Part 46 (1/2)
On the same day Sheridan reached Dinwiddie, and the next morning he encountered the confederates near the Court House. Here were W. H. F.
Lee's Cavalry, Picket's and Bushrod Johnson's divisions of Infantry, and Wise's brigade. Sheridan made the attack. His men, on account of the marshy ground, had to dismount. The confederates fought desperately, but Sheridan's men contested every inch of ground, and at night fell back to Dinwiddie Court House and bivouacked. The 5th Corps came up during the night to attack the confederates in the rear; but at daylight it was found that they had fallen back to Five Forks. Here was found the cavalry of W. H. F. Lee and Fitzhugh Lee, with Ross', Picket's, Wise's and Johnson's divisions of infantry. On the morning of the 1st of April, Sheridan advanced the 5th Corps toward Five Forks. That afternoon it fell upon Picket's rear, and now began the decisive battle. The roar was deafening. Night was coming on, and Sheridan was anxious to carry out Grant's order and ”end the matter if possible to do so.” He gave the order, ”Charge bayonets!” In five minutes Picket's outer line was in possession of the federals. Crawford's division struck them in the flank, and, with McKenzie's brigade, routed and sent the confederates flying. The 5th Corps rallied and captured the enemy's entire force in their front. General Sheridan says in report:
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”YOU MUST THROW AWAY THAT CIGAR, SIR!”
A Phalanx guard refusing to allow General U. S. Grant to pa.s.s by the commissary store-house till he had thrown away his cigar.]
”The enemy were driven from their strong line of works, completely routed, the Fifth Corps doubling up their left flank in confusion, and the cavalry of General Merritt das.h.i.+ng on to the White Oak Road, capturing their artillery, turning it upon them, and riding into their broken ranks, so demoralized them that they made no serious stand after their line was carried, but took flight in disorder.”
The writer well remembers the eagerness of the Phalanx brigade of Colonel Shaw, composed of the 109th, 116th and 7th Regiments, as they waited orders near Hatcher's Run. The sound of distant guns fell upon their ears; Colonel Shaw was impatient; all seemed to feel the end was near, and wanted to lend a hand in the consummation. Oh, what suspense!
The brigade lay upon their arms in a state of great agitation, all that night, waiting for orders to advance upon the foe. Who can tell the thoughts of those brave black soldiers as thus they lay upon the rumbling earth. Fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and children, yet slaves, behind the enemy's guns: precious property they are, and guarded like dearest treasure and even life itself, by an army of slave-holders--Lee's men, who, with the desperation of demons, vainly attempted to check the advance of the men of the North, who, with their lives, defended the Union. The black brigade wanted to strike one more blow for freedom--for the freedom of their wives and children--to make one more charge, and the confederate banner should go down; one more charge, and the light of Liberty's stars should blazon over the ramparts of the confederate forts. At length, with the dawning of day, came the order; then the black brigade went forward, but to find the enemy gone and their works deserted.
The confederate lines were broken, and Sheridan's troopers, McKenzie and Merritt, with their cavalry, although it was night, had followed up the fleeing foe, capturing them by thousands. The brigade pushed on along the captured works. The federal batteries, from every mound and hill, were showering shot and sh.e.l.l into the enemy's inner works; while the gleaming bayonets of the thousands of infantry could be seen as far as the eye could reach, their proud banners kissing the stifling air, and the bugles sounding the ”forward march,” leaving in their rear smoking camps and blazing dwellings. What a Sunday morning was that, with its thunders of terrific war, instead of the mellow chimes of church bells and the repose of peace.
It was late in the afternoon, and huge, black clouds of smoke rolled up out of the city of Petersburg, and then a loud report, told that the confederates had evacuated it. Away to the left, the huzzas of Colonel Doubleday's Phalanx brigade (2nd) were heard. Now came a race to reach the city, between the 7th and 8th Phalanx regiments. No matter which was first, they were among the troops which took possession of the city, and gladdened the hearts of the negro population, as they marched through the streets singing their battle song:
”We will hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple-tree as we go marching on.”
It was a glorious victory, bringing freedom to thousands of slaves, though it cost as many lives and millions of treasure. It was the beginning of the end. The confederates deserted their army by thousands.
The South Side Railroad was in the hands of the federals, and starvation threatened the enemy. Lee, says a historian, was no longer himself: he rode wildly through his camps. .h.i.ther, and thither, trying to save his shattered and routed soldiers from annihilation.
The defeat at Five Forks settled the fate of the Army of North Virginia.
Grant had almost the entire federal army actively engaged; he stopped the exchange of prisoners, invited President Lincoln, then at City Point, to come out and see the army advance, which he did. He met Grant in the city of Petersburg, amid the exultations of the troops and the joyous demonstrations of the negro population. General Lee made no stop at Richmond; he had informed Jefferson Davis that he must give up the city. The latter, with his aids and all the money he could collect,--not the confederate paper, but the gold of the United States,--stampeded.
General Weitzel, with Kautz's division of the 24th Corps and Thomas' and Ashborne's division of the 25th Corps, on the north side of the James river, lay quietly upon their arms during the fight on the south side.
Grant kept Weitzel informed as to the results of the attack, and warned him to be on the alert and take every advantage offered, to press the confederates. General Longstreet's forces had been in Weitzel's front, but were partly withdrawn to defend Petersburg; therefore the latter kept unceasing vigil upon the fortifications before him.
Sunday evening the bands were ordered out to play, and it was late into the night when their melodious strains ceased to float through the air.
It was a night long to be remembered, the hearts of the black soldiers of the 25th Corps, gladdened by the reports of the victories of the troops before Petersburg, were jubilant, and with vigilant watch each looked for morning. They were impatient for the light, and ere it dawned they were ready for the onset which they believed must come with it. The enemy whom they supposed were preparing to give them battle, was silently stealing away to the enchanting strains of the Federal musicians. It was near the morning hours when a sudden report startled the sleeping soldiers; an explosion, another, and yet another followed in rapid succession.
General Weitzel soon became satisfied that the enemy was moving, the continuous sound of distant cannonading away to the south, told that the combat still raged. From the signal tower bright lights were discernable at Richmond. The city appeared to be on fire; a confederate picket was captured, but he knew nothing; he had got astray from his comrades and command. A deserter came in with intelligence that the city was being evacuated, and half an hour later a negro drove into camp and gave information that the enemy was flying.
The ground in front was thickly set with torpedoes, and the troops dared not move. Day came and Colonel Draper's black brigade of the 25th Corps went forward. The road was lumbered with all manner and sort of military gear and munitions of war. Keeping clear of the red flags which marked the torpedoes, the troops pushed on; they soon reached the defences of the city to find them untenanted; the negro had told the truth and the Phalanx brigade entered the city welcomed by thousands of happy kinsfolks. Badeau says:
”The sun was an hour up, when suddenly there rose in the streets the cry of 'Yankees! Yankees!' and the ma.s.s of plunderers and rioters, cursing, screaming, trampling on each other, alarmed by an enemy not yet in sight, madly strove to extricate themselves and make an opening for the troops. Soon about forty men of the Fourth Ma.s.sachusetts Cavalry rode into the crowd, and, trotting straight to the public square, planted their guidons on the Capitol.
Lieutenant De Peyster, of Weitzel's staff, a New Yorker eighteen years of age, was the first to raise the national colors, and then, in the morning light of the 3d of April, the flag of the United States once more floated over Richmond.
”The command of Weitzel followed--a long blue line--with gun-barrels gleaming, and bands playing 'Hail Columbia' and 'John Brown's Soul Goes Marching On.' One regiment was black.[33] The magistrates formally surrendered the city to Weitzel at the Capitol, which stands on a hill in the centre of the town, and overlooks the whole country for miles. The national commander at once set about restoring order and extinguis.h.i.+ng the flames. Guards were established, plundering was stopped, the negroes were organized into a fire corps, and by night the force of the conflagration was subdued, the rioting was at an end, and the conquered city was rescued by the efforts of its captors from the evils which its own authorities had allowed, and its own population had perpetrated.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: RECEIVING THE PRESIDENT.
Abraham Lincoln riding through Richmond, April 4th, 1865, after the evacuation of the city by the Confederates.]
Lee and his famis.h.i.+ng host were fleeing towards Danville, hotly pursued by the Federal Army. Resting there until the 5th they resumed the march, fighting and running, until, at Appomattox they gave up and surrendered.
Major Alexandria S. Johnson of the 116th Phalanx Regiment thus relates the story in part which the Phalanx brigade took in the memorable movement of the two armies to Appomattox. He says:
”As a partic.i.p.ant in these events I will speak merely of what came under my own observation. The One Hundred and Sixteenth (colored) Infantry, in which I commanded a company, belonged to the Third Brigade, Second Division of the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, and during the winter of 1864-65 held the lines on Chapin's farm, the left resting on Fort Burnham. The division was commanded by Major-General Birney. The winter was pa.s.sed in endeavoring to get the troops in as high a state of discipline as possible by constant drill and watchful training. When the spring opened we had the satisfaction of feeling that they were the equal, as soldiers, of most of the white troops. They were a contented body, being well fed and clothed, and they took delight in their various duties. The news of the capture of Savannah by Sherman and the defeat of Hood at Nashville had a cheering effect upon the whole command, and we looked forward with confidence that the end was drawing near.
”On the night of the 26th of March our division silently left the lines on Chapin's farm, and marching to the rear some three miles went into bivouac. On the night of the 27th we crossed the James on m.u.f.fled pontoons, and after a weary march arrived at Hatcher's Run at daybreak of the 28th.
Crossing the original lines of breastworks we built new breastworks some two hundred yards in advance and bivouacked in the pine woods awaiting events. Sheridan at this time was operating on the Confederate right flank. The news of his decisive victory at Five Forks and of the complete turning of the enemy's flank was the immediate cause of a verbal order, given to company commanders by our colonel on the afternoon of April 1st, to advance on the lines in our front at dawn on the following day. That night the Union artillery opened along the whole line. Hissing and bursting sh.e.l.ls from Appomattox river to Hatcher's Run filled in a scene never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. It was as if demons incarnate were holding a jubilee. As far as the eye could reach there was one blaze of fiery shot. The world has seldom seen its like. Where our brigade was to operate was a dense wilderness of pines with matted underbrush, but in the morning it looked as though a sirocco had kissed it.
”With the dawn of day the brigade was in line of battle. Not a breath of air was stirring. A misty vapor shed its gloom and hung like a pall among the tree-tops. The silk covers were taken from our flags, but their folds hung lazily along the staff when the command, 'Forward! guide centre! march!'