General Lee claimed he lost one day at Amelia Court-House gathering subsistence, because his orders to collect them there in advance of his retreat had been disregarded.( 2)

Jefferson Davis reached Danville, Virginia, with members of his Cabinet, on the 3d of April, and, on the 5th, he issued a proclamation which he subsequently characterized thus:

"Viewed in the light of subsequent events, it may be fairly said it was over-sanguine." In it he used such expressions as:

"Let us but will it and we are free. I announce to you, fellow countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia—noble State, whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of the war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious through all time to come—that Virginia with the help of the people, and by the blessings of Providence, shall be held and defended, and no peace ever made with the infamous invaders of her territory.

"If by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits or those of any other border State, we will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a free people."( 3)

In consequence of Hill's death, Lee divided his army into two wings, Ewell commanding one and Longstreet the other, his cavalry being under Fitzhugh Lee and his artillery under Pendleton.

The Confederate Army, on the night of April 5th, abandoned Amelia Court-House, and by circuitous country roads endeavored to pass around the Union left through Deatonville and Painesville to Prince Edward's Court-House, hoping still to be able to escape to Danville.

At daylight of the 6th the Union forces at Jetersville advanced in battle array on Amelia Court-House, and some precious hours were lost in ascertaining the direction of Lee's retreat. Our army was, however, soon counter-marched to Jetersville, and thence, by different roads and regardless of them, by forced marches, it sought to intercept Lee. It must be remembered Lee's troops had one day or more rest since leaving Petersburg and Richmond, and Grant's army had none, and the latter had been moved by night as well as by day, and irregularly fed. The most appealing orders were issued by General Meade to his army to make the required sacrifices and efforts to overtake and overthrow Lee's army. I quote from Meade's order of the night of April 4th:

"The Major-General commanding feels he has but to recall to the Army of the Potomac the success of the oft repeated gallant contests with the Army of Northern Virginia, and when he assures the army that, in the opinion of so distinguished an officer as General Sheridan, it only requires these sacrifices to bring this long and desperate conflict to a triumphant issue, the men of this army will show that they are as willing to die of fatigue and starvation as they have ever shown themselves ready to fall by the bullets of the enemy."( 4)

This order, when read to the regiments, was loudly cheered. There was perfect harmony of action among Grant's generals; all putting forth their best efforts. On the 4th, Sheridan dispatched Grant, "If we press on we will no doubt get the whole army." And again on the 6th, "If the thing is pressed I think Lee will surrender." ( 5) On these dispatches being forwarded to President Lincoln, still at City Point, he is reported to have wired Grant, "Let the thing be pressed."( 6)

Grant, personally, gave more attention to the movements of his forces to important places than to fighting battles. He was especially anxious for Ord's command to be hastened forward on a line south of Lee. Grant was always in touch with Meade and Sheridan, but on the 5th and 6th he was with Ord. At night of the 5th he dispatched from Nottoway Court-House to Meade:

"Your movements are right. Lee's army is the objective point, and to capture that is all we want. Ord has marched fifteen miles to- day to reach here, and is going on. He will probably reach Burkeville to-night. My headquarters will be with the advance."( 7)

Sheridan, in command of the cavalry, was often, temporarily, also given command of a corps of infantry.

In the pursuit on the 6th from Jetersville, Wright's corps followed Merritt's cavalry, and about 3 P.M., after a forced march of eighteen miles, partly without roads and over a hilly country and under a hot sun, came up with a portion of it heavily engaged trying to seize a road at a point about two miles from Sailor's Creek on the left and about the same distance from Deatonville on the right, on which Ewell's wing of Lee's army was retreating. Ewell was heading towards Rice's Station to form a junction with Longstreet, both intending to move via Prince Edward's Court-House south. Ord, with the Army of the James, late on this day confronted Longstreet at Rice's Station. The Third Division of the Sixth was in advance, and my brigade went into line of battle and rapidly into action, with scarcely a halt for formation, and, together with the cavalry, charged and drove the enemy across the road, capturing many prisoners, wagons, and some pieces of artillery, including General Heth's headquarters wagons.

An incident occurred soon after we gained this road. Another road from the west intersected at this point the one we had just seized, and on which the enemy had a battery which opened on us furiously. I hastened to the intersecting road to direct some of my regiments to charge and capture the battery or drive it away. Generals Sheridan and Wright, with their staffs, soon galloped up. Sheridan was accompanied by a large mounted brass band that commenced playing Hail to the Chief, or some other then unwelcome music. This drew the fire from the battery with increased fury on the whole party. Both Sheridan and Wright were too proud spirited to retire in the presence of the troops or each other, though not needed at that place. The dry limbs of pine trees rattling down around us and the bursting of shells rendered the situation embarrassing in the extreme, and the lives of others were being sacrificed or imperilled by the presence of the distinguished party. Being in immediate charge of the forces there, I invited the Generals to get out of the way, but as they did not retire I ordered a charge upon the "noisy band," and thus caused the whole party to retire to a place of greater safety. Some of them were quite willing to go.

I gave Colonel Binkley such an imperative order to silence the battery, that he pursued it with a detachment to such a distance that he did not rejoin the brigade in time to participate in the principal battle of the day yet to be fought.

Ewell's wing of the Confederate Army had mainly passed on towards its destination. Pursuit was promptly ordered by Sheridan and conducted by Wright. Ewell's rear-guard fought stubbornly and fell back slowly through the timber until it reached Sailor's Creek. Wheaton's division arrived and joined the Third on the left in the attack and pursuit. Merritt's cavalry passed rapidly around Ewell's right to intercept the retreat. Merritt crossed Sailor's Creek with Custer and Devin's divisions south of the road on which the enemy retreated.

General R. S. Ewell crossed Sailor's Creek, and about 5 P.M. took up a strong position on heights on its west bank. These heights, save on their face, were covered with forest. There was a level, cultivated bottom about one half mile in width, wholly on the east bank of the stream. Sailor's Creek, then greatly swollen, washed the foot of the heights on which Ewell had posted his army. He hoped to be able to hold his position until night, when, under cover of darkness, he might escape towards Danville.

Our troops were temporarily halted on the hills at the eastern edge of the valley, in easy range of the enemy's guns, and the lines were hastily adjusted.( 8) Artillery went into position and at once opened a heavy fire. An effort was made to bring up Getty's division of the Sixth and the detachment of my brigade under Binkley, but the day was too far spent to await their arrival. It was plainly evident that Ewell outnumbered our forces in line, and our men had been on foot for twelve hours. Wright hesitated under the circumstances, but Sheridan, coming to the front, advised an assault.( 9) Wright then promptly ordered the infantry on the field to make one, under cover of the artillery. Colonel Stagg's cavalry brigade was ordered to attack the enemy's right flank, and Merritt and Crook's cavalry were to attack still farther around his right and on his rear.

Ewell covered his front with a strong line of infantry, and massed a large body in column, in rear of his centre, to be used as the exigencies of the battle might require. Ewell's cavalry covered his right and rear. General R. H. Anderson and J. B. Gordon, with their corps, had preceded Ewell in crossing Sailor's Creek, and Sheridan, who had now personally passed from the front around to Merritt, encountered them some distance to the rear of Ewell's position. The Confederate trains were on the road to Rice's Station, where Longstreet was confronting Ord, neither, however, willing to attack the other.

The plan was for Anderson and Gordon to attack and clear the rear, while Ewell stopped the infantry at the Creek.(10) The latter had three infantry divisions, with parts of others, under the command of Generals Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee, Pickett, Barton, DuBose, Corse, Hunton, and others of the most distinguished officers of the Confederate Army. Commodore John Randolph Tucker, formerly of the United States navy, commanding the Marine Brigade, was posted on the face of the heights on Ewell's front. Colonel Crutchfield, who had been recently in charge of the artillery at Richmond, commanded a large brigade of artillerymen serving as infantry.

About 5 P.M. the two divisions of the Sixth descended from the hills, in a single line, and moved steadily across the valley in the face of a destructive fire, with muskets and ammunition boxes over the shoulder, the men waded the swollen stream. Though the water was from two to four feet deep, the creek was crossed without a halt. Many fell on the plain and in the water, and those who reached the west bank were in some disorder. The command, was, however, given by the officers accompanying the troops to storm the heights, and it was obeyed. Not until within a few yards of the enemy, while ascending the heights, did our men commence firing. The enemy's advance line gave way, and an easy victory seemed about to be achieved, but before the crest was reached, Ewell with his massed troops made an impetuous charge upon and through our line. Our centre was completely broken and a disastrous defeat for us seemed imminent. The large column of Confederate infantry now, however, became exposed to the renewed fire from Wright's massed artillery on the hills east of the valley.

The right and left of the charging line met with better success, driving back all in their front, and, wholly disregarding the defeat of the centre, persisted in advancing, each wheeling as on a pivot in the centre, until the enemy's troops were completely enveloped and subjected to a deadly fire on both flanks, as well as from the artillery in front. The flooded stream forbade an advance on our unguarded batteries. The cavalry, in a simultaneous attack, about this time overthrew all before them on the Confederate right and rear. Ewell's officers gallantly exerted themselves to avert disaster, and bravely tried to form lines to the right and left to repel the now furious flank attacks. This, however, proved impossible. Our men were pushed up firing to within a few feet of the massed Confederates, rendering any reformation or change of front by them out of the question, and speedily bringing hopeless disorder. A few were bayoneted on each side. The enemy fell rapidly, while doing little execution. Flight became impossible, and nothing remained to put an end to the bloody slaughter but for the Confederates to throw down their arms and become captives. As the gloom of approaching night settled over the field, now covered with dead and dying, the fire of artillery and musketry ceased, and General Ewell, together with eleven general officers and about all the survivors of his gallant army, were prisoners. Ewell, Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee (son of General R. E. Lee), and others surrendered to the Sixth Corps. Barton, Corse, Hunton, DuBose, and others were taken by the cavalry. Crutchfield of the Artillery Brigade was killed near me, and his command captured or dispersed. Generals Anderson and Gordon got away with part of B. R. Johnson's division, and Pickett escaped with about six hundred men.(11) Tucker's Marine Brigade, numbering about two thousand, surrendered to me in a body a little later.(12) It had been passed by in the onset of the charge. About thirty-five of the officers of this brigade had served in the United States Navy before the war. The brigade was made up of naval troops who had recently served on gunboats and river batteries on the James below Richmond. As infantrymen they cut a sorry figure, but they were brave, and stood to their assigned position after all others of their army had been overthrown. They knew nothing about flight, and were taken as a body. By reason of their first position they suffered heavily. When disarmed there was found to be a wagon load or more of pistols of all patterns which had been collected from all the countries of the civilized world. Certain incidents relating to the surrender of this brigade may be of interest.(13)

Tucker's command was not at once engulfed in the general disaster. Tucker had, after making a gallant charge, withdrawn it from its exposed position into the dense timber in a depression in the bluffs. Near the close of the battle, just at dusk, it was reported to me that a force of Confederates was in this timber. I made two vain attempts to get into communication with it and to notify its commanding officer that he was in our power. At last, having some doubts of its presence where reported, and my staff and orderlies being engaged reforming troops and caring for prisoners, I rode alone to investigate. After proceeding in the woods a short distance, to my surprise I came upon Tucker's brigade in line of battle, partly concealed by underbrush. To avoid capture I resorted to a ruse. In a loud voice I gave the command, "Forward," and it was repeated by the Confederate officers all along the line. I turned to ride towards my own troops. The dense thicket prevented speed and the marines therefore kept at my horse's heels. As an open space was approached the nearest Confederate discovered that I was a Union officer, and cried "Shoot him." As I turned to surrender, some confusion arose and a few shots were fired, but Tucker and Captain John D. Semmes, being near me, knocked up the ends of the nearest rifles with their swords and saved my life. From this situation, lying close on my horse's neck, I escaped to my own command. With a detachment I at once returned to the timber, where I met Tucker and explained to him the situation of which he was ignorant, and forthwith received his surrender with his brigade. Later, when Tucker and Semmes were prisoners at Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, the appealed to me to intercede for their release, which I most gladly and successfully did. They had each been, at the beginning of the war, in the United States Navy, which caused them to be exceptionally detained as prisoners under President Johnson's order.(14)

The infantry, under Wright, engaged in the battle at Sailor's Creek at no time exceeded ten thousand men. The number participating in the charge across the plain and in storming the heights did not exceed seven thousand, being fewer in number than the enemy captured on the field. It has been claimed that Humphreys' Second Corps participated in the battle, and some Confederate officers assert that the attack was made with thirty thousand men under Wright. Humphreys did have a lively skirmish the evening of the 6th, and captured a considerable train, far off to the right of the battle- field, and in this the detachment under Colonel Binkley from my brigade participated.(15)

Getty's division of the Sixth did not reach the field in time to become engaged.(16) The results, being so great, naturally led interested parties to exaggerate the number of the attacking forces.(17)

Sheridan, in his report, May 16, 1865, speaking of the infantry attack, says: "It was splendid, but no more than I had reason to expect from the gallant Sixth Corps." And he speaks of the fighting of the cavalry and the captures thus:

"The cavalry in the rear of the enemy attacked simultaneously, and the enemy, after a gallant resistance, were completely surrounded, and nearly all threw down their arms and surrendered. General Ewell, commanding the enemy's forces, a number of other general officers, and about 10,000 other prisoners were taken by us. Most of them fell into the hands of the cavalry, but they are no more entitled to claim them than the Sixth Corps, to which equal credit is due for the result of this engagement."

Our loss in killed and wounded was comparatively small; that of the enemy was great, but not in proportion to his loss in prisoners. One week after the battle I visited the field, and could then have walked on Confederate dead for many successive rods along the face of the heights held by the enemy when the battle opened.

The capture of Ewell and his generals, with the larger part of the forces under them, and the dispersion of the remainder of Ewell's wing of Lee's army were irreparable disasters to the Confederacy. Lee could no longer hope to cope with the pursuing army. The Sixth Corps had the distinguished honor of striking the decisive blows at Petersburg on the 2d, and at Sailor's Creek on the 6th of April, 1865.

Sailor's Creek may fairly be called the last field battle of the war. A distinguished Confederate General, Wade Hampton, in a Century Magazine article, pronounced the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, the "last important one of the war, . . . the last general battle of the Civil War." There may be room for controversy as to where and when the last "general battle" of the war was fought. Certain it is that it was not at Bentonville that the conflict ended on a large scale and blood ceased to flow in the great Rebellion. Bentonville was mainly fought March 19, 1865, and while it may properly be called a field engagement and of no insignificant proportions, it was not the last one. This is not the place to enter into any controversy about last battles, their character and significance, yet it may not be out of place to call attention to the most prominent battles, etc., fought after March 19, 1865.

Fort Stedman, in front of Petersburg, Virginia, was assaulted and temporarily taken by the Confederate General Gordon, March 25, 1865, and while the fighting which ensued in retaking the fort and in driving out the attacking forces may not be denominated a general battle, yet it was a bloody one. Other severe fighting took place in front of Petersburg the same day.

Five Forks, Virginia, fought by General Sheridan's cavalry and the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, April 1, 1865, was fought outside of fortifications by cavalry, infantry, and artillery combined, and there were charges and counter-charges, lasting several hours, the losses being heavy in killed and wounded. Many prisoners were there taken by Sheridan's command. Five Forks was a general field engagement.

The assaults and conflicts on, over, and around the ramparts of the forts and fortifications (incomparably bloody) in front of Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865, which tore open the strong lines of defence held by General Lee's army, forced it to flight, and lost Petersburg and Richmond to the Confederacy, may not be entitled to be classed as general field battles.

Sailor's Creek came next in order, fought April 6, 1865.

The assault and capture of Fort Blakely, near Mobile, Alabama, took place April 9, 1865. If Blakely can be called a general battle it was the last one of the war. It was, however, mainly an assault by the Union forces under General E. R. S. Canby on fortifications, though rich in results. The killed and wounded at Blakely in both armies aggregated about 2000 men. Canby's forces captured 3423 men, 40 pieces of artillery, 16 battle flags, etc. The prize fought for and won was Mobile, its surrounding forts and the Confederate Navy in the harbor of Mobile.

At Palmetto Ranche, Texas, on May 13, 1865, near the battle-field of General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), the first of the Mexican War, and about two thousand miles from Big Bethel, the scene, June 10, 1861, of the first considerable battle of the Rebellion, a lively engagement took place, hardly, however, rising above the dignity of a skirmish or an affair, though it was by no means bloodless. (The magnitude of the battles of the Rebellion dwarfed to affairs or skirmishes what were formerly in this and other countries called battles.)

Colonel Theodore H. Barrett commanded the Union forces at Palmetto Ranche, and General J. E. Slaughter the Confederates.

The 62d United States Colored Infantry, in this fight, probably fired the last angry volley of the war, and Sergeant Crocket of that regiment (three days after Jefferson Davis' capture) received the last wound from a rebel hostile bullet, and hence shed the last fresh blood in the war resulting in the freedom of his race in the United States. The observation irresistibly comes, that on the scene of the first battle of the Mexican War—a war inaugurated for the acquisition of slave territory—and of the first battle participated in by Lieutenant-General (then Second Lieutenant) U. S. Grant, almost exactly nineteen years later, the last conflict took place in the war for the preservation of the Union, and in which slavery was totally overthrown in our Republic.

But to return from the digression and to conclude the story of Sailor's Creek, or the "Forgotten Battle." It may truthfully be said that it was not only the last general field battle of the war, but the one wherein more officers and men were captured in the struggle of actual conflict than in any battle of modern times.

There was some fighting between the cavalry of the two armies and many minor affairs between the advance- and rear-guards, but the four years' heavy fighting between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac ended at Sailor's Creek.

During the battle Lee was with Longstreet at Rice's Station, two miles distant, impatiently awaiting news from Lieutenant-Generals Ewell and Anderson. General Mahone states what transpired when Colonel Venable of Lee's staff reported to his chief something of the disaster at Sailor's Creek:

"General Lee exclaimed, 'Where is Anderson? Where is Ewell? It is strange I can't hear from them." Then turning to me, he said, 'General Mahone, I have no other troops, will you take your division to Sailor's Creek?' and I promptly gave the order by the left flank, and off we were for Sailor's Creek, where the disaster had occurred. General Lee rode with me, Colonel Venable a little in the rear. On reaching the south crest of the high ground at the crossing of the river road overlooking Sailor's Creek, the disaster which had overtaken our army was in full view, and the scene beggars description, —hurrying teamsters with their teams and dangling traces (no wagons), retreating infantry without guns, many without hats, a harmless mob, with the massive columns of the enemy moving orderly on. At this spectacle General Lee straightened himself in his saddle, and, looking more the soldier than ever, exclaimed, as if talking to himself, 'My God! has the army dissolved?' As quickly as I could control my own voice I replied, 'No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty'; when, in a mellowed voice, he replied: 'Yes, General, there are some true men left. Will you please keep those people back?' As I was placing my division in position to 'keep those people back,' the retiring herd just referred to had crowded around General Lee while he sat on his horse with a Confederate battle-flag in his hand. I rode up and requested him to give me the flag, which he did.

"It was near dusk, and he wanted to know of me how to get away. I replied: 'Let General Longstreet move by the river road to Farmville, and cross the river there, and I will go through the woods to the High Bridge (railroad bridge) and cross there.' To this he assented."

Longstreet retired at nightfall to Farmville and there crossed the Appomattox the morning of the 7th, and Mahone and broken detachments, with such trains and artillery as Lee still possessed, crossed at the High Bridge. All bridges were wholly or partially destroyed by the enemy on being passed.

The result of the operations of April 6th forced Lee off of all roads leading to Danville, and Lynchburg became his objective.

Grant's plans did not justify a halt on the field of Sailor's Creek long enough to bury the dead, or even long enough to care for our wounded, and, though night had come, the battle-stained soldiers, hungry and exhausted, were marched on. The Sixth Corps encamped at 10 P.M. near Rice's Station, about three miles from the battle- field. Other corps on different lines were kept to their work, and their operations also contributed towards baffling Lee's plans for escape.

A single serious disaster occurred on the 6th to a detachment of our army. Ord, whose orders were to obstruct all lines of retreat, detached Colonel Francis Washburn with the 123d Ohio and portions of the 54th Pennsylvania and 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, about eight hundred in all, to destroy High Bridge over the Appomattox below Farmville. Later in the day, Colonel Thomas Reed of Ord's staff with eighty cavalrymen was sent to recall Washburn. The detachments met, and having penetrated to within about two miles of the bridge, encountered Lee's advance cavalry and infantry. Washburn and Read put up one of the most gallant fights of the war, but were soon surrounded. They led repeated charges until both fell, mortally wounded. Not until most of the command had fallen did it surrender. The Confederate loss was severe, especially in officers. This affair caused Lee to lose precious time, he being led to believe from the obstinacy of the fight that a large Union force was in his front.

The Sixth Corps, after Sailor's Creek, was ordered to pursue Lee's army directly. Its flanking work was done; its mission was to assail Lee's rear, delay him, and if possible bring him to battle.

Sheridan, with Merritt's cavalry division, followed by Ord and the Fifth Corps, continued westward, with orders not to stop for bad roads, nor wait for subsistence or for daylight. They were not to halt until planted across Lee's front.

Humphreys, who also had orders to press Lee's rear, succeeded with his corps and a cavalry division under Crook in crossing the Appomattox close on Mahone's rear. Wright, the morning of the 7th, followed Longstreet to Farmville, where the latter had passed to the north of the river.

Grant and his staff, with a small escort, rode by us about noon. The roads were muddy from recent rains and much cut up by the Confederate Army. Grant was dressed, to all appearance, in a tarpaulin suit, and he was, even to his whiskers, so bespattered with mud, fresh and dried, as to almost prevent recognition. He then, as always, was quiet, modest, and undemonstrative. A close look showed an expression of deep anxiety on his countenance.

Farmville is in a narrow, short valley on the south bank of the Appomattox, surrounded on the south by high bluffs. As the Sixth arrived on the heights above the town I was riding with General Wright. All were anxious to ascertain the exact whereabouts of the enemy, when, to our amazement, apparently the whole Confederate Army came into view on the high plain north of the river. It was drawn up in battle array and seemingly about to envelop and destroy Crook's cavalry, that was furiously assailing it to delay it. From the heights it seemed to us Crook's command would speedily be annihilated. Wright was an unimpassioned man, little given to excitement, but this scene threw him into a vehement state. His corps was too far off the render assistance; the Appomattox, deep through narrow, lay between, and pontoons were not up. He ordered his corps hastened forward, and plunged down the bluffs into Farmville, looking for a crossing. He soon came in front of a Virginia tavern with the usual "stoops" or low porches in front, above, and below. Grant was seated on the upper "stoop," resting his chin on his folded arms, which were on the rail of a baluster. He was smoking a cigar, and doubtless casting his eyes on the situation across the river. He then looked happy, contented, and unconcerned. He did not change when Wright exhibited, by word and act, great solicitude for the fate of the cavalry. When Wright had finished, Grant withdrew his cigar from his lips, raised his head only a little, and pleasantly said: "The cavalry are doing well, and I hope General Lee will continue to fight them, as the delay will lessen his chances of escape." Grant also, pointing in the direction of the river, added: "General Wright, you will find the debris of a railroad bridge down there, on which you can construct a passage for your infantry and get them over the river during the night." Grant resumed smoking and we went about our business.

A crossing was soon made on the iron and timbers of a broken-down bridge, over which foot soldiers could pass in single file. As the structure was liable to get out of order, each officer, from division to company commander, was required to stand at its end and see that the soldiers of his command marched on it at proper intervals and with steady step. It was 3 A.M. of the 8th before the last of the corps had crossed and bivouacked. Mounted officers and escorts swam the stream at a swollen ford near-by.

Crook lost heavily in his unequal combat, one of his brigades especially, its commanding officer, General J. Irwin Gregg, being captured, but the purpose of the attack was accomplished. Crook withdrew his recently imperilled cavalry to the south of the river about 9 P.M. of the 7th, and reached Prospect Station the same night, under orders to rejoin Sheridan.

Lee, late on the evening of the 7th, seems to have been personally seized with a panic on hearing some threatening reports of being cut off or flanked, and he caused his trains to retreat in a wild rush and the infantry under Longstreet to march at double-quick to Cumberland Church, where he formed for battle.(18)

General Ewell, at supper with Wright the night after his capture on the 6th, made some remarks about the hopeless condition of the Confederate Army, and suggested that Lee might be willing to surrender. This and other like talk of Ewell, being communicated by a Dr. Smith to Grant, suggested the idea to him of demanding the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.(19) A note to this effect was accordingly sent to Lee, under a flag of truce, at 5 P.M. of the 7th. Lee immediately answered, saying he did not entertain the opinion that further resistance was hopeless on the part of his army, yet asked Grant to name the terms he would offer on condition of surrender. Grant, on the 8th, replied that there was but one condition he would insist on, viz.:

"That the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged."

Lee, the same day, responded, saying that in his note of the day before, he "did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia," but only to ask the terms of Grant's proposition, adding that he could not meet Grant with the view of surrendering that army, but as far as Grant's proposal might affect the Confederate States forces under his command and tend to the restoration of peace, he would be pleased to meet Grant the next day at 10 A.M. Very early on the 9th Grant sent Lee a note saying: "I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed for 10 A.M. to-day could lead to no good."

At the earliest dawn of the 8th, the Sixth Corps pushed after Lee, compelling him to abandon some of his heaviest artillery and a further part of his trains. Longstreet covered Lee's rear, and his troops had not been seriously engaged on the retreat. Ord and the Fifth Corps struggled westward, cutting off all chance of Lee turning southward and of thus extricating himself. The 8th was not a day of battles but of the utmost activity in both armies.

I note an incident. While halted, about noon on the 8th, in some low pines to drink a cup of coffee and eat a cracker, Colonel Horace Kellogg, of the 123d Ohio, who had been captured with Washburn's command on the 6th, near High Bridge, came to us through the bushes from a hiding-place to which he escaped soon after his capture. He looked cadaverous, was wild-eyed, and in a crazed condition, caused by starvation and want of water for two days. We had to restrain him, and give him water, coffee, and food in small quantities at first, to prevent his killing himself from over-indulgence.

Sheridan, who had concentrated his cavalry at Prospect Station under Crook, Merritt, and Custer, at daybreak of the 8th hastened westward, south of Lee, to Appomattox Station. Sergeant White, of the scouts, in advance, in disguise, west of the Station, met four trains from Lynchburg with supplies sent in obedience to the Burkeville dispatch already mentioned. The trains were feeling their way eastward, in ignorance of Lee's whereabouts. The Sergeant had the original dispatch with him, and exhibited it, and, by dwelling on the starving condition of Lee's army, easily persuaded the officers in charge to run the trains east of Appomattox Station, he having, meantime, sent word to Sheridan where they could be found. Custer hastened forward, sending two regiments by a detour, in a gallop, to seize and break the railroad behind the trains. The trains were captured. One was burned, and the other three sent eastward towards Farmville. This capture took place just as the head of Lee's column came in sight.(20) Custer attacked Lee's advance, and was soon joined by Devin's division and a brigade from Crook. Together they drove it back, capturing twenty-five pieces of artillery, a hospital train, and a large park of wagons which were being sent ahead of Lee's main army. Sheridan's headquarters, at night, were at a farm-house, just south of Appomattox Station, and about three miles southwest of the Court-House of that name. Neither he nor his command slept that night. Sheridan was now across Lee's front, and if he could hold on, Lee must surrender. Ord, with the Fifth Corps following, was hastening to Sheridan. The supreme hour was at hand. Ord was no laggard, and it was known that he would put forth all human effort, yet Sheridan dispatched through the night officer after staff officer to apprise Ord of the immediate danger the cavalry was in, if unsupported, and to assure him that his presence with his column would end the Rebellion. Before day-dawn the cavalry was in the saddle, in battle array, bearing down on the Confederate advance, then at the Court-House. Ord arrived in person before sun-up of the 9th, and hastily consulted Sheridan where to put in his troops on their arrival. Ord then returned to hurry on his weary, hungry, foot-sore men, who had marched all the night, having little sleep for many days. Sheridan turned from the consultation with Ord to take charge of the battle already raging near the Court-House.

Let us look within the lines of the Confederate Army and see what was transpiring there. That army had, since Sailor's Creek and Farmville, been directed, of necessity, along the north of the river on Appomattox Court-House and Lynchburg. It had been assailed, night and day, flank and rear, from the time it left Petersburg. Provisions were scarce, and many of its best officers had, in the last week, fallen or been captured. It, however, had held out bravely and with more spirit than would be expected. It was an old and once splendidly organized and equipped army, and its discipline had been good. Pendleton and others of Lee's generals (not including Longstreet) secretly, on the 7th, held a council, and with a view of lightening Lee's responsibilities, decided to inform him that they thought the time had come to surrender his army. The next day Longstreet was requested to bear the report of this council to Lee. He declined, and Pendleton made to report to Lee himself. The latter, if correctly reported, said: "I trust it has not come to that," adding, among other things, "If I were to say a word to the Federal commander, he would regard it as such a confession of weakness as to make it the condition of demanding an unconditional surrender."(21)

Gordon, with Fitz Lee at the head of the cavalry, commanded the advance, and Longstreet the rear. The night of the 8th found Lee's advance at Appomattox Court-House forced well back, and Longstreet's rear pressed close on his main body. General Lee called in council, at a late hour that night, Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, Major-Generals John B. Gordon, Fitzhugh Lee, and Wm. N. Pendleton.(22) This was the last council of war of the Army of Northern Virginia, if it could be called one. The meeting was in a secluded spot, in a gloomy pine woods, without shelter. The night was damp and chilly, and there was a small, smoky, green-pine fire, affording little light. The whole surrounding was calculated to dispirit the five officers, to say nothing of the occasion. Little was said or done. Lee made some inquiry as to the position of the troops. At the end of an hour the council broke up, Lee directing Gordon to mass his command, including all the cavalry under Fitz Lee and General Long's batteries of thirty guns, and move through Appomattox Court-House, where the advance rested, and to commence the movement at 1 A.M. The trains were to follow closely, covered by Longstreet's corps, which was still Lee's rear-guard. Sheridan's cavalry was to be overwhelmed, and, with this done, the retreat was to continue on to Lynchburg. At 3 in the morning General Lee rode slowly forward apparently to join his van-guard in the effort to break through our lines. Not, however, until 5 A.M. of the 9th did Gordon and Fitz Lee get in motion against Sheridan's cavalry, which they then found spread over a wide front near Appomattox Court-House. The battle commenced, the Union cavalry sullenly falling back. This inspired new hope in the Confederate Army. General Mumford, with a portion of his Confederate cavalry division, found a break in Sheridan's line, and charging through, escaped. This gave rise to a report that the road had been opened.(23)

Gordon pushed on with renewed confidence, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, first striking Crook and McKenzie on the Union left, then Merritt in the centre, the latter two yielding as though defeated. Crook, however, held firmly on the extreme left, while Merritt drew from the centre to the right, there to unite Custer and Devin's cavalry divisions, leaving the centre apparently abandoned. Gordon hastily dispatched word of his success, and, inspired with a hope of complete victory, hurled his hosts into the great gap thus made, capturing two pieces of artillery, and moved forward to the crest of a ridge. But, alas! From this crest Gordon and his officers saw a new scene. They beheld through the mists and the morning gray, on the plain before them, Ord's column, formed and forming, in full array, ready for strong battle. Hope vanished from the minds of the Confederate generals. The Fifth Corps, under General Charles Griffin, was also then arriving on Ord's extreme right in support of the cavalry already there. The cavalry in the centre had been but a curtain. Gordon halted and sent word of the situation to his chief, notifying him that further effort was hopeless, and would cause a useless sacrifice; that he had "fought his troops to a frazzle."(24)

Ord was Sheridan's superior in rank, but both decided to end matters at once, so, with battle flags and guidons bent to the front, the combined forces advanced to their work. Some artillery shots passed through their lines, but did not arrest them. The Confederates retired to another ridge immediately fronting the Court-House. Gordon there displayed a white flag, indicating a willingness to negotiate. Custer first saw it. He notified Sheridan, who notified Ord, and the attack was suspended. Sheridan galloped to the front, though fired on by soldiers of a South Carolina brigade,(25) and soon joined Gordon. A truce looking to a surrender was made. Colonel J. W. Forsyth of Sheridan's staff passed through the Confederate Army to Meade, and notified him of the truce, and thus stopped the Second and Sixth Corps then attacking Longstreet. Colonel Newhall, Sheridan's Adjutant-General, rode to meet Grant and advise him that Lee desired a meeting with a view to surrendering his army.

Little has been said of the great soldier, Meade, in this campaign. Much credit is due him. He aided in organizing a victory at Five Forks (26) and in planning the assault on Petersburg. Though ill at Jetersville, and much of the time thereafter to the end of the campaign, he was always up with one or the other of his corps, doing all it was possible for him to do to accomplish the great result finally attained.

Let us again return to Grant—the silent soldier. On the 5th of April Grant and his staff with a small escort became separated from his headquarters camp equipage and wagons. He was even without his sword. He and his staff thereafter slept on porches of farm- houses or bivouacked in the woods or fields without cover. They picked up scant fare at any camp they could find it, and often went hungry, as did many other officers. As a result of exposure to frequent rains, poor food, fatigue, loss of sleep, and, doubtless, extreme prolonged anxiety, Grant, on the afternoon of the 8th, had a violent attack of sick-headache. At a farm-house that night he was induced to bathe his feet in hot water and mustard and to have mustard plasters applied to his wrists and the back of his neck, but all this brought him no relief. He lay down to sleep in vain. He, however, during the night, received and sent dispatches relating to the next day's operations. At 4 o'clock his staff found him in a yard in front of the house, pacing up and down with both hands to his head and suffering great pain. He wrote a note in the early morning answering Lee's note of the previous day. He rode early to Meade's camp (then in the immediate rear of the two pursuing corps), and there drank some coffee, with little relief. His staff tried to induce him to ride that day in an ambulance, but, sick as he was, he mounted his favorite horse—Cincinnati—and in consequence of dispatches from Sheridan giving an account of the situation at the front, started by a circuitous route to join him. Some five miles from the Court-House a dispatch from Meade was handed Grant, advising him of a two-hours' truce and of the place General Lee would meet him; also this note from Lee:

"April 9, 1865. "General,—I received your note of this morning on the picket line, whither I had come to meet you, and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now ask an interview, in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday, for that purpose.

"R. E. Lee, General. "Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant."

Grant wrote to Lee (11.50 A.M.), saying he would meet him as requested. General Porter asked Grant, as they rode on, about the pain in his head. Grant answered: "The pain in my head seemed to leave me as soon as I got Lee's letter."(27) He reached the Court- House about 1 P.M., where he was met by Ord and Sheridan. Lee had already arrived, and was awaiting Grant at the McLean house. The two Generals met face to face. Lee wore a new Confederate uniform and a handsome sword. He was tall, straight, and soldierly in appearance. He wore a full gray beard. Grant, much below Lee in stature, wore only a soldier's blouse and soiled suit, and was without a sword, having only some dingy shoulder-straps denoting the rank of Lieutenant-General.

Lee, on his arrival, dismounted, and was seated for a short time at the roadside, beneath an apple tree. This circumstance alone gave rise to the widely circulated report that the surrender took place under an apple tree.(28)

Some civilities passed between the Generals at the McLean house. There was substantially no negotiation as to the terms of surrender. Lee asked Grant to write them. Grant said: "Very well, I will write them out." He took a manifold order-book, and without consultation with anybody, in the presence of Lee and others, wrote:

"General,—In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst. I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly [exchanged], and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.

"Very respectfully, "U. S. Grant, Lt.-Gen."

This was immediately handed to General Lee, who, after reading it, observed the word "exchanged" had been inadvertently omitted after the words "until properly." The word was inserted. Lee inquired of Grant whether the terms proposed permitted cavalrymen and artillerists who, in his army, owned their horses, to retain them. Grant answered that the terms, as written, would not, but added, that as many of the men were small farmers and might need their animals to raise a crop in the coming season, he would instruct his paroling officers to let every man who claimed to own a horse or mule keep it. Lee remarked that this would have a good effect.

Grant's draft was handed to be copied to an Indian, Colonel Ely S. Parker (Chief of the Six Nations) of Grant's staff, he being the best scribe of Grant's officers present. Lee mistook Parker for a negro, and seemed to be struck with astonishment to find one on Grant's staff.

Lee then wrote this note:

"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. "General,—I received your letter of this date containing the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th inst. they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect.

"R. E. Lee, General. "Lieut.-General U. S. Grant."

Generals Gibbon, Griffin, and Merritt were designated by Grant, and Generals Longstreet, Gordon, and Pendleton by Lee, to carry into effect the terms of surrender.

Before separating, Lee stated to Grant that his army was badly in want of food and forage; that his men had lived for some days on parched corn, and that he would have to ask for subsistence. Grant promised it at once, and asked how many men there were to supply. Lee replied, "About twenty-five thousand." Grant authorized him to send to Appomattox Station and get a supply out of the recently captured trains. At that time our army had few rations, and only such forage as the poor country afforded.

Some detachments and small bands of Lee's army escaped, but there were paroled 2781 officers and 25,450 men, aggregate 28,231.(29)

Lee's army was not required to march out, stack arms, and surrender according to the general custom of war, but the men, quietly, under their officers, stacked their guns and remained in camp until paroled. They soon dispersed, never to reassemble. The Army of Northern Virginia then ceased to exist.

The Union Army, on learning of the surrender, commenced firing a salute of one hundred guns. Grant ordered the firing stopped, not desiring to exult over his captured countrymen. General Meade and others protested in vain that it was due to the Army of the Potomac for its sacrifices and gallantry in the years of war that it should have the honor of a formal surrender and a day of military demonstrations.

The wildest scenes of rejoicing, however, took place in the Union Army on learning of the surrender. It did not take on the form of boasting over the captured. It was a genuine exultation over the prospect of the end of the war, the overthrow of the Confederacy, the restoration of the Union, and the destruction of slavery in the Republic. Officers, however high of rank, were not safe from the frenzied rush of the excited soldiers. Some eloquent, joyous speeches were made.

The little wild-cherry tree under which myself and staff were seated, drinking a cup of coffee and chewing "hard tack" when word of the surrender came, was torn down for mementoes. Meade and Wright did not escape, being almost dragged from their horses in the mad rejoicing.

The enlisted men of the two armies met on the guard lines, where many of the Union soldiers gave their last cracker to hungry Confederates. The gentlest and kindest feeling was exhibited on both sides. Not an ungenerous word was heard.

Grant at 4.30 P.M. telegraphed the Secretary of War: "General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself."

President Lincoln had the news of Lee's surrender to cheer his great soul for five days before the assassin's bullet laid him low.

Grant retired to an improvised camp, and immediately announced his intention to leave the army in the field and start for Washington the next day. He rode within the Confederate lines at 9 A.M. on the 10th, and held a half hour's talk with Lee about the possibility of other Confederate armies surrendering and the speedy ending of the war, but Lee, though expressing himself satisfied further effort was vain, would take no responsibility, even to advising other armies to surrender, without consulting Jefferson Davis.(30) Grant left for Washington at noon.

General Lee retired to his home at Richmond.

The Union Army counter-marched to Burkeville. While there the death of Abraham Lincoln was announced to it. The army loved him, and his assassination excited the bitterest feeling. A memorial meeting was held at my headquarters at Burkeville, and like meetings were held in some other commands, at which speeches were made by officers.

The casualties in the Union Army in all the operations from March 29 to April 9, 1865 (Dinwiddie Court-House to Appomattox inclusive) were, in killed and wounded:(31)

Army of the Potomac . . . . . . 6,609 Army of the James . . . . . . . 1,289 Cavalry (Sheridan) . . . . . . 1,168 ——- Grand total . . . . . . . . . 9,066

The killed and wounded in the Sixth Corps were 1500, and in my brigade 379 (above one fourth in the corps), and in the campaign, including March 25th at Petersburg, 480.

The brigade in the campaign, besides taking sixteen pieces of artillery and many prisoners in battle, captured six battle-flags, including General Heth's division headquarters flag.(32)

Sheridan with the cavalry and Wright with the Sixth Corps were ordered from Burkeville to North Carolina, to co-operate with Sherman against J. E. Johnston's army. The Sixth left Burkeville the 23d of April, 1865, and arrived, via Halifax Court-House, at Danville, a hundred miles or more distant, on the 27th, where, on learning that Johnston had capitulated, it was halted.

I obtained leave to continue south without my command (with two staff officers and a few orderlies), to visit old friends in Sherman's army with whom I had served in the West in 1861 and 1862. I travelled through bodies of paroled Confederates for fifty miles, to Greensboro, North Carolina, and there came into the lines of the Twenty-Third Corps, commanded by my old and distinguished friend, General J. D. Cox. After a few days' sojourn as his guest, and having seen the surrendered army of Joe Johnston, I returned to Danville and my proper command, feeling the war was about over.

The Army of the Potomac marched to Washington, and there (Sixth Corps excepted), uniting with Sherman's army, held the Grand Review of May 23, 1865. The Sixth Corps, with many detachments, numbering about 30,000 in all, arrived later, and was reviewed by President Johnson and his Cabinet and Generals Grant, Sherman, and Meade, June 8, 1865. The Army of the Potomac was disbanded June 28, 1865. All the armies of the Union were soon broken up and the volunteers composing them mustered out and sent to their homes to take up the pursuits of peace.(33) The prisons of the South had given up their starving victims.

On the recommendations of Wright, Meade, and Grant I was appointed a Brevet Major-General of Volunteers, the commission of the President reciting that it was "for gallant and distinguished services during the campaign ending in the surrender of the insurgent army under General R. E. Lee."

I was mustered out at Washington June 27, 1865, having served continuously as an officer precisely four years and two months, and fought in about the first (Rich Mountain) and the last (Sailor's Creek) battles of the war, and campaigned in six of the eleven seceding States, and in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.(34)

The regiments of my brigade (110th, 122d and 126th Ohio, 67th and 138th Pennsylvania, 6th Maryland, and 9th New York Heavy Artillery) lost, killed on the field, 54 officers and 812 enlisted men, wounded 101 officers and 2410 enlisted men, aggregate 3377, only six less than the killed and wounded under Scott and Taylor in their conquest of Mexico, 1846-1848,(35) and more than the like casualties under the direct command of Washington in the Revolutionary War—Lexington to Yorktown.

The terms of capitulation accorded to Lee's army were granted to other armies.

With Lee's surrender came the capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama, April 9th, followed by the surrender of Mobile, April 12th; Joe Johnston's army in North Carolina, April 26th; Dick Taylor's in Mississippi; May 4th; and Kirby Smith's in Texas, May 26th. Jefferson Davis, with members of his Cabinet, was captured at Irwinville, Georgia, May 10, 1865.

As the curtain fell before the awful drama of war, 174,233 Confederates surrendered, who, with 98,802 others held as prisoners of war (in all 273,035), were paroled and sent to their homes, and 1686 cannon and over 200,000 small arms were the spoils of victory.

The war was over; it was not in vain.

State-rights and secession—twin heresies, as promulgated by Calhoun and his followers and maintained by Jefferson Davis and the civil and military powers of the would-be Confederacy, and human slavery, a growth of the ages, fostered by avarice, and a blot on our civilization for two hundred and fifty years—were likewise overthrown or destroyed; and the integrity of the Union of the States and the majesty of the Constitution as a charter of organized liberty were vindicated, and the American Republic, full-orbed, was perpetuated, under one flag, and with one destiny.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declaring that: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to its jurisdiction"; submitted, February 1, 1865, by Congress to the States for ratification, and proclaimed ratified December 18, 1865, is but the inevitable decree of war, in the form of organic law, resulting from the triumph of the Union arms, accomplished through the bloody sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of devoted men, together with the concurrent sufferings of yet other hundreds of thousands of wounded and sick and the sorrows of disconsolate and desolate millions more, superadded by billions in value of property laid waste and other billions of treasure expended. Such, indeed, was the penalty paid to eradicate the crime of the centuries— SLAVERY.

Freedom was triumphant, and civilization moved higher.

( 1) Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., pp. 175, 189.

( 2) This statement is taken from Lee's official report, though Jefferson Davis, in his work, takes pains to viciously deny its truth. War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1265; Battles and Leaders, etc., vol. iv., p. 724; Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, vol. ii., pp. 668-76.

( 3) Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, Davis, vol. ii., p. 677. I picked up at Danville a copy of this document at the press where it had recently been printed.

( 4) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 549.

( 5) Ibid., pp. 556, 610.

( 6) Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., p. 187.

( 7) War Records., vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 576.

( 8) While riding along the face of the hills with Colonel Andrew J. Smith of the division staff, to get a good view of the enemy's position, I dispatched the Colonel to bring up and put a battery in a designated position. He met and sent Major O. V. Tracey of the same staff on his errand, and soon rejoined me. Some movements displayed large numbers of the enemy, whereupon Smith characteristically exclaimed: "Get as many boys as ever you can; get as many shingles as ever you can; get around the corner as fast as ever you can,— a whole hogshead of molasses all over the walk!" Before this outburst ceased a bullet whistled past by bridle reins and struck Smith in the right leg. While yet repeating his lingo, he threw his arms around his horse's neck and swung to the ground.

( 9) Grant wrote Sheridan informing him the Sixth Corps was following him, saying: "The Sixth Corps will go in with a vim any place you may dicate."—Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., p. 182.

(10) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 1284, 1298.

(11) Longstreet, Manassas to Appomattox, p. 614.

(12) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 980.

(13) Captains John F. Hazleton and T. J. Hoskinson, serving respectively as my Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence, reported to me at a critical juncture in the battle of Sailor's Creek and volunteered for field duty, and for their exceptional gallantry each was, on my recommendation, brevetted a Major by the President.

(14) Tucker after the war expatriated himself from the country for a time, and became an Admiral in the Peruvian navy, but as our naval officers refused to salute his flag on the sea, Peru was forced to dismiss him.

(15) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 683, 980.

(16) Ibid., p. 906.

(17) As to numbers engaged, see correspondence, Appendix C.

(18) Longstreet, Manassas to Appomattox, p. 616.

(19) Memoirs of Grant, vol. ii., pp. 477-8.

(20) Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., pp. 191, 199.

(21) Manassas to Appomattox, pp. 618, 620; Memoirs of Lee (Long), p. 416.

(22) Letter of General Gordon to the writer, of October 1, 1894.

(23) Longstreet relates that information came to him from Gordon that a break had been found through which the Confederate Army "could force passage," and that he dispatched a Colonel Haskell "on a blooded mare" after Lee, who had gone to the rear expecting to meet Grant, as requested by Lee by note previously sent, Longstreet telling the Colonel "to kill his mare, but bring Lee back."— Manassas to Appomattox, pp. 623, 626.

(24) Memoirs of Lee (Long), p. 421.

(25) Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., pp. 194-8.

(26) Memoirs of Sheridan, vol. ii., p. 154.

(27) Battles and Leaders, etc., vol. iv., p. 740; Memoirs of Grant, vol. ii., p. 483.

(28) Memoirs of Grant., vol. ii., p. 488.

(29) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1279.

(30) Memoirs of Grant, vol. ii., p. 497.

(31) War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 597.

(32) The individual captors of flags were F. M. McMillen, Co. C, and Isaac James, Co. A, 110th Ohio; Milton Blickensderfer, Co. E, 126th Ohio; George Loyd, Co. A, 122d Ohio (Heth's battle flag); John Keough, Co. E, 67th Pennsylvania; and Trustrim Connell, Co. I, 138th Pennsylvania. Each was awarded a Medal of Honor.—War Records, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 909, 981.

(33) An incident will illustrate how Secretary Stanton sometimes did business. The first order to muster out volunteers excepted those whose term of enlistment expired after October 1, 1865. This would have left in service some men of each company of my Ohio regiments and caused dissatisfaction. Through a written application I obtained authority to muster out all the men of these regiments. Later, complaints came from regiments of other States similarly affected, and an application was made by me for like authority as to them, which was refused. This was invidious. In company with General Meade I called on the Secretary of War to ask a reconsideration. On the bare mention of our mission Mr. Stanton flew into a rage and denounced Meade for making the request, saying no such order had been or would be issued. Meade was deeply hurt and started to withdraw, and the wrath of the Secretary was turned on me. I interrupted him and, displaying the order relating to the Ohio regiments, told him his statement was not true. Stanton thereupon became still more violent and abusive and declared the order I had was issued by mistake or through fraud and would be revoked. I replied that it had been executed; that the men were discharged, paid off, and on their way home. He then became calm, relented, apologized for his intemperate language, and kindly issued the desired order.

(34) I was, in 1866, on the joint request of Generals Grant and Meade, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the 26th Infantry, U. S. A. I declined the commission.

(35) There were 26,690 regulars and 56,926 volunteers—83,616, employed in the invasion of Mexico, not mentioning the navy.— History of Mexican War (Wilcox), p. 561. For the author's farewell order to the brigade, and table of casualties in it by regiments, see Appendix C.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A GENERAL KEIFER IN CIVIL LIFE

I ANCESTRY AND LIFE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

I was born, January 30, 1836, on a farm on Mad River, north side, six miles west of Springfield, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, a short distance west of Tecumseh Hill, the site of the original Piqua, Shawnee Indian village, destroyed by General George Rogers Clark August 8, 1780.

My ancestors, though not especially distinguished for great deeds, either in peace or war, were of the sturdy kind, mentally, physically, and morally.

My grandfather, George Keifer, was born (1728) in one of the German States, from whence he emigrated to America and settled in the Province of Maryland about the year 1750. Nothing is certainly known of his life or family in Germany. He was a Protestant, and was probably led to quit German-Europe to escape the religious intolerance, if not persecutions, there at the time so common.

He availed himself of the Act of Parliament made in the thirteenth year of the reign of King George the Second, which provided for the naturalization of "Foreign Protestants," settled or who should settle in his Majesty's colonies in America, and was naturalized and became a subject of King George the Third of England, an allegiance he did not long faithfully maintain, as he became a Revolutionary patriot in 1776.( 1) He participated in the Revolution, though there is no known record of his being a regular soldier in the war. He gave some attention to farming, but was by trade a shoemaker. He resided in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, on Antietam Creek, and there died, April 11, 1809. His wife, Margaret (Schisler) was likewise German, probably born in Germany (1745), but married in Maryland. Her family history is unknown, but she was a woman of a high order of intelligence, and possessed of much spirit and energy. After her husband's death she removed (1812) with her two sons to Ohio (walking, from choice, the entire distance), and died there, February 9, 1827, in my father's family, at eighty-two years of age. George and Margaret Keifer had two sons, George (born October 27, 1769, and died August 31, 1845), and Joseph (my father), born February 28, 1784, at Sharpsburg, Maryland. They followed, when young, the occupation and trade of their father. The facilities and opportunities for acquiring an education for persons in limited circumstances were then small, yet Joseph Keifer early determined to secure an education, and by his own persevering efforts, with little, if any, instruction, he became especially proficient in geography and mathematics, and acquired a thorough practical knowledge of navigation and civil engineering. He could speak and read German. He was a general reader, and throughout his life was a constant student of both sacred and profane history, and devoted much attention to a study of the Bible. In September, 1811, he left Sharpsburg, on horseback, on a prospecting tour over the mountains to the West, destination Ohio. He kept a journal (now before me) of his travels, showing each day's journey, the places visited, the topography of the country, the kinds of timber growing, the lay of the land and kinds of soil, the water supply and its quality, etc., and something of the settlers. This journey occupied seven weeks, during which he rode 1140 miles, much of it over trails and bridle paths, his total cash "travelling expenses being $36.30." He travelled through Jefferson, Tuscarawas, Stark, Muskingum, Fairfield, Pickaway, Ross, Fayette, Champaign (including what is now Clark), Montgomery, Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Guernsey, and Belmont Counties, Ohio. In April, 1812, he started on another like journey over much the same country, returning May 15th.

On his first journey he visited Springfield, Ohio, and vicinity, and bargained for and made an advance payment of $500 in silver for about seven hundred acres of land, located near (west of) New Boston, from John Enoch, for himself and his brother George Keifer, agreeing to take possession and make further payment in one year. He removed with his brother George (who then had a wife and family of several children), his mother accompanying, by wagon and on horseback to this land, in the fall of 1812, where both brothers made their homes during life, each following the general occupation of farming. The land was chosen with reference to its superior quality, excellent growth of popular, oak, walnut, hickory, and other valuable timber for building purposes, and likewise with reference to its fine, healthful, perennial springs of pure limestone water. The tract fronted on Mad River, extending northward into the higher lands so as to include bottom-lands and uplands in combination.

Joseph Keifer, before leaving Maryland, procured to be made at Frederick, Maryland, a surveyor's compass and chain (still in my possession), and when in Ohio, in addition to clearing lands and farming, he surveyed many extensive tracts of land for the early settlers. Later in life he gave up surveying, save for his neighbors when called on. He had some inclination to music. He served for a short time in the War of 1812, joining an expedition for the relief of General Harrison and Fort Meigs on the Maumee when besieged by the British and Indians in 1813. He, however, lived in his Ohio home a quiet, sober, peaceful, contented, studious, moral life, much esteemed for his straightforward, honest, plain character by all who knew him, but always taking a deep interest in public affairs, state and national, his sympathies being with the poor, oppressed, and unfortunate. His detestation of slavery led him to emigrate from a slave State to one where slavery not only did not and could not exist, but where free labor was well requited and was regarded as highly honorable. Though among the early settlers of the then wild West, he did not care much, if at all, for hunting and fishing, then common among his neighbors and associates. He preferred to devote his leisure hours to reading and intellectual pursuits and to the society of those of kindred tastes, especially interesting himself in the education of his large family of children. He was, in theory and practice, a moral and religious man, a church attendant, though never a member of any church, yet one year before his death (1849), at his own request, he was baptized in Mad River, by Rev. John Gano Reeder, of the Christian Church.

He was one of the founders and first directors of the Clark County Bible Society, organized September 2, 1822.

Throughout his life he took a deep interest in politics, but he never sought or held any important office. He was an Adams-Clay Whig.

He died on his farm, April 13, 1850, and his remains, likewise his mother's and his brother's, are now buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio.

He was married, November 9, 1815, to Mary Smith, daughter of Rev. Peter Smith, a Baptist minister (then resident on a farm near what is now Donnelsville, Clark County, Ohio), who had some celebrity also as a physician in the "Miami Country." He was a son of Dr. Hezekiah Smith of the "Jerseys," and was born in Wales, February 6, 1753, from whence this branch of the Smith family came. He was some relation to Hezekiah Smith, D.D., of Haverhill, Massachusetts, but in what way connected is not known. Peter Smith was educated at Princeton, and married in New Jersey to Catherine Stout (December 23, 1776), and he seems to have early, under his father, given some attention to medicine, and became familiar with the works of Dr. Rush, Dr. Brown, and other writers of his day on "physic." He also, during his life, acquired much from physicians whom he met in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He called himself an "Indian Doctor" (because he sometimes used in his practice herbs, roots, etc., and other remedies known to the Indians), though he was in no proper sense such a doctor. He was an early advocate, much against public prejudice, of inoculations for smallpox; this before Dr. Jenner had completed his investigations and had introduced vaccination as a preventive for smallpox.( 2)

Dr. Peter Smith, in his little volume (printed by Brown & Looker, Cincinnati, 1813), speaks of inoculating 130 persons, in New Jersey, for smallpox in 1777, using, to prevent dangerous results, with some of them, calomel, and dispensing with it with others, but reaching the conclusion that calomel was not necessary for the patient's safety.

In this book, entitled The Indian Doctor's Dispensatory, etc., ( 3) on the title-page he says: "Men seldom have wit enough to prize and take care of their health until they lose it—And doctors often know not how to get their bread deservedly, until they have no teeth to chew it." He seems to have been an original character and investigator, availing himself of all the opportunities for acquiring knowledge within his reach, especially acquainting himself with domestic, German, and tried Indian remedies, roots, herbs, etc. In the Introduction to his book he says: "The elements by Brown seem to me plain, reasonable, and practicable. But I have to say of his prescriptions, as David did of Saul's armour, when it was put upon him, 'I cannot go with this, for I have not proved it.' He thus chose his sling, his staff, shepherd's bag and stones, because he was used to them, and could recollect what he had heretofore done with them." The modern germ or bacilli theory of disease, now generally accepted by learned physicians, was not unknown or even new in his time. He speaks of it as an "insect" theory, based on the belief that diseases were produced by an invisible insect, floating in the air, taken in with the breath, where it either poisons or propagates its kind, so as to produce disease.( 4)

Besides much in general, Peter Smith's book contains about ninety prescriptions for the cure of as many diseases or forms of disease, to be compounded generally from now well-known medicine, roots, herbs, etc., some of them heroic, others quaint, etc. He did not recommend dispensing wholly with the then universal practice of bleeding patients, but he generally condemned it.

About the year 1780, from New Jersey, he commenced his wandering, emigrating life, with his wife and some small children. He lingered a little in Virginia, in the Carolinas, and settled for a time in Georgia, and all along he sought out people from whom he could gather knowledge, especially of the theory and practice of medicine. And he preached, possibly in an irregular way, the Gospel, as a devout Baptist of the Old School, a denomination to which he was early attached. Not satisfied with his Georgia home, "with its many scorpions and slaves," he took his family on horseback, some little children (twin babies among them) carried in baskets suitable for the purpose, hung to the horns of the saddle ridden by his wife, and thus they crossed mountains, rivers, and creeks, without roads, and not free from danger from Indians, traversing the woods from Georgia through Tennessee to Kentucky, intending there to abide. But finding Kentucky had also become a slave State, he and his family, bidding good-by to Kentucky "headticks and slavery," in like manner emigrated to Ohio, settling on Duck Creek, near Columbia (Old Baptist Church), now within the limits of Cincinnati, reaching there about 1794. He became, with his family, a member of this church, and frequently preached there and at other frontier places, but still pursuing the occupation of farming, and, though perhaps not for much remuneration, the practice of medicine. In 1804 he again took to the wilderness with his entire family, then grown to the number of twelve children, born in the "Jerseys" or on the line of his march through the coast or wilderness States or territories. He settled on a small and poor farm on Donnels Creek, in the midst of rich ones, where he died, December 31, 1816. It seems from his book (page 14) (published while he resided at his last home), that he did not personally cease his wanderings and search for medical knowledge, as he says he was in Philadelphia, July 4, 1811, where he made some observations as to the effect of hot and cool air upon the human system, through the respiration. But it is certain he taught to the end, in the pulpit, and ministered as a physician to his neighbors and friends, often going long distances from home for the purpose. He concluded, near the end of his long and varied experiences, that: "Men have contrived to break all God's appointments. But this: 'It is appointed for all men once to die' has never been abrogated or defeated by any man. And as to medicine we are about to take: If the Lord will, we shall do this or that with success; if the Lord will, I shall get well by this means or some other." He concluded his "Introduction" by commending the "iron doctrine" for consumptives, and assenting to Dr. Brown's opinion that "an old man ought never to marry a young woman."

He is buried in a neglected graveyard near Donnelsville, Clark County, Ohio.

Men of the type and character described impressed for good Western life and character while they lived, and through their example and posterity also the indefinite future.

Peter Smith had four sons, Samuel, Ira, Hezekiah, and Abram, who each lived beyond eighty years, dying the order of their birth, each leaving a large family of sons and daughters, whose children, grandchildren, etc., are found now in nearly, if not all, the States of the Union, many of them also becoming pioneers to the frontiers, long ago reaching the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific slope and coast.( 5)

His sons Ira and Hezekiah, much after the fashion of their father, preached the Gospel (Baptist) in Ohio and Indiana, but not neglecting, as did their father, to amass each a considerable fortune. Ira resided and died at Lafayette, Indiana, and Rev. Hezekiah Smith at Smithland, Indiana. Samuel, the eldest (Clark County, Ohio), was always a plain, creditable farmer, but his sons and grandchildren became noted as educators, physicians, surgeons, and divines.

Samuel's son, Peter Smith, besides acquiring a good general education, studied surveying, my father assisting him, and he taught school in Clark and other counties in Ohio, and became celebrated for his success. He was the first in Ohio to advocate higher-graded, or union schools, and through his efforts a first law was passed in Ohio to establish them. He adopted a merit-ticket system for scholars in schools which, for a time, was highly successful and became popular. He removed, about 1830, to Illinois, then became a surveyor and locator of public lands, farmer, etc., and was killed by a railroad train at Sumner, Illinois, when about eighty years of age, leaving a large number of grown children.

Rev. Milton J. Miller (now of Geneseo, Illinois), grandson of Samuel Smith, though a farmer boy, early resolved to acquire an education and enter the ministry. His resolution was carried out. He graduated at Antioch College; attended a theological school at Cambridge, Mass., became a minister of the Christian Church, later of the Unitarian, and was for about one year a chaplain in the volunteer army (110th Ohio), and distinguished himself in all relations of life.

Dr. Hezekiah Smith, also son of Samuel, became somewhat eminent as a physician, and died at Smithland, Shelby County, Indiana, in 1897.

Abram, though once in prosperous circumstances, through irregular habits and the inherited disposition to rove over the world, became poor, and sometimes, when remote from his family and friends, in real want, yet he, the youngest of the four, lived past the traditional family fourscore years, dying poor (near Lawrenceville, Illinois), but leaving children and grandchildren in many States of the West, who had become, at his death, or since became, distinguished as soldiers and eminent citizens. He was a man of most cheerful disposition, and whatever his circumstances or lot were he seemed content and happy.

Five of Dr. Peter Smith's daughters (besides my mother) lived to be married. Sarah married Henry Jennings; Elizabeth, Hezekiah Ferris; Nancy, John Johns; Margaret, Hugh Wallace, and Rhoda, Dr. Wm. Lindsay, but each died comparatively young. They also each left children; and their grandchildren, etc., are now numerous and many of them highly esteemed citizens, also scattered widely over the country.

Two others of Dr. Smith's children (Catherine and Jacob Stout) lived only to the ages of fifteen and seventeen years respectively.

But Peter Smith was not the sole head of this remarkable and long wandering family, nor the repository or source of all its brains or good qualities of head and heart.

He was married, as stated, to Catherine Stout, in New Jersey, whose family was theretofore, then, and since both numerous and widely dispersed, and many of them more than usually prominent or celebrated in public or private life.

Her ancestry may be traced briefly. Richard Stout, who seems to have been first of his name in America, was the son of John Stout, of Nottinghamshire, England. When a young man he came to New Amsterdam (New York City), where he met Penelope Van Princess, a young woman from Holland. She, with her first husband, had been on a ship from Amsterdam, Holland, bound for New Amsterdam. The ship was wrecked in the lower bay and driven on the New Jersey coast below Staten Island. The passengers and crew escaped to the shore, but were there attacked by Indians, and all left for dead; Penelope alone was alive, but severely wounded. She had strength enough to get to a hollow tree, where she is said to have lived unaided for seven days, during which time she was obliged to keep her bowels in place with her hand, on account of a cut across her abdomen. At the end of this time a merciful but avaricious Indian discovered and took pity on her. He took her to his wigwam, cared for her, and thence took her to New Amsterdam by canoe and sold her to the Dutch. This woman Richard Stout married about the year 1650. The couple settled in New Jersey, and raised a family of seven sons and three daughters. The third son, Jonathon, married a Bullen, settled at Hopewell, New Jersey, and had six sons and three daughters. The fifth son, Samuel, married Catherine Simpson, by whom he had one son, Samuel, born in 1732. This Samuel served in the New Jersey Legislature, and was a Justice of the Peace. He married Anne Van Dyke, and had seven sons and three daughters. His daughter Catherine, great-great-granddaughter of Richard and Penelope (born November 25, 1758), married, December 25, 1776, Peter Smith, whose history we have traced. She was the companion of all his journeyings, caring for and directing affairs and the family in his frequent absence and itinerarys from home "preaching the Gospel and disbursing physic for the salvation of souls and the healing of the body." She, too, was a devout Christian (Baptist), and ministered to the exposed and often needy pioneers in the wilderness. She survived him fifteen years, dying March 3, 1831. She is buried beside her husband.

Mary (my mother), a daughter of Peter and Catherine Smith, born January 31, 1799, on Duck Creek near Columbia Church, within the present limits of Cincinnati, married (as stated) Joseph Keifer, when not yet seventeen years of age, and became the mother of fourteen children, eight of whom lived to mature years—two sons and six daughters. She died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, March 23, 1879, passing her eightieth birthday, like her brothers named, having survived all her brothers and sisters. She was next to the youngest of them. She inherited, cultivated, and practised the essential virtues necessary in a successful, useful, pure, happy, and contented life. She had a most cheerful disposition, and was a confident and buoyant spirit, in sorrow and adversity. She was devoted to all her children, and all owe her much for their fundamental preparation, education, etc., together with the habits of industry and perseverance, essential to whatever of success they have attained in life. And, above all, she early became a member of church (Baptist and Christian), and maintained her church relations for above sixty years, to her death, never doubting in her Christian belief, yet never bigoted or intolerant of the religious views of others.

She was a devoted companion to her husband, and with him ever took a deep interest in their family and neighbors, never neglecting a duty to them. She, born in the Ohio territory, lived within its borders above eighty years, witnessed its transformation from savagery to the highest civilization, and its growth in wealth, power, and population from little to the third of the great States of the Union. She witnessed the coming, through science and inventions, of railroads, telegraphs, steam, and electric power, telephones, etc. She saw the soldiers of the War of 1812, the Mexican war, and the War of the Rebellion, and something of the Indian wars in Ohio. In her childhood she lived in proximity to savages. With her husband she had ministered to escaped slaves, and saw slavery (always detested by both) abolished. She witnessed with becoming pride a degree of success in the efforts of her children and grandchildren, and she held on her knees her great- grandchildren. She is buried beside her husband in Ferncliff Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio.

The children who grew to maturity were: Margaret, born September 22, 1816, who married Joseph Gaines, and died March 10, 1896, leaving two sons and a daughter; Sarah (still living) born September 29, 1819, who married Lewis James, and, after his decease, Richard T. Youngman, having one son, J. Warren James (Captain 45th Ohio, War of the Rebellion), and five children by her last husband; Benjamin Franklin (still living), born April 22, 1821, who married Amelia Henkle, and has three sons and three daughters living; Elizabeth Mary, born February 20, 1823, unmarried, still living; Lucretia, born January 20, 1828, died August 5, 1892, surviving her husband, Eli M. Henkle, and her only son, John E. Henkle; Joseph Warren Keifer, born January 20, 1836, who married, March 22, 1860, Eliza Stout, of Springfield, Ohio. [They have three sons living, Joseph Warren, born May 13, 1861; William White, born May 24, 1866, and Horace Charles, born November 14, 1867. Their only other child, a daughter, Margaret Eliza, was born June 2, 1873, and died August 16, 1890.] Minerva, born July 15, 1839 (died July 22, 1899), married to Charles B. Palmer, and they have two sons and a daughter; and Cordelia Ellen, born July 17, 1842, not married.

From the ancestry described and from the widely diversified strains of blood—German, English, Welsh, Dutch, and others not traced or traceable—meeting, to make, in composite, a full-blooded American —came the author of this sketch. He also sprang from a farmer, shoemaker, civil engineer, clergyman, physician, etc., ancestry, no lawyer or soldier of mark appearing in the long line, so far as known.

Born with a vigorous constitution, of strong ( 6) and remarkably healthy parents, I, early as strength permitted, became useful, in the varied ways a boy can be, on a farm where the soil is not only tilled, but trees first have to be felled, rails split, hauled, and fences built. Timber had to be cut and hauled to saw-mills, to make lumber for buildings, etc. In the 40's clearing was still done by deadening, felling, and by burning, the greater part of the timber not being necessary or suitable for sawed lumber or rails. In all this work, as I grew in years and strength, I participated. At or before the age of seven years, and long thereafter, I performed hard farm work, hauling, ploughing, sowing, planting, cultivating corn and vegetables, harvesting, etc., and was never idle. I mowed grass with a scythe, and reaped grains with a sickle (the rough marks of the teeth of the latter are seen still on the fingers of my left hand as I write this.) Later, the cradle to cut small grain was introduced, though at first it was not popular, because it reduced the usual number of harvest hands required to "sickle the crop." Raking and binding wheat, rye, and oats were part of the hard work of the harvest field. Husking corn was a fall and sometimes winter occupation. Stock had to be cared for and fed. Flax for home-made garments was raised, pulled up by hand, spread, rotted, broken, skutched, hackled, etc. All this work of the farm I pursued with regularity and assiduity. My father dying when I was fourteen years of age, and my only living brother (Benjamin F.) being married and on his own farm, much more of the duties and management of a farm of above two hundred acres devolved on me for the more than six succeeding years while my mother continued to reside on the homestead.

My education was commenced at home and at the log district schoolhouse, located on my father's farm. The beginning of a child's schooling, by law and custom, was then at four years of age. Thus early I went to school, but not regularly. It was then rare that a summer school was kept up, and the winter term was usually only three or four months, at the outside. The farmer boy was needed to work almost the year round, and even while attending school, he arose early to attend to the feeding of stock, chopping fire-wood, doing chores, etc., and when school closed in the evening he was often, until after darkness set in, similarly engaged. The school hours were from 8 A.M. to 12 M. and from 1 to 5 P.M. Saturdays were days of hard work. The school months were busy ones to the farmer boys and girls. Spelling matches at night were common.