CHAPTER XIII.

MOVEMENT TO TURN LEE'S RIGHT-ACTIONS OF WHITE OAK RIDGE AND DINWIDDIE COURT HOUSE-THE BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS-LEE'S INTRENCHMENTS WEST OF PETERSBURG CARRIED-HE ABANDONS THE RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG LINES, AND RETREATS TOWARD DANVILLE.

HAVING established his army at Goldsboro', North Carolina, about 145 miles south of Petersburg, General Sherman visited General Grant at City Point on the 27th of March, and stated, as he had done before by letter, that he would be ready to move by the 10th of April, if it should be necessary to bring his army in co-operation with the forces in front of Richmond and Petersburg. He proposed, in the event of such a movement, to threaten Raleigh, and then, turning suddenly to the right, reach the Roanoke River near Weldon (60 miles south of Petersburg), from which point he could move to the Richmond and Danville Railroad at its junction with the Petersburg and Lynchburg Railroad, Burke's junction, which would cut off Lee's retreat to Danville and to Lynchburg, or could join the armies operating against Richmond, as might be deemed best. This plan, General Grant says, he was directed to carry out, if, in the meantime, he received no further directions. The movement ordered for the 29th of March was explained to him.

Apprehensive that General Lee might any night abandon his intrenchments, and being satisfied that he would do so as soon as he heard that General Sherman had crossed the

Roanoke, General Grant determined not to delay the movement ordered for the 29th, but to take the initiative.

On the night of the 27th, General Ord, commanding the Army of the James, taking with him General Gibbon, with Turner's and Foster's divisions of the Twenty-fourth Corps, Brigadier-General Birney's division (colored) of the Twentyfifth Corps, and General Mackenzie's cavalry (formerly Kautz's) made a secret march of 36 miles to the left of the Army of the Potomac, taking post in rear of the Second Corps on the evening of the 28th. He managed this movement so well that the enemy remained in ignorance of it until the 2d of April.

General Devens's division of Gibbon's corps remained in the intrenchments on the north side of the James; General Weitzel's two divisions of the Twenty-fifth Corps in the Bermuda Hundred intrenchments, he having command there and on the north side of the James.

Upon the resumption of active operations in the spring of 1865, the effective force of the two contending armies, according to the latest returns of each, was as follows:

The effective force of infantry of the Army of the Potomac was 69,000; of field artillery, 6,000, with 243 guns.

The effective force of infantry of the Army of the James was 32,000; of field artillery, 3,000, with 126 guns; and of cavalry, 1,700. General Ord took with him, on the 27th of March, about one-half the infantry and all the cavalry of his army. The present for duty of the enlisted men of cavalry under General Sheridan was 13,000.

Total of all arms of the three independent commands 124,700.

The effective force of Lee's infantry was not less than 46,000; of his field artillery, not less than 5,000; and of his cavalry, 6,000; making a total of not less than 57,000.1

1 See Appendix L.

On the 28th of March General Grant instructed General Sheridan to move at an early hour on the morning of the 29th, cross Hatcher's Run below where it would be crossed by the Fifth Corps (at Monk's Neck bridge), pass near to or through Dinwiddie Court House, and reach the right and rear of the enemy as soon as practicable. He was informed that the Second and Fifth Corps would be in position on the Vaughan road, south of Hatcher's Run, extending to, or near to Dinwiddie Court House. It was not the intention, he said, to attack the enemy in his intrenched position, but to force him out, if possible, with a view to attacking him. Should the enemy remain within his main intrenched line, then General Sheridan might "cut loose and push for the Danville Road." If practicable, he was to cross the South Side Railroad between Petersburg and Burkesville, destroy it as much as practicable without interfering with the complete destruction of the Danville Railroad, which he was to strike as near the Appomattox as possible. That being done, the South Side Railroad west of Burkesville was to be similarly destroyed.

Having accomplished the destruction of these two roads, he might return to the two armies, or join General Sherman. These instructions were preliminary, and might be changed on the following day.

General Humphreys was directed to cross Hatcher's Run by the Vaughan road on the morning of the 29th, as soon as General Ord's troops occupied the intrenchments held by the Second Corps, and take position with his right near Hatcher's Run, and his left in communication or connection with the Fifth Corps, and advance toward the enemy's position.

General Warren was directed to cross Hatcher's Run at Monk's Neck bridge early on the morning of the 29th, but not to proceed beyond the junction of the Vaughan and

Quaker roads until the Second Corps was in position, when he would advance toward the enemy by the Boydton road, his right connecting with the Second Corps; but at midday on the 29th he was directed to move up the Quaker road.

General Wright was directed to hold himself ready to withdraw the Sixth Corps from the intrenchments it was holding; General Parks to remain in the intrenchments manned by the Ninth Corps, and be prepared to take up the returnworks from his left at Fort Sedgwick, when the Sixth Corps should be withdrawn.

In accordance with these instructions, General Sheridan marched to Dinwiddie Court House on the 29th, by way of Reams's Station and Malone's crossing of Rowanty Creek, encountering only small pickets of the enemy's cavalry; but learning that a strong force of the enemy's cavalry was on the south side of Stony Creek, near the railroad depot, Custer's division was directed to remain near Malone's crossing to protect the trains. This Confederate cavalry force consisted of W. H. F. Lee's and Rosser's divisions.

General Warren, moving as directed, after advancing Griffin's division to within two miles of Dinwiddie Court House, withdrew it to the Quaker road, under his modified instructions, and in the afternoon moved up that road, Griffin in advance. About a mile from its junction with the Boydton plank-road, in the vicinity of the steam sawmill, his leading brigade, General Chamberlain's, came in contact with Wise's and Wallace's brigades of Anderson's command, when a sharp engagement took place, in which the enemy was forced to fall back into their intrenchments on the White Oak road, after suffering severely, losing some 200 prisoners, besides the wounded left on the field. A portion of Bartlett's brigade took part in the action toward its close. The loss in Griffin's division was 367 killed and wounded, Brigadier

General Sickle among the latter. The loss of the enemy was evidently greater.

General Humphreys, taking position as directed, moved forward, meeting with little opposition until darkness put a stop to further progress.

As soon as the movement of our troops was perceived by the enemy on the morning of the 29th, General Lee sent General Anderson, with Bushrod Johnson's division and Wise's brigade, to the extreme right of his intrenchments along the White Oak road. A part of this force, as we have seen, encountered Griffin's division in the afternoon of that day. Pickett's division, which had been relieved from the charge of the Bermuda Hundred intrenchments by Mahone's division early in March, was likewise transferred to the extreme right of the intrenchments, reaching there at daylight on the 30th.

General Fitz Lee's division was on the extreme left of the Confederate army, when, on March 28th, General Lee, learning that Sheridan's cavalry was held on the left of the Army of the Potomac, and surmising that it was to move against the South Side Railroad and his right rear, directed General Fitz Lee to move at once to Five Forks, assume the command of all the cavalry, and with the infantry supports he would send, attack General Sheridan in that vicinity. General Fitz Lee arrived at Sutherland Station with his division on the night of the 29th.

General Hill extended to his right in the course of the night of the 29th, and early in the morning of the 30th, McGowan's and McRae's brigades, moving into the intrenchments on the White Oak road on Johnson's left, Scales's and Cooke's brigades into the intrenchments in front of Burgess's mill and along the south side of Hatcher's Run, probably including the Crow house intrenchments, while Lane's, Davis's, McComb's, and Thomas's brigades held those main