The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, July 4, 1883, Page 3

FIVE EVENTFUL DAYS. Closing Scenes of the Campaign That Ended at Appomatox. A Final Suspension The Surrender of General Le-— Who Were Present and Where It Took Place. Amer- * North tor July. a sridar ican Rev Public been occasionally called to some Sh of late ittention having or lose the events that occurred in the ¢ jng scenes of the Virginia campaign, terminating at) Appomattox Court House, April g, 1565, I teel it ¢ to history the following my tacts ~ When, April 4, 15 head of the cavalry, I threw 65, being at the across line of General Lee’s march, Jettersville on Richmond Danville railroad, my cort, the Frst Umted§States cavalry, tall, the the es- personal numbering about 200 men, «2 lank road trom the direction of the Ame- ha court house, riding a small mule towards Burkesville peint and heading junction. to which General Crook had early that morning been ordered with his divission of cavairy. » break the railroad and telegraph Imes. The man and the mute were brought to 2 halt, and the mule closely examined, and himselt strong remonstrances at the indigni- ty done to a Southern gentleman. Ri out avail, and in his boots two the onstrances, however, were with- tele- trom vrams were found Gene 1 ot Lee’s army, say- Phe army isat Amelia Court ot provisions , 300.000 rations quickly to Burkes- One of th dis patches was for the Contederate sup- ply department at Danyille, the er for that at It at once presumed that, after the house, short ville junction.’ © oth- t Wi Lynchburge. dis- patches were written, the tele line had been broken General Crook north of Burkesville, and they to the break to be by were on th station way some telegraph- hey revealed where estimate was, and from them some could be formed as to the number of Orders once given to General Crook to come up the road trom Burkesville to Jetters- his troops. were at ville, and to General Merritt) who, with the other two divisions ot cav- alry, had followed the road from Petersburg, on the south side of and near the Appomatox river, to close in without delay on Jettersville, while the Fitth Army corps, under the lamented Griffin, who was about ten or fifteen beyond, marched at a quick pace to the same point, and the road in tront of Lee’s army blocked until the arrival of the balance of the Army of the Potomac the afternoon of the next d My command was pinched for proyis- miles was tons, and these dispatches an opportunity to obtain a supply; so calling tor Lieutenant-Colonel Young, commanding my scouts, four men, in the most approved gray were selected—good, braye, smart tellows, knowing eyery cavalry reg iment in the Confederate army, and that language language in as Were 1 good **Jolinnies*” army so far as bearing anc were concerned. They were dire ed to go to Burkesville Junction and Te separate. Two were to go down the Lynchburg branch of the railroad until « Confederate telegraph station was found, from which they Were to transmit by wire the mentioned rebel dispatches, repre- senting the suffering condition of Lee’s army. watcl trains, and hurry the on to Burkesville or in that @irection. The other two were to go on to the Dan- ville branch, and had similar instruc- tions. The plished by those who went out on .the Lynchburg branch, but I am not certain about the success of the oth- er party, at all events 0 ~ations came from Danville that I know of. Tarnved at Jettersville with the advance of my command—the F United States cavalry—en the after- noon of the 4th of April. I e condition and position of the re elarmy from the d spatehes referred to, and also fromthe following ter (err 4 for the provisions mission was accom- knew K eusly dated sApril 5th). of Hostilites— an was scen coming down the | under | Com- | | send raph | Lee | indicated abeve- | captured later in the day: Ameria Court House, A : Dear Mau™a :-Our I tez We all safe ron left us sick. Jno. saw him yesterday. We are in line of battle t morning. General Rober. Lee i near us. My trust is sti tice of our? cause and ti of God. General Hill is kille I saw Murray 3ernard prisoner, minutes since said was taken get out. passing up the railroad to burg. Love to all. Your deyoted son, Wittiam B. Tayror. oO I send this bya negro I see Michlen- mel. f according ly sent out my escort to i demonstrate make as much ado continuous firing at rouse, pend as they could, by in tront of tk enemy or near | Ameha court e¢ the ar- rival ot the Fitth corps. That corps came out in course of the after- | noon, and was put into position at | right angies wit | Danville on a pond or swamp on road, with its le t the road. Toward eveni | Crook arrived with his division of | and with his two divisions, and cavalry er General took Fifth corps, atter its arrival, had thrown up all their designated places. The earth works and made _ its position strong enough to hold out against any force for the period whick would arriyal main body of the Potoma rapidly coming up on the lines over which [ had traveled. intervene betore the of the now On the afternoon and night of the 4th no attack was n Je by the enemy upon the small force in his front— the Fifth corps and three divisions of cavalry-——and by the morning of the 5th [began to believe that he would leave the it j could, and pass around my letc flank Xo movement, sth. f sent Davies’ brigade of Crook’s di- main road he j to Sailor’s creck and Farmville. watch this suspected early on the morning of the vision of cavalro, to make ul sult was an cncou a recon- noissance in direction. The re- nter by Davies with a large train of wagons, under escort moving inthe dirction anticipated. attacked by and about two hundred w The tram was him, yns were d ‘rt ot prisoners captured. burned and five pieces of artillery alarge num | In the afternoon ot April 5, the main | body of the army of the Potomac General Meade was came up. un- ; Well and requested me to put the | troops in position, which I did. in | line of battle, facing the enemy at | Amelia court house. I thought it | best to attack at once, but this was not done. | then began to be afraid the enemy would, mm the night, by a march to the right from Amelia court house, attempt to pass our left flank an@ again put us inthe rear of his retreating columns. Under this im- pression I sent to General Grant the following dispatch: Cavarry HEADQUARTERS, } Jettersville, April 5, ’65.-3 p.m. § : 3 Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies of the Umi- | ted States. S d 1 GENERAL: l you the en- osed letter, which will give you an} idea of the condition o enemy and their whereabouts. eral Davies’ brigade this morning around on my left flank. He cap- Fames’ Crossroads five pieces of artillery, about 200 ons, and erght or nine battle-fis and a number prisoners. The ' Second Army Corps is coming up. Iwish vou were here yourselt I teel contident of capturing the Ar- my of Nocthern Virginia if we exert ourselves. pe for Lee. T will put all my cayalry out ontheir left flank except Mackenzie, who now on the right. {Signed.] P. H Sueriwa Major-Genet tured at of Ww I see no es: On receipt of this he immediat started for my headquarters at Jet- It about April Next marnmg, April 6, the intantry advanced arriving there the tersville, o'clock of night of { Amelia ot the army Court House. on iov d reaching it that the enemy had turn- q I was befor e ed our lett flank and taken another road to Ss The caval: advance the infantry on - rt House t moved to t rear, at daylight on the morning of the 6th, and.struck the movir columns of the enemys m znd artillery, with which a series cf contests en- lor is well but may} ithe Richmond and { I send Gen- | wag- | with } Sailor’s creek. wh General Ewell lost about ten thousand men, himselt taken prison ten other general of? We now come to th the 7th. Ty Lee woul D rince Edward’s Court not abandon the direct road to ville through Pr House. and early on t mor ot the 7th, directed Genex Croce to follow up his rear, wh with Mer- s j ritt (Custer’ IT swung off to ti and Devens’ noved road, ft Prince Edwards court house, and thus again | head or cut off all or ¢ omic of the re- {treating Confederate On | reachi army. g that road it was found | General Lee's army j j and my command was 1 Prince E v turn ed North vard’s court house. A detachment ordered to move with the ¢ Et @ | Prince Edwaid’s court h re- | ported that Lee had crossed th 1 | pomattox at anc FE near that Crook had followed will | that General Lee would be { to pass through Appom him. be obliged seen lookin, at the map it attox court house and Appomattox Station on the railroad, to reach Lynchburg by ot the road he had taken North the Appomattox river, and that was the He one—the the cavalry. General Crook was at once sent tor, and the three perhaps at that time 7,000 men, con- longest road to get there. had given the shortest South of the river—to one divisions aumbering centrated on the night of the 7th of April at and near Prospect Station, and Richmond on the Lynchburg Railroad, and Appomattox Station became the objectiye points to the cavalry for the opperations of the next day, the Sth. Me: J idle, but had foilowed down the rail- ntime my scouts had not been road, looking out for the trains with | the 300,000 rations wh had legraphed for onthe night of the Just betore reaching Appomat- tox station they tound five trains of cars feeling their way long inthe di- rection of Burksville junction, not knowing exactly where Lee was Th to come further on by the y induced the person in- cha deserip- tion of the pitiable condition of the Confederate troops. Our start on the morning of the Sth was _ before the sun was up, and having preceed- ed but a few miles, Major White, of the scouts, reached me with the news east of Appo- had some that the trains were mattox station, that he succeed- i dis- ed in bringing them on tance, but was afraid they would again be run back to the station. In- immedi- Mer- who telligence of this fact was ' ately communicated to Crook ritt and Custer, and the latte had the advance, was urged not to | let the trainescape, and I pushed }on snd joined him. Before reaching the station, Custer detarled two regi- strike railroad beyond the station, tear | | ments to make a detour, the } up was accomplished, but on the arri | of the main body of our advance the vance guard of Lee’s army was A ary once ex The enemy were driven off, pieces of artillery captured. and 400 The rail- the t the station it was tound tha coming on the ground. sanguin- eng at sued. gement forty baggage wagons burned. ' road trains had been secured m | first onset and were taken posession | of by locomotive engineers. soldiers in the command, whose delight again getting at their tormer employ- at that they | ment was so an and such unearthly screeching with the whistles 1 «the train making that i was at the point ot order burnt: but we finally got them off divisions) | passed, | the track and secure the trains. This | 1) seen near hy ati pro- | duced the wildest contusion by run- | | ning the trains to and froon the track of i Was no rest t} Dispatct der to doubly ritt. Crook there. » for the pre- | vious ¢ er nine days. Betore sunrise Gen. Ord came in reporting } command. pproach of his se events, Ge — i wi r i “ S Ter t hack on t jt ick on somewhat alarmed lest Gen. Meade. ; hee nes from Farm- : See EN + mught attack, not knowit him to go over to the pot Con- |} ; : j Condition of affairs at the tront re federate officers and nand what } ; ; i | prevent this, | proposed to send iny such conduct meant. Kind apolo- | )-., 5 : t chet of staff, Gen. J. We Forsyt! gies Were we advanced. | } . i r j accompanied by a Confederate ot he superior officers met were Gen. | beri ot : eee Sepe cer, back through — the my J. B. Gordon and Gen. Cadmas M. | 3 Wilcox, the latter an old army offi- cer. As soon as the | first greeting was over, 2 turious tiring commenc- army and intorm Gen. Meade of the j existing state of affairs. He at once started, accompanied by Col. : : } r fax, of - Longsireet’s staft, mm ation abeut po- | ed in tront of our own cavalry. from | tl is th eae 5 j the the P; yns to be t nup by the meom- | Whom we had only a tew minutes | : ree Gen. Gx pe j ront, in tl O be somewhat disconcert- Tin hi > I 2 £ ge 0 ! e meantime, General ’ ' court Yat. Pf remarked to him: ‘Gen. oe is \ ; joe eee jcame over to MeLean’s hot nt | a heavy gon, vour men tired on me as 1] vip, t App: : i Hage ot Appomattox court hous infantry was | Was coming over re. and undo I . u . ‘ ge ; ee Sa nee ais ; : fiam not certain whether General seen advancing and rapid firing com- ; edly they have done the same to Bal i onG 1-C é 2 ee 2 - = aabcock, of General Grant's staff j mence d. Riding toa slight eleva- | Mernitt’s and Custer’s commands. | ahorhad ea 1 ee : : : el: ee ee < | re had arrived in advance he j tion, where I could get a view of the | We might as well let them fieht it G ls bad ; ns P e 5 aera e = seneral, had gone over to see h advancing enemy, [immediately sent | out. To this proposition Gen. | 5 e ONWE Raa saath _ aus te = 3 & = 2 A or not. e had waited some hours directions to Gen. Merritt tor Cus- | Gordon did not accede. I then ask- 1, I think. at : - oy i Ei ae | S re and, hink, about J2 or 1 o'clock ter’s and Devin’s divisions to slow- | ed: **Why notsend 2 staff efticer and G i re ees ee : : | > es senera grunt arrived. G ! ly fall back, and as they did so to | have your people cease tiring. They Soe withdraw to ovr mght flank, thus un- masking Ord’s and Gibbon’s infant- | Crook and Mackenzi extreme lett, were ordered ry. on the to hold j I then hastily galloped back fast. to give Gen. Ord the benefit of my information. No sooner had the enemy's line of battle reached the elevation trom which my reconnois- ance had been made, and from whence could be distinctly seen Ords troops in the distance, than he called a sudden halt, and retrograde movement began toa ridge about a mile to his rear Shortly atterward I returned from Ge Ord to the front, making for Gen. Merritt’s battle-Alag on the right flank on the {lines On reaching it the order to | advance was given, and every guid on was bent to the tront, and as we | swept byftoward the left of the cne- my’s Ine ot battle he opened a heavy No missiles, | fire from tllery. heed was {paid to the deadly and, j with the wildest yells, we soon reach- {ed a point some distance to his right and nearly opposite Appomattox He send said; I one are violating the flag *T have no staff offic replied - rto ee! ‘I will let you ind calling have of mine, tor Lieuten- st Vanderbilt Allen he was direct- ed to report to Gen. Gordonand carry his orders. s The orders were to Gen. ot a small brigade of South Carolina cav- alry, and to ask him to discontinue the firing. Lieutenant Allen dashed oft Geary, who was in command with the message, but, on deliver ing it to Gen. Geary, was taken prison- er, with the remark trom that officer that he did not care tor white flags; that South rendered. Carolinians never sur- It was abcut this time Mer- ritl, getting impatient at the suppos- that ed treacherous — firi ordered a charge of portion of his command, While Generals Gordon and Wilcox were engaged in conversation with me, a cloud ot dus wild hurrah, a flashing of sabers, indicateda charge and the ejaculations of my staff offi- cers were heard; ‘Look! Merritt The flight has ordere a charge court house. Beyond us, in a low valley, lay Lee andthe remnant of his army. There did not appear to be much or anization, except in the advanced troops under General Gor- don, whom we had been fighting. G the and a rear under neral guard 1 1.ongstreet, sull further up val- ley Formations were immediately ; commenced to make a bold sweep- ing charge dewn the grassy slope, when an aid-ae-camp from Custer, filled j dashed up to me with the messag ith excitement, hat hand, mn jtromhis chief: ‘‘Iee has surren- | dered! white Do not charge; the flag isup!’’ Orders were given to | complete the formation, but not to charge. Locking to the to Appomat- tox co house, 2 t large group Was Confeder- to that } back ait + troops General Custer d not 1c j come t . and, supposing he was | With the ¢ » at the court house, I moved on a gallop down the narrow | ridge, followed by my_ staff. The {court house was perhaps threequar- | ters of a mile distant. W 1 not | gone rbetore a heavy was opened on us trom 2 skirt of tmmber j to our right, and distant not much I nd taking off mv hat over three hundred vards. halted {for a mon nt, d j called out that the was being violated, but could not stop the fir- ow caused us all to take aravine running parallel 4 As we ap- down | te the rid: we were on, ' which we then traveled. i proached the court house a gentle and ran them to our rear or eechusaee he. mide TD wee an teen miles. to Ord and Gipson, who | advance, followed by a sergeant car- with the infantry were following the | ro Whol one cavalry. The cavairv centinued the H fisareniis one Say ey rte fighting nearly all that n . driving k to the v f nity of A the enemy bac yards from tl t house and con- ¢ i ederate lin some of the men in e | pomattox court house. a | these ee Sa oar apa thie eins 2H 'to an aim on us, and great effort was t | made by their officers to keep them ' trom firmg. LIhalted, and “hearing Ire : ae frame some noise *%« 1, turned in my | house j f tke station where ! .addle and saw 2 derate sol- of Geary’s bri Allen The last gun had been fired and the ade followed; Lieu- tenant was thus released. last charge made in the Virginia camgaign. While the scenes thus related were taking place, the convers: n occur be T row speak of was - tween General Gordon and cAiter the first Gordon remarke: myself. salutation, General “General Lee ot hostilities he he asks for a suspension pending the negotiations which has been having for the last day and I =T have been constantly in- ie- night with General Grant. joined: formed of the progress of the nego- ye that while such negotiations are going on tiations, and think ingular General Lee should have continued his march and attempted to es this morning T can through m the enter- view of escapi tain no terms except the condition that General Lee will surrender to Generat Grant on his ival here. I nave sent for him. It these terms are not accepted we will renew hos- ti 1 General Lee’s z -neral Gordon repliec usted. ex There is no doubt of his surrender to General Grant on his arrival Gen. Wilcox, whom I knew quite well, he having been captain of the ny to which I was attached as compa acadet at the military academy, then is horse, and taking hold stepped to yocular bags, said, 1 reridan, take these soiled Yo ave one drawers. going on for seve W were settled. :n the terms above reterred to ereed agreed to remain 77 ot Gen. Gr. the arrival Col. New- tu guo until (for. Generals Gordon and Wilcox j then returned to se Gen. Lee, and ned everything else [ had in the world, d Uthink you are enti- tled to these also.”’ He allud- ing. of course to the destruction of | the e trains which had been Ord, myself and many officers were is the main road leading through the town, at a point where Lee's ar- my was visible. General Grant rode up and greeted me with, “Sheridan, how are you?’ I replied, “I am very well, thank you.’’ He then said, **Where is Lee?’ IT rephed. “There is his army down in that val- he is over in that house (point- rout McLean’s) waiting to sur- render to you.’? General Grant. still without dismounting, said. “Come, let us go over.” He then made the same request to Ge Ord, and we all went to McLean’s house Dhose who entered with General Grant were, as nearly as 1 can reco- lect Ord. Rawlins, Seth Williams, Ingalls, Babcock, Parker ana miy- self; the staff officers, or those ‘ accompanied, remaining outside o1 the porch steps and inthe yard. O entering the parlor, we tound Ge al Lee standing in company w Coionel Marshal, his first aide-de- « The first greetii Wis ¢ General Seth Williams, who had been Lee’s adjutant when he was superintendent of the Military Acad- pre- emy. General Lee was then sented to General Grant and all pre- sent were introduced. General Lee was dressed ina new gray uniform. evidently put on forthe occasion, anc jouer a handsome sword. He hac on his face the expression of +elte trom heavy burden. General Grant’s uniform was soiled with mu and he wore and service ho sword. Atter a few words had been spoker by those who knew General Lee ' the officers retired except perhap j one staff officers General G "sand the one who was with General I We had not been absent trom th room longer than about five muir when General Babcock came t door and said, °*'T! aken place—vou 9 can ome again. When we re-e d, Gene C presented to Mr er)t conditions of the surrende Gener- l resting 1c |e ' AC triendly y Genera officers p breast-poc conversa Lee ick i} ied hich had heen se’ ye ee, h ce puEee ne during the forer gay ing his | wt some off + | op whe | they W ere sent. and had made re 1 tO pave them returned. He ha i‘wem to me with the remark, **J {xo Itis possible my iry at jthat point of the line did not ¢ | understand the agreement. j About one hour was occupied ix | drawing up and signing the term when General Lee retired from the (es with a cordial shake of the | hand with General Grant, punted | his chunky, gray horse ard lifting hi | hat, passed through the vate, “and | rode over the crest of the to hi jarmy. Onhis arriyal there we heard | loud cheering. which se to be | taken up prove ty t troops, either for him ort satistac- tion with his last ct as a soldier.