CHAPTER 24
President Abraham Lincoln and Major General William Sherman, detail of a lithograph depicting their final council of war.
As spring arrived in New York, the news of the Confederacy’s twin decisions to make Robert E. Lee the Southern commander-in-chief and to authorize the arming of black slaves for Confederate service provoked cynical responses in The Times. The news of Lee’s new status triggered a lengthy editorial that inaccurately deprecated his wartime service, and the decision to arm slaves prompted another editorial (reprinted from the Louisville Courier) that dismissed entirely the notion that Southerners would ever find security by arming their chattels, since they could never “live in safety surrounded by millions of negroes accustomed to the use of arms, and the sight and smell of human blood.”
On the battlefield, it was clear that Lee must somehow break the death-grip that Grant’s armies had placed around Richmond and Petersburg, or lose the war. Lee tried to achieve this with an assault on Fort Steadman, one of the strong points on Grant’s encircling lines, on March 25. When that failed, Grant at once launched a series of counterattacks, and a week later Union forces broke through south of Petersburg at a remote intersection called Five Forks, where five roads came together. Many of the reports from the front about these events came from George Forrester Williams, a daring and intrepid Times reporter who was so determined to get to the scene of action that when the clerk in charge of army transportation refused to honor his press pass that allowed him to use military transport, he borrowed a horse from another reporter and galloped the twelve miles to the front. Other reports to The Times came from Henry H. Young, who was one of the first reporters to enter the captured city of Petersburg after it fell.
The Battle of Five Forks on April 1 necessitated Lee’s evacuation of Richmond, an event that took place the next day. Lincoln, who had come south by sea to visit the army, had waited so long for this moment that he now declared, “I want to see Richmond.” It was a poignant tableau as the American president wandered the streets of the former Confederate capital accompanied only by a handful of sailors. The city’s black population greeted him as a messiah, while the white population — those who had stayed — suspiciously peered out at him from behind shuttered windows. The Times was horrified by Lincoln’s reckless behavior, and argued that the President had no right to put his own life at risk. “Mr. LINCOLN’s life may be of no special value to himself,” The Times proclaimed on April 4, the day of the President’s visit, “but his official position makes it of special value to the country, and he has no right to put it at the mercy of any lingering desperado in Richmond.”
Meanwhile, Grant pursued Lee’s escaping army westward and caught up with it at Appomattox Court House. After Lee’s surrender there on April 9, The Times’ headline screamed “PEACE!” Not quite ... for there were still other rebel armies in the field. The largest of them was Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina. Having been dismissed by Davis the previous July for failing to stop Sherman’s advance to Atlanta, Johnston was restored to command (despite Davis’s misgivings) on February 22, 1865, after Lee requested it. After Lee’s surrender, the question was, as The Times put it, “what will Jo. Johnston do?” Davis wanted him to fight on, but The Times suspected (correctly, as it proved) that he would “follow the example set for him by his chief and friend” and surrender his army, which he did on April 26. There were still a few small Confederate forces in the field elsewhere, but for all practical purposes the war was over.
Lincoln had been developing a Reconstruction policy for years, and had already approved plans for Louisiana and Arkansas. Now, however, The Times and the rest of the North wondered how those policies might change with the war at an end. They would wonder a while longer, for Lincoln was reluctant to show his hand. The President was a practical politician who was unwilling to get too far ahead of public opinion. Just as he had disciplined generals like Fremont and Hunter who got too far ahead of policy on the question of emancipation, so he would now step carefully on the question of black rights as citizens or voters. As The Times put it, “for the present, further developments in respect to this and many other important matters must be awaited. The President must exercise caution, the people patience.”
Meanwhile, on April 12, three days after Lee’s surrender, the President and Mrs. Lincoln attended a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre.
ARMING THE SLAVES.
INGENIOUS COMPROMISE.
MARCH 4
FROM THE RICHMOND ENQUIRER, MARCH 1
We learn that the [Confederate] House of Representatives has recently passed in secret session, by a vote of forty to thirty seven, a bill which not only authorizes the arming of negroes tendered for military service by their owners, but also authorizes the President to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota of three hundred thousand troops, in addition to those subject to military service under existing laws, or so many thereof as the President may deem necessary for purposes mentioned, to be raised from such classes; irrespective of the color of the population, in each State as the proper authorities thereof may determine. It is further provided that nothing in the act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation which slaves shall bear toward their owners as property, except by the consent of the owners and of the States in which they may reside, and in pursuance of the laws thereof. The bill has not yet obtained the concurrence of the Senate; but it is said to have been framed with a view of obviating objections in that body to a proposition in another form of arming the slaves, and of obtaining a compromise of views on the subject.1
1. The Confederate House passed the bill on February 20, but the Senate tabled it, voting its approval only after the Virginia state legislature passed a similar bill. Then by a vote of 9–8, the Senate grudgingly concurred. Davis signed the bill into law on March 13. The legislation did not free any slaves, it only authorized them to fight for Confederate independence. The war ended before any of them saw military service.
COLORED TROOPS IN THE REBEL ARMY — WHAT THEY WILL DO.
MARCH 5
FROM THE LOUISVILLE JOURNAL. FEB. 25
It is now a settled matter that 200,000 slaves are to be put immediately into the Southern armies. Of course we do not know how this policy will work, but our present opinion is that it is extremely injudicious on the part of the South, and most likely to prove speedily fatal. In the first place, we do not believe that the South can adequately arm 200,000 negroes; in the second place, we do not believe that she can feed her armies augmented by 200,000 negroes withdrawn from the pursuits of productive industry; in the third place, we do not believe that the negroes, as a general rule, will fight for the South; and, in the fourth place, we do not believe that the people of that section, even if their independence be achieved, will be able to live in safety surrounded by millions of negroes accustomed, to the use of arms, and the sight and smell of human blood....
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
MARCH 5
Fellow-Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.
The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avoid it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate and extend this interest, was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease, or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offences, which in the Providence of God must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came. Shall we discern there is any departure from those Divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago; so, still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
The new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Salmon P. Chase, right, delivers the oath of office to President Abraham Lincoln.
President Abraham Lincoln delivers his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865.
FROM WASHINGTON.
THE INAUGURATION CEREMONIES.
MARCH 6
WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4
President LINCOLN was inaugurated for another term of four years at twelve o’clock, noon, to-day.
Overhead the weather was clear and beautiful, and on account of the recent rains the streets were filled with mud. Despite this fact the crowd that assembled was exceedingly large, and thousands proceeded to the capital to witness the inauguration ceremonies.
The procession moved from Sixteenth-street and Pennsylvania-avenue at about 11 o’clock.
President LINCOLN had been at the capital all day, and consequently did not accompany the procession to the scene of the interesting ceremonies.
Several bands of music, two regiments of the Invalid Corps, a squadron of cavalry, a battery of artillery, and four companies of colored troops, formed the military escort.
The Mayor and Councilmen of Washington, visiting Councilmen from Baltimore, the firemen of this city and the visiting firemen from Philadelphia, the Good Will, Franklin and Perseverance companies, each company drawing its engine along, were also in the procession.
Among the benevolent societies present were Lodges of Odd Fellows and Masons, including a colored Lodge of the latter fraternity. The public and principal private buildings along Pennsylvania-avenue were gaily decorated with flags, and every window was thronged with faces to catch a glimpse of the President elect.
The oath to protect and maintain the Constitution of the United States, was administered to Mr. LINCOLN by Chief-Justice CHASE, in the presence of thousands, who witnessed the interesting ceremony while standing in mud almost knee-deep.
The Inaugural was then read.
THE FIRST AND LAST TEST OF LEE’S GENERALSHIP.
MARCH 16
ROBERT E. LEE, just appointed to the supreme command of the rebel armies, has the name of being a military genius. The rebels, from the beginning of the war, have glorified him as such, and the North has never been much inclined to dispute it. Yet there is good reason to doubt whether, after all, his ability is not rather relative than absolute — whether he is not great as the one-eyed man in chief among the blind.
It is certain that at West Point he evinced no marked capacity.1 The TIMES has published a communication from one of his old military instructors there, testifying explicitly to that effect. It is also certain that in his subsequent connection with the national army, though much engaged in active service in Mexico, he did nothing extraordinary.2 Up to the period of the rebellion, he had the character of being simply a highly-intelligent officer and an accomplished gentleman. His first military service of the rebellion in Western Virginia was, as the rebel historian [Edward A.] POLLARD admits, a complete miscarriage. He owed his subsequent elevation to the command of the rebel army in Virginia to the dissatisfaction with BEAUREGARD’s management at Bull Run, and to his high family position. So far as regards one of its great military objects, his management of that army has been an absolute failure. We mean the invasion of the North, and the capture of Washington. He undertook that thing twice, in two successive years, in full force, after months of preparation. On the first occasion he was met at South Mountain and Antietam, and, though as strong in numbers as the Union armies, and occupying positions of great natural advantage, was worsted and compelled to beat a precipitate retreat. On the second occasion, he was met at Gettysburgh, and suffered himself to be drawn into an attack upon a position whose natural advantages were in our favor; and the result was a defeat so damaging that he was again obliged to make all possible haste for the other side of the Potomac. Neither of the Federal commanders whom he had to cope with in these invasions ranks as our ablest. In his great aggressive movements LEE failed completely.
So far as regards the other great object of the rebel army of Virginia, the defence of the rebel capital, LEE has been more successful. Richmond still remains in rebel possession. But that, of itself, does not prove first-rate generalship. The direct defence of Richmond has been mainly a matter of mere engineering skill. In the present state of science, it requires no great genius to construct fortifications. When once constructed, it requires no great genius to keep an army behind them safely. When LEE abandoned the direct defensive, and assumed that style of warfare known as the offensive-defensive, he almost uniformly failed. His first attempts in this line were with MCCLELLAN, during the Peninsular campaign. But in no instance did he ever make a successful attack upon MCCLELLAN’s army. Though often assailing at an advantage, he was, in the end, invariably repelled, and on three separate occasions — Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill — with such damage that nothing but the over-caution of MCCLELLAN prevented our troops from pressing on and forthwith capturing Richmond itself. In the subsequent attempted campaign of BURNSIDE and HOOKER, he operated chiefly from behind his intrenched lines, and so used his advantages that our forces, after a bloody defeat, had to fall back to their original position, this side of the Rappahannock; but it is hard to see how first-rate Generalship would not have inflicted a far more terrible blow when our forces were in the act of recrossing that difficult stream, instead of letting them escape with no new loss. In our next and final campaign, under Lieut.-Gen. GRANT, LEE, notwithstanding his most extended and elaborate system of intrenchments, was driven back from the Rapidan to Richmond, and has since remained hemmed in there with an absolute incapacity to strike any serious blow at our army, and a certainty of capture unless he speedily takes to flight.
Thus, then, it stands. LEE failed completely in every purely aggressive effort. He never succeeded in keeping for a single month any foothold this side of the Potomac; while the leaders of our army planted themselves in Virginia at the very beginning of the war, and have not only foiled all attempts to dislodge them, but have been getting more and more of the State within their grasp. His defensive efforts have owed most of their success to good fortune, to the faults of the early leaders of the Army of the Potomac; have cost him prodigious losses, and they result at last in the alternative of flight from the capital for which he has made so many sacrifices, or a surrender which will ruin the Confederate cause. It is not pretended that at any period of his career he has not controlled his army to suit himself. Though JEFF. DAVIS has always distrusted his military abilities, the Richmond Government has given him every discretion and every facility. To Gen. LEE alone belongs the responsibility of all that the rebel army in Virginia has failed to do.
Since LEE has been made General-in-Chief of all the rebel armies, he has not, so far as known here in the North, made a single combination or movement that has in the slightest degree retarded the progress of our arms. On the contrary, all the splendid strategy of SHERMAN, SCHOFIELD and SHERIDAN is working against him with crushing effect. To all appearance he is going to fail in his new capacity worse than ever. But we wait. He has declared that the military situation of the Confederacy presents no cause for discouragement. He has given it as his opinion that the national armies may yet be discomfited and driven back. Let us then accept the event of this as the decisive test of his military judgment and ability. If he succeeds, he will, with universal consent, in spite of the past, take rank as the great military genius of the age. If he fails, he will go into history as a man of small figure made conspicuous only by accidental position.
Robert E. Lee after the war.
1. In fact, Lee graduated second in the West Point class of 1829, served as cadet first captain, and rather remarkably received not a single demerit during all four years there.
2. Once again, The Times is being not only uncharitable but also inaccurate. Lee acted as Winfield Scott’s principal scout during the advance to Mexico City and twice found approaches that allowed the smaller U.S. army to outmaneuver and triumph over its more numerous foe.
GEN. GRANT’S ARMY.
HIGHLY IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE.
MARCH 17
HEADQUARTERS ARMY POTOMAC,
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 — 8 A.M.
During the greater part of yesterday active operations on a most extensive scale could be discovered within the limits of the rebel army.
Camps were struck, and large and heavy masses of troops were seen in line of battle. Besides three columns of men were moving to and fro within their interior lines.
Nothing definite was or could be ascertained regarding the ultimate destination or meaning of these columns; but, as a matter of course, orders were at once issued for the different corps and other commands to be in instant readiness to move.
The movements of the enemy will govern our own, until something definite is learned regarding Gen. LEE’s intentions.
In the centre of our line, near the Appomattox River, it is generally believed that the enemy has succeeded in mining our works, especially Fort Hell1 and Fort Morton, and all last night our engineers were in busy search for any indication of the fact.
Nothing could be learned, at a late hour last night, as regarded the result of their search, as an unusual reticence was observable among the engineer officers.
During the best portion of last night, trains and other wagons were in active motion. The suttlers were also also ordered to the rear.
All along our front line of breastworks, the troops have been lying in position awaiting an attack, had any been made.
Suitable dispositions were likewise made along our flank. The army has been for the past eighteen hours in constant readiness, and kept well in hand for any hostile demonstration of the enemy.
As it stands at present, there is every indication of a speedy move, and appearances look very like a fight.
It is to be hoped that Gen. LEE will be induced, or compelled, to attack the Army of the Potomac in their intrenched positions, in which case, the rebels will be met with firmness and decision. The Army of the Potomac are now stripping for the fight, and this gallant command were never in better trim or more courageous spirits for any approaching movements. Officers and men share alike in the feeling that the ensuing campaign, now about opening, will prove the last, provided they do the duty. This they are prepared to do. A slight picket fire was kept up in front of Petersburgh during last night. An informal review of the entire Fifth Corps took place yesterday before Gen. WARREN. Although not intended as a parade of strict ceremony the command appeared to great advantage.
GEO. F. WILLIAMS.
1. The Union line around Petersburg was studded with 31 strong points or forts, most of them named for officers. Fort Sedgwick stood where the siege line crossed the Jerusalem Plank Road. It was nicknamed “Fort Hell” because it was closest to the rebel lines and drew a lot of hostile fie.
OUR ARMY BULLETIN.
DETAILS OF THE ATTACK — SUDDEN AND FURIOUS ONSLAUGHT.
MARCH 27
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY POTOMAC,
SATURDAY, MARCH 25 — 7 A.M.
At 4:30 o’clock this morning the enemy made a determined and energetic attack upon our right, near the Appomattox River, opening with a furious and prolonged bombardment of our whole line in front of Petersburgh, and by a powerful and sudden advance of their infantry, they succeeded in gaining possession of Fort Steadman.1 The whole of the Ninth Corps were almost instantly under arms; and Gen. [Cadmus] WILCOX’ division of that command speedily formed, and commenced a counter attack.
The cannonading at this moment was terrific. Soon after, the guns in the forts on the right and left of the captured fort opened with a very rapid fire, and several field batteries were also in position, playing with fierce energy upon the advancing columns.
Gen. WILCOX immediately pushed his command forward, and at the moment at which I write the engagement is progressing with great fury. The awful roar of siege guns only for a moment relaxes its volume, when it recommences with almost redoubled vigor. Now and then, between intervals of heavy firing, the ear can distinguish the hoarse rattle of musketry, as the infantry become engaged. I think it is quite certain that for some time the enemy had possession of Fort Steadman, and about 260 rods of our main line of breastworks.
The Sixth Corps [Wright] are now under arms, and I doubt not the left wing of the army is also in a state of perfect readiness for any fresh demonstrations of the enemy.
Some expect a general attack on our whole line will be the result of this foolhardy attempt of the enemy to permanently break through our lines; but I consider our line too strong for the rebels to gain any tenable hold of any part of our extensive cordon of siege works.
The battle that is now progressing within five miles of these headquarters is evidently of the most determined character, and may result in very important movements before the day closes.
The mail train is just leaving for City Point, and I am unable to give you anything more than this very brief outline of the attack made this morning. I shall ride over as soon as this leaves my hands, and if possible reach the Point on horseback in time to give you the very latest news from the scene of engagement.
GEO. F. WILLIAMS.
1. Lee sent a picked force of infantry under Major General John Gordon to seize Fort Steadman in the hope that this would compel Grant to withdraw some of the troops encircling Petersburg. Instead, the defeat of the assault weakened Lee further without any significant impact on Grant’s siege.
SECOND DISPATCH.
TOTAL FAILURE OF THE ATTACK.
MARCH 27
CITY POINT, VA., SATURDAY MARCH 25 —10 A.M.
I have just reached this place in time to send you the very latest and most reliable intelligence from the battle-field. The attack [on Fort Steadman], although for a time partially successful, has totally failed.1 We have retaken all of our works and every gun. Although the enemy endeavored, by the most determined resistance, to maintain their hold on the fort, our batteries succeeded, by their enfilading fire, and by the brave and resistless onslaught of our infantry, in driving the rebels from their prize. You may rely upon this as reliable. I saw our advance line of infantry enter our old works as I rode away. The cannonading continued very heavy for some time after I left the field, but it almost entirely ceased before I reached the outskirts of City Point.
No alarm need be felt regarding the safety of our lines, for the Ninth Corps [Burnside] have established their front line without any assistance from any of the other corps.
There is no use speculating in regard to any ultimate result arising out of this aggressive movement on the part of Gen. LEE, for no one can tell what may come out of it.
GEO. F. WILLIAMS
Fort Stedman.
1. Casualties in the two days of fighting for Fort Steadman were: Union, 1,044; Confederate, 4,000.
THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIFTH CORPS — SEVERE FIGHTING NEAR GRAVELLY RUN.
APRIL 3
WASHINGTON, SUNDAY, APRIL 2
A letter from the Army of the Potomac, dated Friday evening [March 31], says there has been severe fighting on some parts of the line from morning till night, the result of which has been the extension of our lines still further westward, although at a considerable loss in killed and wounded.1
The Second Division of the Fifth Corps, supported by the Third, was thrown out toward the White Oak road, east of the Boydton plank road, and ordered to reach and take position there. After crossing a small branch of Gravelly Run, and while about forming in line, our troops were fired upon by a heavy force of the enemy, who were lying concealed in the woods, and also by the rebel artillery posted in favorable positions. Our men stood their ground for a while, but the enemy appearing to be moving to the left as if to turn their flank, the line was forced back to their first position where they were rallied and soon checked the enemy’s advance.
About the same time another attack was made on our right flank of the Fifth Corps, but Gen. [Nelson A.] MILES’ division of the Second Corps being posted here made a brilliant charge, and doubled up the enemy, driving them back a long distance, leaving hundreds of their dead and wounded on the field. This was a very handsome affair, and the division received the highest praise for the manner in which it was done. The loss on our side was about 400, as nearly as can be ascertained, mostly in the First Division.2
The Fifth Corps about noon again took the advance, and drove the enemy back about a mile and a half, and long before dark had reached the White Oak Road, for which they had started in the morning, and established their line across the same, driving the rebels into their strong works at Hatcher’s Run. Their loss in the day’s work will not be far from 1,200.
Among the casualties reported are Maj. MILLS, A.A.G. on Gen. HUMPHREYS’ staff, killed by a shell; Col. SERGEANT, Two Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania, severely wounded, and Gen. DENNISON, commanding a brigade in the Second Division, Fifth Corps, slightly wounded.
An attack was also made in front of the Sixth Corps, but it was not successful. After the rebels were driven back in front of the Fifth Corps, an attack was made with both infantry and cavalry on SHERIDAN’s force, about three miles from the Southside road, near Sutherland Station, driving them back toward Dinwiddie, but subsequently they gained much more than they lost.
The roads are in a terrible condition, it being almost impossible to move the trains over them. The heavy rains have swollen the streams, and the engineers are busy day and night laying bridges and corduroys.
The loss of the enemy is not known, but judging from the number of dead lying in the woods and ravines where the fighting occurred, it must have been at least as heavy as our own. We took about one hundred and fifty prisoners during the day.
A Kurz and Allison lithograph of the Battle of Five Forks.
1. This is a reference to the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House (March 31, 1865). Philip Sheridan, in command of the Union left, tried to outflank Lee’s defenses south and west of Petersburg. Pickett counterattacked and drove back the probe.
2. Union losses in the battle were 354; Confederate losses were 760.
OUR SPECIAL ACCOUNTS.
DETAILS OF FRIDAY’S BATTLE.
APRIL 3
HEADQUARTERS, ARMY POTOMAC,
SATURDAY, APRIL 1, — 7 A.M. VIA
WASHINGTON, SUNDAY, APRIL 2
After closing my dispatch yesterday morning and indulging in a brief sleep, I was again startled by the sound of cannon, and ascertained that the postponement of operations was not effective, except in regard to certain especial movements on the left. The fighting was resumed, and was apparently very severe. I immediately hastened to the scene of conflict, which I found to be on the extreme left of our line north of the Boydtown plank-road, on the Mrs. Butler farm. This was where the fighting commenced, but it extended down the line to the Spain farm, on the Second Corps’ front, and later in the day about three miles north of the plank-road.1
THE FIFTH CORPS.
Early in the morning the extreme left of this corps, Gen. [Samuel W.] CRAWFORD’s division, occupying a position north of the plank-road, which it had gained on the previous day without much fighting, was attacked by a large force of rebels, comprising all of [Richard H.] ANDERSON’s and part of PICKETT’s division, of LONG-STREET’s corps, who had been sent over from north of the James since this movement on our side commenced, and massed on the enemy’s right.2 The skirmish line of the Third Division was not able to withstand the heavy force opposed to them, and fell back rapidly, but in tolerable order on the line of battle. The troops were at the time getting breakfast, and before they could get into line the enemy came upon them and compelled them to retire to the Boydtown road. Here they rallied and formed, and after severe fighting for four hours, drove the enemy back over the same ground, and about two miles further, being on the left of their own line, within about two miles of the Southside Railroad, and within a short distance of the enemy’s main line of works south of the railroad.
In the beginning of the attack, PICKETT’s division of the enemy sent a brigade around our left flank, and into the rear of our line. Our left was held by the First Brigade of the Third Division, known as the Iron Brigade. When it was discovered that the enemy had got into the rear, the brigade faced about and, swinging its right back to connect with the next brigade in the line, threw its left around against the enemy’s right, and succeeded in driving it back from the rear, so as to enable our line to fall back in order.
In executing this manoeuvre, the two opposing forces were brought into such close proximity that several hand to hand fights occurred. In one instance a rebel sergeant attempted to catch hold of one of the Sixth Wisconsin men to capture him, but the latter, stepping back, clubbed his musket and brained his foe. Capt. KEY-WORTH, of the Seventh Wisconsin, was captured by the enemy and was being led away, when Sergeants ALBERT O’CONNOR and WM. JACKSON, of his company, rushed into the enemy’s ranks rescued him and brought him back safely. He did not even lose his sword. Several similar instances occurred, but my time will not allow me to give them at present.
In this temporary repulse of the Fifth Corps it lost, perhaps one hundred prisoners, and suffered severely in killed and wounded. Subsequently, on entering the ground, it captured about four hundred of the enemy and two of their battle flags.3
I forgot to mention that the First Division, Gen. [Charles] GRIFFIN’s, moved up to support the Third when the latter fell back, and rendered very important service in checking the enemy’s progress, and holding them, until the Third Division was rallied and formed anew. It then moved up in line with the First. The Second Division, Gen. [Romeyn] AYRES, was also in the fight, and performed its portion of the day’s labor with great gallantry and skill. It held its position of the line when the Third Division fell back, and, subsequently drove the enemy two miles and a half. The Third Division [Crawford’s], however, deserves equal credit with the others, inasmuch as it was opposed to a much heavier force of the enemy, and occupied a more exposed position.
When I left the field, at about 5 o’clock, we were still driving the enemy slowly back on this portion of the front, and heavy firing, some four miles further on the left, indicated that SHERIDAN was engaged with the enemy on the line of the South-side Railroad. The firing appeared to be approaching slowly toward the position we occupied, and the general opinion was that it betokened his advance. The only report received from him was at about noon. He then sent word through that everything was progressing finely with him.4
It is impossible to conjecture the loss on either side in this part of the engagement. The country fought over is very rough, being a succession of hills and deep valleys, generally thickly wooded and very difficult of access. Large details were out bringing in the wounded and dead as rapidly as possible, but in the portion of the field I passed over I saw a great number still lying where they had fallen. A large proportion of those I saw were rebels, and I was told that the enemy had carried off a great many. The loss of the Fifth Corps will probably not exceed one thousand in the aggregate.5...
The results, which I must sum up in a very few words, as the mail is about to leave, are that we swung the left around three miles north of the Boydtown plank-road, and there is now between it and the Southside Railroad but a single line of breastworks, thrown up since Wednesday night. We have captured about a thousand prisoners, and our own loss is not over two thousand in the aggregate. The enemy have suffered much more heavily, and their forces were becoming demoralized very rapidly. Last evening they could not be induced to make another charge on the Fifth Corps’ front, although they had fought desperately early in the day.
Our loss in officers is very severe, but there are no general officers killed, and the only one I hear of being wounded is Gen. A.W. DENNISON, of the Maryland Brigade. He was shot in the leg. He lost an arm in the Wilderness fight. Lieut.-Col. DENNIS B. DAILY, of the One Hundred and Forty-seventh New-York, and in command of the regiment, was wounded in the hand in the morning, but remained on the field all day.
I have many interesting incidents to relate, but am unable to give them now, for want of time.
Gens. GRANT and MEADE were both on the ground all day, and frequently under fire. They are very sanguine of success.
We shall probably have a severe battle to-day, if LEE does not retire, and attempt to get away, which is hardly likely, under existing circumstances. He has collected on our front all the troops he possibly can, and a large portion of the works are filled with citizens of Petersburgh and Richmond. These are, however, well drilled and organized, and will probably fight as well as many of the soldiers.
HENRY H. YOUNG.
1. This was the Battle of Five Forks, which took place early in the morning of April 1. Philip Sheridan, entrusted with command of the Union left wing, ordered Samuel Crawford’s division to hold PICKETT’s Confederate division in place while the rest of Warren’s Fifth Corps got around the rebel flank.
2. Young is in error here. The attack was initiated by the Union, and most of Lee’s army remained north of the river.
3. Sheridan believed he was sending Warren against an open flank, but he misunderstood the battlefield and sent him instead against Pickett’s entrenched division. Poor visibility and rough terrain slowed Warren’s attack. Sheridan was so disappointed with Warren’s initial repulse that he relieved him of command, wrecking Warren’s career. Warren was exonerated by a special court in 1879.
4. While Warren engaged Pickett, Sheridan personally led an assault that broke through the rebel line. It was not immediately clear to Young or anyone else how badly Pickett’s division had been mauled. Lee had ordered Pickett to “hold Five Forks at all hazards,” but Pickett himself was not present, and the destruction of his division broke open the Confederate defensive line. Pickett’s absence at a fish fry, or shad bake, became notorious and damaged his reputation. This loss threatened the South Side Railroad, Petersburg’s last connection to the rest of the Confederacy. Lee began his evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg the next day.
5. Union casualties were 830; Confederate casualties 2,950, most of them taken prisoner.
THE PRESIDENT’S VISIT TO RICHMOND.
APRIL 4
If President LINCOLN has “gone to the front,” or entered Richmond, he has departed widely from the discretion and good judgment which have hitherto marked his conduct. We can readily understand his personal eagerness to witness events of such transcendent importance as the defeat of the rebel army and the capture of the rebel capital; but we deem it his duty to have subordinated all such personal predilections to the higher considerations of public duty which the case involves. Mr. LINCOLN’s life may be of no special value to himself, and of no more value to others, considered merely in his personal relations, than that of any other man. But his official position makes it of special value to the country, and he has no right to put it at the mercy of any lingering desperado in Richmond, or of any stray bullet in the field, unless some special service can be rendered by his personal presence. It seems to us he might have left to Gen. GRANT the closing up of the great campaign which he has so wisely planned and so ably executed, — and that his own share in the great transaction might have been as well performed at Washington as in front of Richmond. If nothing happens to him, this gratification of a very natural curiosity will be of little public consequence. But if he should happen to be singled out as a worthy mark for some reckless and desperate rebel sharpshooter, the country will scarcely approve the rashness which may have thrown its whole political organization into hopeless and needless confusion.1
President Lincoln visiting Richmond.
1. Lincoln took a small boat from the Union fleet upriver to Richmond on April 4. Accompanied only by a small escort of sailors, he walked through the city, followed by an admiring throng of grateful blacks who knelt to him or tried to kiss the hem of his coat. “That is not right,” Lincoln admonished them, “You must kneel to God only.” He made his way to the Confederate White House and sat at Jefferson Davis’s desk.
THE FALL OF RICHMOND, THE FALL OF THE CONFEDERACY.
APRIL 4
Illustration celebrating the federal capture of Richmond.
In the boastful message delivered by DAVIS to his Congress, at the close of last year, the chief of the rebel conspirators said there was no military success which could accomplish the destruction of the Southern Confederacy. “Not the fall,” said he, “of Richmond, nor Wilmington, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor of all combined, can affect the issue of the present contest.”1
Words like these, uttered by a resolute and desperate man, controlling an armed and disciplined force on whose fealty he could thoroughly depend, ought to be of more account to-day, when the contingencies to which they point have arisen, than they were at the close of last year. But their significance is vastly lessened when we recall the important fact that while DAVIS was thus hectoring his recalcitrant legislators, and parading the invincibility of his dominion, the best informed and the most responsible representatives of the opinion of the South boldly pronounced his sooth-sayings a delusion, and his vain-glorious boastings a lie. Said the Richmond Examiner quoting DAVIS’ words: “Let not this fatal error be harbored till it takes root in the imagination. The evacuation of Richmond would be the loss of all respect and authority toward the Confederate Government, the disintegration of the army, and the abandonment of the scheme of an independent Southern Confederation.” The outspoken journalist further declared that the war, carried on after the surrender of Richmond, would degenerate into an irregular contest, “which would have no other purpose than the mere defence or present safety of those immediately persisting in it.”
We do not know, looking over the numerous points of the extraordinary picture presented in the article from which we quote, that it would be possible to present a more powerful array of arguments to sustain the theory that the overthrow of the rebel seat of power seals the final doom of the entire Confederacy. The article, which we quote in another column, is only less applicable to the situation now than it was a month ago, that every day intervening has seen the national army growing in strength, tightening its unyielding grasp, perfecting its combinations, and pressing irresistibly onward in its triumphant march. In all else the relative condition of the opposing forces invites the application of the picture so forcibly drawn of the rebel government, driven from its local habitation, groping its way through uncertain latitudes in the wake of disjointed bands of guerrilla troopers, its separate members each bent exclusively on the safety of his individual self, with all that laid claim to the name of a Confederacy abandoned to accident, or to the clemency of the victors.
Since DAVIS last prophesied what should succeed the fall of Richmond, SHERIDAN has swept out of existence every line of supply — on the parallel of Richmond by which a rebel force could even be temporarily fed in the latitude of Richmond; SHERMAN has met and defeated the only force by which LEE could hope to defend his remaining channels of supply; THOMAS has barred the line of egress for the military relics of the Confederacy by South Western Virginia, and Eastern Tennessee; HANCOCK holds guard on the only possible northerly line of retreat; while GRANT having by a terrific and overwhelming succession of blows drawn his gigantic cordon of veteran troops around the rebel headquarters, has forced the evacuation at once of both Richmond and Petersburgh, and is to-day in search of the shattered remnants of what, but a few months ago, was the most formidable rebel force known to modern revolutionary epochs.
Such is the situation in which the inglorious flight of LEE from Richmond has left the “Confederacy” at home. What its situation will hereafter be abroad when this news reaches the political market of Europe, we may in part conjecture from the rapid decay of those “sympathizing” influences and agencies, which, under the varying guise of neutrality, belligerent immunities, and belligerent responsibility, have helped so much to prolong and embitter the conflict now closing. Three weeks ago the financial agencies of the rebellion were practically closed in England. In the keen-scented circles of Lombard-street these victories of GRANT and this midnight flight of LEE were all discounted in advance; and there the consternation and surprise will be less real and less visible than among those knavish political associations in England and France which have labored with unflagging zeal for the rebels, as promoters of forcible intervention. With these the intimation that the game is up will bring a sudden and surprising change of tone. Every hound in the pack that has barked, or set, or pointed for the rebel conspirators, will turn relentlessly upon his late masters, from the London leading oracle to the dirtiest of the Provincial touters. Cabinets and Princes will hasten to the conclusion that what they deemed a permanently established power, was after all but a rebellious outbreak whose existence it will be the part of wisdom to forget. In all these regards the forecast of those Confederates who saw in the fall of Richmond, the fall of the Confederacy, promises to be fully justified.
To-day — wherever DAVIS and his Confederate Council may chance to be — they stand before their wretched victims, and before the world, henceforth, not in the character of a government, either de facto or de jure, but as political outcasts from a community they have aimed to ruin, and as outlaws from every immunity of citizenship. Hereafter, if the rebel leaders even should struggle to keep up for the time some armed organization, they can no longer assume the appearance of giving laws to any section of the Confederacy — either in civil or military affairs. The machinery — such as it was — of their political system, is wiped out of existence, and with it has gone every element of cohesion, every facility for political combination, for military recruitment, for provisioning, or attempting to pay the rank and file of their soldiery, and for making even the semblance of a figure in the world abroad, as a community having common purposes, or a common line of action. The fall of Richmond is practically the fall of the Confederacy.
1. The actual passage, contained in Davis’s Message to Congress on November 7, 1864, was: “Not the fall of Richmond, nor Wilmington, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor of all combined, can save the enemy from the constant and exhaustive drain of blood and treasure, which must continue until he shall discover that no peace is attainable unless based on the recognition of our indefeasible rights.”
GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE BRILLIANT OPERATIONS ON SUNDAY.
APRIL 5
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE
POTOMAC, MONDAY, APRIL 3 — 7 A.M. VIA
WASHINGTON, APRIL 4
As nearly as I can ascertain, while the combined forces of Gens. SHERIDAN and WARREN inflicted the most serious disasters upon the enemy, their own forces suffered comparatively little....
After capturing four heavy forts, all of which were well manned, and provided with powerful armaments, and seemed able to withstand a protracted siege, the Second Corps did not halt to give the enemy a breathing time, but followed them back, driving them from one position to another, until they were pressed around in front of the corps operating lower down the line. This corps was then set to work tearing up and destroying the Southside Railroad, from where it was struck by its left flank to the point where the Fifth Corps ceased the work of demolition on its right....
LATER.
PETERSBURGH, MONDAY, APRIL 3
We entered the city [of Petersburg] at 3 o’clock this morning, the Ninth Corps being the first of this army to tread its streets, an honor they richly merited by their arduous labors and desperate bravery in their share of its capture.
H. H. YOUNG.
P.S. — At this hour the fighting has ceased, and the enemy has retired across the river. As for results, you will get them before this reaches you; and as the train is coming I will not attempt to give them.
H.H.Y.
DISPATCH TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
APRIL 5
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, APRIL 2
The most important victory the Army of the Potomac has ever gained in Virginia was won to-day, and the outer line of works, which we have been trying in vain for months to overcome, has at last yielded to our victorious arms, and the greater portion of this army are to-night within a mile and a half of the city, on the southwest side.
The struggle made by the enemy to retain these works has been of the most desperate character, and for the success obtained to-day we are indebted not only to the strategy exercised by the commanders, but to the overwhelming numbers and bravery of the troops that did the work ….
Our captures will sum up about nine thousand prisoners and thirty-eight guns, including those taken by Gen. SHERIDAN yesterday.
The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is not estimated, but in front of the Ninth Corps they lie on the ground very thick, for there they were mown down by the hundred, at each effort to regain their lost ground.
Gen. [Matthew W.] RANSOM is badly wounded, and a prisoner in our hands. He was found at a house on the Boydtown road, from which it was dangerous to move him.
Gen. A.P. HILL is reported killed, by prisoners.
MONDAY, APRIL 3 — 5:30 A.M.
Petersburgh is ours. The Second Brigade, First Division, Ninth Corps, took possession this morning at daylight....
WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, APRIL 4.
Correspondents from City Point state that LEE has divided the remnant of his army, and is retreating in two small columns....
OFFICIAL FROM GENERAL GRANT.
APRIL 5
DISPATCH FROM GEN. GRANT.
WILSON STATION, Va., TUESDAY, APRIL 4
Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:
The army is pushing forward in the hope of overtaking or dispersing the remainder of LEE’s army, SHERIDAN with his cavalry and the Fifth Corps is between this and the Appomattox, Gen. MEADE, with the Second and Sixth, following.
Gen. [Edward O. C.] ORD is following the line of the Southside Railroad. All of the enemy that retains anything like organization have gone north of the Appomattox, and are apparently heading for Lynch-burgh. Their losses have been very heavy. Houses through the country are nearly all used as hospitals for wounded men. In every direction I hear of rebel soldiers pushing for home — some in large, some in small squads, and generally without arms.
The cavalry have pursued so closely that the enemy have been forced to destroy probably the greater part of the transportation, caissons and munitions of war. The number of prisoners captured yesterday will exceed 2,000.
From the 20th of March to the present time our loss in killed, wounded and captured will not probably reach 7,000, of whom from 1,500 to 2,000 were captured, and many but slightly wounded.
I shall continue the pursuit as long as there appears to be any use in it.
(SIGNED) U.S. GRANT, LIEUT.-GEN.
THE RETREAT AND ROUT OF LEE.
APRIL 7
Late on Wednesday night, the War Department was in communication, by telegraph, with a portion of the advance of our army at Burkesville Station, (the junction of the Southside and Danville Railroads) SHERIDAN, with the main body of his cavalry, at 3 P.M. of that day, was at Jetersville, on the Danville road, a station forty-three miles from Richmond. LEE, at the same date, with the remnants of his army, was at Amelia Court-house — a point thirty-six miles from Richmond, and seven miles north of SHERIDAN’s advance. And on Wednesday evening, as appears from an intercepted letter of a rebel officer, LEE’s army was drawn up in line of battle....
LEE by these reports, it will be seen, was so effectually headed off before the close of Wednesday night as to justify SHERIDAN’s report to GRANT, that he felt confident, if his men properly exerted themselves, of capturing the entire army of Northern Virginia. By throwing out his cavalry in strong force toward the left on the fork between the Southside and Danville Roads, as he reports, SHERIDAN has got directly between the rebel army and Lynchburgh; and with the supports at his disposal on Thursday morning, and the aid of Gen. GRANT’s presence, there is scarcely room to doubt that his anticipations of complete success have been fully justified.
General Robert E. Lee, seated center left, surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant, seated center right in the McLean House in Appomattox on April 9, 1865. Wilmer McLean, the owner of the home where the warring generals met, copyrighted this 1867 lithograph.
HANG OUT YOUR BANNERS
UNION VICTORY!
SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE AND HIS WHOLE ARMY.
FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
OFFICIAL. THE PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. REJOICINGS.
APRIL 10
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON
APRIL 9 – 9 O’CLOCK P.M.
This department has received the official report of the SURRENDER, THIS DAY, OF GEN. LEE AND HIS ARMY TO LIEUT.-GEN. GRANT, on the terms proposed by Gen. Grant.
Details will be given as speedily as possible.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
SECRETARY OF WAR.
PEACE!
THE END OF THE GREAT REBELLION.
APRIL 10
The great struggle is over. Gen. ROBERT E. LEE and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered yesterday to Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT and the Army of the Potomac.
The thrilling word PEACE — the glorious fact of PEACE — are now once again to be realized by the American people.
The profound joy of the nation in this auspicious result, cannot be expressed in effervescent enthusiasm and noisy huzzahs; but will appear in the form in which it is so fitly and opportunely proclaimed by the Secretary of War — ascriptions of Praise to Almighty God and offerings of honor to the great leader of our armies, whom he has used as his instrument to save the nation.
The history of blood — the four years of war, are brought to a close. The fratricidal slaughter is all over. The gigantic battles have all been fought.
The last man, we trust, has been slain. The last shot has been fired. We have achieved, too, that for which the war was begun — that for which our soldiers have so long and grandly fought, and that for which so many thousands of brave men have laid down their lives.
We have achieved the great triumph, and we get with it the glorious Union. We get with it our country — a country now and forever rejoicing in Universal Freedom. The national courage and endurance have their full reward.
The event occurred on Palm Sunday — the day which commemorates the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. It will henceforth be a patriotic as well as a pious holiday in America.
Just four years almost to a day has the war lasted. It was on the 13th of April, 1861, that Sumter was surrendered to the rebels. It was on the 9th of April, 1865, that the great rebel army was surrendered to the power of the Union.
The surrender of the army of Gen. LEE solves a thousand difficulties that but lately threatened us in the future. It simplifies the work of pacification in the South. It gives hope for a speedy restoration of order and fraternity.
The correspondence between GRANT and LEE, which we give in full, is very direct and concise. GRANT proposed the surrender on Friday last, and in three days after LEE accepted the terms.
The terms proposed by GRANT are very simple, and doubtless had the approval of the President, who is at Richmond. We get all the rebel officers and soldiers, all the arms, artillery and public property; but the officers retain their side-arms, private baggage and horses. Each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, and will not be disturbed.
We have no idea that Jo. JOHNSTON’s forces or any of the other rebel bodies will be of any trouble after this great event. LEE nominally only surrenders his own immediate army; but he is commander of all the armed forces of the rebellion everywhere, and in one of his letters he speaks about negotiating with reference to the whole of the Confederate States forces under his command. This will undoubtedly be the upshot of the whole affair.
The great rebellion is crushed. The Republic is saved. PEACE comes again. To Heaven be the praise.
Beside the policy of concentration, which Gen. GRANT inaugurated, and to which, we have been indebted for the happy results of the last year’s fighting, we owe him also that remarkable concert of feeling and action among the Generals, without which no plan of operations could have done us much good. The history of the Army of the Potomac before his day, was mainly made up of squabbles between Generals of corps and of divisions. After MCCLELLAN’s removal, most of these whom he left behind in high commands were either so satisfied that he was the only person who was competent to command the army, or so determined that no one else should command it, that they made all active operations well nigh impossible. They hunted down POPE, who in spite of his bragging, proved himself an able and meritorious officer, and almost sacrificed the army and the nation to their desire to be rid of him. BURNSIDE’s career in the chief command was one happily short struggle with their intrigues. They discussed his plans in the presence of officers and men, and openly predicted their failure; and at last gathering courage with impunity, some of them came up to Washington to get leave of the President to disobey his orders. And Gen. MEADE’s operations, in the earlier period at least of his tenure of office, were marred by the timidity, growing out of the doubts which experience only too fully justified, of the hearty cooperation of those around him. In short, every division and every corps commander was a candidate for the highest place, and felt that the way to get it was to bring about the failure of the actual incumbent.
In such a state of things the wonder is not that we did not make more progress in Virginia, but that we got off so cheaply; not that LEE’s army was not destroyed after three years of desperate fighting, but that it did not destroy ours. Since GRANT took the command in chief, however, we have heard no more of this. He has removed and retained whom he pleased, and we have submitted without a murmur. There have been, undoubtedly, squabbles between Generals; for military officers, like other people, are human, but they have never been allowed to affect the course of events in the field. One or other of the disputants have been invariably packed off to settle his grievances at Washington or elsewhere, and the public has really known nothing of the matter, except that there has been a difference, and that somebody has retired, so that discipline has not been impaired nor the popular confidence weakened by the spectacle of “rows” between superior officers in the presence of the enemy. And we believe there has been but one — and that a very notorious — instance of wilful disobedience of GRANT’s orders, or of the smallest disposition to doubt their wisdom, or even to criticise them.
He has from the outset exercised the power of removing officers from their commands, or transferring them to others, very lavishly without a whimper of complaint from any quarter. Some of the most conspicuous officers of the old Army of the Potomac have since his advance been sent to the West; some of the least known of the Western officers have, on the other hand, been brought to the East; and we doubt if history, except in NAPOLEON’s case, contains a more remarkable example of judgment of character and skill in selection justified by events, than has been afforded during the last year by the career of GRANT’s favorites — SHERIDAN, SHERMAN, THOMAS, MCPHERSON — have all proved themselves men worthy of the highest place in military annals, and yet though the war has lasted so long, it is only within little more than a year that they have been charged with any very important or conspicuous share in the conduct of it. Nothing short of their entire devotion to the cause, their implicit confidence in their great chief, and their hearty desire to carry out his plans, could have secured the success of the grand and extraordinary combination which has just culminated in the destruction of LEE’s army and the overthrow of the Confederacy. There has been through it all no blind striking, no marching hither and thither for want of anything better to do, or for the sake of making demonstrations. The smallest, as well as the greatest movements have been made to tell on the final result. SHERMAN was marching to Raleigh when he set out from Chattanooga; THOMAS was helping him along when he fought the battle of Nashville; SHERIDAN was helping GRANT when he defeated EARLY in the Valley, and so was [Alfred H.] TERRY when he stormed Fort Fisher; and all were working diligently for the destruction of LEE’s army.
Federal troops stationed at Appomattox Court House after the surrender.
Drawing by Alfred R. Rudolph of Robert E. Lee leaving the McLean house after the surrender.
THE VICTORY.
THANKS TO GOD, THE GIVER OF VICTORY.
APRIL 10
The inspiration of the scene and the scope of this theme before us are beyond the feeble descriptive powers of the pen of your correspondent. No brilliant rhetoric, no vivid word-painting, no oratorical eloquence can portray the sublimity and the immensity of the great victory. It is almost beyond the power of the human mind to comprehend its extent, and when you begin to descend into detail, the task is simply appalling in its magnitude. Think of a line of operations, held defensively and operated from offensively with such success thirty-nine miles long from flank to flank, thoroughly fortified along its entire length! Think of the cities captured, of the fortifications stormed and taken with their hundreds of guns, great and small, of the material of war now in our hands, yet beyond the possibility of computation, of the terrible battles, and the and overwhelming defeat and rout of the chief army of the rebellion, of the prisoners captured counted by the tens of thousands; of the terrified flight of the arch-traitor and his few desperate minions; of the triumphant entry of ABRAHAM LINCOLN into treason’s fallen capital. Let every lover of his country depict the vast scene in his own imagination for words to fitly describe it fail altogether....
L. L. CROUNSE
GEN. JOHNSTON’S ARMY.
APRIL 11
The most interesting question now is, what will Jo. JOHNSTON do? He commands the only army of any magnitude now left in the Southern Confederacy. It is not a very formidable army in numbers, nor is it coherent in character. In every characteristic of an army, it is vastly inferior to that lately under LEE. It has never, as an army, fought a noteworthy battle. It has no traditions of success. It has no capable leaders. The troops of [William J.] HARDEE, who fled from Savannah and then from Charleston, form its nucleus, and to these have been added the tail of [John Bell] HOOD’s old army, the Wilmington force of BRAGG, the picayune force of BEAUREGARD, various feeble forces and garrisons picked up around, and a cavalry force under WADE HAMPTON and [Joseph] WHEELER. It is a piebald collection. Since its organization — such organization as it has — it has been steadily on the retreat; and the last we hear of it is that it has fled from Raleigh, and it must be now somewhere near the Southern border of Virginia. It was supposed that, in the last resort, LEE would try and effect a junction with it; but JOHNSTON and his troops doubtless heard yesterday of the surrender of LEE and his whole army.
Opposed to JOHNSTON is the powerful and magnificent army of Gen. SHERMAN. It is utterly impossible that JOHNSTON should cope with it. He knows it would be ruin for him to try. He knows it would be madness.
In forming a judgment as to the possible course of JOHNSTON in this emergency, we must take into consideration JOHNSTON’s hopeless prospect, as well as the great surrender of Sunday. We must take into account, too, the relations of Gen. JOHNSTON to JEFF. DAVIS, and also his relations to Gen. LEE. For nearly two years JOHNSTON and DAVIS have been in a state of bitter animosity with each other. They quarreled at the time of GRANT’s operations against Vicksburgh; and the Richmond rebel papers have often given us accounts of the depth of their mutual hatred. Twice has DAVIS removed JOHNSTON from command; and on the last occasion, at Atlanta, it was under circumstances which stung JOHNSTON to the quick. The whole press and people of the South clamored loudly for his reinstatement; but DAVIS was implacable. On the other hand, the relations of JOHNSTON to LEE have always been those of mutual respect and friendliness. One of the first acts of Gen. LEE, when he received from the Confederate Congress the command of all the Confederate armies three months ago, was to put JOHNSTON in command of the only army beside his own that existed in the South.
Now, under these circumstances, leaving out of view the hopeless prospect, it may be doubted whether JOHNSTON will exhibit such devotion to the person and interests of DAVIS as to remain any longer in the field in his service. It is far more likely he will follow the example set film by his chief and friend, the Commander of the Confederate armies. If he does not do it quickly, SHERMAN will presently break him and his army to pieces. Then JEFF. DAVIS will be hardly able to get even a body-guard. This week will doubtless wind up JOHNSTON, one way or another.1
1. Johnston met with Davis in a railroad car at Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 12, the day after this story appeared. Davis urged Johnston to continue the war, but Johnston declared that “our people are tied of the war, feel themselves whipped, and will not fight.” Davis gave him permission to open negotiations “to terminate the existing war,” but clearly there was no meeting of the minds. Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman on April 26, and Davis never forgave him.
THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH — THE QUESTION OF RECONSTRUCTION.
APRIL 13
Those who expected from the President the statement of a settled reconstruction policy have been disappointed. His speech disclosed nothing new on that subject. It was made up chiefly of remarks upon the inherent difficulties of the general task, and upon the considerations that prompted the attempt to restore Louisiana to its old status on the basis of twelve thousand loyal voters. No pledge was given, or intention declared, to hold to this or any other particular plan for the future. The special characteristic of the speech was its reserve.1
Herein was wisdom. The time has not yet come for the establishment of any regular system of restoration. The simple reason is that one of the most important elements to be taken into account is yet to be developed. We mean the temper of the South. Upon this temper will depend the discretionary power that should be accorded. If the people lately in revolt choose to accept the result of the war like sensible men, if they exhibit a readiness to resume their relations to the Union in good faith, and to adapt themselves to the best of their ability to that free society which is indispensible to the national concord, every facility should be accorded them for their speedy repossession of every franchise and privilege existing under the constitution. But until time determines in what spirit the conciliatory spirit of the government will be met, it would be folly for the government to engage itself to any fixed line of action.
The Southern disposition hitherto manifested in the districts reduced to our control, is no test. So long as the Confederacy retained its capital and its great armies, almost every Southern mind was more or less under the delusion that it might still prevail, and was badly influenced. That delusion has now passed. The South now, for the first time, is in a condition to meet, with a clear judgment, the question of its future relations to the Union. Some little time must be allowed it to take the new bearings of the situation. Some little time must be allowed the Government, too, to learn what concurrence and cooperation a liberal policy would be likely to receive. Every day now is rapidly shedding light upon these points, and we may confidently expect that the government will soon be prepared to move in the most advantageous direction.
The practical sense which President LINCOLN brings to this momentous work of reconstruction is forcibly illustrated in the remark of his speech that the question whether the so-called seceded States are or are not yet in the Union, is a “pernicious abstraction.”2A vast deal of controversy has been indulged in upon this subject, and sweeping conclusions have been drawn with a great deal of logical labor, from each hypothesis. The simple fact is that categories and formulas in a practical business of this kind are but an impertinence. They are fit only for that Hudibrastic3 order of mind which must “tell the clock by algebra.” Mr. LINCOLN spoke pat to the purpose when he said: “We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to these States is again to get them into their proper practical relation.” That covers the whole ground. Whether these States are out of the Union or not — though for our part we think it very plain that they are not — it is needless to dispute.
Of course, these “proper practical relations” mean equal relations. The great end is to get every Southern State back, so that it shall perform the same obligations, and exercise the same rights, identically that are performed and exercised by every Northern State. It would be ruinous to our Constitutional system to pervert it so as to keep one section of the country permanently subordinate to the rest. Every friend of the Constitution must desire to have this exceptional condition of the South terminated as soon as possible. Nobody, we believe, wishes to keep any Southern State under disabilities, simply as a punishment. Mr. [Charles] SUMNER himself, probably, does not want to transform the Southern States into territories for any such object. The real concern here is, whether the Southern States, if restored at once to their full State rights, would not abuse them by an oppression of the black race. This race has rendered an assistance to the government in the time of danger that entitles them to its benign care. The government cannot, without the worst dishonor, permit the bondage of the black man to be continued in any form. It is bound by every moral principle, as well as every prudential consideration, not to remit him to the tender mercies of any enemy. But it is to be hoped that the Southern people will understand that the interests of both races require a just relation between them, and that they will secure this by a prompt change of their State constitutions and laws. Every appearance, thus far, indicates such a disposition, and that in due time the government will be rid of this embarrassment. Yet for the present, further developments in respect to this and many other important matters must be awaited. The President must exercise caution, the people patience.
1. Lincoln’s last public speech, delivered on April 11, 1865, addressed the question of Reconstruction. To those who thought that the policy used in the case of Louisiana would become a model for the rest of the South, Lincoln replied, “What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each state ... that no exclusive, and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals.” The speech can be found in Basler, Ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 8:399–405.
2. This abstraction was “pernicious” because if the seceded states remained in the Union, all that was necessary for them to resume their former status was to accept the national authority. If not, they would have to be readmitted by Congress.
3. This is a reference to Samuel Butler’s 17th century poem “Hudibras,” which employed a mock heroic verse structure.