for its dismemberment. 
 
 Another interesting building is the Deaf, Dumb and 
 Blind Asylum, which I visited to-day. It is a hand- 
 somely-designed edifice. The pupils are given a 
 thorough course of instruction in the trades, book- 
 binding, printing, broom-making, and shoemaking, and 
 when they leave the institution, are competent to earn 
 a livelihood in ordinary times. Music is also a promi- 
 nent branch of instruction, and several of the young 
 ladies are fine performers. Among the unfortunate in- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 245 
 
 mates is Miss Lamb, a sister of the gallant Colonel 
 Lamb, who fought the Fort Fisher fight so gallantly. 
 She is a pretty, interesting girl of about fourteen, and 
 seems to be very intelligent. 
 
 At the Insane Asylum, which in point of size is next 
 to the Capitol building, is a curious individual who has 
 amused a large body of soldiers from the windows ever 
 since the occupation of the town. He has a fine 
 sweet melodious voice and employs it in singing comic 
 songs and making speeches to his audience. From 
 all appearance he is as sensible as any man in the Con- 
 federacy. He speaks fluently and uses choice language. 
 His own story is that having been once out of his mind 
 he was sent to the asylum, and since his recovery has 
 been kept in confinement there because he was a Union 
 man. He is certainly the greatest curiosity I have 
 seen in the town, and his history, if it could be known, 
 would no doubt be highly interesting. 
 
 The Standard and Progress are to be continued, and 
 will probably issue their first number under Union 
 auspices to-morrow. Both will be published by their 
 former editors. 
 
Saturday, April 15, 1865, 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Mrs. John lyler, the widow of 
 Ap^nr/s,' fses.' the ex-President, is, as is well 
 
 known, a native of this State, 
 and now resides near Factoryville, Staten Island. She 
 has never disguised her sympathy with the Rebels, but, 
 on the contrary, has permitted no opportunity to escape 
 her of proclaiming it, even in church, protesting, by 
 rising from her knees, against the prayers for the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. It being well known that 
 the Rebel flag was draped over her parlor mantle-piece, 
 this evening several young gentlemen — none of them 
 over eighteen years of age — considering that if, at such 
 a time as this, the flag was not voluntarily put out of 
 sight Mrs. Tyler should be reminded that some decent 
 respect was due to public opinion, waited upon her for 
 that purpose. Two of them, sons of neighbors and well 
 known to her, entered the parlor, when one of them 
 said : 
 
 "Madam, I beg pardon for disturbing you, but we 
 have called to ask for the Secession flag you have in 
 your possession." 
 
 "There is no such flag here," replied Mrs. Tyler. 
 
 " I beg pardon again," said the young gentleman, 
 courteously, " but such a flag, if I am not mistaken, 
 hangs over your parlor mantle-piece." 
 
 Mrs. Tyler again denied that she had any such flag, 
 but added : "You can look for yourself." 
 
 The young man did look for himself, and found the 
 flag where he expected. Deliberately mounting a 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 247 
 
 chair, he carefully took it down folded it up, and step- 
 ping back into the other room once more apologized 
 for the necessity of his intrusion, and bowed himself 
 out with his companion. There was no attempt to in- 
 terfere with the bold striplings by the three or four 
 grown men who were present. One of them, indeed, 
 left the room and went up stairs with the intention, 
 the visitors supposed, of getting a weapon. The 
 spokesman, on observing it, only shifted a short police- 
 man's club he carried, from the left to the right hand 
 coat pocket. 
 
 Some hours later a nephew of Mrs. Tyler's called 
 upon the father of the young man who had walked off 
 with the flag under his arm, and asked that the ''French 
 flag" which the son had taken might be returned. Of 
 course the father knew nothing about it, as the son had 
 not taken him into his counsels, who, he preferred, 
 should be free from all responsibility for his acts. The 
 flag could only be called French because it is a tri- 
 color, while its field with seven stars conclusively 
 settled its character. It was lodged in a place of 
 safety. 
 
 The Rebel General Ewell passed 
 New York, N. Y., throuQfh the city early this morn- 
 
 AprlMB, 1865. . ^ , . \l t^^ ttt 
 
 ' mg, on his way to Fort Warren. 
 
 While breakfasting at the Soldiers' Rest, on Fourth 
 avenue, he was told of the assassination of Mr. 
 Lincoln, and not only expressed his deep regret, but 
 seemed to be painfully affected by the intelligence. 
 
 General Sherman is reported in 
 Washington D^c. treaty with Toe Johnston for the 
 
 April 15, 1865. -^ - r 1 • j • 1 
 
 surrender of his army, and simul- 
 taneously we hear of Jeff. Davis as on the wing west- 
 
248 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ward, and having his quarters at Macon instead of Dan- 
 ville, whence he issued that last proclamation which 
 announced his "re-occupation" of Virginia. Both 
 accounts are probably true. Johnston is a soldier and 
 knows that his work as a soldier is done — that further 
 resistance is not war — that he has no military resource 
 but to follow the example of his general-in-chief. 
 Besides which, it is understood that Lee went to Dan- 
 ville to advise Johnston to give up the contest. If he 
 acted in good faith it is natural we should hear of Johns- 
 ton's surrender and Davis's flight. Safe to say that 
 the latter will never trust himself within reach of the 
 defenders of the Republic. 
 
 The capture of Mobile is one of 
 /^riiiB^'i'ses.' those events which a few weeks 
 
 ago would have been welcomed 
 with joyful enthusiasm all over the North, and which 
 only a few days since would have seemed an important 
 success, and filled the streets with flags. But to-day, 
 what is Mobile to us, or what military triumph shall 
 lift up the hearts that are bowed down with the weight 
 of a national sorrow? Yet even at this moment the 
 possession of the last seaport save one of the Rebell- 
 ious States, is a victory of value. If the fall of Mobile has 
 no other efl'ect, it will accelerate the return of Alabama 
 to the Union, since Mobile holds to that State the same 
 position as Savannah to Georgia, Charleston to South 
 Carolina, and Wilmington to North Carolina. 
 
 At twenty minutes after seven 
 
 '''■''"Apr*iMrl865°''''" ^'.^^^^^ ^hc President breathed 
 10 o'clock a. m. his last, closing his eyes as if 
 
 falling to sleep, and his coun- 
 tenance assuming an expression of perfeqt serenity. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 249 
 
 There were no indications of pain, and it was not 
 known that he was dead until the gradually decreasing 
 respiration ceased altogether. 
 
 Surrounding the death bed of the President were 
 Secretaries Stanton, Welles and Usher, Attorney-Gen- 
 eral Speed, Postmaster-General Dennison, M. B. Field, 
 Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Judge Otto, As- 
 sistant Secretary of the Interior, General Halleck, Gen- 
 eral Meigs, Senator Sumner, R. F. Andrews of New 
 York, General Todd of Dakota, John Hay, Private Sec- 
 retary, Governor Oglesby of Illinois, General Farns- 
 worth, Mrs. and Miss Kenney, Miss Harris, Captain 
 Robert Lincoln, son of the President, and Doctors E. 
 W. Abbott, R. K. Stone, C. D. Gatch, Neal Hall and 
 Mr. Lieberman. Secretary McCulloch remained with 
 the President until about five o'clock, and Chief Justice 
 Chase, after several hours' attendance during the night, 
 returned early this morning. 
 
 Immediately after the President's death, a Cabinet 
 meeting was called by Secretary Stanton, and held in 
 the room in which the corpse lay. Secretaries Stanton, 
 Welles and Usher, Postmaster General Dennison and 
 Attorney General Speed were present. The results of 
 the conference are unknown. 
 
 The President's body was removed from the pri- 
 vate residence opposite Ford's Theater to the Exec- 
 utive Mansion this morning at half past nine o'clock, 
 in a hearse wrapped in the American flag. It was es- 
 corted by a small guard of cavalry, General Augur and 
 other military officers following on foot. 
 
 A dense crowd accompanied the remains to the White 
 House, where a military guard excluded the crowd, al- 
 lowing none but persons of the household and personal 
 friends of the deceased to enter the premises, Senator 
 Yates and Representative Farnsworth being among the 
 number admitted. 
 
 The body has been embalmed, with a view to its re- 
 moval to Illinois. 
 
250 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Flags over the Departments and throughout the city 
 are at half mast. Scarcely any business is being trans- 
 acted anywhere, either on private or public account. 
 
 Our citizens, without any preconcert whatever, are 
 draping their premises with festoons of mourning. 
 
 The bells are tolling mournfully. All is the deepest 
 gloom and sadness. Strong men weep in the streets. 
 The grief is wide spread and deep, and in strange con- 
 trast to the joy so lately manifested over our recent 
 military victories. 
 
 This is indeed a day of gloom. 
 
 The Government Departments are closed by order, 
 and will be draped with the usual emblems of mourn- 
 ing. 
 
 The roads leading to and from the city are guarded 
 by the military, and the utmost circumspection is ob- 
 served as to all attempting to enter or leave the city. 
 
 An autopsy was held at eleven 
 Washington, D. c, o'clock this momiug of the Pres- 
 
 Aprii 15, 1865. idcut's body by Surgeon General 
 
 Barnes, aided by a number of as- 
 sistants. On examination, the ball, which, as has been 
 stated, entered the back of the head, near the base of the 
 brain was found to have taken a direct course toward 
 the right eye, the orbital bone of which it struck, and re- 
 bounding lodged several inches from the surface. 
 
 The ball was found to have been flattened, and re- 
 sembled in shape the canteen commonly carried by the 
 soldiers. The orifice in the back of the head is perfectly 
 round and the skull unfracture'd, so close was the mur- 
 derer when he fired the fatal shot. The circular piece 
 of skull was taken from the head one and a half inches 
 from the orifice. 
 
 The piece, together with the Derringer pistol left 
 behind by the assassin, and the bullet, were duly sealed 
 and deposited in the War Department. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 251 
 
 The corpse of the late President was laid out in the 
 room known as the "guests' room," north west wing of 
 the White House. It was dressed in the suit of black 
 clothes worn by him at his late inauguration. A placid 
 smile rests upon his features, and the deceased seems 
 to be in a calm sleep. White flowers were placed upon 
 the pillow and over the breast. 
 
 The corpse of the President was to be laid out in 
 state in the east room on Tuesday, in order to give the 
 public an opportunity to see once more the features of 
 him they loved so well. 
 
 The catafalque upon which the body will rest is to 
 be placed in the south part of the east room, and is 
 somewhat similar in style to that used on the occasion 
 of the death of President Harrison. Steps will be 
 placed at the side to enable the public to mount to a 
 position to get a perfect view of the face. The cata- 
 falque will be lined with fluted white satin, and on the 
 outside it will be covered with black cloth and black 
 velvet. 
 
 The funeral car, which is being prepared for the oc- 
 casion, is to be a magnificent affair. It is to be built 
 on a hearse body. The extreme length will be four- 
 teen feet. The body of the car will be covered with 
 black cloth, from which will hang large festoons of 
 cloth on the sides and ends, gathered and fastened by 
 large rosettes of white and black satin over bows of 
 white and black velvet. The bed of the car on which 
 the coffin will rest will be eight feet from the ground, 
 in order to give a full view of the coffin, and over this 
 will rise a canopy, the supports of which will be drap- 
 ed with black cloth and velvet. The top of the car 
 will be decorated with plumes. The car will be drawn 
 ^ by six or eight horses, each led by a groom. 
 
 It was ascertained, some weeks ago, from personal 
 friends of the late President, that he had received sev- 
 eral private letters warning him that an attempt would 
 probably be made upon his life. But to this he did not 
 
252 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 seem to attach much if any importance. It has always 
 been thought that he was not sufficiently careful of his 
 individual safety on his last visit to Virginia. 
 
 It is known that on frequent occasions he would start 
 from the Executive Mansion for his summer country 
 residence at the Soldiers' Home without the usual cav- 
 alry escort, which often hurried and overtook him be- 
 fore he had proceeded far. It has always been under- 
 stood that this escort was accepted by him only on the 
 importunity of his friends as a matter of precaution. 
 
 The President before retiring to bed would, when 
 important military events were progressing, visit the 
 War Department, generally alone, passing over the 
 dark intervening ground even at late hours on repeated 
 occasions ; and after the warning letters had been re- 
 ceived, several close and intimate friends, armed for 
 any emergency, were careful that he should not con- 
 tinue his visits without their company. For himself 
 the President seemed to have no fears. 
 
 Major General Augur, command- 
 Washington, D. c, ing the Department of Washing- 
 
 April 15, 1365. ^ ^ . ^„ , -, ^r 
 
 9 : 40 O'clock a. m. tou, has offered a reward ot 
 
 ten thousand dollars to the 
 party or parties arresting the murderer of the Presi- 
 dent, and the assassin of the Secretary of State and 
 his son. 
 
 It is now ascertained with reasonable certainty that 
 two assassins were engaged in the horrible crime, Wil- 
 kes Booth being the one that shot the President, and 
 the other a companion of his whose name is not known, 
 but whose description is so clear that he can hardly 
 escape. It appears from a letter found in Booth's 
 trunk that the murder was planned before the 4th of 
 March, but fell through then because the accomplice 
 backed out until ''Richmond could be heard from." 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 253 
 
 The Rebel assassin is described by the colored porter 
 on duty at the entrance door of the house as a man in 
 light pantaloons, and dark frock coat, buttoned up, 
 about the size, to use his own words, of Mr. George 
 K. Baker. 
 
 He represented that he was sent by Doctor Verdi 
 with a prescription of medicine for Secretary Seward, 
 which he was told to deliver personally, with the doc- 
 tor's instructions how it should be taken. The party 
 declined to admit him, a parley ensued, and full five 
 minutes passed before the assassin effected admission 
 into the house. 
 
 With a directness of walk which would indicate a 
 knowledge of the house, he went straight up to the 
 Secretary's bedroom and entered it. 
 
 The character of physician was instantly thrown off, 
 and that of a determined murderer put on. There were 
 four persons in the room: Major Augustus Seward, 
 Miss Fanny Seward, the Secretary's daughter, a hired 
 man nurse, and the chief messenger of the State Depart- 
 ment, also acting as nurse. 
 
 The Secretary lay in bed on his back; the assassin 
 jumped on the bed and endeavored to cut the throat 
 of his victim. 
 
 He inflicted three different wounds upon it. While 
 engaged in it the man nurse had flung himself upon 
 his bed and thrown his arms around him and striven to 
 pull him off" the bed. 
 
 The murderer instantly reversed the action of his 
 knife, and stabbed and cut quickly over his shoulder, 
 and drove the nurse off his back. He then sprang from 
 the bed and engaged in a fight for escape with all that 
 opposed him. 
 
 He stabbed the chief messenger dangerously in the 
 breast, stabbed Major Seward in the arm and beat him 
 over the head and face with a heavy pistol and disabled 
 him, and attacked Frederick Seward, who had entered 
 the room from an adjoining chamber, and gave him a 
 
254 '^H^ LAST I^^OUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 scalp wound with his knife, which, strange to say, com- 
 menced at the forehead, passed over the top of the 
 head, and extended part way down the back of the 
 head, and then struck him, either with the pistol or a 
 slung-shot, a heavy blow, which knocked him down in- 
 sensible. 
 
 The way of escape was clear, the assassin ran down 
 stairs, mounted his horse and rode rapidly away. 
 
 The Secretary's throat has three distinct gashes; no 
 artery has been severed, and although much effusion of 
 blood has taken place, and a terrible shock given to his 
 enfeebled system, hopes are entertained of his re- 
 covery. 
 
 Frederick Seward sustained a fracture of the skull. 
 Portions of bone have been removed from the wound. 
 The unfavorable symptoms of stupefaction and vomit- 
 ing ensued upon the injury, and have characterized his 
 condition during the night. 
 
 Major Seward is about this morning, one arm in a 
 sling and his head and face bandaged. 
 
 The department messenger is considered to be dan- 
 gerously wounded. The hired nurse's wounds, 
 although numerous, are not serious. 
 
 The assassin is said to have been traced by the horse 
 he rode, and which was hired from a livery stable here, 
 to, the Long Bridge, and over into Virginia. Both the 
 man and his crime are the slave power. 
 
 The gloomiest day in our nation- 
 New York, N. Y„ al history dawned upon us this 
 April 15, 1865. moming, and dark days have not 
 been unfrequent during the last 
 five years. 
 The astounding news that President Lincoln had 
 been basely assassinated by a desperate Rebel, while 
 sitting, oblivious of danger, in a theater at Washington 
 
THE LAST P'^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 255 
 
 on Friday night, and that an assault, with similar dead- 
 ly intent, had been made a few minutes later upon Sec- 
 retary Seward, while lying helpless on his bed, shocked, 
 mortified and exasperated the entire Northern people 
 on Saturday. At first there were many who, in spite 
 of telegraphic information to the contrary, hoped that 
 the injuries of the President would not prove fatal. 
 But a few hours later came the darker intelligence 
 that the blow of the assasssin had been sure — that our 
 wise, good, noble, generous President was indeed no 
 more. 
 
 The excitement everywhere was intense. There 
 was but one expression of sentiment — that of the deep- 
 est sorrow at the loss of a wise chieftain and excellent 
 man, mingled with horror, indignation and exasperation 
 against his assassin, as well as against all the leaders of 
 this accursed Rebellion, who are, of course, more or less 
 directly implicated in the foul murder. A general gloom 
 seemed to pervade the entire community. Not only 
 genuine loyalists, who had loved and honored the mur- 
 dered chieftain, but thousands who had never given 
 him a hearty support, were horror-stricken and incensed. 
 We did not see a smiling face as we walked down 
 Broadway, but everywhere could read in the bent brows 
 and firm pressed lips of the moving throng regret, indig- 
 nation and vengeance. 
 
 At an early hour in the morning the hundreds of flags 
 and streamers, which on the previous day fluttered so 
 victoriously in the sunshine as indicative of a nation's 
 jubilation, were slowly and sadly disappearing, one by 
 one, only to reappear again dismally hung with sable 
 streamers, as significant of the awful cloud which had 
 so swiftly gathered in the sky (but yesterday so bright 
 and blue!) and descended upon the Nation. Before 
 noon every banner bore the ominous black accompani- 
 ments; the fronts of most of our public buildings and 
 many private residences were also draped in the same 
 melancholy livery ; the flags on the shipping were all 
 
256 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 lowered to half-mast, and the sorrow deepened as it 
 grew apace. 
 
 The same feeling was probably manifested in every 
 locality to which the mournful intelligence could be 
 transmitted by telegraph. 
 
 In Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark and other towns 
 and cities in the vicinity, the sentiment is identical. 
 If the expressions of sorrow are profound and lamenta- 
 ble, the curses against the assassin and his abettors are 
 no less loud and deep. 
 
 '' No more compromise ! No more forgiveness!" is 
 the one earnest expression upon thousands of quivering 
 lips. ''We have but one thing for all the Rebel leaders 
 now — a dog's death by the gallows-tree ! It shall be 
 war to the knife hereafter." 
 
 On the receipt of the intelligence of the President's 
 assassination in this city. Mayor Gunther immediately 
 issued a proclamation recommending the suspension of 
 business, and that public mourning for our departed 
 Chief Magistrate be observed. The Common Council 
 met, passed resolutions expressive of sorrow at the 
 National bereavement, directed that their chambers 
 and the public buildings and offices be draped in mourn- 
 ing for thirty days, and adjourned, without transacting 
 any business. The Board of Supervisors passed resolu- 
 tions testifying their sorrow and respect, and likewise 
 immediately adjourned. In all the Courts similar pro- 
 ceedings occurred. 
 
 Dispatches narrating the thrilling events at Wash- 
 ington were received in this city from the State Depart- 
 ment and immediately forwarded to the American Min- 
 ister at London via steamer from Portland. 
 
 Collector issued an order closing the Custom House, 
 except for the clearance of vessels, and announcing to 
 the employes that it would be in order to wear crape 
 upon the left arm for thirty days, as an emblem of re- 
 spect of the deceased President. 
 
 Major General Peck issued an order from the head- 
 
'THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 257 
 
 quarters of the Department of the Bast, directing guns 
 to be fired every half hour at each camp and post on the 
 day following the receipt of the order, and that the 
 National colors be hoisted daily from sunrise to sunset 
 at half-mast until after the occurrence of the funeral 
 obsequies. 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce and Produce Exchange 
 met and passed resolutions condemnatory of the out- 
 rage which had stricken down the official head of the 
 Republic, pledging their undivided support to his Con- 
 stitutional successor, and tendering their warmest sym- 
 pathy in their bereavement and affliction to the families 
 of the late President and of the Secretary of State. 
 Both Boards adjourned without transacting any busi- 
 ness, as did also the Stock Exchange, the Petroleum 
 and other Boards. 
 
 This letter was in the possession 
 PJ-'^.f^'P*^'^' r^' of John S. Clarke, a brother-in- 
 
 April 15, 1865. ir-o^t, t^- U JJ.. 
 
 Booth's Letter. -^^w ol Booth. It was handed to 
 
 Honorable William Millward, 
 United States Marshal, after the news of the assassin- 
 ation of President Lincoln. The envelope was sealed 
 and held " for safe keeping," and was opened when it 
 was heard that J. Wilkes Booth was the assassin : 
 
 - — — , , 1864. 
 
 My Dear Sir: You may use this as you think best. 
 But as some may wish to know zvhen^ who and why^ and 
 as I know not how to direct, I give it (in the words of 
 your master), 
 " To WHOM IT may concern :" 
 
 Right or wrong, God judge me, not man. For, be my 
 motive good, or bad, of one thing I am sure, the lasting 
 condemnation of the North. 
 
 I love peace more than life. Have loved the Union 
 beyond expression. For four years have I waited, 
 
258 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 hoped and prayed for the dark clouds to break, and for 
 a restoration of our former sunshine. To wait longer 
 would be a crime. All hope for peace is dead. My 
 prayers have proved as idle as my hopes. God's will 
 be done. I go to see and share the bitter end. 
 
 I have ever held the South were right. The very 
 nomination of Abraham Lincoln, four years ago, spoke 
 plainly, war — war upon Southern rights and institu- 
 tions. His election proved it. "Await an overt act." 
 Yes, till you are bound and plundered. What folly ! 
 The South was wise. Who thinks of argument or pa- 
 tience when the finger of his enemy presses on the 
 trigger? In d. foreign war I, too, could say, " country, 
 right or wrong." But in a struggle such as ours (where 
 the brother tries to pierce the brother's heart), for God's 
 sake, choose the right. When a country like this 
 S'^yxxns justice from her side she forfeits the allegiance 
 of every honest freeman, and should leave him, untram- 
 meled by any fealty soever, to act as his conscience 
 may approve. 
 
 People of the North, to hate tyranny, to love liberty 
 and justice, to strike at wrong and oppression, was the 
 teaching of our fathers. The study of our early history 
 will not let 7ne forget it, and may it never. 
 
 This country was formed for the white^ not for the 
 black man. And looking upon African Slavery from 
 the same stand-point held by the noble framers of our 
 Constitution, I, for one, have ever considered it one of 
 the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that 
 God ever bestowed upon a favored nation. Witness 
 heretofore our wealth and power ; witness their eleva- 
 tion and enlightenment above their race elsewhere. 
 I have lived among it the most of my life, and have seen 
 less harsh treatment from master to man than I have 
 beheld in the North from father to son. Yet, Heaven 
 knows, no one would be willing to do more for the negro 
 race than I, could I but see a way to still better their 
 condition. 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 259 
 
 But Lincoln's policy is only preparing the way for 
 their total annihilation. The South are not^ 7ior have 
 they been fighting for the continuance of Slavery. The 
 first battle of Bull Run did away with that idea. Their 
 causes since for war have been as 7ioble and greater far 
 than those that urged our fathers on. Even should we 
 allow they were wrong at the beginning of this contest, 
 cruelty and injustice have made the wrong become the 
 rights and they stand now ( before the wonder and ad- 
 miration of the world ) as a noble band of patriotic he- 
 roes. Hereafter, reading of their deeds^ Thermopylae 
 will be forgotten. 
 
 When I aided in the capture and execution of John 
 Brown, (who was a murderer on our Western border, 
 and who was fairly tried and convicted^ before an im- 
 partial judge and jury, of treason, and who, by the way, 
 has since been made a god), I was proud of my little 
 share in the transaction, for I deemed it my duty and 
 that I was helping our common country to perform an 
 act of justice. But what was a crime in poor John 
 Brown is now considered ( by themselves ) as the great- 
 est and only virtue of the whole Republican party. 
 Strange transmigration ! Vice to become a virtue^ simply 
 because 7nore indulge in it. 
 
 I thought then, as now, that the Abolitionists were 
 the only traitors in the land, and that the entire party 
 deserved the same fate of poor old Brown, not because 
 they wish to abolish Slavery, but on account of the 
 means they have ever endeavored to use to effect that 
 abolition. If Brown were living I doubt whether he 
 himself vfO\x\& set Slavery against the Union. Most or 
 many in the North do, and openly curse the Union, if 
 the South are to return and retain a siiigle right guar- 
 anteed to them by every tie which we once revered as 
 sacred. The South can make no choice. It is either 
 extermination or Slavery for themselves (worse than 
 death ) to draw from. I know my choice. 
 
 I have also studied hard to discover upon what 
 
26o THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 grounds the right of a State to secede has been denied, 
 when our very name, United States, and the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, both provide for Secession. But 
 there is no time for words. I write in haste. I know 
 how foolish I shall be deemed for undertaking such a 
 step as this, where, on the one side, I have many 
 friends and everything to make me happy, where my 
 profession alone has gained me an income of 7nore than 
 twenty thousand dollars a year, and where my great 
 personal amibition in my profession has such a great 
 field for labor. On the other hand, the South have 
 never bestowed upon me one kind word ; a place 
 now where I have no friends, except beneath the 
 sod ; a place where I must either become a pri- 
 vate soldier or a beggar. To give up all the former 
 for the latter^ besides my mother and sisters whom I 
 love so dearly (although they so widely differ with me 
 in opinion), seems insane ; but God is my judge. I 
 love justice more than I do a country that disowns it ; 
 more than fame and wealth ; more (Heaven pardon me 
 if wrong) than a happy home. I have never been upon 
 a battle-field ; but O, my countrymen, could you all 
 but see the reality or effects of this horrid war, as I have 
 seen them (in every State ^ save Virginia), I know you 
 would think like me, and would pray the Almighty 
 to create in the Northern mind a sense of right 
 and justice (even should it possess no seasoning of 
 mercy), and that He would dry up this sea of 
 blood iDetween us, which is daily growing wider. 
 Alas ! Poor country, is she to meet her threatened 
 doom ? Four years ago I would have given a thousand 
 lives to see her remain (as I had always known her) 
 powerful and unbroken. And even now I would hold 
 my life as naught to see her what she was. O my 
 friends, if the fearful scenes of the past four years had 
 never been enacted, or if what has been had been but a 
 frightful dream, from which we could now awake, with 
 what overflowing hearts could we bless our God and 
 pray for His continued favor. How I have loved the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 261 
 
 old flag can never now be known. A few years since 
 and the entire world could boast of none so pure and 
 spotless. But I have of late been seeing and hearing 
 of the bloody deeds which she has been made the emblem^ 
 and would shudder to think how changed she had 
 grown. O how I have longed to see her break from the 
 mist of blood and death that circles round her folds, 
 spoiling her beauty and tarnishing her honor. But no ; 
 day by day has she been dragged deeper and deeper 
 into cruelty and oppression, till now (in my eyes) her 
 once bright red stripes look like bloody gashes on the 
 face of Heaven. I look now upon my early admiration 
 of her glories as a dream. My love (as things stand 
 to-day) is for the South alone. Nor do I deem it a dis- 
 honor in attempting to make for her a prisoner of this 
 man, to whom she owes so much of misery. If success 
 attends me, I go penniless to her side. They say she 
 has found that " last ditch " which the North have so 
 long derided, and been endeavoring to force her in, for- 
 getting they are our brothers, and that it's impolitic to 
 goad an enemy to madness. Should I reach her in 
 safety and find it true, I will proudly beg permission to 
 triumph or die in that same '' ditch " by her side. 
 
 A Confederate, doing duty upon his own responsi- 
 bility, 
 
 J. Wilkes Booth. 
 
Sunday, April 16, 1865. 
 
 Yesterday morning Attorney 
 Washington, D. c, General Speed waited upon the 
 
 April 16, 1865. the Honorable Andrew Johnson, 
 
 Vice President of the United 
 States, and officially informed him of the sudden and un- 
 expected decease of President Lincoln, and stated that an 
 early hour might be appointed for the inauguration of 
 his successor. The following is a copy of communica- 
 tion referred to : 
 
 Washington City, April 15, 1865. 
 To Andrew Johnson, Vice President of the United 
 States. 
 
 Sir : Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
 States, was shot by an assassin last evening at Ford's 
 Theater, in this city, and died at the hour of 7:22 
 o'clock. At about the same time at which the Presi- 
 dent was shot, an assassin entered the sick chamber of 
 the Honorable W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, and 
 stabbed him in several places in the throat, neck and 
 face, severely if not mortally wounding him. Other 
 members of the Secretary's family were dangerously 
 wounded by the assassin while making his escape. By 
 the death of President Lincoln the office of President 
 has devolved, under the Constitution, upon you. The 
 emergency of the Government demands that you should 
 immediately qualify according to the requirements of 
 the Constitution and enter upon the duties of President 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 263 
 
 of the United States. If you will please make known 
 your pleasure, such arrangements as you deem proper 
 will be made. 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 Hugh McCulloch, 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 Gideon Welles, 
 
 Secretary of the Navy. 
 William Dennison, 
 
 Postmaster General. 
 J. P. Usher, 
 
 Secretary of the Interior. 
 James Speed, 
 
 Attorney General. 
 Mr. Johnson requested that the ceremonies take 
 place at his rooms at the Kirkwood House, in this city, 
 at ten o'clock in the morning. 
 
 The Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the 
 United States, was notified of the fact, and desired to 
 be in attendance to administer the oath of office. 
 
 At the above named hour the following gentlemen 
 assembled in the Vice President's room to participate 
 in the ceremony: The Hon. Salmon P. Chase, the 
 Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury ; Mr. 
 Attorney General Speed, F. P. Blair, Sr., the Hon. 
 Montgomery Blair, Senator Foot, of Vermont, Yates, 
 of Illinois, Ramsey, of Minnesota, Stewart, of Nevada, 
 Hale, of New Hampshire, and General Farnsworth, of 
 Illinois. 
 
 After the presentation of the above letter, the 
 Chief Justice administered the following oath to Mr. 
 Johnson : 
 
 "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully| execute 
 the office of President of the United States, and will, 
 to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend 
 the Constitution of the United State^." 
 
264 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 After receiving the oath and being declared Presi- 
 dent of the United States, Mr. Johnson remarked : 
 
 ''Gentlemen: I must be permitted to say that I 
 have been almost overwhelmed by the -announcement 
 of the sad event which has so recently occurred. I feel 
 incompetent to perform duties so important and re- 
 sponsible as those which have been so unexpectedly 
 thrown upon me. As to an indication of my policy 
 which may be pursued by me in the administration of 
 the Government, I have to say that that must be 
 left for development as the administration progresses. 
 The message or declaration must be made by the acts 
 as they transpire. The only assurance that I can now 
 give of the future is reference to the past. The course 
 which I have taken in the past in connection with this 
 Rebellion must be regarded as a guarantee of the future. 
 My past public life, which has been long and laborious, 
 has been founded, as I in good conscience believe upon 
 a great principal of right, which lies at the basis of all 
 things. The best energies of my life have been spent 
 in endeavoring to establish and perpetuate the princi- 
 ples of free government, and I believe that the Govern- 
 ment, in passing through its present perils, will settle 
 down upon principles consonant with popular rights, 
 more permanent and enduring than heretofore. I must 
 be permitted to say, if I understand the feelings of my 
 own heart, I have long labored to ameliorate and ele- 
 vate the condition of the great mass of the American 
 people. Toil and an honest advocacy of the great prin- 
 ciples of free government have been my lot. The 
 duties have been mine — the consequences are God's. 
 This has been the foundation of my political creed. I 
 feel that in the end the Government will triumph, and 
 that these great principles will be permanently estab- 
 lished. In conclusion, gentlemen, let me say that I 
 want your encouragement and countenance. I shall 
 ask and rely upon you and others in carrying the Gov- 
 ernment through its present perils. I feel iu making 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 265 
 
 this request that it will be heartily responded to by you 
 and all other patriots and lovers of the rights and inter- 
 ests of a free people." 
 
 At the conclusion of the above remarks the President 
 received the kind wishes of the friends by whom he 
 was surrounded. 
 
 News reaches us that a flag of 
 
 "Triue'TseB^^ ' truce has been received from Im- 
 
 boden's Rebel forces, consisting 
 
 of two regiments, proposing to surrender on the same 
 
 terms granted Lee's army. 
 
 The Rebel General Rosser, on hearing of Lee's sur- 
 render, declared his determination to fight it out, but 
 was deserted by his men, and he started to join John- 
 ston in North Carolina. 
 
Monday, April 17, 1865. 
 
 On Monday, the loth instant, 
 Raleigh, N. c, ^g brokc camp and marched by 
 
 April 17, 1855. . . -^ , , -^ 
 
 Union Account. a circuitous route over a low 
 
 swampy country to Pikesville, 
 corduroying the roads for nearly half the distance. 
 The Fourth Division of the Fifteenth Corps having, 
 been in rear of the command, did not get into camp 
 until near four o'clock the following morning, very 
 much fatigued and soaked through with rain, but in 
 the most admirable spirits. Pikesville is a station 
 on the Weldon Railroad, and has a small settlement 
 of some half-dozen houses which are inhabited by 
 what are commonly known in the South as " the 
 poor white trash." 
 
 From Pikesville the command marched on Tuesday 
 morning to Lowell Factory, the rear of the column 
 getting into camp at about ten o'clock that night. 
 The Rebels tore up the planking of the bridge over 
 Little River, expecting thereby to delay the march 
 of our army. The damage, however, was easily re- 
 paired, and did not delay the command for over an 
 hour ; they would probably have done more damage to 
 the bridge had they not been prevented by the timely 
 arrival of the mounted infantry, who rapidly drove 
 them away. The First Division of the Fifteenth 
 Corps, under the command of General Hazen, was in 
 the advance of the Corps, and deserve great credit for 
 the speedy manner in which they repaired the bridge 
 and removed all the obstructions on the road. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 267 
 
 Lowell Factory, from which the place derives its 
 name, is owned by a Quaker, and is a small settlement 
 of about seventy-five inhabitants, consisting principally 
 of women and children, who are all employed as opera- 
 tives in the cotton factory. 
 
 While waiting at Lowell Factory for the repairing of 
 the roads toward Smithfield, the glorious news of the 
 surrender of Lee's Army was officially communicated 
 to the Command, and produced the wildest excitement. 
 
 The Fourth Division of the Fifteenth Corps were 
 summoned together by their gallant commander. Major 
 General John M. Corse, and after the playing of sever- 
 al national and patriotic airs by the band, the whole 
 command joined in singing " John Brown," and the 
 " Star Spangled Banner," with a zest which has sel- 
 dom been equaled, and never excelled. 
 
 After repeated calls for General Corse, their gallant 
 and popular leader, he was induced to come forward 
 and address them, which he did in a short, eloquent 
 and inspiring speech^ reminding his listeners " That 
 there was yet a man named Johnston in the field, 
 commanding a ragged mob commonly known as the 
 Confederate Army of the West, and that by patient 
 perseverance and a few more miles of corduroying, he 
 would be brought to bay and forced also to surrender 
 his command." General Corse's remarks were loudly 
 applauded, and he was in turn followed by General 
 Rice, commanding a Brigade of the Fourth Division. 
 
 After this grand jubilee was over, the bugle sounded 
 the assembly, and the men fell into the ranks and 
 marched forward with the utmost spirit and enthusi- 
 asm. On Wednesday night the Fifteenth Corps 'en- 
 camped at Pineville, and the Seventh Corps, after 
 crossing the Neuse River at Watson's Bridge, encamp- 
 ed for the night, and the next day moved forward to 
 within a short distance of Raleigh. The Fifteenth 
 Corps, in the meantime, advanced on the east side of 
 the Neuse River by Bagle Rock, crossing at Hinton's 
 
268 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Bridge and marching to within five miles of Raleigh, 
 into which place they made their triumphal entry to- 
 day at about ten o'clock, and were reviewed, together 
 with the Seventeenth Corps, by Major General Sher- 
 man and Major General Howard, and their respective 
 staffs, in front of the State House or Capitol Biiildings. 
 
 Generals Sherman and Howard took their position 
 on the south side of the capitol building and immedi- 
 ately in front of the bronze statue of Washington. 
 
 The different divisions composing the Army of the 
 Tennessee marched " by column of companies right in 
 front," bands playing, drums beating and colors flying, 
 and presented a most imposing spectacle, with their 
 tattered and ragged battle-flags which they had hero- 
 ically carried on battle-fields far too numerous to men- 
 tion. 
 
 What a grand and glorious spectacle to witness ! In 
 eight hours and a half one continuous, almost never 
 ceasino^ flow of men, and such men as are seldom seen 
 in any army in the world. Strong, stout, athletic vet- 
 erans, who have stood the shock of battle, and come 
 out proud victors on innumerable battle-fields, from 
 Fort Donelson, Tennessee, to Raleigh, North Carolina, 
 their dead but never-to-be-forgotten heroes who sleep 
 in the soldier's grave, on many well-fought battle-fields, 
 strew the line of march, and bear undying testimony to 
 their valor and devotion to the cause in which they all 
 embarked. God bless them ! May their memories 
 ever be green in the hearts of their countrymen! 
 
 Some forty-six railroad cars and several engines 
 were captured by Kilpatrick's cavalry, together with 
 several thousand prisoners, some of whom have volun- 
 tarily come inside of our lines and given themselves up 
 after becoming convinced of the utter hopelessness of 
 their cause. 
 
 Johnston's Army, which retreated the day before 
 our advance arrived here, is known to number from 
 twenty to twenty-five thousand men. Some of his 
 
T'HE: I.AST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 269 
 
 command retreated through Hillsborough to Greens- 
 borough, but the main portion of his army is known to 
 be encamped this side of Greensborough, which is the 
 junction of the Raleigh and Richmond railroad, at 
 which place JefF. Davis is known to be. 
 
 Governor Vance left this towm a few hours before 
 the arrival of our advance. It is stated by good author- 
 ity that he is desirous of returning inside the lines and 
 surrendering the State to General Sherman. If this 
 be so General Sherman will give him every protection, 
 and is really anxious that he should return and con- 
 vene the Legislature, a majority of which are known 
 to be loyal men. 
 
 It is expected that Sheridan's, Stoneman's and Kil- 
 patrick's Cavalries will form a junction some time with- 
 in the next five days, and hold Johnston in check until 
 this army can come up with him and deliver the final 
 blow to the Rebellion which has for nearly four years 
 cursed this fair land. The citizens here all express a de- 
 sire, now that Lee has surrendered his army, that John- 
 ston will do the same thing and put an end to this desolat- 
 ing war. It is questionable whether or not he has 
 heart and sense sufficient to take this view of the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 It is stated on good authority that the cavalry be- 
 longing to Lee's army have nearly all succeeded in 
 making a junction with Wheeler and Wade Hampton, 
 and that the united cavalry force of the enemy now 
 in our front numbers at least ten thousand men. It is 
 also rumored, but not generally credited, that a num- 
 ber of stragglers from the Rebel Army of Northern 
 Virginia have made their appearance inside of John- 
 ston's lines and have been pressed into the ranks of his 
 army. 
 
 The guerrilla chief Major Walker 
 Louisville, Ky., Taylor, Captain Taylor, and five 
 
 April 17, 1865. of his men, who surrendered 
 
 themselves to Dr. Owens, a 
 
270 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 member of the Kentucky Legislature, under the late 
 order of General Palmer, arrived here to-day. 
 
 A large body of guerrillas have 
 
 Washington, D. c, been hoveriug along the opposite 
 
 April 17,1865. bank of the Potomac the past 
 
 few days. Our forces have had 
 
 one spirited skirmish with them, in which we drove 
 
 them after an obstinate resistance. It is supposed they 
 
 came there to cover the retreat of the Washington 
 
 assassins. 
 
 Secretary Seward's symptoms are much improved 
 from this forenoon. He sat up in bed and had the 
 papers read to him. Frederick Seward recovered his 
 consciousness this afternoon so far as to recognize his 
 wife. 
 
 Numerous arrests of indiscrete or suspected parties 
 have taken place to-day. They cause much excitement. 
 Reports prevail that Surratt is among the number, but 
 this is not true. 
 
 Information has been received by the Government 
 from General Sherman that he was in communication 
 with General Johnston with a view to the surrender of 
 the latter. 
 
 General Sherman would offer the same terms that 
 General Grant did to General Lee, and it was supposed 
 they would be accepted. 
 
 Quite an interesting event took 
 Army of the Potomac. place at headquarters this morn- 
 
 Burkesville Junction, Va., f ^^ai o* ^1 /-> 1 
 
 Apri!i7,i865. ^g. The Sixth Corps havmg 
 
 taken eighteen flags during the 
 
 recent short campaign, it was arranged that the men 
 
 who captured them, accompanied by their commands, 
 
 should march to the vicinity of General Meade's quar- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 27 1 
 
 ters, and there turn in the colors taken from the Rebels. 
 General Meade addressed these heroes in an appropri- 
 ate speech, in which he thanked them individually for 
 their gallantry, and the entire corps for the important 
 part they had performed in being the first to break 
 through the enemy's line at Petersburg, as well as for 
 their conduct in pursuing and aiding in the utter de- 
 feat and capture of the principal army of the Confed- 
 eracy. In conclusion. General Meade announced that 
 every man who had taken a flag should have a furlough 
 for thirty days, and that each one should carry his own 
 and present it to the War Department at Washington. 
 The scene was brilliant, and much enjoyed by all who 
 witnessed it. 
 
 The announcement of the assassination of Mr. Lin- 
 coln and Mr. Seward and his son was received through- 
 out this army with the utmost sorrow. Every man 
 seemed to think it the greatest calamity that could have 
 possibly happened just at this time. Should the assassins 
 be found and turned over to the army to be dealt with 
 their punishment would be swift and sure, and such 
 as to strike into the heart of every sympathizer with 
 treason in the United States. The citizens living in 
 the country here express their deep regret at the oc- 
 currence, and think it the worst thing that could pos- 
 sibly have happened for the Southern people just at 
 this juncture. 
 
 The larger part of this army is now concentrated at 
 Burkesville Junction, and is taking a short rest after 
 their recent hard work. But it is thought that a move- 
 ment of the main body of troops will soon be made 
 toward Petersburg and Richmond. The cavalry and 
 the colored divisions of the Twenty-fifth Corps have al- 
 ready gone in that direction. In fact such a change 
 will have to be made in a few days, as the capacity of 
 the Southside Railroad in its present condition is 
 wholly inadequate to supply so many troops with 
 rations and animals with forage. The latter have suf- 
 
272 THE LAST FOUR WE^KS OF THE WAR. 
 
 fered much the past week, and large numbers have 
 been abandoned for want of feed. The train which 
 arrived this evening was thirty-two hours on the road 
 from City Point to the junction, three or four engines 
 having run off the track at different points. 
 
 Mosbv surrendered his force to 
 TpHiMlTsBs': General Chapman at Berryville 
 
 to-day. The terms of surrender 
 were the same as those accorded General Lee and his 
 army. 
 
 General Sherman and staff left 
 Raleigh. N.c, ^^^^ Central Depot at 8 o'clock 
 
 April 17. 1865. . . . .f. . , 
 
 Union Account. this mommg, With an engine and 
 
 two cars, for Durham's Station, to 
 meet General Johnston. None but his staff accom- 
 panied him. 
 
 The train which bore General Sherman to the front 
 to receive the surrender of Johnston's army had been 
 gone less than an hour, when the telegraph flashed to 
 General Howard's headquarters the horrible and as- 
 tounding news of the assassination of the President of 
 the United States, and the fatal wounding of Mr. Seward 
 and his son. For the greater part of the forenoon, the 
 dreadful tidings were suppressed, and only known to a 
 few persons immediately about headquarters ; but by 
 degrees it began to circulate about in whispers through 
 the town, and though generally disbelieved, created a 
 profound feeling of horror and alarm. A courier was 
 immediately dispatched with the news to General Sher- 
 man, who had already arrived at Durham's Station, and 
 was in conference with Johnston when the messenger 
 arrived. Officers hurried into town from the camps to 
 learn the facts, or to verify the report. It was too dread- 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 273 
 
 ful to be believed. Crowds of officers and soldiers met 
 and discussed in suppressed breath the probabilities of 
 its truth, and it was not until noon that the report 
 could be traced to a trustworthy source — the telegraph 
 operator and officers at General Howard's headquarters, 
 fearing the effect of the news upon the soldiers, kept 
 it quiet. A feeling of awful suspense, of horrible fore- 
 boding, spread over city and camps. Officers met and 
 passed in silence, scarcely daring to break the dreadful 
 secret to each other. Universal gloom settled like a 
 pall over the place. Sad faces were everywhere, all 
 hearts were heavy, all minds appalled by the dreadful 
 news of this triple murder. At General Schofield's 
 headquarters and other places I have seen officers and 
 men in tears, as if mourning for the loss of a father or 
 beloved friend. A sorrow like that which fell upon 
 Egypt when the angel of death smote the first born, 
 broods over all minds. Others with clinched fists and 
 firm-set teeth were calling for vengeance upon the 
 whole race of traitors^ from feff. Davis down. A people 
 who could conceive of such transcendent wickedness, 
 and every one who can apologize for or excuse it, say 
 they, ought to be blotted from the face of the earth. 
 
 The whole current of feeling in the army has been 
 changed by this crowning act of villainy — this final 
 fiendish stab at the Nation's life. Brave and noble men 
 who but yesterday were reading the God-like plea of 
 Mr. Beecher for pardon and conciliation for the Rebels, 
 and were half consenting to a general amnesty to the 
 bad men who have bathed the land in blood, and 
 brought so much woe upon us, to-day cry with trumpet 
 tongues for justice. General Johnston on hearing the 
 news declared it was the heaviest blow which has ever 
 fallen upon the Confederacy. He appeared very much 
 troubled by the intelligence. 
 
 Among intelligent officers this is regarded as only the 
 beginning of a reign of terror which has been long 
 maturing — the opening of a bloody drama to be enacted 
 
274 'I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 by hired assassins, in obedience to a deeply laid con- 
 spiracy. That now, beaten in the open field, honorably 
 defeated in war, they intend to adopt the assassin's last 
 resort; and that our chief public men, and even our 
 generals, are marked as victims of the bullet or the 
 knife. This is the natural fruit of rebellion — the ap- 
 pendix to the May mob and the firing of New York 
 hotels. 
 
 The officers and soldiers everywhere speak in terms 
 of the highest admiration of the great and good man 
 who has fallen. He seems to have been spared by a 
 kind Providence to witness the fruit of his long and 
 wearisome labors for the salvation of his country, and 
 then, has mingled his blood with the thousands who 
 have fallen in the struggle, in a manner to show to 
 the world as no other event could teach, the fiendish 
 spirit which has animated these enemies of liberty, of 
 the country, and of mankind. I hear nothing but 
 words of the most affectionate eulogy of the departed 
 President, and earnest prayers ascend from many thou- 
 sand hearts that God would disappoint the assassins, 
 and yet spare the precious lives of Mr. Seward and his 
 son. 
 
 The Yankees assaulted Colum- 
 Augusta, Ga bus, ou Sunday, the i6th, at 
 
 April 17, 1865. ' i i • • i j -^i 
 
 Confederate Account. uoou, and skirmished With our 
 forces through the streets until 
 sunset, when they occupied the city. 
 
 The command of the enemy, supposed to number 
 four thousand, advanced from Montgomery and de- 
 stroyed the Montgomery and West Point Railroads. 
 
 Private property at Montgomery was respected. All 
 the cotton. Government stores, manufacturing estab- 
 lishments, railroads and boats, were destroyed. 
 
 Salisbury, North Carolina, was re-occupied by our 
 troops on the 14th. The Yankees did not do much 
 damage in the place. 
 
THE LASI" EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 275 
 
 Telegraphic lines are open to-day, but nothing has 
 been received north of that place. 
 
 The Yankee raid destroyed the depot and some roll- 
 ing stock at Sumterville, South Carolina. No private 
 property molested. 
 
 The enemy then moved on Camden, where a large 
 amount of stock of the South Carolina Railroad had 
 been accumulated. 
 
 General Lewis, with his Kentucky brigade, overtook 
 the enemy about Camden, and after a short but spirited 
 battle the Yankees were forced to retreat rapidly, being 
 driven in confusion toward Georgetown. The Ken- 
 tuckians pursued with alacrity. 
 
 From Columbus papers we cull the annexed news m 
 regard to the situation in Alabama : 
 
 A large number of refugees have arrived in Colum- 
 bus from Montgomerv. 
 
 General Forrest, when last heard from, was twelve 
 miles from Selma. It was thought he would cross the 
 river and pursue the Yankees. 
 
 The Yankee force is composed entirely of cavalry and 
 mounted infantry, with some artillery. 
 
 Among the refuge.es who arrived in Columbus are 
 Governor Watts and other officers of the State Govern- 
 ment of Alabama. They are deeply chagrined at the 
 capture of their capital by six thousand Yankees, but 
 feel conscious that they did all in their power to pre- 
 vent it. The Governor has proceeded to Eufaula. 
 
 A dispatch from Talladega, dated April 7, states that 
 a division of Yankees from Elyton are at Montevalla ; 
 a portion of them are also at Shelby Springs. Scouts 
 report a body of the enemy at Ashville, taking stock, 
 &c. 
 
 It is stated that there were about eighty thousand 
 bales of cotton in Montgomery, in the warehouses. This 
 was burned on Tuesday evening. There was a large 
 quantity of cotton scattered through the streets; whether 
 this was burned also is not known. If it was, a large 
 
276 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 part of the city must also have suffered a similar fate 
 from its close proximity to the combustible material. 
 That portion of the city in the neighborhood of the 
 different warehouses must have sufifered, and it is hardly 
 possible that the buildings adjacent could pass un- 
 scathed. 
 
 The latest telegraphic dispatch from Montgomery 
 was sent from that place at half past five o'clock on 
 Tuesday evening. 
 
 Montgomery was evacuated in great confusion. 
 Liquor was used freely. All commissary stores were 
 distributed to the people. It is feared that much pri- 
 vate property has been destroyed. 
 
 The Columbus Times speaks of the situation as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "Thus is the great State of Alabama abandoned to 
 the mercy of six thousand or eight thousand Yankees, 
 who have in their power to desolate the whole of the ter- 
 ritory unopposed. It is certainly the most disgraceful 
 incident of the war. Alabama will now reap the fruits 
 of the policy of her Legislature in refusing the Gover- 
 nor the power which he asked, of organizing her able- 
 bodied population at home and compelling them to 
 fight in defense of the State." 
 
Tuesday, April 18, 1865, 
 
 After a two days' conference be- 
 Raieigh, N. c, twcen Major General Sherman 
 
 April 18, 1865. and Major General Joseph E. 
 
 Johnston, commanding the Rebel 
 forces east of the Mississippi River, with the concur- 
 rence of Jefiferson Davis, and in the presence and with 
 the advice of General John C. Breckenridge, the whole 
 remaining Rebel army from the Potomac to the Rio 
 Grande has been surrendered to the forces of the United 
 States. 
 
 The conference was sought by General Johnston on 
 the day following the occupation of Raleigh by the 
 Union Army — the 14th — a flag of truce being sent 
 in, with a request for an armistice, and a statement of 
 the best terms on which General Johnston would be 
 permitted to surrender the army under his command. 
 General Sherman sent out Colonel McCoy with his 
 ultimatum, and after some two days' delay, during which 
 General Johnston's efforts were somewhat embarrassed 
 by the refractory and mutinous position of Wade Hamp- 
 ton, of South Carolina, a personal interview took place 
 between the two chiefs of the opposing armies, at Ben- 
 nett's house, five miles beyond Durham's Station, on 
 the North Carolina railroad, midway between the 
 lines. 
 
 The conference was strictly private, only Wade 
 Hampton being present with General Johnston on the 
 first day, Monday, and John C. Breckenridge taking 
 Hampton's place on the second day, Tuesday. The 
 
278 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 only members of the Rebel staff present were Captains 
 Johnston and Hampton, the latter a son of the Rebel 
 South Carolinian, a chip of the old block. The generals 
 were treated with in their characters as simply com- 
 manders of the insurrectionary forces. The Southern 
 Confederacy was not recognized, although Jefferson 
 Davis was understood to be a party consenting to the 
 surrender. Wade Hampton is understood to have with- 
 drawn from the conference, and signified his intention, 
 like the Irishman, to continue the fight on his own 
 hook, which, it is devoutly hoped, he will do. If he 
 and South Carolina have not enough of the war, they 
 can readily be treated to another dose. 
 
 The terms settled for the surrender are understood 
 to be substantially those accorded to General Lee by 
 General Grant, with this exception, that the troops of 
 each State are required to march to their respective 
 capitals and then turn over their arms and all the public 
 property in their possession, and be paroled under the 
 supervision of officers to be designated for that purpose. 
 Thus, the army is to be disbanded, and each soldier is 
 required to return home, and not again to take up arms 
 against the Government. The officers, like those of 
 General Lee's army, are permitted to carry with them 
 their side-arms and private effects. These terms are 
 subject to the approval of the Washington Government, 
 and only go into effect upon such ratification. Mean- 
 time the two armies maintain their respective positions, 
 and all hostilities cease — until the return of the mes- 
 senger of General Sherman, who has already proceeded 
 to Washington with the stipulations, of which the fore- 
 going is a brief outline. 
 
 This sweeps from existence as an armed force against 
 the Government all the Rebel troops known to the 
 Confederacy, and makes outlaws and guerrillas of all 
 parties who remain in arms against the constituted 
 authorities : The forces of Kirby Smith west of the 
 Mississippi; all the irregular cavalry and roving bands 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 279 
 
 in Texas, Missouri and elsewhere ; the garrison at 
 Mobile and at other points in Alabama and Southern 
 Tennessee — all troops of whatever name and nation 
 who have been ranged on the side of the Rebellion, 
 whether as belonging to any recognized commander, or 
 playing the guerrilla upon their own hook for private 
 plunder. 
 
 General Johnston expresses deep and apparently sin- 
 cere sorrow and much concern at the assassination of 
 President I^incoln, in which he was joined by each Con- 
 federate officer present. General Johnston regards it 
 as the most terrible blow yet inflicted upon the Con- 
 federate cause, and the Southern people, and seems 
 deeply to deplore the event, coming as it does upon 
 the close of this great struggle. 
 
 The Progress, of this city, con- 
 Raieigh, N. c. taius the following order from 
 
 April 18. 1865. General Sherman, following the 
 
 announcement from Secretary 
 
 Stanton : 
 Washington, D. C, April 15 — p. m. 
 Major General Sherman : 
 
 President Lincoln was murdered about ten o'clock 
 last night in his private box at Ford's Theater, in this 
 city, by an assassin who shot him in the head with a 
 pistol ball. About the same hour Mr. Seward's house 
 was entered by another assassin, who stabbed the Sec- 
 retary in several places, but it is thought he may pos- 
 sibly recover, but his son, Fred, may possibly die of 
 wounds received from the assassin. The assassin of the 
 President leaped from the box brandishing a dagger, 
 exclaiming. Sic semper tyrannis^ and that Virginia was 
 revenged. Mr. Lincoln fell senseless from his seat, 
 and continued in that state until 7:22 this morning, at 
 which time he breathed his last. Vice President John- 
 
28o THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 son now becomes President and will take the oath of 
 office and assume the duties to-day. 
 
 B. M. Stanton, 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 Hdqrs. Military Division of the Mississippi 1 
 In the Field, Raleigh, April 17, 1865. j 
 
 Special Field Order, No. 50. — The General com- 
 manding announces, with pain and sorrow, that on the 
 nth inst., at the theater in Washington City, his Ex- 
 cellency the President of the United States, Mr. Lin- 
 coln, was assassinated by one who uttered the State 
 motto of Virginia. At the same time the Secretary of 
 State, Mr. Seward, whilst suffering from a broken arm, 
 was also stabbed by another murderer in his own house, 
 but still survives, and his son was wounded, supposed 
 fatally. 
 
 It is believed by persons capable of judging that 
 other high officers were designed to share the same fate. 
 Thus it seems that our enemy ,'despairing of meeting us 
 in manly warfare, begins to resort to the assassin's tools. 
 Your General does not wish you to infer that this is 
 universal, for he knows that the great mass of the Con- 
 federate army would scorn to sanction such acts, but 
 he believes it the legitimate consequence of rebellion 
 against rightful authority. We have met every phase 
 which this war has assumed^ and must now be prepared 
 for it in its last and worst shape^ that of assassins and 
 guerrillas ; but woe unto the people who seek to expend 
 their wild passions in such a manner for there is but one 
 dread result. By order of 
 
 W. T. Sherman, 
 Major General. 
 
 L. M. Dayton, 
 Major and Assistant Adjutant General, 
 
THE L.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 281 
 
 There is much evident anxiety among the citizens 
 on account of the changed feeling in the army, and 
 the crisis is now a most painful one, which is greatly 
 aggravated by the delay in the surrender of Johnston's 
 army. Should anything go wrong now, and negotia- 
 tions fail, woe to North Carolina when this army re- 
 sumes its march — woe to Rebels everywhere. 
 
 General Sherman went back to Durham's Station at 
 eight o'clock this morning to resume negotiations. 
 There is no difficulty about the surrender of the Rebel 
 army, but there are other and collateral questions on a 
 settlement of which Johnston insists, and which Gen- 
 eral Sherman hesitates to approve. It is supposed to 
 cover some guarantee for the lives or pardon of Jeff. 
 Davis and the chief traitors, which it is doubtful if he 
 obtains. I give this only as rumor — not as official. 
 Pending negotiations there is, properly, much reticence 
 at headquarters. I have arrangements for giving you 
 the fullest and quickest news of the result. 
 
 The great and overshadowing calamity, however, 
 will chill all enthusiasm over the event, and I doubt if 
 we hear a single cheer upon the occasion from the 
 troops. 
 
 Our capture of Rebel artillery, 
 
 Washington, D. C, . ^i . n^ -u 1 J 
 
 April 18, 1865. since tlie I St of December last, 
 
 may be briefly summed up as fol- 
 lows: Captured by General Thomas, from the Rebel 
 General Hood, in his Nashville campaign - 72 
 
 By General Sherman, at Savannah - - 160 
 By General Terry, Admiral Porter and General 
 Schofield, from Fort Fisher to Wilmington, 
 inclusive -_..-. 180 
 
 By General- Gilmore, at Charleston, from Sher- 
 man's flank movement _ . _ _ ^^q 
 By General Sherman, en route through South 
 
 and North Carolinas - _ - _ 85 
 
282 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ^ — •_ 
 
 By General Sheridan in the Charlotteville raid, 17 
 
 By General Grant's forces around Petersburg - 75 
 
 Around and in Richmond - - - - ' 500 
 
 By Canby, at Mobile 75 
 
 By Stoneman, at Salisbury - _ - i^ 
 
 By Wilson, at Selma . - _ _ - 22 
 
 Grand total ----- 1^65' 
 
Wednesday, April 19, 1865. 
 
 General Sherman publishes the 
 Raleigh, N. c, following Order to the army: 
 
 April 19. 1865. SPECIAL FlELD ORDERS, No. 
 
 58. — The General Commanding 
 announces to the army a suspension of hostilities, and 
 an agreement with General Johnston and other high 
 officials, which, when formally ratified, will make peace 
 from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. 
 
 Until the absolute peace is arranged, a line passing 
 through Terrell's Mount, Chappel Hill, Mount Uni- 
 versity, Durham's Station and West Point, on the 
 Neuse, will separate the two armies. 
 
 Each Army Commander will group his camps entirely 
 with a view to comfort, health and good police. All 
 the details of military discipline must still be main- 
 tained, and the General believes that in a few days it 
 will be his good fortune to conduct you to your homes. 
 
 The fame of this army for courage, industry and dis- 
 cipline is admitted all over the world. Then let^ each 
 officer and man see that it is not stained by any act of 
 vulgarity, rowdyism or petty crime. 
 
 The cavalry will patrol the front line. General 
 Howard will take charge of the district from Raleigh, 
 up to the cavalry ; General Slocum to the left of 
 Raleigh, and General Schofield in Raleigh, its right 
 and rear. 
 
 Quartermasters and Commissaries will keep their 
 supplies up to a light load for their wagons, and the 
 
284 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Railroad Superintendent will arrange a depot for the 
 convenience of each separate army. By order of 
 
 W T. Sherman, 
 Major General. 
 
 L. M. Dayton, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant General. 
 
 The order on being read to the different commands 
 at evening parade, caused the greatest enthusiasm 
 among the troops. 
 
 General Schofield has issued his order for a review 
 by the General in Chief of the Army of the Ohio. The 
 Tenth Army Corps, Major General Terry, command- 
 ing, will pass in review to-morrow, and the Twenty- 
 third Army Corps on the day following. 
 
 He makes a disposition of the troops for garrison 
 duty, and appoints their different camps around the 
 city. A brigade of General Ames's Division of the 
 Tenth Army Corps will relieve the Twenty-third Army 
 Corps on duty in the city, and, until further orders, 
 constitute the garrison of the town. He closes the 
 order as follews : 
 
 "The attention of all officers and soldiers is called to 
 special orders No. 58, Headquarters Middle Division of 
 the Mississippi, announcing a suspension of hostilities, 
 preliminary to peace throughout the land. It is the 
 duty of every officer and soldier to aid in sustaining the 
 honor of the army in this new relation, as they have 
 so nobly done in many a bloody field. Let every one 
 determine that a few individuals shall not tarnish the 
 fair fame of all." 
 
 The negotiations between Gen- 
 
 Raieigh, N. c, crals Sherman and Johnston end 
 
 April 19,1865. to-day. A meeting between 
 
 Generals Johnston and Sherman 
 
 was effected on the 17th, a few miles beyond Morris- 
 
 ville. General Sherman left Raleigh on a special 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 285 
 
 train, accompanied by his staff. No accidental "Bohe- 
 mians" being on the spot to chronicle the performances 
 we write from hearsay. I shonld not forget to say that 
 a pencil-bearer for one of our illustrated journals was 
 discovered by the General after the train had left Ra- 
 leigh, six miles distant, and he was dropped and it is 
 said made way on foot to the village. 
 
 The General and party reached General Kilpatrick's 
 headquarters, some twenty miles distant, where the 
 iron horse was changed for those of flesh, and the par- 
 ty, preceded by Captain Hayes of Kilpatrick's staff, 
 with a small squad and a truce-flag, started, after a ride 
 of nearly four miles. The truce-flag of General John- 
 ston's party was met advancing to meet ours. General 
 Johnston suggested that the party should ride on to 
 the house of Mr. James Bennett. Generals Sherman 
 and Johnston went into the house, leaving their staffs 
 to entertain each other, which it is said they did. Kil- 
 patrick discovered that the small man with the big 
 sword was General Wade Hampton, and as is his wont 
 " went for him" — more courteously than usual, howev- 
 er. Hampton is described as being loud in dress and 
 language. General Johnston is said to be very quiet, 
 and bears the stamp of a true gentleman in his every 
 movement. The officers of his staff, too, are well 
 spoken of by those who met them. 
 
 The death of the President, at this time is more than 
 a misfortune. The invariable remark of the soldier is, 
 " they have murdered their best friend." Some of the 
 Generals have taken their guards off the houses that 
 they have been protecting. 
 
 The guards in the town have been strengthened, 
 and all Fifteenth Corps men are scrutinized with a 
 careful eye. The pickets in the extreme front are 
 doubled, to prevent the soldiers of the advanced divis- 
 ions from attacking the Rebel truce parties. If this 
 army moves again, I think it is safe to say that the 
 
286 THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 track of the army through South Carolina will not com- 
 pare with the one that will be left by some of the corps. 
 
 The march from Goldsboro to this place is said, by 
 those that have been to the rear, to have been very 
 easy on the country passed through. One person who 
 came through on the road taken by the Twentieth 
 Corps, went so far as to say that the corps was becom- 
 ing demoralized and inefficient. He knew because 
 there were chickens, pigs and cattle left at the houses 
 by the road, and only one house burnt, and that is said 
 to have been done by the Twenty-third Corps, for the 
 reason that one of their men was found pendant to a tree 
 near by. 
 
 The picturesque town of Raleigh is certainly very 
 little harmed. The devastation that has been done was 
 done by " Wheeler's cavalry." 
 
 Poor Wheeler, what an amount of scoundrelism his 
 diminutive shoulders have laid upon them — any respect- 
 able "Confed." disclaims entirely that he is even ac- 
 quainted with any one connected with Wheeler's cav- 
 alry. 
 
 That the war is over is now generally conceded, and 
 the soldiers are many of them casting a longing eye 
 toward home. That they will not make peaceful citi- 
 zens is, I am sure, a mistake. This war has educated 
 many of them. 
 
 It is now settled that as soon as 
 
 Raleigh, N, c. the ratification of the terms of 
 
 April! 9, 1865. Surrender or capitulation of the 
 
 Rebel armies is made known 
 
 from Washington, General Sherman will march his 
 
 army northward to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where it 
 
 will be mustered out of service. 
 
 General Schofield, commanding the Department of 
 North Carolina, will probably remain with the Army 
 of the Ohio, to maintain order until affairs become set- 
 
l^HK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 287 
 
 tied in the State. An earnest wish prevails among the 
 citizens that our forces will continue to extend protec- 
 tion over them until the civil authorities are fully es- 
 tablished, and there is a chance for a free expression of 
 the choice of the people, for their future rulers, at the 
 ballot-box. If the signs of the times indicate any- 
 thing, they point to a complete overthrow of the un- 
 principled demagogues who have ruled the State. 
 
 The prospects of peace and of an early march home 
 produces much rejoicing among the old soldiers of the 
 army. They will go in light marching order, the heavy 
 army material such as ordnance stores, and all super- 
 fluous impediments being sent by sea from Beaufort. 
 But this is anticipating. No orders, of course, have 
 yet been issued on the subject. The return of Colonel 
 Hitchcock, the bearer of the dispatches to Washington, 
 will be looked for with intense interest. Already 
 officers and men are casting about them for the future 
 in view of their early release from service in the army. 
 
 The weather is delightful, and all nature seems to 
 sympathize in the general joy which pervades the army 
 over the return of peace. 
 
 The great and solemn pageant of 
 President Lincoln's Funeral, removing the remains of the 
 
 Washington, D. C, tvt ..• ) j j u t j 
 
 April 19, 1865. Natiou's rcvcrcd and beloved 
 
 Chief from the White House to 
 the Capitol is closed. Never was such a scene wit- 
 nessed where each and every one of the vast throng 
 moved in silent sadness, as if bearing the burden of 
 a personal bereavement. It has been the writer's for- 
 tune to witness the funerals here of John C. Calhoun, 
 Henry Clay, and President Taylor. These were solemn 
 and imposing, yet the event of to-day was as the loss 
 of an ardently loved parent to the death of a stranger. 
 At the White House the body lay uncoffined in the 
 center of the East Room, as heretofore described, the 
 
288 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 head resting to the north. From the entrance door at 
 the northwest end of the room were placed the pall- 
 bearers, next the representatives of the army, then the 
 judiciary. At the corner the Assistant Secretaries of 
 the Departments. First on the eastern line the Sena- 
 tors of the States; next the Diplomatic Corps, who were 
 out in very large numbers and in full court suits. 
 Then the ladies of the Cabinet Ministers ; next the 
 Judges of the Supreme Court. Next in the center and 
 in front of the catafalque, stood the new President, and 
 behind him the Cabinet Ministers. The members of 
 the Senate joined their left, the House came next; at 
 the corner turning southward stood the Kentucky dele- 
 gation divided on the left by the delegation from Illi- 
 nois; on the south end were first the clergy, then the 
 municipal delegations, the Smithsonian Institute, New 
 York Chamber of Commerce, Common Councils of New 
 York and Philadelphia, Union League delegations, and 
 around beside the southwest door of the Green Room 
 were stationed the citizens' delegations from various 
 quarters. The space surrounding the body to within 
 about ten feet was filled by a raised platform, upon 
 which the several bodies described above stood. 
 
 Throughout the ceremonies, within the reserved 
 space on the north corner were seated the officiating 
 clergy, on the south corner the mourners, consisting of 
 the late President's two sons, his two private secre- 
 taries, and members of his personal household. Mrs. 
 Lincoln was so severely indisposed as to be compelled 
 to keep her room. The recess of the double center 
 doors leading to the large vestibule was assigned to 
 the representatives of the press. 
 
 The services were peculiarly impressive, and the 
 quotation concluding Dr. Gurley's sermon was most 
 aptly appropriate and significant. The sermon over, 
 the body was removed to the funeral car for transpor- 
 tation to the Capitol, the pall bearers, mourners, Diplo- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 289 
 
 matic Corps and Supreme Court riding in carriages, all 
 others walking. 
 
 The exercises had commenced at precisely half past 
 twelve o'clock and it was two o'clock as the cortege 
 from within began to move out at the northwestern 
 gate. 
 
 Outside the great gateway leading from the White 
 House grounds and extending far back upon all the 
 radiating streets were the thousands of delegations 
 from nearly every loyal State who marched into line at 
 the proper moment and moved on with the immense 
 mass following the hearse. 
 
 No more beautiful morning, no brighter sunnier 
 day, with sky clear as crystal and the air all charged 
 with the etherial mildness of spring, ever dawned in 
 glory, ascended to the meridian splendor and sat in 
 peace, than this, the day of the obsequies of Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 In the early morning the whole city thronged upon 
 the streets, not as on a gala day, not as when Richmond 
 fell, not as when Lee surrendered ; then there was re- 
 joicing — to-day there was sorrow. The closed shutters 
 and barred doors of all places of business, the black 
 drapery of mourning that festooned every home, the 
 profound solemnity that dwelt upon every face, and 
 the tears of strong men in the streets, and the more 
 than one instance where women fainted in the houses, 
 these were the incidents and attendants of joy ; but in 
 the attestations of grief, ordinary words lose their sig- 
 nificance in the presence of facts and feeling never 
 known before. Pennsylvania avenue, down which the 
 cortege was to move, was densely packed before ten 
 o'clock, and yet the procession was not to move until 
 two o'clock. 
 
 The privilege of viewing it from a window was sold 
 for ten dollars. A newsboy gave twenty-five cents to 
 another for his place in the top of a tree. Boys pressed 
 through the mass selling crape, and found many pur- 
 
290 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 chasers. Everybody wore crape ; everybody was si- 
 lent, grave, solemn ; everybody stood and patiently 
 awaited for hours ; there was no disorder, no disqui- 
 et—all were chief mourners. None betrayed any 
 thought unbefitting the occasion, all seemed to feel 
 that the great national family had lost its head, that 
 this was the funeral of the foremost man in all this 
 world. 
 
 Meanwhile there were ceremonies in the house, sim- 
 ple, solemn, fitting, and promptly at two o'clock the 
 procession moves, and there are sobs and tears now. 
 
 The dead march wails in the people's ears, the cor- 
 tege is hours passing a given point — first the troops of 
 the cavalry, the measured tread of the infantry and the 
 bands, and the long guns and the flags, and every man 
 and every horse, and every saber and every gun, and 
 every fife and drum, and every flag, black with the 
 emblems of grief. 
 
 The stricken family; a hundred Illinoisans and chief 
 mourners, the Lieutenant General as a pall-bearer, 
 various Generals and their staffs. General Butler in 
 citizen's dress on foot, with the other Bay State men, 
 and then the great funeral, all slowly moving to the 
 music of dirges, twenty thousand following him, the 
 man of amplest influence, yet clearest of ambitious 
 crime, to the tomb, and fifty thousand more of the 
 mourners, looking on in sympathy and sorrow, and 
 then we all went each his way. 
 
 We had all come to bury our more than dead Caesar, 
 and to praise him ; yet there was no thought to stir 
 up a mutiny as at that Roman funeral. The feeling 
 was too holy for turbulence, yet not too abstract or 
 sentimental for justice. Men said, let not the traitors 
 who are guilty of this, let not the traitors who are 
 guilty, let none of the prominent ones of this Rebellion 
 ever again become American citizens. We do not cry 
 for their blood, but we demand that they shall never 
 vote at the same polls with us, never claim a part in 
 the flag they would have dishonored. 
 
Thursday, April 20, 1865 
 
 If the news we published yes- 
 
 From the'Daiiy^Rebei. terdav froni Senatobia is true, 
 
 April 20 1865 William H. Seward, the cold- 
 
 Confederate Account. ,, ,- -, .' ^•.• ^ 
 
 blooded and heartless political 
 miscreant, who guided the infernal policy which 
 plunged us into this bloody and desolating war, has 
 been arrested by an angry God in the midst of his in- 
 iquities, and has paid the penalty of his crimes at the 
 hand of an unknown assassin. 
 
 For many years Mr. Seward has been the moving 
 spirit of Northern hostility to the South, and to his 
 enmity and ambitious designs do we owe this war. It 
 is doubtful whether Lincoln would have had the nerve 
 to press the differences between the two sections to the 
 point of actual collision, if Mr. Seward had not stood 
 at his back, and with his devilish malice urged him on. 
 
 Doubtless, Seward had conceived in his own mind 
 some mighty scheme of government, in which the 
 Southern States should play but a subordinate part, to 
 the success of which it was necessary that the institu- 
 tion of slavery, which was a paramount interest, and 
 gave strength and unity to the South, and enabled it to 
 exercise an important, if not a controlling interest in 
 the Government, should be destroyed. He declared 
 years ago that there was an "irrepressible conflict" be- 
 tween the Northern and Southern systems of labor, 
 and that the one must supercede the other. 
 
 He steadily and persistently pursued the warfare 
 upon our institutions, until he had created a party 
 
292 THE LAvST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 sufficiently strong -to elect a President, and then taking 
 the Premiership under that President, he inaugurated 
 the war with the view to the extinction of slavery, 
 though it should involve the slaughter and ruin of the 
 entire white population of these States. 
 
 His ambitious plans have been brought to a bloody, 
 we do not say a fitting, conclusion. If it was right for 
 Brutus to slay the despotic Caesar; who shall say that 
 the man who slit the throat of this arch plotter against 
 the lives and liberties of these people is not worthy of 
 the laurel wreath? 
 
 And Abe Lincoln, too, the political mountebank and 
 professional joker, whom nature intended for the ring 
 of a circus, but whom a strange streak of popular de- 
 lusion elevated to the Presidency — he also has fallen. 
 His career was as short as it was bloody and infamous. 
 He has gone to answer before the bar of God, for the 
 innocent blood which he has permitted to be shed, and 
 his efforts to enslave a free people. 
 
 The dispatches are not sufficiently particular to en- 
 able us to judge in regard to the motives which prompt- 
 ed the assassins to their work. We presume that the 
 South will be charged with inciting them to their 
 bloody work, and that a high degree of exasperation 
 against us will be the consequence. But while we do 
 not know anything concerning the cause of these deeds, 
 we do know that they have struck our people here with 
 as much surprise as they have the people of the North. 
 While they rejoice at the destruction of their enemies, 
 they would neither have suggested nor will they sanc- 
 tion cold-blooded murder, however much the victims 
 may deserve the fate they met. 
 
 Several important subjects con- 
 sherman's Army. ncctcd witli the war may be 
 
 Near Raleigh. N. C. ^, -. r ^, • ^ r 
 
 April 20! 1865. gathered Ironi the gist of a con- 
 
 versation which General Sher- 
 
THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 393 
 
 man held with his lyieutenants after the review of the 
 Tenth Corps to-day. 
 
 The most interesting theme among all upon which 
 the conversation touched was the recent interview with 
 General Johnston at Durham's Station. With this in- 
 terview General Sherman expressed himself as highly 
 pleased. Johnston was courteous and affable, and free- 
 ly acknowledged that the cause of the Confederacy was 
 hopeless and that humanity demanded an immediate 
 cessation of hostilities. 
 
 To meet this end Sherman proposed that Johnston, 
 as the ranking officer of the Confederacy, now that 
 General Lee is a prisoner, should surrender the entire 
 remaining armies of the insurgent States. To this 
 proposition Johnston only objected that he doubted 
 whether his authority would be recognized by the South 
 and that he lacked the power to enforce such a capitu- 
 lation as the one proposed. Sherman, however, rather 
 humorously remarking that he would lend him all the 
 power he needed, Johnston agreed to do "what in him 
 lay" to pacify the nation, especially as the great Mogul 
 of the Confederacy when its fortunes were prosperous, 
 but its "small potato" when its fortunes are failing, 
 could not be found. 
 
 The last that was heard by General Johnston of the 
 chivalrous chief of the last ditchers, Jefferson D., was 
 that he had started away for parts unknown in an am- 
 bulance and was supposed to be hidden somewhere in 
 the mountains. May this be the end of him. There 
 could be no more ludicrously insignificant termination 
 to the career of this arch Rebel than in the flight which 
 he has ignominiously chosen. There is nothing of the 
 heroic in this. Had he bravely yielded himself a pris- 
 oner with chivalrous Lee, perhaps a bard or two in ages 
 to come might have sung the life, fortunes, and tragical 
 death of J. Davis, but now there will none be found so 
 poor as to do him reverence. 
 
 Very little difficulty was experienced by the two 
 
294 '^HE LAST FOUR WEEKS. OF THE WAR. 
 
 chieftains in agreeing to the terms of the capitulation 
 of the Southern armies. Sherman offered and Johnston 
 accepted substantially the same terms which were of- 
 fered by General Grant to General Lee. Johnston 
 further agreed to issue a proclamation to the Rebel 
 Legislatures, calling upon them to meet at their respect- 
 ive capitals and take the oath of allegiance to the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States. 
 
 John C. Breckinridge, who was present on the 
 grounds before the interview, evidently thought that 
 being a politician, he would be able to outwit Sherman 
 in obtaining for him a recognition of his right to treat 
 with him as a civil officer of the Confederate Govern- 
 ment, who might be supposed to represent the views of 
 its President. But General Sherman foiled all his at- 
 tempts, and merely recognized him in his capacity as 
 Lieutenant General of the Confederacy, and did not 
 negotiate with him at all. 
 
 During the day. General Sherman communicated to 
 General Johnston the intelligence of the assassination 
 of President Lincoln, and it is only just to a sworn 
 though honorable enemy, to say that General Johnston 
 was grieved by the news, and seemed to be as much 
 shocked by it as if he were a Northern man and a 
 friend of the President's. 
 
 Something being said about State rights, Sherman 
 made one of his characteristic remarks in reply. Said 
 he: *'The American citizen has some rights too. I 
 have some rights, among them is the right to go where 
 I please, and jump what fences I please." "That," said 
 Johnston, "is because you have a large force to back 
 you." Said Sherman, "That is the identical thing." 
 
 General Wade Hampton, Sherman describes as a 
 foolish fire-eater, who vows that he never will surrender, 
 but will cut his way through the lines somehow some- 
 where and sail away to an elysium of independence. 
 Hampton says he will never speak to a Northern man 
 after the war is over. Poor fool ! 
 
Friday, April 21, 1865. 
 
 '' Soldiers : I have summoned 
 
 Mo8by'?Fa"reweii*Address. you together for the last time. 
 
 April 21, 1865. -^he visioti we have cherished 
 
 Confederate Account. ^ (. i • i -i ^ 
 
 for a free and independent coun- 
 try has vanished, and that country is now the spoil of a 
 conqueror. I disband your organization in preference 
 to surrendering to our enemies. I am no longer your 
 commander. After an association of more than two 
 eventful years, I part from you with a just pride in the 
 fame of your achievements, and grateful recollections 
 of your generous kindness to myself; and now at this 
 moment of bidding you a final adieu, accept the assur- 
 ance of my unchanging confidence and regard. Fare- 
 well." 
 
 General Bwell, in conversation 
 ^ApriT 2?"'i865;' ^ith the editor of The National 
 
 Intelligencer, yesterday, stated 
 his last letter to General Lee, as follows : 
 
 '' General Lee : For God's sake, and humanity's 
 sake, surrender your army. You are outnumbered and 
 beaten. To continue the contest longer is to court 
 nothing but slaughter in vain, 
 
 Ewell." 
 
Sunday, April 23, 1865, 
 
 Army of the Potomac, 
 April 23, 1865. 
 
 This glorious army is now being 
 broken up. The Sixth Corps, 
 which has earned the word 
 Ubique, and might bear it on it's flag, was put in march 
 this morning for Danville, in order to hold that point, 
 and it would seem, to guard the communication of the 
 army under General Sherman. 
 
 The Fifth Corps is now posted along the Southside 
 railroad, guarding that line, and the Ninth, which did 
 that duty till lately, is now on it's way to the Capital, 
 from which, report says, it will be transported to a cer- 
 tain distant point of the Rebel country. 
 
 The Twenty-fourth Corps is in march for Richmond, 
 where the bulk of it now is, and lastly, the Second 
 Corps is here waiting for orders. 
 
 Vicksburg, Tenn.. 
 April 23, 1865. 
 
 Eight thousand Andersonville 
 prisoners are here getting ready 
 to return to their homes. 
 
 Among the trophies of Stone- 
 man's expedition are twelve bat- 
 tle flags and banners, one old 
 United States flag found in the house of a loyal citizen 
 
 Knoxville, Tenn., 
 April 23, 1865. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 29? 
 
 of Salisbury. The poisonous pen, where many unfor- 
 tunate Union prisoners pined their lives away, was 
 burned to the ground. A few Union prisoners were 
 found, skeletons of their former selves. Almost all of 
 them died on the way to Knoxville. They preferred 
 rather to die under the Stars and Stripes than to be left 
 in the loathsome hospitals of Salisbury. 
 
Monday, April 24, 1865. 
 
 The people of the North are now 
 seima, Ala., reapiiipf the natural and inevita- 
 
 From the Daily Rebel. \ ^ x, ^ r - i. 
 
 April 24. 1865. ^^^ harvest of crime growing out 
 
 Confederate Account. of the demoralization incident to 
 a state of war. The last dis- 
 patches exhibit a most shocking and horrible state of 
 society. The President and his Prime Minister killed 
 by assassins, and the new President and the Secretary 
 of War murdered by a mob which has obtained and 
 holds possession of the Capital of the Nation. Other 
 cities sacked and a great popular revolution against the 
 rulers impending. While their armies are devastating 
 our land, their own down-trodden populace, infuriated 
 by tyranny and driven to despair by want, bursts the 
 bonds of law, and a reign of terror and of ruin is estab- 
 lished. 
 
 That Nation which prided itself upon its strength 
 and prosperity, finds three different Presidents occupy- 
 ing its Executive Chair within a space of a single 
 month, two of whom were murdered ; discord and 
 anarchy riding rampant and ruling the hour. Perhaps 
 they may yet find it necessary to recall the armies 
 they have sent to these States to ruin us to restore 
 order and law among themselves. God grant it. 
 
THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 299 
 
 The Atlanta papers know of the 
 Chattanooga, Tenn., assassination of President Lin- 
 
 April24, 1865. 11^1 i. 
 
 com, but make no comment. 
 They deny the surrender of Lee's Army, and say he 
 was all right on the i6th inst. 
 
Wednesday, April 26. 1865. 
 
 General Grant's telegram of to- 
 
 Raleigh. N. C. day : 
 
 ^'"•" 26. 1865. a Johnston surrendered the 
 
 forces in his command, embrac- 
 ing all from here to the Chattahooche, to General 
 Sherman, on the basis agreed upon between Lee and 
 myself for the Army of Northern Virginia." 
 
 The 26th of April, 1865, will re- 
 a1)Hi 26' I'ses ^^^^^^ celebrated in our annals as 
 
 the day which witnessed the final 
 surrender of the Rebel army under Joseph E. John- 
 ston, and closed the Slaveholder's Rebellion. 
 
 The presence of Lieutenant General Grant at Raleigh 
 with the ultimatum of the Government, has been 
 known to Rebel officers for four days, and, no doubt, 
 had a salutary influence upon the negotiations which 
 hitherto have hung fire. General Sherman, General 
 Schofield and General Howard, with several members 
 of their respective staffs, among others Colonel W. H. 
 Wherry, of General Schofield's staff, left for the front 
 at eight o'clock this morning by train. 
 
 Bennett's house, five miles beyond Durham's Station, 
 and about thirty from Raleigh, was the place of con- 
 ference, the same as that where the former interview 
 took place. It is a small and unpretentious country 
 dwelling, with only two rooms, and a small allowance 
 of windows in each room. The house, however, was 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 30I 
 
 scrupulously neat, the floors scrubbed to a milky white- 
 ness, the bed in one room very neatly made up, and 
 the few articles of furniture in the room arranged 
 with neatness and taste. The grounds were ornament- 
 ed with a few flowers and a little shrubbery. Opposite 
 the house is a fine oak casting a broad shadow ; and 
 other trees about the premises had been trimmed by 
 the Rebel officers and soldiers to give them an inviting- 
 appearance. 
 
 The train, bearing the Union Generals, arrived at 
 the station, or house, about two o'clock in the after- 
 noon. General Johnston, with Captain Wade Hamp- 
 ton, Jr., and Major Preston of his staff", with several 
 other officers arrived about half past two o'clock, and 
 after a very civil but not over warm greeting between 
 the officers, and the introductions of the officers. Gen- 
 eral Johnston and General Sherman held a short pri- 
 vate interview in the room set apart for the conference, 
 meanwhile the Rebel officers withdrew to some dis- 
 tance, and remained in conversation among themselves, 
 the Union officers doing the same. 
 
 Generals Schofield and Howard then joined the Con- 
 ference, which lasted about one hour. Wade Hamp- 
 ton, having been relieved of command, was not present, 
 neither was Breckinridge. The basis of surrender was 
 the same as that on which Lee handed over his shattered 
 army to General Grant. Instead of marching to their 
 respective capitals to deliver their arms, the whole 
 force, estimated at twenty-five thousand men of all 
 arms, with all the artillery and material of war, are to 
 be delivered at Greensborough, North Carolina. 
 
 The terms include no recognition of the existing 
 State Governments, the whole civil feature of the set- 
 tlement being left to the people and the general Gov- 
 ernment. The surrender includes all the Rebels in 
 arms in the four States of North Carolina, South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia and Florida to the Chattahooche river. 
 The remainder of the Rebel armies — Kirby Smith's and 
 others' — will undoubtedly follow suit. 
 
302 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 General Johnston throughout has shown unmistaka- 
 ble anxiety to close the war without further bloodshed. 
 He seemed considerably oppressed with care and respon- 
 sibility, but maintained his affable and gentlemanly 
 bearing throughout. 
 
 The officers finally mingled freely in conversation 
 upon the war, and the men argued and disputed about 
 the merits of various battles in which they had taken 
 part. The conference closed cordially, the officers 
 shook hands and parted with mutual expressions of 
 good will. Thus closes the drama of a four years' 
 bloody and most inexcusable war. The train returned 
 to Raleigh at nine o'clock in the evening. An order 
 will be published to-morrow announcing the surrender 
 of the Rebel Army. General Grant goes north on a 
 special train in the morning. The Twenty-third and 
 Tenth Army Corps remain here. 
 
Thursday, April 27, 1865 
 
 About eight o'clock last evening 
 ^°°w^hiTrn ^d'*c^^**'' ^^ received the intelligence of 
 Apri"2r'i865. ' the capturc of J. Wilkes Booth, 
 
 the assassin of Abraham Lin- 
 coln, and one of his accomplices in the murder, David 
 C. Harrold. The following are such of the particulars 
 as we were enabled to gather, which, with the excep- 
 tion of the precise locality where the occurrence took 
 place, we give as being trustworthy and correct. Booth 
 and his accomplice had crossed the Potomac River at 
 or near Acquia Creek. Our cavalry scouts in that vi- 
 cinity have been in consequence unusually active in 
 their endeavors to get on their trail. 
 
 Early yesterday morning a squad of about twelve 
 men belonging to the Sixteenth New York Cavalry, 
 under command of a lieutenant whose name we did not 
 learn, succeeded in discovering the fugitive in a barn 
 on the road leading from Port Royal to Bowling Green, 
 in Caroline County, Va. As soon as they were discov- 
 ered the place was surrounded, and the assassins order- 
 ed to surrender. This they both refused to do. Booth 
 declaring that he would not be taken alive, and offer- 
 ing to fight the whole squad if he would be permitted 
 to place himself twenty yards distant from them. His 
 proposition was not, however, acceded to, and as they 
 persisted in their refusal to surrender, the lieutenant 
 determined to burn them out, and accordingly set fire 
 to the barn. Shortly afterward Harrold came out and 
 gave himself up. Booth remained in the burning build- 
 
304 'THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ing for some time and until driven out by the fire, when 
 he rushed out and was immediately shot through the 
 neck by the sergeant of the squad. 
 
 Since the above was put in type, we have had an in- 
 terview with two of the cavalrymen engaged in the 
 capture of the assassins. 
 
 From them we learn that the whole party consisted 
 of twenty-eight, including two detectives. The first in- 
 formation respecting Booth's crossing the river and his 
 probable whereabouts, was obtained from disbanded 
 Rebel soldiers who were met with in all directions in 
 that part of the country. From one and another of 
 these the clue to Booth's movements was gathered and 
 held until just at daybreak they came upon the barn 
 where he and Harrold were secreted. 
 
 A parley was had, and Booth manifesting the most 
 desperate determination not to be taken alive, and to 
 take as many of the lives of the party as possible, 
 Lieutenant Edward P. Doherty, who commanded the 
 scouting party, determined to make short work of him. 
 When Harrold saw the preparations for firing the barn, 
 he declared his willingness to surrender, and said he 
 would not fight if they would let him out. Booth, on 
 the contrary, was impudently defiant, offering at first 
 to fight the whole squad atone hundred yards, and sub- 
 sequently at fifty yards. He was hobbling on crutches, 
 apparently very lame. He swore he would die like a 
 man, etc. 
 
 Harrold having been secured, as soon as the burning 
 hay lighted the interior of the barn sufficiently to ren- 
 der the scowling face of Booth, the assassin, visible. 
 Sergeant Boston Corbett fired upon him, and he fell. 
 The ball passed through his neck. He was pulled out 
 of the barn, and one of his crutches and carbine and 
 revolvers secured. 
 
 The wretch lived about two hours, whispering blas- 
 phemies against the Government and messages to his 
 mother, desiring her to be informed that he died for his 
 country. 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OK THE WAR. 3O5 
 
 The time Booth was shot he was leaning upon one 
 crutch and preparing to shoot his captors. Only one 
 shot was fired in the entire affair, that which killed the 
 assassin. 
 
 Lieutenant Doherty is one of the bravest fellows in 
 the cavalry service, having distinguished himself in a 
 sharp affair at Culpepper Court House, and on other 
 occasions. The Sixteenth New York Cavalry is com- 
 manded by Colonel Nelson Sweetzer, and has been do- 
 ing duty in Fairfax county. This regiment formed 
 part of the cavalry escort on the day of the President's 
 obsequies in Washington. The body of Booth and the 
 assassin's accomplice, Harrold, were placed on board 
 the Ida, and sent to Washington, arriving here about 
 one o'clock this morning. 
 
 Later. — Booth's body has been fully recognized and 
 placed upon a gunboat in the stream. The knife he 
 brandished, with the blood of Captain Rathbone dried 
 thereon, is here; also his revolvers and Spencer rifle. 
 He claimed to have been deserted by all his confeder- 
 ates, except Harrold, and that he rode twenty miles 
 with the bone of his leg protruding and chafing against 
 his saddle. 
 
Friday, April 28, 1865. 
 
 A force of six to twelve thousand 
 A^prii'" 28,^1 865. Rebels, comprising the remnants 
 
 of Jeff. Thompson's and Joe 
 Shelby's brigades, are at Pocahontas, Arkansas, pre- 
 paring to invade Missouri. 
 
 Three regiments have been sent down the river. 
 
Saturday, April 29, 1865 
 
 Savannah, Ga. 
 April 29, 1865. 
 
 The forces under Brevet Major 
 Wilson's Raid. General Wilson, after a march of 
 
 over three hundred miles through 
 a sterile and mountainous coun- 
 try, approached Selma, Alabama, surrounded by two 
 lines of entrenchments, impassable swamps, covered by 
 stockades and defended by seven thousand Rebel 
 troops under the command of General Forrest. The 
 Second Division swept over the defenses of the Sum- 
 merfield road like an avalanche, while the Fourth 
 Division carried those on the Plantersville road. The 
 enemy, astonished and disheartened, broke from their 
 works, and Selma was won. General Chalmers made 
 a futile effort to drive in the pickets of the Second Di- 
 vision, and go to the Rebel garrison during the battle, 
 and was compelled to retreat rapidly beyond Caliaba. 
 The fruits of this victory were twenty-six field pieces 
 and one thirty-pounder Parrott, captured on the field of 
 battle, and over seventy pieces of heavy ordnance in 
 the arsenal and foundry; two thousand prisoners,^ a 
 number of battle-flags, the naval foundry and machine 
 shops, the extensive arsenal filled with every variety 
 of military munitions, and large quantities of commis- 
 sary and quartermasters' stores in depot. This was on' 
 the 2d day of April. On Saturday evening, April 8, 
 the troops commenced crossing the Alabama River on 
 pontoon bridges, and by Monday, the loth, all were 
 across. From Selma to Montgomery is distant about 
 
3o8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 fifty- six miles. On the 12th, Montgomery was sur- 
 rendered to General McCook, commanding First Di- 
 vision. No resistance was met with, General Beauford 
 having evacuated the place, after destroying a large 
 quantity of cotton, commissary stores, &c. 
 
 Monday, i6th, left the camp early in the morning, 
 marching thirty-eight miles, reaching Columbus be- 
 tween nine and ten o'clock. General Winstow's bri- 
 gade of the Fourth Division forced its way through the 
 lines, and about twenty-five Union soldiers rode across 
 the covered bridge in company with a Rebel escort, 
 without their knowledge, of course. After crossing 
 the river these intrepid soldiers informed the Rebels 
 who they were, and made an attack upon them with 
 their sabers. The escort soon disappeared, and follow- 
 ed by the balance of the brigade, entered and took pos- 
 session of the city. About two hundred pieces of 
 artillery and a large number of small arms were 
 captured in the arsenal, and about two thousand pris- 
 oners. General Howell Cobb was in command at 
 Columbus, who skedaddled back to Macon as fast as 
 he could on the appearance of the Union forces. From 
 Columbus to Macon is ninety-six miles. General Wil- 
 son left the former city on the i8th, resuming his 
 march for the latter place, passing by the double 
 bridges. On the evening of the 20th, when about 
 seventeen miles from Macon, he was met by a flag of 
 truce sent out by General Cobb, with a copy of a dis- 
 patch from General Beauregard announcing the armis- 
 tice between Generals Sherman and Johnston, and 
 asking an interview at some point with a view to en- 
 forcing said armistice. Pending this, and before Gen- 
 eral Wilson had time to reply, the Seventeenth Indiana 
 of the Second Division, commanded by General Long, 
 dashed into the city about dusk, and took possesion of 
 it. A short time after General Wilson arrived in the city 
 and took quarters at the Lanier House. General Cobb 
 and staff", General Mercer and staff", and General A. W. 
 
THE 1.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 3^9 
 
 Smith (commanding the militia) and staff, and some 
 two thonsand other officers and soldiers, were all taken 
 prisoners. The stockade at Macon, where a large 
 number of Union prisoners were formerly confined, 
 was, soon after the arrival of our forces, totally demol- 
 ished The Lanier House was pillaged, supposed to 
 have been done by the servants, and the jewelry store 
 of E J. Johnson, in which was the Confederate Depos- 
 itory, managed by W. B. Johnson. General Wilson's 
 command consists of about sixteen thousand men to 
 whom much credit is due for the rapid marches they 
 have made and important captures of the cities they 
 have visited. 
 
Sunday, April 30, 1865. 
 
 General Sherman's Army is en 
 ^f ^\"sto"' D- C-. route for Washington, overland. 
 
 April 30, 1 835. -i i 
 
 1 he Government to-day tele- 
 graphed to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York for 
 fifty bakers from each place, in order to be ready for 
 the army. We have now here a very large body of 
 troops, coming from the vicinity of Richmond and 
 the Shenandoah Valley, and fifty thousand rations of 
 soft bread are issued here daily. 
 
 The day broke in the most de- 
 Army of Georgia. Hghtful manner. The sun shone 
 
 Near the Nsuse River. ^^ . ^ . , . . , 
 
 April 30, 1865. lorth alter the heavy ram of the 
 
 previous night in all his splen- 
 dor, and gave to the cool morning air his brightest and 
 most cheery glances. So opened the day on which the 
 left wing of the grand army commenced its joyful 
 march toward home — sweet home. When at daylight 
 their tents were struck, and the bugle gaily sounded 
 the "forward," of all that host who proudly marched 
 beneath the "bonnie blue which bears a single star," 
 there was not one whose bosom did not swell with 
 pride and exultation as he thought that he was march- 
 ing north, crowned with victory. 
 
 Joy beamed from every eye when home was in the 
 mind, and every eye looked joyful only to be dimmed 
 
THE LAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 311 
 
 as the melancholy tragedy at Washington was recalled 
 by the over working brain. Yet as hope and joy are 
 the ruling passions of the successful, the moments of 
 grief, though poignant, were few. Joyfully then the 
 Twentieth Corps, which led the advance of the Army 
 of Georgia, marched from their camps on a march 
 which cannot but be barren of the usual topics of in- 
 terest which spring from the movements of an army, 
 and yet will be fruitful in others more novel and as 
 entertaining. How the troops are received on the 
 • route, what are the sentiments of the inhabitants upon 
 the great social problem of re-union which now per- 
 plexes the profoundest minds, when the army will 
 arrive at the principal towns on its way, when it will 
 finally reach its destination at Alexandria, and a thou- 
 sand other items which cannot be anticipated, will fill 
 the place in the public mind which has been during 
 four years occupied by war and rumors of war. 
 
 We learn that Jeff*erson Davis, 
 Raleigh, N. c, under a strong: escort, and ac- 
 
 April 30, 1865. . , , ^ , ' . , 
 
 From the Raieigh Progress, compauied by a loug tram bear- 
 ing away immense sums of gold 
 filched from the people, and other plunder, has crossed 
 the Yadkin river, near Salisbury, and is making his way 
 to Texas, where he expects to re-establish his Govern- 
 ment. Before leaving the rear of Johnston's army he 
 harangued a portion of the troops, and asked them to 
 follow him across the Mississippi, where he promised 
 them to again rear the standard of Rebellion ; and it is 
 said a strong mounted force accompanied him, the train 
 being over two miles long. After all that has hap- 
 pened recently we doubt his ability to reach the coun- 
 try beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 It is now evident that there is no peace for any part 
 of this country, or for any State, but in a prompt return 
 to the protection of the Union Government, and a 
 
312 THK LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ready, cheerful obedience to the laws; and if Jefferson 
 Davis, and the desperate characters who have cast their 
 lots with him should again attempt to defy the National 
 authority, here or elsewhere, we trust that short work 
 will be made of them. We had hoped that peace 
 would so soften the hearts of rulers and people that the 
 past would be a sealed book, and that punishment, 
 even of leaders, if inflicted at all, would be very mild ; 
 but Jefferson Davis, and the leaders who helped him 
 break up the Government and defy the National 
 authority, are mainly responsible before men and high 
 Heaven for the slaughter, sufferings and horrors that 
 have accompanied this war, and the patriotic, loyal 
 masses will no longer tolerate their infamous treason. 
 Davis will, no doubt, betray and deceive this small 
 band of misguided followers, as he has betrayed and 
 deceived the great body, of the people of the Southern 
 States; and when they shall have given him safe con- 
 duct across the Mississippi, he will step into Mexico 
 and desert them, as he has but so recently deserted the 
 people east of the Mississippi. He is running for his 
 life, and should he and Benjamin, the Jew, his prime 
 minister, once clear the country, we shall never see 
 them or their like again. 
 
 There are large bodies of Union troops in Georgia, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, with small forces 
 in Arkansas and Missouri ; and if the Rebel leader shall 
 dare attempt to open shop in Texas, he and all his 
 sympathizers will be swept away like broom-sedge be- 
 fore the devouring flame. 
 
 Farewell, Davis ! You played the bold and success- 
 ful tyrant over the deluded people of the South, for 
 four long years, but if you will take your leading 
 associates in infamy with you in your flight, we shall be 
 disposed to forgive much. 
 
 You and your confederates in treason against a Gov- 
 ernment you had sworn to support will wear the mark 
 of Cain wherever you may go, and it} future times, when 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 313 
 
 mothers shall recount your deeds of cruelty, oppression, 
 and wrong, their children shall shudder and shrink 
 back aghast at the horrid picture. Farewell, thou arch 
 despoiler of one of the fairest lands that ever the sun 
 shown upon! Go, and if you can make peace with 
 your own conscience, we freely forgive you all the 
 wrong you have done us. 
 
Monday, May 1, 1865. 
 
 Another fine day for marching, 
 Sherman's Troops, starting at five in the morning, 
 
 Fairport, N. C, . i , -i i • i r 
 
 May 1. 1365. t)y three o'clock in the aiternoon 
 
 the troops were in camp at Fair- 
 port, having marched twenty-two miles without experi- 
 encing more than usual fatigue, owing to the excel- 
 lence of the roads. 
 
 Perfect order reigned along the lines of the Twentieth 
 Corps. What occurred in the Fourteenth I am unable 
 to say as it is marching upon a different road. 
 
 One of the halts of General Geary's Division was at 
 the house of a quondam Rebel Quartermaster who had 
 evidently been a thorough Secessionist. His thorough- 
 bred terrier was named " Rebel," and his favorite game 
 chicken was called "Bob Lee." A little daughter of 
 this gentleman, three years old, was thoroughly imbued 
 with rebellious spirit. Coax her, as all did, she would 
 still defiantly say she "did not like Yankees." An 
 officer failing to obtain the gift of one of her curls in- 
 quired why she refused him, and he was rather aston- 
 ished when the little lips which had scarcely learned to 
 frame an answer, said plainly — "she was going to sell 
 the curl to help pay the National debt." 
 
 Richmond, Va., May 18&65. — 
 
 Artemus Ward at Richmond. The old man fiuds himSclf OUCC 
 
 more in a sunny climb. I cum 
 here a few days arter the city catterpillertulated. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 315 
 
 My naburs seemed surprised & astonislit at this 
 darin' bravery onto the part of a man at my time of 
 my life, but our family was never know'd to quale in 
 danger's stormy hour. 
 
 My father was a sutler in the Revolootion War. My 
 father once had an intervoo with Gin'ral LaFayette. 
 
 He asked LaFayette to lend him five dollars, prom- 
 isin' to pay him in the fall ; but Lafy said he couldn't 
 see it in those lamps. Lafy was French, and his 
 knowledge of our langwide was a little shaky. 
 
 Immejutly on my 'rival here I perceeded to the 
 Spotswood House, and, callin' to my assistans a young 
 man from our town who writes a good runnin' hand, I 
 put my ortograph on the register, and handin' my um- 
 brella to a bald-headed man behind the counter, who I 
 s'posed was Mr. Spotswood, I said, "Spotsy, how does 
 she run? " 
 
 He called a cullud purson, and said : 
 
 ''Show the gem'mun to the cow yard, and giv' him 
 cart number one." 
 
 "Isn't Grant here?" I said. "Perhaps Ulyssis 
 wouldn't mind my turnin' in with him." 
 
 " Do you know the Genral?" inquired Mr. Spoots- 
 wood. 
 
 "Wall, no, not 'zackly ; but he'll remember me. 
 His brother-in-law's aunt brought her rye meal of my 
 lincle Levi all one winter. My uncle Levi's rye meal 
 was — " 
 
 " Pooh! pooh ! " said Spotsy, " don't bother me," and 
 he shuv'd my umbrella onto the floor. Obsarvin' to 
 him not to be so keerless with that wepin, I accompan- 
 ied the African to my lodgins. 
 
 " My brother," I sed, "sir are you aware that you've 
 bin 'mancipated ? Do you realise how glorus it is to be 
 free ? Tell me, my dear brother, does it not seem like 
 some dreams, or do you realise the great fact in all its 
 livin' and holy magnitood?" 
 
 He sed he would take some gin. 
 
3l6 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 I was show'd to the cow yard and laid down under a 
 one mule cart. The hotel was orful crowded, and I 
 was sorry I hadn't gone to the Libby Prison. Tho' I 
 should hav' slept com't'ble enuff if the bed cloths 
 hadn't bin pulled off me durin' the night, by a scoun- 
 drul who cum and hitched a mule to the cart and druv 
 it off. I thus lost my cuverin', and my throat feels a 
 little husky this morning. 
 
 Gin'ral Halleck offers me the hospitality of the city, 
 givin' me my choice of hospitals. 
 
 He has also very kindly placed at my disposal a 
 smallpox amboolance. 
 
 There is raly a great deal of Union sentiment in this 
 city. I see it on ev'ry hand. 
 
 I met a man to-day — I am not at liberty to tell his 
 name, but he is an old and inflooentocial citizen of 
 Richmond, and sez he, "Why! we've bin fightin' agin 
 the old flag ! Lor' bless me, how sing'lar !" He then 
 borr'd five dollars of me and bust into a flood of tears. 
 
 Sed another (a man of standin' and formerly a bitter 
 rebul) "let us at once stop this effushun of Bind! The 
 Old Flag is good enuff for me. Sir," he added, "you 
 air from the North ! Have you a doughnut or a piece 
 of custard pie about you ?" 
 
 I told him no, but I knew a man from Vermont who 
 had just organized a sort of restaurant, where he could • 
 go and make a very comfortable breakfast on New 
 England rum and cheese. He borrowed fifty cents of 
 me, and askin' me to send him Wm Lloyd Garrison's 
 ambrotype as soon as I got home, he walked off. 
 
 Said another, "There's bin a tremendous Union feel- 
 in' here from the fust. But we was kept down by a 
 rain of terror. Have you a degerretype of Wendell 
 Phillips about your person ? and will you lend me four 
 dollars for a few days till we air once more a happy and 
 united people? " 
 
 Jeff Davis is not pop'lar here. She is regarded as a 
 Southern sympathizer, & yit I'm told he was kind to 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 317 
 
 his parents. She ran away from them many years ago, 
 and has never bin back. This is showing them a good 
 deal of consideration, when we refleck what his con- 
 duct has been. Her captur in female apparel confooses 
 me in regard to his sex, and you see I speak of him as 
 a her as frequent as otherwise, and I guess he feels so 
 herself. 
 
 Robert lyce is regarded as a noble feller. 
 
 He was opposed to the war at fust, and draw'd his 
 sword very reluctant. In fact, he wouldn't hav' draw'd 
 his sword at all, only he had a large stock of military 
 clothes on hand, which he did not want to waste. He 
 sez the colored man is right, and he will at once go to 
 New York and open a Sabbath school for negro min- 
 strels. 
 
 The surrender of R. Lee, J. Johnston, and others 
 leaves the Confedrit Army in a rather shattered state. 
 That army now consists of Kirby Smith, four mules, 
 and a Bass drum, and is movin' rapidly to'ds Texas. 
 
 Feelin' a little peckish, I went into a eatin' house to- 
 day, and encountered a young man with long black 
 hair and slender frame. He didn't wear much clothes, 
 and them as he did wear looked onhealthy. He frown- 
 ed on me, and sed, kinder scornful, " So, sir — you cum 
 here to taunt us in our hour of trouble, do you? " 
 
 " No," said I, '' I cum here for hash ! " 
 
 " Pish-haw!" he said sneeringly, "I mean you are in 
 the city for the purpose of gloatin' over a fallen people. 
 Others may basely succumb, but as for me, I will never 
 yield — NEVER, NEVER! " 
 
 "Hav' suthin' to eat! " I pleasantly suggested. 
 
 " Tripe and onions," he said furely ; then he added, 
 " I eat with you, but I hate you. Your a low-lived 
 Yankee ! " 
 
 To which I pleasantly replied, " How'll you have 
 your tripe?" 
 
3l8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 '' Fried, mudsill, with plenty of ham fat ! " 
 He et very ravenus. Poor feller ! He had lived on 
 odds and ends for several days, eatin' crackers that had 
 been turned over by revellers in the bread tray at the 
 bar. 
 
 He got full at last, and his hart softened a little tu- 
 'ards me. *' After all," he said, '' you hav sum people 
 at the North who air not wholly loathsum beasts ! " 
 
 "Well, yes," I sed, "we hav now and then a man 
 among us who isn't a cold bluded scoundril. Young 
 man," I mildly but gravely said, "this crooil war is 
 over, and you're likt ! Its rather necessary for some- 
 body to lick in a good square, lively fite, and in this 
 'ere case it happens to be the United States of 
 America. You fit splendid, but we was too many for you. 
 Then make the best of it, & let us all give in and put 
 the Republic on a firmer basis nor iver. 
 
 " I don't gloat over your misfortins, my young fren\ 
 Fur from it. I'm a old man now, & my hart is softer 
 nor it once was. You see my spectacles is misten'd 
 with suthin' very much like tears — I'm thinkin' of the 
 sea of good rich blood which has been spilt on both 
 sides in this dredful war. I'm thinkin' of our widders 
 and orfuns North, and of your'n in the South. I kin 
 place my old hands tenderly on the fair yung hed of 
 the Virginny maid whose lover was laid low in the bat- 
 tle dust by a fed'ral bullet, and say as fervently and 
 piously as a vener'ble sinner like me kin say anything, 
 God be good to you, my poor dear, my poor dear." 
 
 I riz up to go, & takin' my young Southern fren' 
 kindly by the hand, I sed, " Yung man, adoo ! You 
 Southern fellers is probly my brothers, tho' you've oc- 
 casionally had a cussed queer way of showin' it! It's 
 over now. Let us all jine in and make a country on 
 this continent that shall giv' all Europe the cramp in 
 the stummuck ev'ry time they look at us ! Adoo ! 
 adoo ! " 
 
THE IvASir FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 319 
 
 And as I am through, I'll likewise say adoo to you, 
 jentle reader, merely remarkin' that the Star Spangled 
 Banner is waving round loose again, and that there 
 don't seem to be anything the matter with the Goddess 
 of Liberty beyond a slite cold. 
 
 Artemus Ward. 
 
Tuesday, May 2, 1865, 
 
 It is painful to be obliged to re- 
 Twentieth Army Corps, ^ord the lawless conduct of our 
 
 Near Wiiliamston, - ,. , . ^' i i 
 
 May 2, 1865. soldiers at any time, particularly 
 
 is it so when that conduct is ut- 
 terly without extenuation. Despite the stringent 
 orders issued in regard to the peaceable behavior of our 
 troops upon their inarch to Richmond, some of the sol- 
 diers both of the Army of Georgia and the Army of 
 Tennessee have been permitted to straggle from their 
 commands, and have committed depredations upon the 
 inhabitants much to be deplored. It would seem that 
 the roving spirits fostered by army life cannot at once 
 be chastened into a domestic one by the white-winged 
 angel of peace. 
 
 Most of the depredations which have come under my 
 notice, and I am cognizant of many, have been com- 
 mitted by men of the Fourteenth Corps, which seems 
 to conduct itself as it used to when living upon the 
 enemy's country. Houses have been entered and 
 robbed of eatables, stables have been opened and plun- 
 dered of horses and cattle, and numerous smaller ofifen- 
 ses have been committed. It is of no use for corps 
 commanders to make rules if they do not take the 
 trouble to enforce them. 
 
 The Twentieth Corps has not been entirely guiltless 
 of such conduct; but in every instance where the per- 
 petrators of an offense could be discovered they have 
 been severely punished. 
 
^HE LAS'T I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 32 1 
 
 Brigadier General William P. 
 Robertson County, Texas, Hardemaii's Brio^ade assembled 
 
 May 2, 1865. . ^1 • • j vi 
 
 Confederate Account. ^ maSS tlllS evening, and, With 
 
 General Hardeman in the chair, 
 resolved, among other things, that in spite of the re- 
 verses to the cis-Mississippi armies, they would not 
 abandon the struggle until thejight of self-government 
 is fully established. It was also 
 
 Resolved^ That we denounce as cravens those men 
 who, having evaded service in the army, use unceasing 
 endeavors to instil a want of confidence in the public 
 mind as regards the final issue, and hold them as more 
 dangerous (being more insidious) than our Yankee foe, 
 who avows his object to be our subjugation. 
 
 Resolved^ That we will prosecute this war until our 
 independence is achieved, holding in equal esteem the 
 vandal foe who seeks to enslave us and the scarcely 
 concealed traitor at home, who, by actor word, attempts 
 to paralyze our efforts to obtain our just rights- — self- 
 government. 
 
 Resolved^ That to our brethren in arms in the cis- 
 Mississippi Department we say, "Be of good cheer;" 
 anxiously awaiting for orders, we are ready to march to 
 your immediate aid ; but if driven from your homes 
 and firesides, with high resolves and actuated by stern 
 ambition, tread your way to the soil of Texas, where 
 our army, determined to be free, awaits your coming ; 
 together here, we can yet toil, and struggle, and 
 conquer. 
 
 Resolved^ That we will never forget the true patriots 
 of our land, the fair women of the South ; they have 
 always been found ministering angels around the couch 
 of the sick and dying soldier ; with their own hands 
 they wrought the comfortable fabrics that have clothed 
 and warmed us amid the frozen blasts of winter. 
 Others may have despaired; women never; and in the 
 future as in the past, we confidently hope to receive 
 from her the same bright smile of approval and gentle 
 words of encouragement. 
 
322 the ivast four weeks of the war. 
 
 Generai. Orders, No. 22. — 
 Greensborough, N. c, COMRADES : 111 terminating our 
 
 May 2, 1865. re • i i ^- r ^1 
 
 Confederate Account. otticial relations, I earnestly ex- 
 hort you to observe faithfully the 
 terms of pacification agreed upon, and to discharge the 
 obligations of good and peaceful citizens at your homes, 
 as well as you have performed the duties of thorough sol- 
 diers in the field. By such a course you will best se- 
 cure the comfort of your families and kindred, and re- 
 store tranquility to the country. 
 
 You will return to your homes with the admiration 
 of our people, won by the courage and noble devotion 
 you have displayed in this long war. I shall always 
 remember with pride the loyal support and generous 
 confidence you have given me. 
 
 I now part with you with deep regret, and bid you 
 farewell with feelings of cordial friendship, and with 
 earnest wishes that you may have hereafter all the 
 prosperity and happiness to be found in the world. 
 [Official.] J. E. Johnston, 
 
 General, 
 Archer Anderson, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant General, 
 lyiEUTENANT Colonel Kennard, 
 
 Chief of Ordnance. 
 
Wednesday, May 3, 1865. 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1863, the 
 
 Twentieth Army Corps, trOOpS HOW COmpOsillg the Tweil- 
 
 "'''MayTises''''" ^ieth Corps (then the Eleventh 
 and Twelfth Corps), fonght the 
 last day's fight at Chancellorsville. 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1864, the same troops crossed a 
 State line passing from Bridgeport, Alabama, to Shell 
 Mound, Tennessee. This was the opening of the At- 
 lanta campaign. 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1865, the same troops cross an- 
 other State line, passing from North Carolina into Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that this day has been an event- 
 ful one with the Twentieth Corps. 
 
 All along the road on which the army marches, little 
 knots of negroes congregate, many of them from mere 
 idle curiosity, others from higher motives touch- 
 ing upon their ideas of freedom. These persons are a 
 source of unfailing merriment to the soldiers who treat 
 them very kindly. They will cheer for whatever they 
 are told, and in order to be sure of being on the right 
 side, they will hurrah for the Nmiion, as they call the 
 Union, and Jeff. Davis in one and the same breath. 
 Some of them, through neglect of their masters, are 
 more ignorant than I had imagined it was possible for 
 a human creature to be. Some of the bands amuse 
 themselves by discoursing music to these colored audi- 
 
324 'I'HE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 tors, and to-day a very funny incident happened upon 
 one of these outbursts of music. 
 
 A brigade band, seeing a large gathering of Africans 
 by the side of the road in advance, reserved its music 
 until exactly opposite them and then commenced a 
 tune with a tremendous blast of its trumpets and a 
 thundering thump of its bass drum. The effect was 
 amazing. lyike the dried leaves of autumn before a 
 hurricane, they fled as from a hideous and many 
 tongued monster. Once arrived at a safe distance from 
 the beast they hid behind trees and viewed, with cau- 
 tious eyes, the cause of their dismay. 
 
 The Fourteenth Corps encamped for the night near 
 Oxford, and the Twentieth around Williamsborough. 
 
 The old pine woods south of 
 Fifth Army Corps, Manchester are luminous to- 
 
 Richmond. Va., -11 r r 1 
 
 May 3, 1865. night With the cauip nres of the 
 
 returning veterans of the Fifth 
 Army Corps. To-morrow they will be gratified with 
 their first view of the city for which they so long and 
 so nobly battled. Their first view, did I say? No, for 
 in the long column are scores to whom the town will 
 only serve to bring back to memory the long days and 
 longer nights of privation and suffering endured in the 
 former prison dens of the enemy. Following the Fifth 
 will march the Second Corps, both on their way to 
 Alexandria, where they will enjoy for a season the rest 
 and relaxation to which they are so eminently entitled 
 by their arduous service in the field. The battle fields 
 of Cold Harbor, North Anna, Spottsylvania and Fred- 
 ericksburg will probably be passed on their way to 
 their point of destination. 
 
Thursday, May 4, 1865, 
 
 "Ivieutenant General Taylor has 
 MayT^iaek. t^^^ ^^y surrendered to me with 
 
 the forces under his command, 
 on substantially the same terms as those accepted by 
 General Lee. E. R. S. Canby." ' 
 
 This morning both corps reached 
 Twentieth Corps. ^^^^ Roauoke rivcr, at Taylor's 
 
 Near the iVIeherrin River, Va., ^-^ i-- j,i- . / • 
 
 May 4, 1865. Ford, joiucd their poutoou trams, 
 
 forming a bridge three hundred 
 and eighty-five yards long, and crossed, the Fourteenth 
 Corps thence taking the road to Nottoway Cross Roads 
 via Boydtown and Lewistown, and the Twentieth 
 making for Black's and White's. 
 
 The day passed without much incident, both com- 
 mands making good marches. 
 
 Lieutenant General Taylor has 
 Mobile, Alabama, ^\^{^ ^^iw Surrendered the forces 
 
 May 4, 1865. j -u • j t. i. 
 
 Union Account. uudcr his commaud on substan- 
 
 tially the same terms as those 
 accepted by General Lee. 
 
 The interview took place at Magee's plantation, 
 fourteen miles from Mobile, on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad. General Canby was accompanied by his 
 
326 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS C5F THE WAR. 
 
 Chief of Staff, General Osterhaus, and Captain C. T. 
 Barrett, Aid-de-Camp, Generals Granger and West, 
 and Commodore Palmer, with members of their staffs, 
 also went out with the party. General Taylor was ac- 
 companied by Colonel Levi, Major Cornell and Captain 
 Bullard. 
 
 The interview lasted five hours, three of which were 
 private between Canby and Taylor, and what trans- 
 pired during that time is not yet made public; but there 
 is little doubt, from Canby's well-known sentiments, that 
 the terms he offered to the Rebel commander were the 
 same as granted by Grant to Lee. General Taylor was 
 desirous to obtain similar terms as those at first granted 
 by Sherman, but failed. What the exact understand- 
 ing arrived at was, we cannot say; but at the termina- 
 tion of the interview, which was very pleasant through- 
 out, General Taylor started for Meridian, Mississippi, 
 and General Canby returned to Mobile. 
 
Friday, May S, 1865 
 
 As the army nears Richmond 
 
 Twentieth Army Corps, [^ bemns tO grOW impatient. 
 
 Near the Big Nottoway River, Va., ^_. ^- *^ \ 
 
 Mays, 1865. Home becomes near and more 
 
 vivid in the mind's eye, and 
 hearts beat more longingly for the loved ones at home. 
 The soldiers eagerly discuss the prospects of their 
 early muster out of the service, and universally hope 
 that they will not be detained any longer than is 
 absolutely necessary. 
 
 Since leaving Raleigh the Twentieth Corps has 
 marched one hundred and eleven miles in six days, 
 going into camp nearly always at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and the Fourteenth Corps has done equally 
 well. There is no trouble in marching troops toward 
 home. By Tuesday noon the Army of Georgia will be 
 encamped around Richmond. 
 
 We arrived here from Blakely, 
 
 Sixteenth Army Corps, opposite Mobile, OU the 25th of 
 
 ""MlyTVseB.'^" April, marching by way of 
 
 Greenville. The distance is 
 one hundred and eighty miles ; time of marching, thir- 
 teen days, including one day of rest at Greenville. 
 Major General Grierson, with a cavalry command, 
 passed us at Greenville, striking out to Americus, 
 Georgia. He has been heard from at Eufaula, Ala- 
 
328 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 bama, where Governor Watts had taken up his abode 
 and located the fugitive seat of Government of 
 Alabama. 
 
 The first half of the march from Blakely was through 
 pine woods — barrens the country is called, the soil 
 being light, but by no means barren — with very few 
 clearings or settlers. A few families of Creek half- 
 breeds, and of the " poor white trash," were the only 
 inhabitants of the country. 
 
 For two days before we reached Greenville, and 
 from Greenville to Montgomery, the country is well 
 settled and cultivated. 
 
 No Union army had passed through the country be- 
 fore us, and the people were greatly excited and terri- 
 fied. The wealthy planters tried to hide their stock 
 and supplies, but in vain. The mules and loads of 
 bacon were dragged out of the swamps and hiding 
 places, to replenish our scant commissary supplies, 
 and to replace worn-out animals in the train. 
 
 The negroes hailed us as deliverers. They thronged 
 the highways, almost impeding our march. I have 
 heard the number that came into Montgomery with 
 the corps estimated as high as five thousand. In 
 many cases we advised them to stay with their old 
 masters, but they said " No da was going to be free," 
 and that their old masters had treated them too cruelly. 
 
 One old man seventy-eight years old, born in the 
 North and a free man, had been kidnapped at the age 
 of fifteen and had been held in slavery sixty-three 
 years. He said this was the first chance he had had in 
 all these long years of slavery to regain his liberty, 
 and he was bound to avail himself of it ; he wouldn't 
 risk staying with his old master and take the chance of 
 being made free by the laws. 
 
 It was truly surprising to see the correct knowledge 
 these negroes had of the war. They knew the "Yanks" 
 were their friends ; they knew that the approach of the 
 Federal armv meant deliverance. 
 
Saturday, May 6, 1865, 
 
 "The author of the Southern 
 Richmond, va., History of. the War, E. A. Pol- 
 
 May 6, 1865. ^^^^^ ^^^ ^.^ brother, H. E. Pol- 
 
 lard, were arrested last night and committed to Castle 
 Thunder. They were connected with The Examiner, 
 and have been and are now exceedingly bitter against 
 the United States Government. Mr. E. A. Pollard, as 
 will be remembered, was for a while prisoner in Fort 
 Warren, was paroled and allowed to come to Richmond 
 to be exchanged for Mr. A. D. Richardson, but before 
 his arrival here Mr. Richardson made his escape from 
 Salisbury. General Butler says that he was to be ex- 
 changed for Mr. Richardson and no one else. He has 
 been at large through the week and has not bridled his 
 tongue. 
 
 He was arrested by Colonel Coughlin, of the Tenth 
 New Hampshire, who is Provost Marshal of the Dis- 
 trict of Virginia, an able and efficient officer. When 
 brought before Colonel Coughlin, he said: 'Do you 
 take away my parole?' 'O no, you may keep your 
 parole, I do not arrest you because you have been con- 
 nected with The Examiner, or for what you have pub- 
 lished, but for what you have said since the occupation 
 of the city.' 
 
 When informed that he was to be sent to Castle 
 Thunder, his countenance fell. He asked permission 
 to take his clothes, which was granted, and at sunset 
 Saturday night he and his brother entered the door 
 
330 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 where many better men than they have suffered long 
 imprisonment — eaten by vermin, suffocated by intoler- 
 able stench, and starved till they were walking skele- 
 tons. So the wheel turns, grinding the grinders." 
 
 The Vicksburg Herald extra of 
 Ma^y e'^^'isss.^' ^^^^^ ^^^c givcs additional ofhcial 
 
 information confirmatory of the 
 surrender of General Dick Taylor and command to 
 General Canby on the 4th. This makes almost a clean 
 sweep of the R.ebel troops in arms east of the Missis- 
 sippi river, there being no other important commands in 
 that section to oppose the progress of Union troops. It 
 is also stated in the dispatch which was received 
 through the Rebel lines, that points in the interior will 
 be immediately occupied as garrisons by our troops, in 
 order to suppress jayhawkers and guerrillas, preserve 
 order and protect the people. The extra says that 
 General Dana will probably make his headquarters at 
 Jackson, Mississippi, at a very early period. Up to to- 
 day about four thousand Rebel prisoners of war have 
 been received at this city (Vicksburg) for delivery to 
 the Rebel Bureau of Exchange. Colonel N. G. Watts, 
 of the Confederate Exchange Bureau, made the follow- 
 ing speech to the Confederate prisoners on board: 
 
 Fellow Soldiers: I have received this morning 
 official information of the surrender of Lieutenant Gen- 
 eral Dick Taylor. / a7n afraid the Confederacy is no 
 more. Jackson is no longer ours. I am now the only 
 man that has authority to parole you. Those belong- 
 ing to the Trans-Mississippi Department wishing to go 
 there will be sent. Those of this Department can go 
 to their homes, there to remain law-abiding citizens to 
 those laws under which you have fallen. You will re- 
 main at your homes until further orders. 
 
Monday, May 8, 1865 
 
 At eight o'clock this morning, 
 Army of the Tennesse, Major General Howard and staff, 
 
 Petersburg, Va., '' ^ ^^ . r i_i 
 
 May 8, 18S5. Commanding the Army oi the 
 
 Tennessee, took position in front 
 of Jarrett's Hotel for the purpose of reviewing the 
 Seventeenth Corps, Major General Frank Blair com- 
 manding, as they marched through Petersburg ou their 
 way to Richmond and Alexandria. 
 
 According to orders previously received from Head- 
 quarters Department of the Tennessee, the Corps 
 marched in " column of fours by the flank," which, 
 strictly speaking, was not in " order of review." 
 
 As the different Brigades and Divisions of the Corps 
 passed through the city, their excellent marching, elas- 
 ticity of step and fine soldierly appearance was the sub- 
 ject of remark of every one who witnessed them , every 
 man was in his proper place, and the different regiments 
 were well closed up ; the men looked just as fresh as 
 when they started from Raleigh, and were in excellent 
 spirits at the prospects of an early return to their 
 homes. 
 
 More than two-thirds of the men comprising the 
 Army of the Tennessee are veteran troops, who have 
 marched through the greater portion of the so-called 
 Southern Confederacy, and there are but few regiments 
 in the command who have not marched upward of six 
 thousand miles, incredible as it may appear, since their 
 first enlistment and muster into service. They are 
 
332 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 consequently trained to marching, and it is doubtful if 
 there is any other army in the world capable of making 
 the extraordinary marches which Sherman's Army can 
 now make with comparative ease. 
 
 The flags which the difl'erent regiments and brigades 
 carried, by their tattered and ragged appearance, told 
 unmistakably of the many hard-fought battles which 
 now form a portion of the history of the country, and 
 were frequently applauded and saluted as they passed 
 through, by the crowds of soldiers from the garrison of 
 this city, who lined the streets and sidewalks along the 
 line of march. 
 
 The transportation was in excellent condition, and 
 reflected the greatest credit of the General commanding 
 and his subordinate officers. They followed in rear of 
 the infantry column, and were the subject of remark by 
 the officers of the Potomac Army present. 
 
 The Seventeenth Corps will march to Swift Creek, a 
 point about six miles distant from Petersburg, and there 
 go into camp for night. To-morrow morning they will 
 resume their march and proceed as far as Manchester, 
 halting on this side of the river, where preparation has 
 been made to provide the army with full rations for 
 the remainder of the march to Alexandria. 
 
 The Fifteenth Army Corps, Major General John A. 
 Logan, will be reviewed to-morrow at about eight 
 o'clock in the morning, as they pass through this city 
 to Alexandria, via Richmond. 
 
 Dick Turner, the noted turnkey 
 Richmond, Va., ^^ Libby Prisou, is securely 
 
 Mays, 1865.' lockcd up iu the most dismal, 
 
 subterranean dungeon of that 
 place of torture. There is no pity felt for him in 
 Richmond. He is as pale as leprosy, his beard whiten- 
 ing, his deficient teeth ajar and his eyes full of terror. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 333 
 
 He is now as mean and cringing in his behavior as, in 
 power, he was insolent and cruel. When turnkey, he 
 shot men dead with a revolver, who came to the win- 
 dows for air and light, kicked and knocked down others, 
 and took delight in augmenting the untold miseries of 
 the poor prisoners under his charge. He has heard, in 
 his loathsome cell, that the soldiers have decreed his 
 death so soon as they are fully assured of his identity, 
 and his pleadings for mercy are presented to all who 
 come near him ; but he pleads to hearts of stone. 
 
Tuesday, May 9, 1865, 
 
 The Seventeenth and Fifteenth 
 ^fnl^T^iet Corps of Sherman's Army- 
 
 dusty and tired infantry columns, 
 mounted officers, cavalry battalions, martial bands in 
 full blast, fluttering banners, rattling artillery trains, 
 and rumbling army wagons — have been passing through 
 Petersburg all day, bound for Manchester, opposite 
 Richmond, and thence for Alexandria, by way of the 
 battle-fields of last spring. 
 
 The entire army (that is, all that is coming north, 
 at present), struck the Southside Railroad at White's 
 and Black's Station, the Twentieth and Fourteenth 
 Corps marching direct for Manchester by way of Bever- 
 ly's bridge across the Appomattox, and the other two 
 corps coming this way, for the sake of more marching 
 room. 
 
 The dusty veterans of the South were received by 
 our troops here, and the loyal citizens, with every de- 
 monstration of respect and admiration. Many were 
 the huzzas that greeted them from our own strong- 
 lunged boys, and many a waving banner and white 
 handkerchief welcomed them, from the windows and 
 balconies of Union appreciating citizens. 
 
 I was proud to recognize the native western element 
 so strongly marked in this distinguished army. 
 
 Sheridan's Cavalry start from here, overland for 
 Alexandria, to-morrow morning. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 335 
 
 The Second Brigade of the Second Division, under 
 Colonel Young, have gone in the direction of Lynch- 
 burg, for the present, to attend to any police duty that 
 may be required of them. 
 
 A considerable amount of travel is now beginning to 
 take place on the railroads in this vicinity, and on the 
 James river, in the way of Northern people coming 
 South, and Southern people going North. They mingle 
 as harmoniously together, or more so, than the people 
 of the two sections did before the war. 
 
 In the unfinished condition of 
 
 Paroling Johnston's Army, ^]^g j-q^s ^t the close of my pre- 
 Ralsigh, N. C, • 1 ^^ ^1 1 \ 11 
 
 May 9, 1865. vious letter, the numbers actually 
 
 paroled of J. B. Johnston's army 
 could only be approximated. General Hartsufif has 
 since completed the entire lists, from which I have 
 been permitted to make up a resume, and I send it 
 herewith. 
 
 The whole number of officers and men paroled proves 
 to have been twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and 
 twenty-four. The officers mentioned personally signed 
 their own parole, and also the muster-rolls of their re- 
 spective commands. Before doing this, however, they 
 were careful to have an inspection of the men actually 
 present, refusing to be held for a large number who 
 were borne on the rolls, but who had absented them- 
 selves. The number of Johnston's army at the time 
 hostilities were terminated, on the 17th and i8th of 
 April, is estimated by General Hartsuff at fifty thou- 
 sand men of all arms. The delay in concluding ne- 
 gotiations produced the belief that the war would be 
 renewed, and a large number availed themselves of the 
 peaceful interlude to make good their escape. It will 
 be seen that this makes a clean sweep of the Rebel 
 army east of the Mississippi, officers and men, with the 
 exception of Hampton, Wheeler, Vaughn, Basil Duke, 
 
336 THE LAST EOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 and one or two others, who have followed the fortunes 
 of Davis toward the Trans-Mississippi. 
 
 A dispatch from General Wilson, commanding the 
 cavalry in Georgia, brings the cheering intelligence 
 that he had headed off Davis and his party, and had 
 pressed them so hard that all his escort except a small 
 number had deserted him (report says about forty), and 
 these he was pursuing hard after. The news comes 
 from Macon, Georgia. 
 
 Upon opening the paroling office at Greensborough, 
 General HartsufF observed a Confederate officer who 
 had been standing near the door from a very early hour. 
 He pressed in eagerly and first signed the following to 
 a parole already written out in his own hand: "Rear 
 Admiral and Brigadier General, C. S. N. and C. S. A., 
 R. Semmes." 
 
 The following is a complete list of Johnston's army : 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding Army 
 of the Tennessee, personal and general staff 
 and executive bureaus, total - - - - 333 
 
 General G. T. Beauregard, "second in com- 
 mand," and staff ----- 24 
 
 Provost Marshal General, Army of Tennessee, 
 
 and absentees reporting to him - - - 241 
 Unassigned officers and men - - - 106 
 
 Unattached officers and men, Army of Northern 
 
 Virginia - - - - - -- 15 
 
 Major General L. Iv. Lomax and staff - - 12 
 
 Lieutenant General Stewart, staff and head- 
 quarters attaches - - - - - -108 
 
 Major General E. C. Walthal - - - 74 
 
 Major General Loring ----- 15 
 
 Major General P. Anderson - _ - 41 
 
 Officers and men of the corps - - - - 8,586 
 
 Total 9,555 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. , 337 
 
 Beauregard evidently had regard to his family con- 
 nections. There are two " Beauregards " and two 
 "Toutants" on his personal staff. He had nine aids-de- 
 camp. His signature is one of the boldest and clear- 
 est of the whole list. 
 
 Lieutenant General S. D. Lee, staff and head- 
 quarters' attaches ri6 
 
 Major General Hill, staff and headquarters' at- 
 taches _._---- 22 
 
 Major General Stevenson, staff and headquarters' 
 
 attaches ------- 53 
 
 Officers and men of the corps _ - - 4^765 
 
 Total 4,956 
 
 Lieutenant General W. J. Hardee, staff 
 
 and headquarters, &c - - - 201 
 
 Major General Brown _ - - 82 
 
 Major General R. F. Hoke - - - 62 
 
 Major General Cheatham - - - 153 
 
 Officers and men ----- 9,060 9,558 
 
 Major General Butler (cavalry), staff, &c. 150 
 
 Cavalry Division . _ . - 2,346 2,496 
 
 NAVAL BRIGADE. 
 
 Rear Admiral R. Semmes - - . 203 
 
 Other naval officers and men, under flag 
 
 of Forrest 103 306 
 
 Medical officers, stewards and attendants, 
 and officers and men, patients in hos- 
 pital ------- 1,002 
 
 Unattached, reserve artillery - - i)252 
 
 Detachments reporting to the Command- 
 ant Post at Greensborough - - 717 
 
 Grand total, present and paroled, 
 
 officers and men - - - 29,924 
 
338 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 The wasting effects of war were never more appar- 
 ent than in this Southern army, as may be seen by an 
 inspection of these muster-rolls. The following are a 
 few sample cases : 
 
 The Forty-sixth North Carolina Volunteers had three 
 officers, three non-commissioned officers and eight men 
 — total, fourteen. 
 
 The Forty-seventh North Carolina Volunteers had 
 two officers, two non-commissioned officers and three 
 men — total, seven. 
 
 The Forty-eighth North Carolina Volunteers had 
 three officers, three non-commissioned officers and four- 
 teen men — total, twenty. 
 
 It required nine regiments of North Carolina troops 
 to make a battalion of sixty-one officers and men. 
 
 The original number of these regiments was, maxi- 
 mum, one thousand men each. 
 
 The muster-roll of the Second North Carolina Re- 
 serves had indorsed upon it "18 men." This was 
 scratched out, and the word "boys" substituted for men. 
 They were all squirrel-hunting boys. 
 
 Five regiments of North Carolina troops had only, 
 footed up, one hundred and fifty-seven men, including 
 Brigade Headquarters. 
 
 The First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth South Carolina 
 Cavalry mustered, all told, two hundred and sixty men. 
 
Wednesday, May 10, 1865 
 
 Colonel Pricliard learned yester- 
 
 Capture of Jefferson Davis. ^^y wlieie Jeflf's party waS en- 
 Irwinsvilie, Georgia. -^ ^ *:. ^^p-'...^ 
 
 May 10,1365. cauiped, and just beiore daylight 
 
 this morning we surrounded the 
 camp. It was supposed that Davis had a considerable 
 force as guard and a severe fight was expected. By an 
 unfortunate and so far unaccountable accident one part 
 of the force fired upon another, and before the mistake 
 was discovered two men were killed and six others 
 slightly wounded. Captain Hudson had placed a 
 strong guard around the tent where Davis was sup- 
 posed to be, and when the firing commenced, thinking 
 his duty called him to the fight, he left the tent in 
 charge of a Corporal with orders to let no one pass out. 
 The Corporal went to the door where he was met by a 
 lady, who proved to be Mrs. Davis, and who said that 
 tent was occupied by ladies and she hoped they would 
 be permitted to dress before being disturbed. Very 
 soon, she again and voluntarily appeared at the door, 
 with another person in petticoats, morning dress and 
 woolen cloak, with a hood closely drawn over the head 
 and a pail on her arm. Corporal ordered halt! which 
 was of course obeyed, but Mrs. Davis feelingly appeal- 
 ed to the Corporal to allow her inother to go to the 
 spring for a pail of water — It was hard, even if they 
 were prisoners, not to be allowed to get a little water 
 
340 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 for their morning ablutions. Mr. Corporal just then 
 observed that the morning dress was not quite long 
 enough to conceal a pair of boots looking rather too 
 heavy for ^^niother^^ to wear, and, with his Spencer car- 
 bine presented to the aged lady's head, ordered her to 
 remove that cloak. The argument was persuasive, 
 even to the chivalry. The disguise was removed and 
 Jeff. Davis appeared in full view. Davis said he should 
 have defended himself if he had been armed — even if 
 he had had a revolver he would have fought with it as 
 long as he could. The Corporal replied to him, that he 
 didn't appear to be in a very good fighting condition 
 just at that time. 
 
 After a hurried breakfast the party was put in march- 
 ing order. The prisoners, in ambulances, preceded by 
 the band of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, playing first 
 "Yankee Doodle," which had evidently a depressing 
 influence on the feelings of Mr. Davis; but when in a 
 few minutes, the band struck into the somewhat 
 familiar air of "John Brown's Body's Marching On," it 
 was too much for endurance, and he actually fell pros- 
 trate in the ambulance, and was kept from view by his 
 friends for a considerable time. 
 
 It was noticed in all his conversations, that his eyes 
 were constantly toward the floor, as though the eye of 
 a Yankee was not pleasant and agreeable to meet. He 
 is dressed in a fine grey suit, and wears a drab soft hat. 
 The last four years have added apparently more than 
 ten to his age. With Mr. Stephens it is diff'erent. He 
 is, for him, in tolerable health, and his eyes are keen 
 and pleasant to look upon. He is very agreeable in 
 conversation, and earnestly desires a permanent restor- 
 ation of the Union. He says the advice and warning 
 which he gave to the people of Georgia before she 
 seceded were such as a wise man ought to give, but the 
 majority overruled him. He concedes that slavery is 
 at an end in this country. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 341 
 
 '' The Rebel troops in Florida, 
 
 'ZTTo.'Bst with all the public property, 
 
 surrendered to McCook to-day. 
 
 The number of troops paroled and already reported is 
 
 7,200, and will, doubtless, reach 8,000 when the returns 
 
 are complete. 
 
 The amount of property received from the Rebel 
 authorities was: Ordnance stores — 40 pieces artillery, 
 25,000 small arms, 450 sabers, 1,618 bayonets, 1,200 
 cartridge boxes, 710 waist belts, 63,000 pounds lead, 
 2,000 pounds niter, 200 sets accoutrements, 10,000 
 rounds artillery ammunition, fixed, 121,900 rounds 
 small ammunition, 700 pounds musket balls, 325 pikes 
 and lances, beside large amounts of various other ord- 
 nance stores. Quartermaster's stores — 70 horses, 80 
 mules, 40 wagons, 4 ambulances, also tools of various 
 kinds, with much stationery, clothing, and camp and 
 garrison equipage. Commissary stores — 170,000 
 pounds bacon, 300 barrels salt, 150 barrels sugar, 100 
 barrels syrup, 7,000 bushels corn, 1,200 head of cattle, 
 also quantities of flour, ground peas, &c. A large 
 amount of hospital stores were also turned in to the 
 medical officer, Dr. Chapman. 
 
 Totally unserviceable horses and mules were either 
 exchanged for corn or forage, or loaned to the citizens, 
 subject to the order of the Federal authorities." 
 
Thursday, May 11, 1865 
 
 The great event of to-day was 
 
 Fourteenth Army Corps, ^-^^ passage throUgll the citv of a 
 
 Richmond. Va., f ^ r^^ ^ , , , 
 
 May 11, 1865. portioii ot Sherman's noble vet- 
 
 erans, now homeward bound. 
 The Fourteenth Corps, Brevet Major General Jefferson 
 C. Davis commanding, and the Twentieth Corps, Major 
 General John A. Logan, took up the line of march from 
 Manchester about seven o'clock this morning, crossing 
 the pontoon bridge at Seventeenth street, and marched 
 through the town to Brook avenue, the pike leading to 
 Hanner Court House — the same route as that taken by 
 the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 The appearance of the troops excited the admiration 
 of all who had the pleasure of witnessing them on the 
 march. The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps will 
 pass through the city to-morrow. 
 
 The Rebel Ram Stonewall, Page 
 
 Havana, t . i ,i • 
 
 May 11, 1865. commandmg, arrived this morn- 
 
 ing reporting from Teneriffe. 
 She left that port April ist, but it seems hardly proba- 
 ble that she has been forty-one days making the pass- 
 age, and the report is that she has come from Nassau. 
 
Monday, May 15, 1865. 
 
 Joe Brown, late Rebel Governor 
 Nashville, Tenn., ^f Qeorgia, was brought to this 
 
 May 15, 1865. -^ i ^ • i,^ ^ 1 
 
 Union Account. City last night as a prisoner, and 
 
 left for Louisville this evening. 
 He has been a violent Rebel, but, on account of his op- 
 position to Jeff. Davis, he has found some favor with 
 the Union people of his State. 
 
 Jeff. Davis is under a strong guard, and will arrive 
 in this city on Thursday evening. 
 
 Every Rebel body of regular soldiers, and every 
 guerrilla organization in this State, and in northern 
 Alabama, has given up to come under General 
 Thomas's late order. 
 
 Thousands of Rebel soldiers have arrived here and 
 taken oath, and are conducting themselves honorably. 
 
Tuesday, May 16, 1865. 
 
 General Sheridan has made 
 
 General Sheridan's Account of ^^g j-^port of the Operations 
 
 tn6 D3tli6 3t rlV6 rOrkS* /* j 1 t i 11 
 
 May 16, 1865. 01 the cavalry and such other 
 
 forces as were under his com- 
 mand in the closing campaign in Virginia. It bears 
 date May 16, would make about three and a half 
 columns of this paper, and is written in his usual clear 
 pointed and spirited style. He says the effective cav- 
 alry force was nine thousand men. 
 
 He says his first orders were to make a raid on the 
 Southside railroad, and thence to join General Sher- 
 
 might dictate. But after he had started, and during 
 the night of March 29, General Grant sent him in- 
 structions to abandon the contemplated raid and act 
 with the infantry under his immediate command, and 
 if possible turn the right flank of Lee's Army. Gen- 
 eral Sheridan then details the operations of March 30, 
 which resulted in the forcing back and partial discom- 
 fiture of our forces. He then continues : 
 
 "During the night of the 31st of March my head- 
 quarters were at Dinwiddie Court House, and the Lieu- 
 tenant General notified me that the Fifth Corps would 
 report to me and should reach me by midnight. This 
 corps had been offered to me on the 30th, but very 
 much desiring the Sixth Corps, which had been with 
 me in the Shenandoah Valley, I asked for it ; but on 
 account of the delay which would occur in moving that 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 345 
 
 corps from its position in the line in the front of Peters- 
 burg, it could not be sent to me." 
 
 At three o'clock on the morning of April ist, General 
 Sheridan issued his orders to General Warren. They 
 were to attack vigorously at daylight, and he adds that 
 had General Warren moved according to the expecta- 
 tions of the Ivieutenant General, there would appear to 
 have been but little chance for the escape of the 
 enemy's infantry in front of Dinwiddie Court House. 
 General Sheridan's report of this day's operations, 
 known as the battle of Five Forks, is written in his 
 best style and is a most graphic picture. His plan is 
 best told in his own words, viz. : 
 
 "I determined that I would drive the enemy with 
 the cavalry to the Five Forks, press them inside of 
 their works, and make a feint to turn their right flank, 
 and, meanwhile, quietly move up the Fifth Corps with 
 a view to attacking their left flank, crush the w^hole 
 force if possible, and drive westward those who might 
 escape, thus isolating them from their army at Peters- 
 burg." 
 
 Happily this conception was successfully executed. 
 
 x\fter speaking of the operations of the cavalry, he 
 continues : 
 
 "I then rode over to where the Fifth Corps was going 
 into position, and found them coming up very slowly. 
 I was exceedingly anxious to attack at once, for the sun 
 was getting low, and we had to fight or go back. It 
 was no place to entrench, and it would have been 
 shameful to have gone back with no results to compen- 
 sate for the loss of the brave men who had fallen 
 during the day. In this connection I will say that 
 General Warren did not exert himself to get up his 
 corps as rapidily as he might have done, and his man- 
 ner gave me the impression that he wished the sun to 
 go down before dispositions for the attack could be 
 completed. As soon as the corps were in position I 
 ordered an advance. The Fifth Corps, on reaching 
 
346 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 the White Oak road, made a left wheel and burst on 
 the enemy's left flank and rear like a tornado and push- 
 ed rapidly on, orders having been given that if the ene- 
 my was routed there should be no halt to re-form the 
 broken lines. As stated before, the firing of the Fifth 
 Corps was the signal to General Merritt to assault, 
 which was promptly responded to, and the works of the 
 enemy were soon carried at several points by our brave 
 cavalrymen. The enemy were driven from their strong 
 line of works and completely routed. The Fifth Corps 
 doubling up their left flank in confusion, and the cav- 
 alry of General Merritt dashing on the White Oak 
 road, capturing their artillery and turning it upon 
 them and riding into their broken ranks, so demoraliz- 
 ed them that they made no serious stand after their 
 line was carried, but took to flight in disorder. Between 
 five thousand and six thousand prisoners fell into our 
 hands, and the fugitives were driven westward, and 
 were pursued until long after dark by Merritt's and 
 McKenzie's cavalry for a distance of six miles. During 
 this attack I again became dissatisfied with General 
 Warren during the engagement. Portions of his line 
 gave way when not exposed to a heavy fire, and simply 
 from want of confidence on the part of the troops, which 
 General Warren did not exert himself to inspire. I 
 therefore relieved him from the command of the Fifth 
 Corps, authority for this action having been sent to me 
 before the battle, unsolicited." 
 
 In those extracts General Warren will find the an- 
 swer to his late letter in the newspaper, in which he 
 professes ignorance of the cause of his supercedure. 
 General Sheridan speaks in the warmest terms of the 
 Fifth Corps, as well as of his own cavalry force, saying 
 they all seemed to realize that the success of the cam- 
 paign and the fate of Lee's army depended on the re- 
 sult of that day's fighting. The report then details, at 
 considerable length, the pursuit of Lee's army. The 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 347 
 
 Opening paragraph of his account of the operations of 
 April 3d is as follows: 
 
 "On arriving at Jettersville I learned without doubt 
 that Lee and his whole army were at Amelia Court 
 House. The Fifth Corps were at once ordered to en- 
 trench, with a view of holding Jettersville until the 
 main army could come up. It seems to me that this 
 was the only chance the Army of Northern Virginia 
 had to save itself, which might have been done had 
 General Lee promptly attacked and driven back the 
 comparatively small force opposed to him, and pursued 
 his march to Burkesville Junction." 
 
 In continuing the report, General Sheridan expresses 
 regret at having, on the 3d, given up the command of 
 Miles's Division of the Second Corps, on the 6th of the 
 Fifth Corps, and expresses the belief that he could have 
 accomplished more decisive results had he been allowed 
 to retain control of these troops. He takes occasion to 
 speak in the highest terms of the Sixth Corps, which 
 was ordered to report to him on the night of the 5th. 
 And he adds, "On the arrival of Major General Wright 
 he reported his corps to me, and from that time until 
 after the battle received my orders and obeyed them; 
 but after the engagement was over and General Meade 
 had communicated with General Wright, the latter de- 
 clined to make his report to me until ordered to do so 
 by the Lieutenant General." 
 
Friday, May 19, 1865. 
 
 The influx of paroled Rebel 
 
 Memphis. Tenn., troops into Memphis caused a 
 
 May 19, 1365. great excitemeut among the 
 
 negro troops. 
 
 They got up a plot to assassinate every Rebel soldier 
 
 in Memphis in revenge for the Fort Pillow massacre. 
 
 This plot was discovered last night, and the white 
 troops were put on guard to watch the movements of 
 the negroes. 
 
 At a given hour the negroes attempted to come out 
 of the fort to carry out their purpose, when they were 
 ordered back again by the white troops. 
 
 The negroes refused to obey the order, and a fight 
 forthwith ensued. 
 
 After a short conflict twenty of the negroes were kill- 
 ed and wounded and driven back in confusion into the 
 fort. 
 
 A strong guard is now kept over them. 
 
Saturday, May 20, 1865 
 
 It has been ascertained that 
 
 Washington, D. c, while the Rebel General Im- 
 
 May 20, 1865. boden was in charge of Rebel 
 
 prisons South, he issued an order 
 to the effect that if any prisoner or prisoners of war 
 confined in any of the military prisons in the States of 
 Geergia, Alabama, or Mississippi shall engage in any 
 meeting, or attempt by force to escape, the guard shall 
 instantly fire upon the mutineers, and, if necessary, 
 upon the whole body of prisoners, until perfect order is 
 restored, and every prisoner found with arms in his 
 hands at the time of any meeting or possible attempt 
 to escape shall be instantly shot to death, and this pen- 
 alty will in no case be remitted where such armed 
 prisoners are overpowered by surrendering to the guard 
 on the suppression of a meeting. He also directed 
 that all prisoners of war who conducted themselves in 
 an orderly manner should be treated with that human- 
 ity becoming the Christian people of the Confederate 
 States. 
 
Monday, May 22, 1865. 
 
 At one o'clock this afternoon the 
 
 Fortress Monroe, Va., Steamer Silas B. Pierce left Balti- 
 
 May 22,1865. morc wharf at this place with 
 
 Brevet Major General Miles, 
 accompanied by other officers of prominence, and pro- 
 ceeded immediately to the steamer William P. Clyde, 
 at anchor in the stream, with Jeff. Davis and remainder 
 of the Rebel party on board. An hour, perhaps suffi- 
 cient to give departing Rebels time to take a long 
 farewell of friends and dear ones, was awarded them. 
 The harbor, which usually is crowded with all kinds 
 and classes of vessels, to-day looked almost deserted. 
 Scarcely a dozen sail vessels could be counted, and 
 even they seemed dull and listless. Colonel Roberts, 
 Commander of Fortress Monroe, perceiving the abso- 
 lute necessity of maintaining strict discipline in con- 
 formity with the wishes of the Government, that the 
 transfer of the Rebel party to Fortress Monroe should 
 be conducted in as quiet a manner as possible, very 
 early in the morning stationed guards in the immediate 
 vicinity of the casemates, wherein are cells intended 
 for the incarceration of the prisoners, and also along 
 the ravines, paths and routes they would be obliged to 
 traverse while en route to the Fortress. In a short 
 time after the Pierce reached the wharf the prisoners 
 began to land. Such were the arrangements strictly 
 enforced by the military authorities, that no person 
 was allowed to approach the wharf where the prisoners 
 
'THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 35 1 
 
 landed except at a distance of over five hundred yards. 
 As the prisoners marched up the wharf, preceded by a 
 guard of their captors of the Fourth Michigan cavalry, 
 the tall, spare form of Jeff. Davis, dressed in grey 
 clothes and wearing a light felt hat, could be easily 
 discerned. As soon as the prisoners were all ashore, 
 they were marched up along the beach to the sallyport 
 of the water-battery in the rear of the Fortress, and 
 thence to their cells in the second tier of casemates. 
 Clement C. Clay accompanied Jeff. Davis inside the 
 Fortress, and also, it is supposed, the largest portion of 
 his personal staff. Mrs. Davis and her four children, 
 her brother and sister and the wife of Clement C. Clay 
 remain on board the steamer Clyde; and, it is thought, 
 will be sent south this evening, as orders have been 
 received from the War Department prohibiting them 
 from going north. The parting between Jeff. Davis 
 and his family is described to have been of an extremely 
 affecting nature, during which the feelings of the once 
 ambitious and desperate Rebel leader were completely 
 overcome. Major General Halleck has been here dur- 
 ing the past three days superintending the arrange- 
 ments made for the confinement of the Rebel prisoners. 
 Stringent orders in relation to visiting the Fortress 
 have been issued, and all civilians are prohibited from 
 entering it, unless duly provided with a pass from 
 Major General Halleck. 
 
 The arrival of the Sixth Corps, 
 Richmond, Va., now eucauiped without the 
 
 May 22, 1865. fortificatious of Richmond, has 
 
 broken in upon the dull monot- 
 ony of this city, and its crowded streets testify that 
 these sturdy veterans enjoy with intense satisfaction 
 the privileges of an ended campaign. They left Dan- 
 ville last Tuesday, reaching Manchester Saturday after- 
 noon. Thursday this corps will pass through Rich- 
 
352 THE LAST ^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 mond on its way to Alexandria, whether there to be 
 mustered out, or to be detailed for a short and impor- 
 tant service, cannot at present be known. Furloughs 
 are granted twenty a day to each regiment, which will 
 give the boys an opportunity to visit the points of 
 interest, and see what a dilapidated condition even this 
 center of Rebellion had fallen into. 
 
Tuesday, May 23, 1865. 
 
 Brigadier General Brent, and 
 
 Kirby Smith Ready to Surrender. Colonels DeblaU, C. Burke and 
 Baton Rouge, ^^ . • i i j j 
 
 May 23, 1865. Seip amved here to-day as com- 
 
 missioners from Kirby Smith. 
 General Herron and Lieutenant Commander Foster 
 came down from Red River with them. General Her- 
 ron has gone to General Canby, and it is believed here 
 that terms are arranged for the surrender of Kirby 
 Smith's whole army. 
 
 THE GRAND REVIEW IN WASHINGTON 
 AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 
 
 150,000 UNION TROOPS IN LINE. 
 
 This morning, according to gen- 
 FiRST DAY. e^-al orders, the Army of the 
 
 Washington, D. C, -p. , \ j ttt i • . 
 
 Tuesday. May 23, 1865. Potomac entered Washington,. 
 
 and were reviewed by President 
 
 Johnson. The weather was everything that could be 
 
354 I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ____ . - — 
 
 desired. The atmosphere was pleasant, the sun shone 
 with unclouded splendor, and the recent rains have laid 
 the dust, thus rendering the streets in good marching 
 condition. Thousands of persons, including many from 
 other cities who had specially come to see the pageant, 
 lined the sidewalks from the Capitol to the Executive 
 Mansion, a distance of a mile and a half, while win- 
 dows, and balconies and all eligible positions, including 
 housetops, were occupied by deeply interested specta- 
 tors. All public business was suspended, and there 
 was a general holiday. The Capitol bore the motto in 
 large letters, " The only national debt we never can pay 
 is the debt we owe to the victorious Union soldiers." 
 The national flag flew from all the public buildings, 
 while from the windows on the line of procession the 
 Stars and Stripes were profusely displayed. 
 
 At 9 o'clock the seemingly interminable lines of bris- 
 tling bayonets and flashing sabers, borne by the boys 
 in Federal blue commenced to untold themselves 
 around the National Capitol where, as was meet, the 
 children of the city to the number of many thousands 
 had come to greet the battle-worn and scarred heroes 
 of the Republic with banners, mottoes, songs of cheer, 
 garlands of flowers and approving smiles. The im- 
 mense column moved in the following^ order : 
 
 ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 General George G. Meade, Commander and Staff. 
 
 Squadron of the ist Massachusetts Cavalry as Head- 
 quarters Escort. 
 
 CAVALRY CORPS. 
 
 Major General MerriTT, Commanding. 
 Headquarters Escort, 5th U. S. Cavalry. 
 
I'HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 355 
 
 THIRD CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 General George A. Custer, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, Colonel Wells, Commanding. 
 
 15th N. Y. Cavalry. 8th N'. Y. Cavalry. 
 
 I St Vt. Cavalry. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Capehart, Commanding. 
 
 2d W. Va. Cavalry. 3d W. Va. Cavalry. 
 
 ist W. Va. Cavalry. istN. Y. Light Cavalry. 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel Pennington, Commanding. 
 
 2d N. Y. Cavalry. 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
 
 ist N. J. Cavalry. ist Penna. Cavalry. 
 
 This is Cnster's Division, one which has accomplished 
 more in a short space of time than any other division 
 in the army. It is probably the finest division of 
 troopers in the world. The following address of Gen- 
 eral Custer to his troops will give some idea of the 
 tremendous blows struck at the Rebellion by this 
 division : 
 
 Headquarters Thikd Cavalry Division, 
 Appomattox Court House, Va., April 9, 1865. 
 
 Soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division : With 
 profound gratitude toward the God of battles, by whose 
 blessiners our enemies have been humbled and our arms 
 rendered triumphant, your Commanding General avails 
 himself of this, his firsts opportunity, to express to you 
 his admiration of the heroic manner in which you have 
 passed through the series of battles which to-day 
 resulted in the surrender of the enemy's entire army. 
 
 The record established by your indomitable courage 
 is unparalleled in the annals of war. Your prowess has 
 won for you even the respect and admiration of your 
 enemies. During the past six months, although in 
 most instances confronted by superior numbers, you 
 have captured from the enemy, in open battle, one 
 
356 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ■ s 
 
 hundred and eleven pieces of field artillery, sixty-five 
 battle-flags, and upwards of ten thousand prisoners of 
 war, including seven general officers. Within the past 
 ten days, and included in the above, you have captured 
 forty-six pieces of field artillery and thirty-seven battle- 
 flags. You have never lost a gun, never lost a color, 
 and have never been defeated ; and notwithstanding 
 the numerous engagements in which you have borne a 
 prominent part, including these memorable battles of 
 the Shenandoah, you have captured every piece of 
 artillery which the enemy has dared to open upon you. 
 The near approach of peace renders it improbable that 
 you will again be called upon to undergo the fatigues 
 of the toilsome march or the exposure of the battle- 
 field ; but should the assistance of keen blades, wielded 
 by your sturdy arms, be required to hasten the coming 
 of that glorious peace for which we have been so long 
 contending, the General commanding is proudly confi- 
 dent that, in the future as in the past, every demand 
 will meet with a hearty and willing response. 
 
 Let us hope that our work is done, and that, blessed 
 with the comforts of peace, we may be permitted to 
 enjoy the pleasures of home and friends. For our 
 comrades who have fallen, let us ever cherish a grate- 
 ful remembrance. To the wounded, and to those who 
 languish in Southern prisons, let our heartfelt sym- 
 pathy be tendered. 
 
 And now, speaking for myself alone : When the war 
 is ended and the task of the historian begins — when 
 those deeds of daring which have rendered the name 
 and fame of the Third Cavalry Division imperishable 
 are inscribed upon the bright pages of our country's 
 history, I only ask that my name may be written as 
 that of the commander of the Third Cavalry Division. 
 
 G. A. Custer, 
 Brevet Major General Commanding. 
 
 ly. W. Barnhart, Captain and A. A. A. G. 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 357 
 
 The third brigade of this division has done the 
 heaviest fighting. This was formerly commanded by 
 Custer. 
 
 In the battle of Moorfield, on the 7th of August, 
 1864, the brigade distinguished itself in a most extra- 
 ordinary manner. To its valor we are mainly indebted 
 for that brilliant victory which gave us forty-two Rebel 
 officers as prisoners, several hundred privates, four 
 pieces of artillery and five battle-flags. The cup of 
 rejoicing at Moorfield was not without mingled emo- 
 tions of sorrow ; indeed, when it was known that Major 
 S. B. Conger and Lieutenant L. Clark of the Third 
 West Virginia Cavalry were among the killed, a great 
 grief spread through the entire brigade. Two braver 
 officers never drew swords in defense of a country. Peace 
 to their memory. In the five days' fighting that took 
 place in the vicinity of Bunker Hill, in the Shenandoah, 
 the brigade again added fresh laurels to the many 
 already acquired. These laurels, however, were not 
 won without heavy loss. Among their captures were 
 three battle-flags and Early's headquarters wagons, as 
 well as many prisoners. It again bore conspicuous 
 part in the sanguinary battle of the Opequan, fought 
 on the 19th of September, 1864, and again at the battle 
 of Fisher's Hill, on the 226.. It had the right of the 
 line, which they held against overwhelming odds, 
 turning the enemy's left and probably deciding the 
 battle in our favor. At Mount Jackson, on the 23d, it 
 again behaved admirably. On September 24th, 1864, 
 Colonel H. Capehart, of Ohio, was appointed to the 
 command of the brigade. The appointment has fully 
 vindicated the wisdom of the appointing power, as the 
 Colonel has justly established a reputation of which 
 any officer might well be proud. The first day the 
 Colonel commanded the brigade, they killed seventeen 
 of Rosser's Cavalry. On September 26th, the enemy was 
 driven from Wier's Cave through Brown's Gap, and on 
 the 27th was fought the battle of Wier's Cave, in 
 
358 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 which we suffered severely. About the 6th of October 
 the brigade bore an honorable part in the successful 
 reconnoissance to Sperryville, as also later at Guard 
 Hill, and still later it acquitted itself with honor in the 
 two successive attacks at Milford. In the fearful battle 
 of Cedar Creek, on the 19th, our cavalry of which the 
 Third was the most prominent brigade, held in check 
 the enemy's cavalry, and prevented our forces from 
 being flanked, and is thought by many to have changed 
 the fortunes of that fearful day. On the 12th of 
 November the battle of Nineveh was fought by this 
 brigade aloii^. It was one of the cleanest victories ever 
 achieved in the valley. Among tlie captures were two 
 pieces of artillery, two battle-flags, two hundred pris- 
 oners, and McCausland's entire wagon train. 
 
 At Waynesborough on March 2, 1865, the First and 
 Second Brigades of the Third Division, under the im- 
 mediate supervision of General Custer — who was on 
 the field, carefully arranging the programme of the 
 battle and inspiring all with his own spirit and deter- 
 mination — was massed and a part dismounted on the 
 right, leaving the center open for the Third, which 
 opportunity they at once improved, behaving, as the 
 regiments composing this brigade have always done, in 
 the very best possible manner. The work was short, 
 decisive, and the victory complete, the chivalry run- 
 ning in the wildest confusion without system or order, 
 and our men thundering at their heels. We charged 
 them ten miles through Rockfish Gap, over fences, 
 hedges, ditches and dikes, and through the deep mud, 
 regardless of suffering and personal peril, until the 
 dense darkness compelled a halt, when the results of 
 victory were summed up as follows : Fourteen hundred 
 and fifty prisoners, eleven guns, nine battle-flags, one 
 hundred and fifty wagons heavily laden with every 
 variety of stores, including General Early's headquarter 
 wagons with his personal wares, &c., &c. Never was 
 victory more complete or the route of an army more 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 359 
 
 thorough. Again at the battle of Dinwiddle Court 
 House, the brigade distinguished itself. It had been 
 in the rear of the wagon train, but at that critical 
 moment General Custer sent for and hurried it up, a 
 distance of eight miles on the gallop. The field was 
 reached just at the opportune moment, and it was prob- 
 ably owing to its arrival that the enemy fell back dur- 
 ing the night. At the fearful and decisive battle of 
 Five Forks, on the 31st of March, the position of the 
 brigade was on the left of the line, where it distinguish- 
 ed itself by completely flanking the enemy and cutting 
 off his retreat, and thus contributing greatly to break 
 the lock that had so long kept us out of Richmond. 
 
 On April 3d the brigade signalized itself by its great 
 bravery at the battle of Sailor's Creek, capturing seven 
 pieces of artillery, fifteen hundred prisoners, fourteen 
 battle-flags, five Major Generals, viz. : Major General 
 Ewell, Major General Kershaw, Major General Custus 
 Lee, Major General Burton Corse, and Major General 
 Semmes, also one hundred wagons. With a degree of 
 impetuosity seldom equaled, and a bravery equal to 
 that of the Spartan band, this brigade alone charged 
 and carried the enemy's works, which were defended 
 by two lines of infantry. In the great charges of this 
 war there has been few, if any, more brilliant. 
 
 SECOND CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 General Henry B. Davis, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade. 
 
 loth N. Y. Cavalry. 24th N. Y. Cavalry, 
 
 ist N. J. Cavalry. ist Penna. Cavalry. 
 
 FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 General Thomas C. Deven, Commanding. 
 
 Reserve Brigade, General Gibbs, Commanding. 
 
 6th N. Y. Battalion. 2d Mass. Cavalry. 
 
 6th Penna. Cavalry. 
 
360 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel C. L. Fitzhugh, Commanding. 
 
 6th N. Y. Battalion. ist N. Y. Cavalry. 
 
 20th Penna. Cavalry. lyih Penna. Cavalry. 
 
 9tli N. Y. Cavalry. 
 
 ist Brigade, Colonel Peter Stagg, Commanding. 
 
 6th Michigan Cavalry. 7th Michigan Cavalry, 
 
 ist Michigan Cavalry. 5th Michigan Cavalry. 
 
 Horse Artillery Brigade, Colonel James M. Robertson, 
 Commanding. 
 
 Battery C, 2d U. S. Battery B, 2d U. S. 
 
 Battery L, 2d U. S. Battery L, 5th U. S. 
 
 Battery D, 2d U. S. Battery M, 2d U. S. 
 
 Battery C, 4th U. S. Battery E, 4th U. S. 
 
 6th New York Independent Battery. 
 
 Provost Marshal Generals' Brigade, General G, N. 
 Macy, Commanding. 
 
 2d Penna. Cavalry. ist Mass. Cavalry. 
 
 3d U. S. Infantry. loth U. S. Infantry. 
 
 Engineers Brigade, General W. H. Benham, 
 Commanding. 
 
 Battalion of Regular Engineers. 
 
 15th N. Y. Engineers. 50th N. Y. Engineers. 
 
 SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 The following circular will give an idea of the work 
 accomplished in one campaign by the 2d Brigade of 
 this division : 
 
 Hdqrs. Second Brigade, First Cavalry Division, 1 
 Middle Military Division, Nov. 6, 1864. J 
 
 Soldiers : The Brevet Brigadier General Com- 
 manding feels that he should not allow the present op- 
 portunity to pass without referring to and recalling the 
 operations of his brigade during the late engagements. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 361 
 
 Rapidly transferred from the Army of the Potomac to 
 the Shenandoah Valley, you, on the Second day's 
 march, engaged a brigade of mounted infantry and in 
 one hour drove them from two strong positions in utter 
 rout. Again, at Front Royal, Smithfield, Kearneys- 
 ville, and Shepherdstown, your sturdy arms and keen 
 sabers on each occasion hurled back the serried masses 
 of the foe. At the battle of the Opequan, after charg- 
 ing and routing a superior force of the enemy's cavalry 
 in your front, you whirled like a thunderbolt on the 
 left of his infantry lines, and rode them down in the 
 face of a withering fire, in two successive charges, 
 capturing over five hundred prisoners and five battle- 
 flags. 
 
 When detached from the Division, and in advance 
 during the long pursuits of Early's army from Fisher's 
 Hill to Port Republic, your gallantry and daring while 
 pressing the enemy called forth the highest praise. In 
 the action of the 9th of October, taking the advance 
 near Edinburg, you drove Lomax's Division "whirl- 
 ing" through Mount Jackson and across the Shenan- 
 doah, capturing his last gun and his train. 
 
 On the memorable 19th of October the crowning 
 glory was reserved for you, of pursuing the enemy and 
 reaping the fruits of that brilliant victory. After stur- 
 dily fighting from early morn with the gallant old 
 Division to which you are attached, in its successful 
 efforts to check and finally drive the enemy's right, 
 you dashed across the bridge over Cedar Creek, under 
 a heavy fire, charging and completely smashing the 
 enemy's rear guard. Darkness did not relax your 
 efforts, but on you pushed, capturing guns, trains and 
 prisoners, until at near midnight, you had reached 
 Fisher's Hill, eight miles from the battle-field. 
 
 At early dawn you charged and drove the enemy's 
 cavalry from the hill, and pushed on to Woodstock 
 after the fast flying foe, who could not again be over- 
 taken. 
 
362 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Twenty-two of the forty-three guns captured by the 
 cavalry, fifty-nine wagons and ambulances, over four 
 hundred prisoners (including a number of officers), and 
 two battle-flags, were the trophies of your success. 
 
 You have captured during this short campaign, 
 twenty-four guns, nine battle-flags in action, and over 
 one thousand prisoners. 
 
 This brilliant success has not been effected without 
 severe loss. One-third of your number, including forty 
 officers, have been killed or wounded. They have 
 fallen nobly at their post of duty. 
 
 Praise from me is superfluous. The record of your 
 deeds is sufficient. You have done your duty, and the 
 Brigade has maintained its old reputation. 
 
 Thomas C. Deven, 
 Brevet Brigadier General. 
 
 FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 This brigade, now generally known as the Michigan 
 or Custer's old brigade, is at present commanded by 
 Colonel Peter Stagg, whose masterly management of 
 the same during the spring campaign of 1865 has won 
 both for it and himself imperishable laurels. It is 
 composed of four Michigan regiments, the First, Fifth, 
 Sixth and Seventh. The First, commanded by Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Maxwell, made a most brilliant charge 
 at Five Forks, immediately under the eye of General 
 Sheridan. Colonel Maxwell here lost a leg. The 
 F'ifth, commanded by Colonel Hastings, the Sixth by 
 Lieutenant Colonel Vinton, and the Seventh by Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Briggs, all distinguished themselves at 
 this the great fight of the season. At Sailor's Creek, 
 April 6th, Colonel Stagg took his orders directly from 
 General Sheridan, and with his brigade made two dis- 
 tinct and brilliant charges, for which he was compli- 
 mented on the field. At Appomattox also it was hotly 
 engaged, and was pressing the enemy heavily when 
 the dirty white rag was displayed which virtually said 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 363 
 
 treason was satisfied with war and desired peace. 
 Thus, perhaps, may end the military career of one of 
 the most noted brigades in the cavalry service. 
 
 RESERVE liRIGADE, FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION. 
 
 This brigade was organized in March, 1863, as the 
 Reserve (or Regular) Brigade, First Cavalry Division, 
 as it was composed of the First, Second, Fifth and 
 Sixth United States Cavalry only ; which regiments 
 have always been identified with the brigade, and 
 have done the best of service. Various volunteer regi- 
 ments have been attaclied to it from time to time, and 
 done good duty in every respect. The brigade has 
 been commanded by the late Major General John 
 Buford, while Brigadier General ; Major General Wes- 
 ley Merritt, while Brigadier General; the late Brigadier 
 General Charles R. Lowell, while Colonel, and Briga- 
 dier General Alfred Gibbs, its present commander. 
 
 All will remember the reception on the day of its ar- 
 rival ; the streets were filled with joyful people — bands, 
 glee clubs, church choirs and Sabbath school classes 
 were playing and singing patriotic airs of welcome, and 
 the wildest enthusiasm prevailed. The Division play- 
 ed a most conspicuous part upon that great battle-plain. 
 Striking Lee in flank it brought him to bay in the right 
 place, and then held him for one entire day, until Gen- 
 eral Meade could get his gallant army up and in posi- 
 tion. 
 
 Buford's reputation was made from that day forward, 
 and the Division carried with it the highest meed of 
 praise. It participated in all the subsequent actions of 
 the campaign — prominent at Falling Waters, Shepards- 
 town, Brandy Station, Culpepper, and Raccoon Ford 
 on the Rapidan River. 
 
 It participated in the most important reconnoissances 
 that developed the design of General Lee to flank the 
 Army of the Potomac in the fall of the same year, 
 covering his left and rear from the south banks of the 
 
364 THE LAST FOUR WEKKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 Rapidan river to the defenses of Washington without 
 the loss of a solitary wagon^ holding in check day after 
 day the impulsive charges of Lee's best troops. 
 
 Especially did it distinguish itself at Stephensburg, 
 Brandy Station, and Oak Hill. In the subsequent ad- 
 vance of the same season, it played a prominent part 
 on the extreme right, south of Sulphur Springs. In 
 this campaign the lamented Buford contracted the dis- 
 ease that cost him his life, to the sorrow of every officer 
 and man in the division. Brigadier General Merritt 
 succeeded him in command. In the spring of 1864 the 
 corps was re-organized under Major General Sheridan 
 and Brigadier General Torbert was assigned to com- 
 mand of the division. General Merritt to the com- 
 mand of the Cavalry Reserve Brigade, General Curtis 
 the First Brigade, and Colonel Deven the Second Brig- 
 ade. The division became the right bower of Sheri- 
 dan, and participated in all the engagements of the 
 campaign against Richmond in 1864 — including the 
 raid around Richmond and Trevillian Station. Re- 
 turning and crossing the James, it was employed on 
 the left of the army, until, July, 1864, it embarked for 
 the Shenandoah Valley. General Torbert was then 
 made Chief of Cavalry, and General Merritt again took 
 command of the division. To it and its gallant com- 
 mander, in a peculiar measure belongs the glory of the 
 battle of Winchester, on the 19th of September ; its 
 captures during the bloody campaign were immense ; 
 it took part in every engagement, and captured more 
 guns and materials on the 19th of October, at Cedar 
 Creek, than it could remove during the entire night. 
 Under command of Brigadier General Thomas C. 
 Deven, on the 27th of February, 1865, it commenced 
 its march with the corps to rejoin the Army of the 
 Potomac, raiding through to the White House ; thence 
 via Deep Bottom to the left of the army. Again it led 
 the advance to the Five Forks, and there, after three 
 days of the severest fighting on record, carried the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 365 
 
 position, as shown by the dispatch of President Lin- 
 coln of April 2. Joining in the pursuit of the now 
 routed Rebel army, it fought by day and inarched by 
 night until, the 9th of April, it locked hands with its 
 gallant comrades around the terror-stricken minions of 
 Secession at Appomattox Court House ; returning to 
 Petersburg with the corps, it hastily refitted, and 
 marched upon Johnston in North Carolina, reaching 
 the Don river; and the surrender of the enemy 
 becoming known to the satisfaction of the authorities, 
 it returned via Richmond to Washington. The divi- 
 sion never lost a gtm — perhaps more than can be said 
 of any other in this department ; with its history is 
 associated the greatest battles and the grandest victor- 
 ies and the most distinguished cavalry officers of the 
 war. The names of Pleasonton, of Buford, of Merritt, 
 of Torbert and Deven, of Gibbs and Stagg and Fitz- 
 hugh, are inseparably associated with the coming his- 
 tory of this war, and will be remembered in gratitude 
 through generations to come. 
 
 The organization in the last campaign is as follows : 
 
 Division Commander, Brigadier General Thomas C. 
 Deven. Brigade Commanders : Brigadier General 
 Gibbs, Commander Reserve Brigade ; Colonel Peter 
 Stagg, First Brigade ; Colonel Charles L. Fitzhugh, 
 Second Brigade. 
 
 The organization of the First Cavalry Division dates 
 back to December i, 1862, immediately after the ill- 
 fated battle of Fredericksburg, and was commanded by 
 Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton. It consisted of 
 the First and Second Brigades, commanded respect- 
 ively by Colonels Grimes Davis and Thomas C. Deven. 
 It participated in the battle of Chancellorsville, and 
 won for itself an undying renown, see General Pleas- 
 onton's complimentary order of that date. Its gal- 
 lantry in that engagement made its commander a full 
 Major General, who shortly after took command of the 
 
366 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 Cavalry Corps. The division was for a short time after- 
 ward commanded by Colonel Thomas C. Deven, who 
 fought it under the direction of Brigadier General John 
 Buford, in the battle of Beverly Ford, in June, 1863. 
 The engagement was a severe one, and the division 
 received the complimentary order of its commander. 
 General Buford was shortly afterward assigned to the 
 command, bringing with him to the division the '' Cav- 
 alry Reserve Brigade," embracing all the regular cav- 
 alry in this Department, then commanded by Brigadier 
 General Wesley Merritt. As thus reorganized, the 
 division participated in the grand Pennsylvania cam- 
 paign of 1863. At the battle of Upperville it carried 
 everything before it — gorging Stuart's thousands in 
 the gapping rear of the town — turning its back upon 
 the retreating foe, its march to Gettysburg was at once 
 unprecedented — almost forty-eight hours in rear of the 
 Army of the Potomac in developing to a certainty the 
 ingenious design of the Rebel Lee, it marched past its 
 faithful comrades with the speed of veteran patriots 
 and reached the famous hills of Gettysburg twenty-four 
 hours in advance of Meade's infantry. 
 
 LIST OF ENGAGEMENTS. 
 
 Kelly's Ford, March 18, 1863. 
 
 Fleming's Cross Roads, May 4, 1863. 
 
 Beverly Ford, June 9, 1863 — loss heavy. 
 
 Upperville June 21, 1863. 
 
 Gettysburg, July i, 2 and 3, 1863 — loss very heavy. 
 
 Williamsport, July 6, 1863. 
 
 Boonsborough and Funkstown, July 8, 9 and 10, 1863. 
 
 Falling Waters, July 14, 1863. 
 
 Manassas Gap, July 21, 1863. 
 
 Brandy Station, August i, 1863. 
 
 Sudley's Church, October, 1863. 
 
 Manassas Plains, October, 1863. 
 
 Culpepper, November, 1863. 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 367 
 
 Sulphur Springs, November, 1863. 
 Mine Run, December, 1S63. 
 Todd's Tavern, May 7 and 8, 1864 — loss heavy. 
 Yellow Tavern (near Richmond), May, 1864. 
 Meadow Bridge, May, 1864. 
 Mechanicsville, May, 1864. 
 Hanovertown, May, 1864. 
 Haugh's Shop, May, 1864. 
 Old Church, May, 1864. 
 
 Cold Harbor, May, 1864 — two days, loss very heavy. 
 Deep Bottom, July, 1864. 
 
 Stone Church (Shenandoah Valley), August, 1864. 
 Newtown, iVugust, 1864 — loss heavy. 
 Kernstown, September, 1864. 
 Skirmishes on Opequan Creek, September, 1864. 
 Winchester, September 19, 1864 — severe. 
 Milford, September 23, 1864. 
 Luray Court House, September 24, 1864. 
 Waynesborough, September 28, 1864. 
 Mount Crawford, October 4, 1864. 
 Fisher's Hill, October 8, 1864. 
 
 Tom's Brook (Woodstock Races ), October 9, 1864. 
 Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864 — loss heavy. 
 Five Forks (skirmish), March 30, 1865. 
 Dinwiddie Court House, March 31, 1865. 
 Five Forks, April i, 1865 — severe. 
 Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865. 
 
 Appomattox Court House (Clover Hill), April 9, 
 1865. lyce surrenders. 
 
 In addition to the above, the Second Massachusetts 
 Cavalry, while attached to the Third Brigade, First 
 Division (disorganized September 8, 1864), was en- 
 gaged at Summit Point, Charleston, Halltown, Berry- 
 ville Pike, and Berryville, in the Shenandoah Valley. 
 
368 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 NINTH ARMY CORPS. 
 
 General John G. Parke, Commander and Stafif. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 General O. B. WiLCOX, Commanding, 
 ist Brigade, Colonel Samuel Harriman, Commanding. 
 
 38tli Wis. Infantry. zyth. Mich. Infantry. 
 
 17th Mich. Infantry. 27th Wis. Infantry. 
 
 109th N. Y. Infantry. 79th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Ralph Ely, Commanding. 
 
 2d Mich. Infantry. 46th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 50th Penna. Inlantry. 20th Mich. Infantry, 
 
 looth Penna. Infantry. 
 
 3d Brigade, General N. B. McLaughlin, Commanding. 
 3d Md. Battalion. 5th Mass. Infantry. 
 
 14th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. 59th Mass. Infantry. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 General S. S. Griffin, Commanding, 
 ist Brigade, Colonel Sumner Carruth, Commanding. 
 
 39th N. J. Infantry. 48th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 7th R. I. Infantry. 45th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 58th Mass. Infantry. 36th Mass. Infantry. 
 
 35th Mass. Infantry. 51st N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Herbert, Commanding. 
 
 nth N. H. Infantry. 56th Mass. Infantry. 
 
 179th N. Y. Infantry. 17th Vt. Infantry. 
 
 31st Me. Infantry. i86th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 2d Md. Infantry. 6th N. H. Infantry. 
 
 9th N. H. Infantry. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 369 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 General John G. Curtin, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, General G. S. Beale, Commanding. 
 
 i5tli Me. Infantry. ii4tli N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 29th Me. Infantry. 30th Mass. Infantry, 
 
 ist Me. Battalion. 
 
 2d Brigade, General B. P. Davis, Commanding. 
 
 153d N. Y. Infantry. 8th Vt. Infantry 
 
 I2tli Conn. Infantry. 26tli Mass. Infantry. 
 
 47th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 3d Brigade, General J. D. Fessenden, Commanding. 
 
 173d N. Y. Infantry. i6otli N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 i62d N. Y. Infantry. 133d N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 30th Me. Infantry. 
 
 Ninth Corps Artillery Brigade, General J. C. Tidball, 
 Commanding. 
 
 34th N. Y. Battery. 7th Me. Battery. 
 
 19th N. Y. Battery. nth Mass. Battery. 
 
 27th N. Y. Battery. 
 Battery D, Penna. Heavy Artillery. 
 
 ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 SECOND ARMY CORPS. 
 
 General A. A. Humphreys, Commander and Staff. 
 Escort, Co. F, ist New Jersey Cavalry. 
 
 first DIVISION. 
 
 General John Ramsey, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, Colonel John Eraser, Commanding. 
 
 6ist N. Y. Infantry. 31st Penna. Infantry. 
 
 140th Penna. Infantry. 26th Mich. Infantry. 
 
 5th N. H. Infantry. 2d N. Y. Heavy Artillery. 
 
370 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Robert Nugent, Commanding. 
 
 69tli N. Y. Infantry. 28tli Mass. Infantry. 
 
 88th N. Y. Infantry. 4th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. 
 
 63d N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 3d Brigade, General C. D. McDougall, Commanding. 
 
 39tli N. Y. Infantry. 52d N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 125th N. Y. Infantry. iiith N. Y, Infantry. 
 
 126th N. Y. Infantry. 7th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 4th Brigade, Colonel S. A. Mulholland, Commanding. 
 
 ii6th Penna. Infantry. 53d Penna. Infantry. 
 
 183d Penna. Infantry. 145th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 64th N. Y. Infantry. 148th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 Second Army Corps Artillery Brigade, Colonel J. G. 
 Hazard, Commanding. 
 
 Battery K, 4th U. S. Battery B, ist R. I. 
 
 Battery B, ist N. J. Battery M, ist N. H. 
 
 loth Mass. Battery. nth N. Y. Battery. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 General Francis C. Barlow, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, Colonel William A. Ohnstead, Command- 
 ing. 
 
 59th N. Y. Infantry. 19th Me. Infantry. 
 
 184th Penna. Infantry. 36th Wis. Infantry. 
 
 20th Mass. Infantry. 19th Mass. Infantry. 
 
 7th Mich. Infantry. ist Minn. Infantry. 
 
 I52d N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel J. P. Mclvor, Commanding. 
 
 8th N. Y. Heavy Artillery. 170th N. Y. Infantry. 
 155th N. Y. Infantry. 164th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 69th N. Y. National Guard. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 371 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel D. Woodall, Commanding. 
 
 io8th N. Y. Infantry. loth N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 69th Penna. Infantry. ist Del. Infantry. 
 
 4th Ohio Infantry. 7tli W. Va. Infantry. 
 
 1 2th N. J. Infantry. 14th Conn. Infantry. 
 
 1 06th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 General G. G. MoTT, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, General R. DeTrobriand, Commanding. 
 
 1st Me, Heavy Artillery. 20th Ind. Infantry, 
 
 iioth Penna. Infantry. 99th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 40th N. Y. Infantry. 86th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 73d N. Y. Infantry. 124th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 2d Brigade, General R. B. Pierce, Commanding. 
 
 17th Me. Infantry. 105th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 5th Mich. Infantry. 93d N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 141st Penna. Infantry. 57th Penna. Infantry, 
 
 ist Mass. Heavy Artillery. 
 
 3d Brigade, General R. McAllister, Commanding. 
 
 7th N. Y. Infantry. i2oth Mich. Infantry, 
 
 nth Mass. Infantry. 8th N. Y. Infantry. ' 
 
 nth N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 FIFTH ARMY CORPS. 
 
 General Chari.es Griffin, Commanding and Staff. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 General J. H. Chamberlain, Commanding, 
 ist Brigade, General A. L. Pearson, Commanding. 
 198th Penna. Infantry. 185th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
372 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 2d Brigade, Generacl E. M. Gregory, Commanding. 
 
 189th N. Y. Infantry. 187th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 i88th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel J. Cushing Edmonds, Command- 
 ing. 
 32d Mass. Infantry. 20th Me. Infantry. 
 
 <9ist Penna. Infantry. ist Me. Infantry. 
 
 1 6th Mich. Infantry. 155th Penna. Infantry, 
 
 ist Mich. Infantry. ii8th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 83d Penna. Infantry. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 General R. B. Ayres, Commanding, 
 ist Brigade, General J. Hayes, Commanding. 
 114th Penna. Infantry. 5th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 146th N. Y. Infantry. 140th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 15th N. Y. Heavy Artillery.6ist Mass. Infantry. 
 
 2d Brigade, General A. W. Dennison, Commanding, 
 ist Md. Infantry. 4th Md. Infantry. 
 
 7th Md. Infantry. 8th Md. Infantry. 
 
 3d Brigade, General James Gwyn, Commanding. 
 190th Penna. Infantry. 210th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 4th Del. Infantry. 3d Del. Infantry. 
 
 8th Del. Infantry. 191st Penna. Infantry. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 General S. S. Crawford, Commanding, 
 ist Brigade, General H. A. Morrow, Commanding. 
 6th Wis. Infantry. 7th Wis. Infantry. 
 
 91st N. Y. Infantry. Independent Battalion 
 
 Sharp Shooters. 
 
 2d Brigade, General Henry Baxter, Commanding. 
 
 nth Penna. Infantry. 97th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 104th N. Y. Infantry. i6th Me. Infantry. 
 
 39th Mass. Infantry. 107th Penna. Infantry. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 373 
 
 3d Brigade. 
 64th N. Y. Infantry. i42d Penna. Infantry. 
 
 95th N. Y. Infantry. 88tli Penna. Infantry. 
 
 I2ist Penna. Infantry. 56th Penna. Infantry. 
 
 147th N. Y. Infantry. 
 
 Fifth Army Corps Artillery Brigade, General C. S. 
 Wainwright, Commanding. 
 Battery B, 4th U. S. Battery H, ist N. Y. 
 
 Battery B, ist N. Y. Battery D, ist N. Y. 
 
 Battery D, 5th U. S. Battery G, 5th U. S. 
 
 Every available space where human feet could stand 
 or hands could cling, was appropriated long before the 
 prancing steeds of Sheridan's cavalry led the advance 
 up Pennsylvania avenue. Stands, staging, boxes, 
 tables, chairs, vehicles, lamp- posts, indeed everything 
 that promised a lookout, was crowded to suffocation 
 with eager people. Windows, balconies and housetops 
 were even more densely packed. Indeed, the mass of 
 civilians pressing their eager homage upon these sol- 
 diers coming home from the war, was a sight long to be 
 remembered and attaining to the grandly sublime, as 
 an independent pageant ; but when the fiery cavalry 
 steeds, prancing to their well-known bugle notes ; the 
 long lines of infantry with burnished arms flashing in 
 the sunlight ; the thundering rattle of artillery wheels 
 in an unceasing surging mass, swept along through the 
 day, how shall words be found to express the fervent, 
 sacred emotions stirred within every heart? 
 
 The troops as they moved along Pennsylvania ave- 
 nue presented a grand appearance, all arms of the 
 service being represented in full force. The occasional 
 insertion of a body of Zouaves served to relieve the 
 sameness. The dark and light blue uniforms gave a 
 fine effect to the spectacle. Looking up the broad 
 Pennsylvania avenne, there was a continuous moving 
 
374 "^HE 1.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 line as far as the eye could reach of National, State, 
 division, brigade, regiment and other flags. Some of 
 them were new, the stars of gold leaf glittering in the 
 sun, and these contrasted strongly with flags borne in 
 the procession tattered in battle or mere shreds. 
 Other flags were thickly covered with names and dates 
 of battle-fields where victories were won by these proud 
 veterans. The flagstafifs were decorated with flowers, 
 and very many bouquets hung from the muzzles of 
 muskets. These troops did not, as to dress, present a 
 war-worn appearance ; they were all well and cleanly 
 clad, and their fine marching elicited praise from every 
 tongue. On the south side of the avenue, fronting the 
 Executive Mansion, a stand was built, handsomely and 
 heavily festooned with National flags. At various 
 points were the inscriptions, " Atlanta," " Wilderness," 
 " Stone River," '' South Mountain," " Shiloh," " Vicks- 
 burg," " Savannah," " Richmond," " Petersburg," and 
 " Coal Harbor." This stand was in part occupied by 
 President Johnson, members of the Cabinet, Generals 
 Grant and Sherman, and other distinguished army offi- 
 cers. On the left were members of the diplomatic 
 corps and their families, two hundred tickets having 
 been issued to this class of spectators. On the stands 
 provided for the purpose were George Bancroft and the 
 following-named Governors of Slates : Crapo, Bucking- 
 ham, Andrew, Fenton, Fairchilds, Bradford, Curtin, 
 Smith ; Senators Wade, Sherman, Wilson, Johnson, 
 Chandler, Harris, Hendrickson, Dixon, Foster, Morgan, 
 Conness, Lane of Kansas, and Representatives Schenck, 
 Hooper, Marston, Lynch, Hayes, Porter, Kelley, 
 Jenckes, Loan, and ex-Speaker Grow. There were at 
 least thirty naval officers bearing the highest rank, and 
 as many army officers, including Generals Hancock, 
 Wilcox, Cadwallader, Hitchcock, Newton and Rawlins. 
 As the corps and divisions passed in review of the 
 President and Lieutenant General Grant, their com- 
 manders severally left the column and took seats on 
 the platform, The Judges of the Courts, the Chiefs of 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 375 
 
 the Government Bureaus, and other public officers 
 were similarly accommodated. The crowd in that part 
 of the city was extremely dense, it being the main 
 point of attraction, and the reviewing place where was 
 assembled the highest dignitaries. 
 
 General Custer rode a powerful horse ; at times he 
 became restive and ungovernable ; when near the 
 Treasury Department the animal madly dashed for- 
 ward to the head of the line. The General vainly at- 
 tempted to check his courser, at the same time endeav- 
 oring to retain the weight of flowers which had previ- 
 ously been placed upon him. In the flight the General 
 lost his hat. He finally conquered his horse and re- 
 joined his column. Passing the President's stand he 
 made a low bow and was applauded by the multitude. 
 
 Five thousand children participated, handsomely 
 decorated by red, white and blue rosettes, flags, ban- 
 ners, &c., &c., of all sizes and descriptions, supplied 
 with a vast number of bouquets and wreaths. The 
 officers and men received these bouquets by thousands, 
 the children meanwhile singing, " When Johnny comes 
 marching home again," and other patriotic songs. The 
 absence of all the negroes from the old Ninth Corps 
 was noticed and freely commented on by those who 
 may have forgotten that they were organized into a 
 separate corps. From the portico of the Treasury De- 
 partment the flag of the Treasury Guard Regiment was 
 displayed, the lower portion tattered and torn, not by 
 battle, but by the spur of Booth, the assassin, as he 
 jumped from the box at Ford's Theater to the stage on 
 the night of the assassination. A placard appended 
 stated this fact, and it attracted much attention. Be- 
 tween the rear of the Ninth Corps and the advance of 
 the Fifth Corps there was an interval of ten or fifteen 
 minutes. An immense number of persons rushed into 
 the opening which was in front of the stand occupied 
 by President Johnson, General Grant and the members 
 of the Cabinet, and gave each one repeated cheers. 
 
376 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 These gentlemen severally rose and bowed their 
 acknowledgement of the honors. 
 
 The troops occupied six hours in the review, from 
 nine o'clock in the morning until thee o'clock in the 
 afternoon. In military phrase, the " cadence step'' was 
 taken from the Capitol to Seventeenth street, from 
 which point the various organizations proceeded on the 
 march to their separate quarters. The review is spoken 
 of as the greatest which has taken place on this conti- 
 nent. It was a grand affair and suggestive of the trials 
 and victories of the Army of the Potomac. 
 
Wednesday, May 24, 1865. 
 
 To-day Washington had another 
 SECOND DAY. bright, and in all other respects, 
 
 Washington, D. C, i • j r j.\, • r 
 
 Wednesday, May 24,1865. charming day for the review of 
 the Armies of the Tennessee and 
 Georgia. The sidewalks of Pennsylvania avenue, at 
 all elevated points, were occupied by deeply interested 
 spectators. Fresh arrivals augmented the already large 
 numbers of strangers who had especially visited Wash- 
 ington to witness the grand military parade. The taste- 
 fully decorated stands near the Executive Mansion were 
 again occupied by President Johnson, members of the 
 Cabinet, and Lieutenant General Grant, together with 
 distinguished army and navy officers, Chiefs of Executive 
 Bureaus, the Diplomatic Corps and families, and other 
 personages. The vicinity of the reviewing point was 
 densely crowded over a larger area than on yesterday, 
 this locality being the most attractive. 
 
 The Army of the Tennessee moved from the Capitol 
 at nine o'clock, proceeding toward the Executive Man- 
 sion. At the head of the column rode Major General 
 Sherman, who was vociferously cheered all along the 
 line, while many clapped their hands, and others waved 
 their handkerchiefs and miniature flags. The greeting 
 of this hero was in the highest degree enthusiastic. He 
 had been presented with two large wreaths of flowers, 
 one of which had been placed around his horse's neck, 
 the other hung upon his own shoulder. Major General 
 Sherman was accompanied by Major General Howard, 
 
378 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 formerly in command of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 Next followed Major General Logan, Staff and Escort. 
 On Tuesday he assumed command of this army. 
 Major General Logan appeared at the head of the com- 
 mand. The F'ifteenth Corps led the van, commanded 
 by Major General W. B. Hazen, the hero of Fort Mc- 
 Allister. This Corps is composed of troops from 
 Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, 
 Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Seventeenth Army Corps 
 was preceded by its commander, Major General Blair, 
 with his Staff, followed by the Headquarter's Escort. 
 The troops from this Corps are from Illinois, Ohio, New 
 York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and 
 Michigan. The next in review was the Army of 
 Georgia, Major General Slocum commanding, who rode 
 at the head of the columin. 
 
 The Twentieth Corps was commanded by Major Gen- 
 eral Mower, and composed of Volunteers from Con- 
 necticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Wis- 
 consin, Massachusetts, Ohio, Delaware, Indiana and 
 Michigan. This was succeeded by the Fovirteenth 
 Army Corps, Brevet Major General J. C. Davis com- 
 manding. It was composed of Volunteers from Wis- 
 consin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York, 
 Minnesota and Kentucky. The respective com- 
 manders of the armies, divisions and brigades bore 
 upon their persons profusions of flowers, which had 
 been bestowed in acknowledgment of their heroic 
 deeds ; and as they passed along the line, cheers were 
 given and handkerchiefs and flags waved by those who 
 chose this mode of testifying their gratitude for the 
 gallant services of both officers and men. None seem- 
 ed to be weary of continuous gazing at the troops as 
 there was always presented something of increased in- 
 terest. 
 
 The armies represented all branches and divisions of 
 the service — cavalry, artillery, and infantry, with suf- 
 ficient variety in trimmings and appointments to re- 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 379 
 
 lieve the general sameness of uniform ; and several 
 regiments of Zouaves contributed to produce this effect. 
 There was an extensive flashing of drawn swords, bayo- 
 nets, and polished brass cannon in the clear sunlight. 
 Sections of pontoon bridges and ambulances and 
 stretchers, and even heavy wagons, were features in 
 the procession. There was also a fair representation 
 of the spade and ax department, the implements being 
 carried upon the shoulders of both white and black 
 soldiers. Much amusement was occasioned by a dis- 
 play of pack-horses and mules. They were all heavily 
 loaded with commissary supplies, including chickens. 
 A coon, a dog, and a goat were comfortably fastened to 
 three of the saddles; those were the pets of soldiers. 
 Two black soldiers of largest size, riding on very small 
 mules, their feet nearly touching the ground, was re- 
 garded as a comic scene in connection with this part 
 of the display, and occasioned general laughter. 
 
 An interesting feature in the grand military parade 
 was the exhibition of flags and banners of various pat- 
 terns, some of them entirely new; others were carried, 
 torn by bullets and reduced to shreds ; while others, en- 
 tire as to material, were faded by exposure to the 
 weather or blackened by the smoke of battle. Several 
 staffs were carried, from which the flags had been shot 
 away. All the spear-heads were ornamented with 
 flowers either in bouquets or wreaths. It was remarked, 
 as in contrast to the Army of the Potomac, that the 
 troops composing the Armies of Georgia and Tennessee 
 wore the wide-brim felt hats, regulation pattern. Their 
 appearance in all respects was equal to that of the Army 
 of the Potomac, notwithstanding they had performed 
 more marching service. Their general movements 
 were much admired and accordingly applauded. The 
 commander of each army, and corps and division, at- 
 tended by one staff officer, dismounted after passing the 
 General-in-Chief, and joined him until his army, corps 
 or division had passed the reviewing stand, when he re- 
 
380 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 mounted and joined his command. Officers command- 
 ing regiments presented swords on passing the review- 
 ing officer, but company officers were not required to 
 make such salutes. Brigade bands or consolidated field 
 music turned out and played as their brigades passed. 
 One band to each division performed during the march 
 from the Capitol to the Treasury building. After the 
 troops passed the reviewing officer, they were marched 
 to^ their respective quarters. Secretary Seward, not- 
 withstanding his severe physical affliction, took a deep 
 interest in the review. General Augur made him com- 
 fortable, and furnished him with a good position at the 
 headquarters of the defenses of Washington, that he 
 might witness the grand military display. The Armies 
 of the Tennessee and Georgia occupied six hours in pass- 
 ing — the same length of time required for the review 
 of the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 The following are a few of the incidents of the day: 
 Previous to the march, a number of young ladies made 
 their way through the crowds of spectators and soldiers 
 on Capitol Hill, and festooned upon some of the offi- 
 cers bouquets, wreaths and garlands. It has already 
 been stated that General Sherman led the advance to- 
 day, accompanied by General Howard, with bouquets 
 in their hands, and their horses decorated with flowers. 
 Upon reaching the western part of the city, a Veteran 
 Reserve soldier approached General Sherman with an- 
 other bouquet, but the horse of the latter became rest- 
 ive, and he motioned the soldier back. ''Give it to 
 Howard," shouted the multitude; but he, too, having 
 but one hand, could attend only to his prancing horse; 
 so the veteran returned to his seat with his offering 
 amid cheers on all sides. Riding to the western en- 
 trance of the Executive Mansion, General Sherman 
 dismounted, and with General Howard and staff joined 
 the group on the stand. The reception given to Gen- 
 eral Sherman exceeded in enthusiasm that extended to 
 any other officer. Generals Logan, John W. Geary 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 381 
 
 and Frank Blair especially received the acclamations 
 of the multitude. As the head of Major General Frank 
 P. Blair's Corps reached Fourteenth street in the 
 marching column, some one hundred and fifty gentle- 
 men, mostly from Missouri, presented to the General a 
 splendid banner, and to each of the officers of his staff 
 a beautiful bouquet. 
 
 Any representation of Sherman's Army would have 
 been far from being complete which omitted the cele- 
 brated Bummers' Brigade. These foiagers, black and 
 white, composed the most incongruous, as it was cer- 
 tainly the most comical, appendage ever seen with any 
 army. After Blair's Corps had passed, came two di- 
 minutive donkeys, astride of which were two equally 
 diminutive but gleeful darkeys ; closely following this 
 was a collection of mules, young horses, broken-down 
 nags, upon which were loaded tents, baggage, utensils, 
 kettles, swords, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs, raccoons, 
 pickaninnies, black women ; trudging along in the dusty 
 rabble were the blackest of negroes and all the thous- 
 and-and-one appurtenances of camp life. In fact it 
 may be truly said that Sherman's Army presented the 
 same general aspects on its way through the city as it 
 did through the Carolinas, only with much more order. 
 It is understood they choose a fresh camp to-night. 
 This gave a varied picture of the way in which Sher- 
 man made war by living on the enemy ; only by this 
 means could he have cut loose from his base and made 
 his admirable swoop down to the coast. The darkeys 
 who have been picked up in the march were some of 
 them armed with huge old pistols or captured knives. 
 They seemed to understand well the part they were 
 playing in the terrible drama of revolution, and re- 
 ceived the uproarious shouts, laughter and jeers with 
 soldierly unconcern. Any representation of Sherman's 
 Army would have been incomplete which omitted the 
 notorious Bummers accordingly. At the end of Gen- 
 eral Blair's Corps appeared the most ludicrous, and at 
 
382 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 the same time, the most interesting scene ever witness- 
 ed in connection with any army. The brigade of black 
 servants, attended by the guards of the small baggage 
 train, were preceded by two diminutive darkeys, whose 
 self-complacency was only equaled by the imperturba- 
 ble animals under them. Then came the strangest 
 huddle of animation, equine, canine, bovine and 
 human that ever civilian beheld, but which has been 
 common enough in Georgia. Mules, asses, horses, 
 colts, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, raccoons mounted on 
 mules, chickens, dogs led by negroes blacker than 
 Erebus. Every beast of burden was loaded to its 
 capacity with tents, baggage, knapsacks, hampers, pan- 
 niers, boxes, valises, kettles, pots, pans, dishes, demi- 
 johns, bird cages, cradles, mirrors, fiddles, clothing, 
 pickaninnies, and an occasional black woman. In effect 
 Sherman gave us a sample of his army as it appeared 
 on the march through the Carolinas. He is, in fact, 
 moving to another camp, and to-day's display was a 
 perfect picture of his progress, only more orderly and 
 no foraging. Some of the negroes appeared to have 
 three days' rations in their ample pouches, and ten 
 days' more on the animals they led. The fraternity 
 was complete ; the goats, dogs, mules and horses were 
 already veterans in the field, and trudged along as if 
 the brute world were nothing but a vast march with a 
 daily camp. Thus are we shown how Sherman lived 
 upon the enemy, and how he was enabled to live upon 
 the enemy. 
 
 The Army of the West lost Hooker in the review, 
 that of the East lost Sheridan. Meade's army has only 
 a part of its infantry — Sherman's none of its cavalry. 
 The superior conversance of Meade with Washington 
 city enabled him to so defile his forces that not a gap 
 occurred along the entire route, but Sherman's men 
 once or twice broke in sections for long distances, 
 marring the unity of his procession. Meade's army 
 was composed of the most conventional levies — Sher- 
 
THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 383 
 
 man's of the most individual. The Army of the East 
 was composed of citizens — that of the West of pioneers. 
 A gentl<^man, socially so-called, would have preferred 
 the display of Meade. His men had more readable 
 faces, better characterization, and were less wild and 
 outre in their expression. A pioneer would have most 
 applauded the review of Sherman, because his men 
 were hardier, knottier, and weightier. Meade repre- 
 sented the Army of the East, being a graceful and ac- 
 complished commander. Logan, and not Sherman, was 
 the West's representative soldier. The Army of the 
 West marched, as a rule, better than the East, if rigid 
 mathematical time-keeping is the best of good training. 
 Its constituents were, in physiognomy, just the men for 
 dashing adventures, prolonged advances, and reckless 
 fighting ; but Meade's men bore the impress of intelli- 
 gent patience like that which sat before Richmond four 
 defeated years, and in the end had the pluck to pass 
 over the bastions of Petersburg. The officers of Sher- 
 man were less punctilious in externals than those of 
 Meade. His staff officers were not so neatly garbed, 
 his line officers were more indifferent to their wardrobe. 
 The West was the best army for a republic, the East 
 for a standing army, and New York troops generally 
 speaking were the best Meade had to show. Illinois 
 troops, casually remarked, were the flower of Sher- 
 man's veterans. The absence of cavalry which quite 
 embarrassed Sherman, so far as the spirit of his enter- 
 tainment went, was made up by series of contrabrands 
 and many odd concomitants in the shape of mules, 
 fowls and dogs, which the soldiers took along. Sher- 
 man had less artillery than Meade. The battle flags of 
 both were equally riddled. Harmony prevailed among 
 the partisans of both armies. The country was proud 
 of them all. Their deeds are alike, the fames are equal ; 
 their reviews were the most wonderful panorama in 
 American history. 
 
384 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 SHERMAN'S RIGHT WING IN THE REVIEW. 
 
 THE 15TH AND 17TH CORPS. 
 
 The right wing, or Army of the Tennessee, com- 
 manded by Major General John A. Logan, is composed 
 of the Fifteenth Corps, Major General W. B. Hazen, 
 and the Seventeenth Corps, Major General Frank P. 
 Blair. 
 
 Major General John A. Logan, the present com- 
 mander of the Army of the Tennessee, was born in 
 Jackson county, 111., on the 9th of February, 1832, and 
 is consequently about thirty-three years of age. Like 
 Sheridan and other generals who have distinguished 
 themselves during the present war, he was born of Irish 
 parentage. Previous to the war he had acquired some 
 popularity as a politician in his native State, having 
 served in the State Legislature of Illinois and the Na- 
 tional Congress. He entered the army in September, 
 1861, as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois Infantry, 
 and participated in the battles of Belmont, Fort Henry 
 and Fort Donaldson. At the latter fight he was wound- 
 ed three times, and for conspicuous gallantry was pro- 
 moted to a Brigadier Generalship. As Brigadier Gen- 
 eral he commanded a division at the siege of Corinth, 
 and subsequently took command of the post at Jackson, 
 Miss. In March, 1863, he received his commission as 
 Major General, and took part in the battle of Thomp- 
 son's Hill. The battle of Raymond was fought alone 
 by General Logan, and during the engagement he had 
 two horses killed. Subsequently General Logan, with 
 his division, took part in the battles of Jackson, Cham- 
 pion Hills, Baker Creek and the siege of Vicksburg, for 
 conspicuous gallantry at which he was by special order 
 from General Grant assigned to the command of the 
 Fifteenth Army Corps, vice General Sherman promoted 
 to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. Dur- 
 ing the winter of 1864, Logan was in command of the 
 
THE LAST FOUR WKEKS OF THE WAR. 385 
 
 District of Northern Alabama, headquarters at Hunts- 
 ville. In all the subsequent engagements, far too 
 numerous to mention, in which his corps participated 
 and won undying fame, Logan has been distinguished 
 for his good generalship and gallantry in the field. 
 
 By General Order No. 210, dated War Department, 
 Adjutant General's Office, Washington, December 18, 
 1862, the Fifteenth Corps was organized under com- 
 mand of Major General W. T. Sherman, the present 
 commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi. 
 General Sherman was succeeded by Major General John 
 A. Logan, who was succeeded by Major General W. B. 
 Hazen, who led the successful assault on Fort McAllis- 
 ter last fall. 
 
 THE FIFTEENTH CORPS IN THE LINE. 
 General W. B. Hazen, Commander and Staff. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Major General C. B. Woods and Staff, with the Twenty- 
 ninth Missouri Cavalry as an Escort. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General W. B. Woods, Com- 
 manding. 
 76th Ohio. 27th Missouri. 
 
 93d Indiana. 31st and 32d Consol- 
 
 4th Minnesota. idated Battalion of 
 
 13th Indiana. Missouri. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Gotterson, Commanding. 
 93d Illinois. loth Ohio. 
 
 46th Ohio. 26th Illinois, 
 
 looth Indiana. 103d Illinois. 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel George A. Stone, Commanding. 
 4th Iowa. 9tli Iowa. 
 
 25th Iowa. 26th Iowa. 
 
 30th Iowa. 31st Iowa. 
 
386 THE IvAvST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 Major General Oliver, Commander. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General Theodore Jones, Com- 
 manding. 
 
 30th Ohio. 6th Missouri. 
 
 17th Iowa. 55th Illinois. 
 
 37th Ohio. 6th Michigan. 
 
 8th Missouri. ii6th Illinois. 
 
 127th Illinois. loth Iowa. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General Wells S. Jones, Com- 
 manding. 
 53d Ohio. 54th Ohio. 
 
 47th Ohio. 57th Ohio. 
 
 26th Missouri. 144th Illinois. 
 
 83d Indiana. 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel Hutchinson, Commanding. 
 15th Michigan. 4Sth Illinois. 
 
 56th Illinois. 90th Illinois. 
 
 70th Ohio. 
 
 FOURTH DIVISION. 
 
 Major General J. M. CoRSE, Commander and Staff. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General A. V. Rice, Command- 
 ing. 
 2d Iowa. 7th Iowa. 
 
 52d Illinois. 66th Indiana. 
 
 12th Illinois. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General Clarke, Commanding. 
 31st Ohio. 64th Illinois. 
 
 59th Indiana. i8th Wisconsin. 
 
 48th Indiana. 
 
 3d Brigade, Colonel Rowell, Commanding. 
 39th Iowa. 57th Illinois. 
 
 7th Illinois. 69th Illinois. 
 
 50th Illinois. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 387 
 
 Artillery Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Ross, Chief of 
 Artillery and Staff. 
 Battery B, ist Michigan. 
 Battery H, ist Illinois. 
 Battery H, 1st Missouri. 
 12th Wisconsin. 
 
 The Fifteenth Corps since its organization has par- 
 ticipated in nearly all of the important battles which 
 have taken place during the memorable campaigns in 
 the West, and has won immortal fame on the following 
 battle fields, which are inscribed on its colors : Chick- 
 asaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Siege of Vicksburg, Jack- 
 son, Chattanooga, Mission Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Sneak 
 Creek Gap, Resacca, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kenesaw 
 Mountain, Chattahooche River, Atlanta, Jones- 
 borough, &c. 
 
 THE SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS. 
 
 General Frank Blair, Commander. 
 Staff with Escort of Ninth Illinois Mounted Infantry. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Brigadier General M. F. Force, Commander and 
 
 Staff, 
 ist Brigade, General J. W. Fuller, Commanding. 
 27th Ohio. 39th Ohio. 
 
 i8th Missouri. 64th Illinois. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General J. W. Sprague, Com- 
 manding. 
 43d Ohio. 63d Ohio. 
 
 35th New York. 25th Wisconsin. 
 
 3d Brigade, Brigadier General John Tillson, Com- 
 manding, 
 loth Illinois. 2 2d Ohio. 
 
 24th Indiana. 
 
388 THE I.AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 Major General M. D. Leggett, Commander and Staff. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General Bwing, Command- 
 ing. 
 
 I2th Ohio. i6th Ohio. 
 
 31st Illinois. 45th Illinois. 
 
 30th Illinois. 
 
 2d Brigade, General R. K. Scott, Commanding. 
 
 69th Ohio. 7th Ohio. 
 
 20th Ohio. 20th Illinois. 
 
 FOURTH DIVISION. 
 
 Major General G. A. Smith, Commander and Staff. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General B. F. Potts, Com- 
 manding. 
 
 23d Ohio. 32d Ohio. 
 
 53d Illinois. 53d Indiana. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General Stolbrend, Com- 
 manding. 
 
 32d Illinois. 14th Illinois. 
 
 15th Illinois. 
 
 3d Brigade, Brigadier General W. W. Belknap, Com- 
 manding. 
 
 nth Iowa. 13th Iowa. 
 
 15th Iowa. 1 6th Iowa. 
 
 Artillery Brigade, Major F. Welker, Chief of Artillery 
 
 and Staff. 
 
 15th Ohio. ist Minnesota. 
 
 Battery C, ist Michigan. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 389 
 
 On the flag, in front of General Blair's headquarters 
 is inscribed the following laconic record of that Corps : 
 
 " Shiloh, Corinth, luka, Hatchie, Port Gibson, Ray- 
 mond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Meridian, 
 Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, Jonesborough, 
 Atlanta, Savannah, Pocotaligo, Salkehatchie, Edisto 
 River, Orangeburg, Columbia, Cheraw, Fayettesville, 
 Bentonville." 
 
 THE LEFT WING OF SHERMAN'S ARMY IN 
 THE REVIEW. 
 
 ARMY OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Major General SIvOCUM in Command. 
 
 I 
 
 TWENTIETH CORPS. 
 
 Major General Joseph A. MowER, and Staff. 
 
 This sterling corps was first organized on the 3d of 
 April, 1864, in Lookout Valley, Tennessee. As origi- 
 nally constituted it was composed of four divisions, 
 commanded by Generals Williams, Geary, Butterfield, 
 and Rosseau ; but the Fourth Division under the last 
 named General has never served with the corps, having 
 always been detached upon other duties. The First, 
 Second, and Third Divisions were composed almost en- 
 tirely of troops of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, 
 when these organizations were disbanded. General 
 Hooker commanded this corps up to the siege of At- 
 lanta, and these are the boys that did the fighting 
 above the clouds at Lookout Mountain, 
 
390 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Major General A. B. Williams, Commander. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General James h. Selfridge, 
 Commanding. 
 
 5tli Connecticut. 46tli Pennsylvania. 
 
 123d New York. 141st New York. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General Hawley, Commanding. 
 
 3d Wisconsin. 2d Massachusetts. 
 
 13th New York. 107th New York. 
 
 150th New York. 
 
 3d Brigade, Brigadier General James S. Robinson, 
 Commandino^. 
 
 'C5- 
 
 31st Wisconsin. 82d Ohio. 
 
 82d Illinois. loist Illinois. 
 
 143d New York. 
 
 The First and Second Brigades of this division form- 
 erly belonged to the Twelfth Corps, while the First 
 Brigade came principally from the Eleventh Corps. 
 The First and Second Brigades were the real nucleus 
 of the division. They originally composed General 
 Williams's Division of the Second Corps, then com- 
 manded by General Banks, under whose leadership 
 they fought the battles of Winchester and Cedar Moun- 
 tain. After this battle the corps were reorganized and 
 called the Twelfth. The division as the First of this 
 new corps was engaged in the battles of Winchester, 
 Antietam, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Sulphur 
 Springs, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Since then 
 as a part of the Twentieth Corps, the division has par- 
 ticipated in all its battles. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 391 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 Major General John W. Geary, Commanding. 
 
 ist Brigade, Brigadier General A. Pardee, Jr., Com- 
 manding. 
 5th Ohio. 29tli Ohio. 
 
 66th Ohio. 28th Pennsylvania. 
 
 147th Pennsylvania. 
 
 2d Brigade, General P. H. Jones, Commanding. 
 
 33d New York. 73d Pennsylvania. 
 
 119th New York. 134th New York. 
 
 154th New York. 
 
 3d Brigade, General H. A. Barnum, Commanding. 
 
 29th Pennsylvania. iiith Pennsylvania. 
 
 60th New York. i02d New York. 
 
 137th New York. 149th New York. 
 
 This was formerly the Second Division of the Twelfth 
 Corps. When the present organization was established 
 it received the addition of one brigade from the 
 Eleventh Corps. The troops of the First and Second 
 Brigades, prior to the formation of the Twelfth Army 
 Corps in September, 1862, were under the command of 
 Major General Banks, and during 1861 and 1862 were 
 actively engaged in the Shenandoah Valley, and along 
 the Upper Potomac. Some of the corps of the First 
 Brigade fought in the battles in West Virginia, under 
 General McClelland. The Second Brigade, formerly of 
 the Eleventh Corps, prior to its formation, was under 
 the commands of Generals Sigel and Fremont. Before 
 the formation of the Twentieth Corps the troops of this 
 Division in whole or in part, had been engaged in the 
 following battles: 
 
 Rich Mountain, Laurel Hill, Carrick's Ford, Harper's 
 Ferry, Winchester, two battles, Cross Keyes, Port Re- 
 public, Cedar Mountain, White Sulphur Springs, Sec- 
 
392 THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ond Bull Run, Chantilly, Antietam, Chancellorsville, 
 Gettysburg, Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Mission- 
 ary Ridge and Ringgold. 
 
 The division was particularly distinguished at Look- 
 out Mountain, which gallant action it fought and won 
 without assistance. It has since participated in all the 
 battles ot the Twentieth Corps, Averysborough and 
 Bentonville. Besides this it has fought singly the bat- 
 tle of Mill Creek Gap. Since its organization it has 
 been under the command of General Geary, formerly 
 Brigadier, now Brevet Major General. It is generally 
 considered the best disciplined division in the Twen- 
 tieth Corps, and as such the crack division of Sherman's 
 Army. It is a remarkable fact that this division has 
 never lost a gun and but one stand of colors. 
 
 • THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 General W. G. Ward, Commander. 
 
 ist Brigade, General Benjamin Harrison, Com- 
 manding. 
 
 70th Indiana. 79th Ohio. 
 
 i02d Indiana. 105th Illinois. 
 
 129th Illinois. 
 
 2d Brigade, General Daniel Dustin, Commanding. 
 
 19th Michigan. 22d Wisconsin. 
 
 33d Indiana. 85th Indiana. 
 
 3d Brigade, General Cogswell, Commanding. 
 
 20th Connecticut. 26th Wisconsin. 
 
 33d Massachusetts. 55th Ohio. 
 
 73d Ohio. 136th New York. 
 
 This division is mainly composed of Western troops. 
 The First and Second Brigades are exclusively so, and 
 a portion of the Third Brigade is also from the West. 
 These troops, prior to the organization of the corps, had 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 393 
 
 been guarding railroads and Government property in 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, and had never been engaged 
 in battle. The remainder of the men had participated 
 in all the battles of the Eleventh Corps. Since the 
 formation of the Twenty-first Corps, the division has 
 been engaged in nearly all the battles of the Ninth 
 Corps, and has fought gallantly in them all. 
 
 ARTILLERY BRIGADE. 
 
 Captain C. E. Winegar, Commanding. 
 
 Battery I, ist N. Y. Battery M, ist N. Y. 
 
 Battery C, ist Ohio. Battery E, Ind. Penna. 
 
 THE FOURTEENTH ARMY CORPS IN THE 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 Major General Jeff. C. Davis, Commander. 
 
 The present organization of this corps was effected 
 in October, 1863, at Chattanooga, under the command 
 of Major General Palmer. It participated always with 
 credit in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, and 
 fought the battle of Jonesborough (below Atlanta) un- 
 supported, driving a large force of the enemy from the 
 works and capturing two four-gun batteries. It par- 
 ticipated in the pursuit of Hood, and has since formed 
 with the Twentieth Corps the left wing (now the Army 
 of Georgia) of Sherman's Army. At the battle of Ben- 
 tonville it sustained the first shock of Johnston's at- 
 tack, and resisted so stubbornly that time was given for 
 the arrival of the Twentieth Corps, when the Army of 
 Georgia repulsed all Johnston's attacks, which, finding 
 fruitless, he withdrew to Smithfield. The history of 
 the Fourteenth Corps has been an eventful one, but is 
 so nearly like that of the Twentieth Corps with which 
 
394 "^HE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 it has been so closely connected, that to give a length- 
 ened sketch of its services would be to indulge in need- 
 less repetition. This corps is commanded by Major 
 General Jefferson C. Davis, who has been heard to thank 
 God that he had a C. in his name. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 General Charles C. Walcutt, Commander and 
 
 Staff. 
 
 ist Brigade. 
 
 2 ist Wisconsin. 42d Indiana. 
 
 33d Ohio. 88th Indiana. 
 
 94th Ohio. 104th Illinois. 
 
 2d Brigade, Brigadier General Buell, Commanding. 
 
 2 ist Michigan. 60th Ohio. 
 
 13th Michigan. 
 
 3d Brigade. 
 
 2 ist Ohio. 38th Indiana. 
 
 14th Ohio. 79th Pennsylvania. 
 
 This division left Louisville (the First Division of 
 the old Fourteenth Army Corps) on the ist of October, 
 1862; fought at Perryville, October i, 1862; reached 
 Nashville in November; participated in the hard fought 
 battle of Stone River, December 31, January i, 2 and 3. 
 At Murfreesborough the division was reorganized, and 
 started in January, 1863, on the Tullahoma campaign ; 
 was in the battles of Horner's Gap, June 21, and Chick- 
 amauga, September 19 and 20, Brigadier General Baird 
 being then in command. At Chattanooga it was reor- 
 ganized, since which time it has been actively engaged 
 in all the battles of the present Fourteenth Corps. Since 
 its organization it has had the following commanders : 
 Brigadier General Rousseau, Brigadier General Baird, 
 Brigadier General Rousseau again, Brigadier General 
 
, THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 395 
 
 Johnson, Brigadier General King, Brigadier General 
 Carlin, and Brigadier General Walcutt, its present 
 leader. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 General James D. Morgan, Commander, 
 ist Brigade, General Vandevers, Commanding. 
 
 loth Michigan. 14th Michigan, 
 
 loth Illinois. 60th Illinois. 
 
 17th New York. 
 
 2d Brigade. 
 
 i2ist Ohio. 113th Ohio. 
 
 io8th Ohio. 98th Ohio. 
 
 34th Illinois. 78th Illinois. 
 
 3d Brigade. 
 
 35th Illinois. 80th Illinois, 
 
 iioth Illinois. 125th Illinois. 
 
 52d Ohio. 22d Indiana. 
 
 37th Indiana. 
 
 This division was organized October 10, 1863, under 
 command of JefF. C. Davis, then Brigadier General. It 
 has participated in all the battles of the Fourteenth 
 Corps, and at Jonesborough particularly distinguished 
 itself. In this action there were, to quote the words of 
 General Morgan's official report, " two four-gun bat- 
 teries taken, one by the First and one by the Second 
 Brigade; three hundred and ninety-four prisoners, one 
 Brigadier General, twenty-four commissioned officers, 
 over one thousand stand of small arms, and six battle- 
 flags." It was detached to capture Rome, Georgia, 
 and succeeded. In its attack on Kenesaw Mountain it 
 lost one thousand three hundred men in twenty min- 
 utes, and five field officers. 
 
39^ THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 General A. Baird, Commander. 
 
 ist Brigade, Colonel M. C. Hunter, Commanding. 
 
 17th Ohio. 3TSt Ohio. 
 
 89th Ohio. 92d Ohio. 
 
 82d Indiana. 23d Missouri detachm't. 
 
 nth Ohio detachment. 
 
 2d Brigade, Colonel Gleeson, Commanding. 
 
 105th Ohio. 2d Minnesota. 
 
 75th Indiana. 87th Indiana, 
 
 loist Indiana. • 
 
 3d Brigade, General S. S. Green, Commanding. 
 
 14th Ohio. 38th Ohio, 
 
 loth Kentucky. i8th Kentucky. 
 
 74th Indiana. 
 
 Fourteenth Army Corps Artillery Brigade. 
 
 Battery C, ist Illinois. Battery L, 2d Illinois. 
 
 5th Wisconsin Battery. 
 
 This division, like the preceding, was organized at 
 Chattanooga in October, 1863, and has sustained an ex- 
 cellent reputation in all of the numerous battles in 
 which it has been engaged. At Jonesborough its loss 
 was very heavy, but the works in its front were gal- 
 lantly carried. At Bentonsville it was ordered forward, 
 unsupported by the other divisions, and made a success- 
 ful reconnoissance of the enemy's position. Its men 
 still proudly remember that they belonged to Major 
 General George H. Thomas's Division at the first suc- 
 cessful battle of the war — Mill Spring, where ZollicofFer 
 met his death, 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 397 
 
 COMMENT ON THE GRAND REVIEW AFTER 
 IT PASSED. 
 
 The grand review is over. The 
 Washington, D-C ^^q (javs of deserved apotheosis 
 
 Wednesday, May 24, 1865. - . •' .^ - , 
 
 of the two great armies of the 
 Republic have come and gone, and one hundred and 
 fifty thousand veterans have been reviewed, not merely 
 by Grant and Sherman and Meade, but by the people, 
 the grateful millions. Your faithful correspondents 
 have already given you by telegraph the story of the 
 marching in serried columns, the huzzas of the multi- 
 tude, and the names of commanding officers from those 
 of corps to those of regiments. I shall only add a few 
 observations, reflections and recollections. 
 
 To civilians looking on, perhaps the most amazing 
 thing was the number that marched by. Unused to 
 armies, they sat seven hours on yesterday and sevenhours 
 to-day, while the men with sabers and the men with 
 bayonets, in close order and at brisk pace, marched past 
 and still the wonder grew where all the soldiers came 
 from. And yet only one-quarter of the loyal forces now 
 under arms in the country were seen by them. So the 
 dense, swift, long columns, were the greatest wonder, 
 because they were dense and swift and long. 
 
 The next wonder was that the soldiers seemed so 
 little excited. They tramped along with a certain easy 
 satisfied, every-day nonchalance that was the perfection 
 of the 7til admirari. They scarcely looked right or left, 
 and any pride and exultation they did show was grim 
 and bronzed like their faces and their uniforms. There 
 were, however, some exceptions. When a shout of 
 '' Hurrah for Massachusetts " would be raised by a group 
 of Bay State spectators, or an enthusiastic Sucker would 
 call for and get rousing cheers for Illinois, as regiments 
 from their respective States passed by, then the rank 
 and file would look eagerly to where the shout came 
 
398 THE LAST I^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 from, and scan each man's face as though hoping to see 
 a familiar one. Again, when a Colonel on passing the 
 main pavilion would ask for cheers for the President 
 and General Grant, the imperturbable faces would be- 
 come transfigured into wild animation and pride, and 
 old rusty caps, grasped by tawny hands and swung high 
 by brawny arms, would circle in the air, while lungs 
 made strong by years in the field and throats familiar 
 with the whoop of the charge and the cheer of victory, 
 would send up a noise like that of the many waters of 
 many Niagaras. And yet not one in fifty would turn 
 his eyes to see the faces of those they were cheering. 
 Whether the seeming want of curiosity was the result 
 of discipline which commanded "eyes to the front, all," 
 or whether they really did not deign to appear to be 
 curious, I can't say. 
 
 There never was so perfectly happy a set of men as 
 those in the main pavilion — the Presidentand Cabinet, 
 General Grant, and the score or two of other distin- 
 guished officers. Not that they grinned and bowed in 
 self-approbativeness, for there was not a bit of that. It 
 wasn't self-complacency, but a sort of calm quiet; a 
 settled peace and gratitude, seemed to pervade them 
 all. When the crowd would surge up to the stand, at 
 any brief interval in the procession and demand a sight 
 of their favorites, the President would rise and bow re- 
 peatedly, but say never a word. Grant, when called 
 for, would but rise for an instant, with lifted hat, and if 
 his face told any story at all it was one of shyness and 
 surprise. 
 
 To the stranger in Washington who had never seen 
 the men on that stand, it was well worth while the rush- 
 ing up as the rear of a division or corps passed, the 
 hurried glance, and the scamper back when the head of 
 the next column approached. There were the Presi- 
 dent and Cabinet, Sherman, Meade, Hancock, Howard, 
 Slocum, Logan, Hunter, Humphreys, Custer, and fifty 
 others only less famous — a collection of names that will 
 pass into history among the giants. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 399 
 
 Yesterday the favorites among the officers who rode 
 by were clearly Merritt, Custer, Humphreys, Griffin 
 and Miles. Custer is the Murat of the war, Hum- 
 phreys has worthily succeeded to the command of Han- 
 cock's old corps (the Second), and Griffin to Warren's 
 (the Fifth). It should not and does not detract from 
 the latter, that the men raised cheer after cheer for 
 Warren, than whom an officer was never more idolized 
 by his soldiers. It may not be inappropriate to say here 
 that it is understood that Warren stands to-day entirely 
 exonerated from any fault on the day that he was re- 
 lieved from his corps by Sheridan, and that he and 
 Sheridan are now the best of friends. The statement 
 is confirmed by Warren's late assignment to an impor- 
 tant command at the West. 
 
 To-day the heroes have been Sherman, Logan, Slo- 
 cum and Geary. Howard having taken charge of the 
 Freedmen's Bureau, and yielded the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee, did not ride with the troops; but everybody 
 asked for him, and an ovation was waiting for this one- 
 armed hero. 
 
 You know before the war Logan was an azvful Demo- 
 crat, and in his speeches actually committed himself 
 against "coercion." But when Sumter was fired upon, 
 and his political chief, Douglas, wheeled about and 
 pronounced for coercion, then he, too, began to recon- 
 sider. It is said that he wrote to Douglas to know 
 what to do, and that the latter replied, "Raise a regi- 
 ment, John." Logan did so, and was commissioned 
 Colonel by an old political antagonist, Governor Yates. 
 During the first year of the war he remained very much 
 of a Democrat — fought for the Union with Slavery. 
 He dates his Abolitionism from the day he entered some 
 Southern city — I think it was Nashville — and found no 
 welcome except from the negroes. Last fall his wife 
 bet a span of mules with General Singleton that her 
 husband would vote for Lincoln — and won them. A 
 few weeks before the election he was given leave of ab- 
 sence, and announced that he would speak ; but, desir- 
 
400 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 ous of getting at his old political associates, refused to 
 say upon which side he would speak. He got a tre- 
 mendous audience, and pronounced for Lincoln ; and 
 then spoke twice each day till election. As the direct 
 result, the political revolution in Southern Illinois was 
 the most remarkable thing in the last campaign. 
 
 Yesterday the best horse in the line was Custer's, to- 
 day Geary's. Major General Geary was Scott's Military 
 Governor of the City of Mexico, has been mayor of 
 San Francisco, Governor of the Territory of Kansas, 
 and has fought through this war, beginning as colonel. 
 How he sat on his horse to-day! — a tall, shining black 
 horse, whose neck was clothed with thunder, whose tail 
 was carried like a banner, whose step bespoke the pride 
 of Ivucifer — a kingdom for that horse were not so bad 
 a bargain ! 
 
 One thing, both yesterday and to-day, never failed to 
 call forth cheers, and that was the old flags, the tattered, 
 torn, stained flags, frayed to shreds, staff's with a few 
 sprays of a lint-like silk — these were loudly cheered 
 every three times. Sometimes a regiment would show 
 two of these old flags, and along side it a broad new 
 silken ''glory" bearing the names of the battles in 
 which it had participated. One Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment had affixed to an old staff" to which still clung a 
 few shreds of the old flag, a score of bright new stream- 
 ers, each having the name of one of the battles of the 
 regiment — and wasn't that cheered ! 
 
 The Army of the Potomac reviewed yesterday is 
 mainly composed of Eastern troops, while the Army of 
 Georgia (Slocum's), and the Army of Tennessee (Lo- 
 gan's, late Howard's), are mainly Western troops. The 
 exception in the one case consists in a dozen Western 
 regiments scattered through the different divisions. In 
 the latter the exception is the Twentieth Corps (the 
 Eleventh and Twelfth consolidated), which went West 
 under Hooker. Naturally a comparison was provoked 
 in the minds of the spectators between the Eastern and 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 4OI 
 
 Western troops. It was noted that the Western men 
 had the advantage in physiqne, were taller men, with 
 fewer boys, and scarcely any foreigners among them, 
 that their marching step was several inches longer, and 
 that yellow and red beards, and light hair, worn long, 
 predominated. Officers of the Army of the Potomac 
 conceded that they marched better, that they moved 
 with an elastic, springy, swinging step that does not 
 belong to the Eastern boys, and that their faces were 
 more intelligent, self-reliant and determined. One 
 could not distinguish officers from men except by their 
 uniforms — the privates and the officers seemed equal in 
 intelligence and manly bearing, and in station when at 
 home. On the other hand, the Eastern troops showed 
 more pure discipline, more drill. There was a marked 
 distinction between the officers and the men in point of 
 culture. The officers were more gayly dressed, and 
 evidently belonged to more elegant, or at least more 
 presuming walks of life than those of the general rank 
 in the Western armies. The Eastern men all wore the 
 close-fitting regulation skull-cap ; the Western men the 
 soft slouch hat. The former were exact, prim, stiff — 
 the latter, easy, don't-care, independent, and pioneer- 
 ish. 
 
 It was remarkable to see how the Twentieth Corps 
 transplanted, as it had been, from the East, had taken 
 on many of the characteristics of their new comrades. 
 They had learned the same swinging stride, exchanged 
 caps for hats, and become military cosmopolites. 
 
 Bringing up the rear of each brigade to-day were the 
 jack mules, heavily laden with the camp fixtures of the 
 commands, and with the plunder of the long march 
 from Atlanta to Washington. Indeed the mules them- 
 selves were found on the way. They were led by ne- 
 groes — also found on the way. Tied to the backs of 
 the mules were a number of big red roosters and fight- 
 ing cocks. Crosswise the back of one, with feet either 
 pannier, was a grave billy goat. Following one brig- 
 
402 THE LAST IJ^OUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 
 
 ■ 
 
 ade, led by negroes, was a pair of small white original 
 jackasses and several cows. These things elicited mnch 
 merriment and shouting among the thousands looking 
 on, to whom the "bummers" of a large army were a 
 revelation. A half dozen pickaninnies not ten years 
 old, of both sexes, astride mules, evidently the proteges 
 of regiments, were funny enough. 
 
 Commanding a brigade in this corps was General H. 
 A. Barnum, of Syracuse. Your correspondent once 
 wrote that man's obituary — after the seven days' 
 battles. The surgeon reported him dying, and he was 
 left on the field, after having sent his last words to his 
 wife and little boy. However, he came down from 
 Richmond on the first flag-of-truce boat, and lived to 
 fight at Fredericksburg, at Chancellorsville, at Gettys- 
 burg, at Lookout Mountain — where he was again 
 wounded — and now to lead a brigade in " Sherman's 
 march to the Sea." You wouldn't have thought as you 
 saw him backing a wild horse to-day, receiving the 
 bouquets that were brought him, and bowing acknowl- 
 edgement to the cheers that greeted him, that he still 
 has an unhealed wound from Malvern Hill yet such is 
 the case. You could put your whole hand into the raw 
 cavity in his side that still remains, and will never 
 heal, but since he received that wound he stormed 
 Lookout Mountain, and was chosen to go to Washing- 
 ton bearing the thirty-five flags captured there. 
 
 Commanding the Third Division of the Fourteenth 
 Corps was Brevet Major General J. M. Corse, of Ohio, a 
 young man of twenty-eight. Six or eight years ago he 
 was dropped from the roll of cadets at West Point for 
 incompetency — inability to maintain the required rank 
 in his class. But the knowledge of tactics gained in 
 the year or two he was there, gave him at the com- 
 mencement the adjutancy of an Iowa regiment. He 
 couldn't do the mathematics of West Point, neverthe- 
 less he was a natural soldier, and, young as he is, has 
 won his present rank by sheer fighting, by sheer ability 
 
THE IvAST FOUR WEEKS OE THE WAR. 4O3 
 
 in fighting. When Hood struck Sherman's communi- 
 cations, Corse, with twelve hundred men was garrison- 
 ing the important point of Altoona. By the inspiration 
 which he infused into his men he beat off half of 
 Hood's army, and was breveted Major General for it — 
 but he couldn't get through West Point. His career is 
 a beautiful comment on the assumption and pre- 
 sumption of some of those who do not get through that 
 questionable institution known as " West Point." I 
 never saw General Corse till he rode by to-day, but I 
 think I am correct as to his failure at West Point, as I 
 know I am in regard to his brilliant record in the army. 
 
 The Army of the Potomac lacked in this review one 
 of its best corps — the Sixth, General Wright command- 
 ing since Sedgwick fell. The Sixth was necessarily 
 detained at Danville and vicinity until last week, and 
 only left Richmond for this city yesterday morning. 
 Its absence yesterday is much to be regretted, for no 
 corps has a better record. 
 
 And so the last review is over. The war is over. 
 The boys are going home. 
 
 " When shall their glory fade ? " 
 
 The Army of the Potomac marched back to their 
 camps on the other side of the river, but Slocum's 
 armies have gone into camp on this side, north and 
 east of the city. 
 
Thursday, May 25, 1865. 
 
 The Rebel General Johnston has 
 
 Washington, D. c, published a letter stating the 
 
 May 25, 1865. causes which induced him to 
 
 surrender to General Sherman. 
 He says: ''The consequence of prolonging the strug- 
 gle would only have been the destruction or dispersion 
 of our bravest men, and great suffering of women and 
 children, by the desolation and ruin inevitable from the 
 marching of two hundred thousand men through the 
 country. Having failed in an attempt to obtain terms 
 giving security to citizens as well as soldiers, I had to 
 choose between wantonly bringing the evils of war upon 
 those I had been chosen to defend, and averting those 
 calamities with the confession that hopes were dead, 
 which every thinking Southern man had already lost. 
 I made this convention to spare the blood of this gal- 
 lant little army, to prevent further suffering of our peo- 
 ple by the devastation and ruin inevitable from the 
 marching of invading armies, and to avoid the crime of 
 waging a hopeless war." 
 
 Rebel deserters and escaped pris- 
 New Orleans, La., oucrs of the Thirty-third Iowa 
 
 May 25, 1865. Regiment just arrived from 
 
 Texas, report that the Union 
 prisoners confined at Tyler, Texas, were allowed to es- 
 cape in large numbers, the guards saying that, when 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 405 
 
 they are all gone, they will have nothing to do, and 
 then can go home. The interior of Texas is in a terri- 
 bly disorganized condition. A telegraph line is to be 
 constructed from San Antonio and Austin to Mata- 
 mores. 
 
 The United States gunboat Tus- 
 Boston. Mass., carora, from Fortress Monroe, 
 
 May 25, 1865. with Alexander H. Stephens and 
 
 Postmaster Reegan on board, ar- 
 rived below this port this morning, and anchored in 
 the Narrows. The Rebel party will be lodged in Fort 
 Warren to-day. 
 
Saturday, May 27, 1865 
 
 Major General Dix: A dispatch 
 Kirby Smith's Surrender, from General Canby, dated at 
 w^shingfoTTc., ^^^ Orleans, yesterday, the 26th 
 
 May 27, 1865. inst., states that arrangements 
 
 for the surrender of the Confed- 
 erate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department have 
 been concluded. They include the men and material 
 of the army and navy. 
 
 Edwin M. Stanton, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
Tuesday, May 30, 1865, 
 
 Special Field Orders, No. 76. 
 
 Washington, D. c, — The General commanding an- 
 
 May 30, 1865. nounccs to the armies of the 
 
 Tennessee and Georgia that the 
 
 time has come for ns to part; our work is done and 
 
 armed enemies no longer defy us. 
 
 Some of you will be retained in service until further 
 orders ; and now that we are about to separate, to min- 
 gle with the civil world, it becomes a pleasing duty to 
 recall to mind the situation of national affairs. 
 
 When but little more than a year ago we were gath- 
 ered about the twining cliffs of Lookout Mountain, and 
 all the future was wrapped in doubt and uncertainty, 
 three armies had come together from distant fields, with 
 separate histories, yet bound by one common cause, the 
 union of our country, and the perpetuation of the Gov- 
 ernment of our inheritance. 
 
 There is no need to recall to your memories Tunnell 
 Hill, with its rocky face mountain and Buzzard Roost 
 Gap, with the ugly forts of Dalton behind. We were 
 in earnest, and paused not for danger and difficulty, but 
 dashed through Snake Creek Gap, and fell on Resacca, 
 then on to the Etowah to Dallas, Kenesaw, and the heats 
 of summer found us on the banks of the Chattahooche, 
 far from home, and dependent on a single road for sup- 
 plies. 
 
 Again we were not to be held back by any obstacles, 
 and crossed over and fought four heavy battles for the 
 possession of the citadel of Atlanta. That was the crisis 
 of our history. A doubt still clouded our future, but 
 
4o8 THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 _ 
 
 we solved the problem and destroyed Atlanta, struck 
 boldly across the State of Georgia, 'secured all the main 
 arteries of life to our enemy, and Christmas found us 
 at Savannah. 
 
 Waiting there only long enough to fill our wagons, 
 we again began our march, which for peril, labor and 
 results will compare with any ever made by an organ- 
 ized army; the floods of the Savannah, the swamps of 
 the Combahee and Edisto, the high hills and rocks of 
 the Santee, the flat quagmires of the Peedee and Cape 
 Fear Rivers were all passed in mid-winter, with its 
 floods and ruins, in the fare of an accumulating enemy, 
 and after the battle of Averysborough and Bentonville 
 we once more came out of the wilderness to meet our 
 friends at Goldsboro. 
 
 Even then we paused only long enough to get new 
 clothing to re-load our wagons and again pushed on to 
 Raleigh, and beyond, until we get our enemy sueing 
 for peace instead of war, and offering to submit to the 
 injured laws of his and our country. As long as that 
 enemy was defiant, nor mountains, nor rivers, nor 
 swamps, nor hunger, nor cold had checked us, but when 
 he who had fought us hard and persistently offered sub- 
 mission, your General thought it wrong to pursue him 
 further, and negotiations followed which resulted as you 
 all know in his surrender. 
 
 How far the operations of the army have contributed 
 to the overthrow of the Confederacy, to the peace which 
 now dawns on us, must be judged by others, not by us; 
 but that you have done all that men could do has been 
 admitted by those in authority, and we have a right to 
 join in the universal joy that fills the land because the 
 war is over, and our Government stands vindicated be- 
 fore the world by the joint action of the volunteer ar- 
 mies of the United States. 
 
 To such as remain in the military service your Gen- 
 eral would only remind you that successes in the past 
 are due to hard work and discipline, and that the same 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 409 
 
 work and discipline are equally important in the future. 
 To such as go home I would only say that our favored 
 country is so grand, so extensive, so diversified in cli- 
 mate, soil, and productions, that every man can surely 
 find a home and occupation suited to his tastes, and 
 none should yield to the natural impotence sure to re- 
 sult from our past life of excitement and adventure. 
 
 You will be invited to seek new adventure abroad; 
 but do not yield to the temptation, for it will lead only 
 to death and disappointment. 
 
 Your General now bids you all farewell with the full 
 belief that as in war you have been good soldiers, so in 
 peace you will make good citizens, and if unfortunately 
 a new war should arise in our country, Sherman's army 
 will be the first to buckle on the old armor and come 
 forth to defend and maintain the Government of our 
 inheritance and choice. By order of 
 
 W. T. Sherman, 
 
 Major General. 
 L. M. Dayton, 
 Assistant Adjutant General. 
 
Friday, June 2, 1865, 
 
 General Orders, No. io8. — 
 
 Washington, D. C, c^ „ ^ ^ \ _ 
 
 June 2.1865. SOLDIERS OF THE ArMIES , OF 
 
 THE United States: By your 
 patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of dan- 
 ger and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery and 
 endurance, you have maintained the supremacy of the 
 Union and the Constitution, overthrown all armed op- 
 position to the enforcement of the laws, and of the 
 proclamations forever abolishing Slavery — the cause 
 and pretext of the Rebellion — and opened the way to 
 the rightful authorities, to restore order and inaugurate 
 peace on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot 
 of American soil. Your marches, sieges and battles, 
 in distance, duration, resolution and brilliancy of re- 
 sults, dim the lustre of the world's past military achieve- 
 ments, and will be the patriot's precedent in defense of 
 liberty and right in all time to come. In obedience to 
 your country's call, you left your homes and families 
 and volunteered in its defense. Victory has crowned 
 your valor and secured the purpose of your patriotic 
 hearts; and with the gratitude of your countrymen and 
 the highest honors a great and free nation can accord, 
 you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and 
 families, conscious of having discharged the highest 
 duty of American citizens. To achieve these glorious 
 triumphs and to secure to yourselves, your fellow coun- 
 trymen and posterity the blessings of free institutions, 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 411 
 
 tens of thousands of your gallant comrades have fallen 
 and sealed the priceless legacy with their lives. The 
 grave of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, 
 honor their memories, and will ever cherish and sup- 
 port their stricken families. 
 
 U. S. Grant, 
 Lieutenant General. 
 
Thursday, June 8, 1865 
 
 The review of the Sixth Corps, 
 Tune" Vises. ' Major General Wright, has been 
 
 the incident of to-day. The 
 corps consisted of three divisions, nine brigades and 
 fourty-four regiments, and consumed two hours in pass- 
 ing. Reviews here seem to have lost their interest, for 
 .the turnout of the people was very small, though it was 
 to witness the marching of gallant men who have borne 
 the brunt of battle for four years. The arrangements 
 also were conspicuously bad, the tickets of admission 
 to the central platform having been sagaciously sent to 
 General Meade's headquarters at Fort Albany, five 
 miles from the city, the result of which was that the 
 platform was not half full, while Senators and members 
 of Congress, Generals, heads of Bureaus and reporters 
 were obliged to keep to thd street. The pavilion, oc- 
 cupied by the President, Secretary McCulloch, Secre- 
 tary Stanton, Generals Meade, Wright and Heintzel- 
 man, Admiral Davis and others, was beautifully decor- 
 ated with flags and flowers as before. The Vermont 
 Brigade, Major General h. A. Grant, was greatly ad- 
 mired for their fine appearance. Major General Casey, 
 whose praise is worth having, says their marching was 
 of a superior order, indicating excellent discipline, and 
 that this was the only brigade that saluted the Presi- 
 dent correctly. These troops received a hearty wel- 
 come from the Vermonters, with Governor Smith at 
 their head, who occupied a stand opposite the pavilion. 
 
THE LAST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 413 
 
 A noticeable feature of the procession, also, was the 
 One Hundred and Sixty-eighth New York, Colonel A. 
 N. McDonald. This regiment was the first to march 
 into Petersburg. Other New York regiments, and the 
 New Jersey Brigade came in for their meed of praise. 
 The Thirty-seventh Massachusetts also attracted great 
 attention and applause, as on the recent grander review. 
 There were no colored soldiers in line to receive any 
 portion of the popular homage for their bravery and 
 fidelity. They have all been sent off to Texas, where 
 they are for the present safe from the applause of their 
 grateful countrymen and from the sneers of those offi- 
 cers who are jealous lest black men share the honors of 
 the day of victory. 
 
Friday, June 9, 1865, 
 
 The mustering-out of a portion 
 
 Twenty-thlrd Army Corps, of ^)^q TwentV-third CorpS be- 
 Greensboro, N. C, . ^ , \ . r .1 
 
 Junes, 1865. gms to-day. A portion of the 
 
 old Fort Fisher brigade — the 
 first of the Second Division, Tenth Corps, is about to 
 start for home. It consists of the One Hundred and 
 Twelfth, One Hundred and Seventeenth, and One 
 Hundred and Forty-second New York, commanded 
 respectively by Colonel Ludwig, Colonel Myers, and 
 Colonel Burney, with Brevet Brigadier General Dag- 
 gett as Brigade Commander. Their horses have 
 already been sent to Gaston, whence the troops follow 
 by rail, and march thence to City Point, where they 
 take transports. This brigade was the first to storm 
 and take Fort Fisher, during which every officer and 
 man covered himself with glory, and saw the colors 
 first planted on the parapet of the fort. I saw it done. 
 Why is this brave body of troops to be mustered out 
 here, and to lose all the time between the date of mus- 
 ter-out and their actual payment at home ? They must 
 retain their organization until they reach home. This 
 is complained of as unjust and unusual. 
 
Wednesday, June 29, 1865. 
 
 Headquarters of the ^ 
 
 Washington, D. C, ArMY OF THE POTOMAC. V 
 
 June 29, 1865. June 28, 1865. j 
 
 Soldiers : This day two years 
 ago, I was assigned command of you under the orders 
 of the President of the United States. To-day, by 
 virtue of the same authority, the army ceasing to exist, 
 I have to announce my transfer to other duties and my 
 separation from you. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enumerate all that has occurred 
 in these two eventful years, from the grand and deci- 
 sive battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the war, 
 to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at 
 Appomattox Court House. Suffice it to say that his- 
 tory will do you justice. A grateful country will honor 
 the living, cherish and support the disabled, and sin- 
 cerely mourn the dead. 
 
 In parting from you, your Commanding General will 
 ever bear in memory your noble devotion to your coun- 
 try, your patience and cheerfulness under all the priva- 
 tions and sacrifices you have been called on to endure. 
 
 Soldiers, having accomplished the work set before 
 us, having vindicated the honor and integrity of our 
 Government, and flag, let us return thanks to Almighty 
 
4l6 THE l^AST FOUR WEEKS OF THE WAR. 
 
 God for his blessing in granting us victory and peace, 
 and let us earnestly pray for strength and light to dis- 
 charge our duties as citizens, as we have endeavored to 
 discharge them as soldiers. 
 
 George G. Meade, . 
 
 Major General, U. S. A. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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