CHAPTER XXIV.

THE BATTLES AROUND PETERSBURG.-The movement of Sheridan's cavalry.-The Five Forks.-General Lee's counter-movement.-Repulse of Sheridan.-Re-enforced by Grant. The Confederates flanked at the Five Forks.-The situation in front of Petersburg.-Lee's lines broken in three places.-Capture of Fort Mahone by the enemy.--General Lee loses his entire line of defence, and the Southside Railroad. -THE EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.-Great surprise in the Confederate capital.-The news in the churches.-Dr. Hoge's address.-Consternation and uproar in the streets. The city on fire.-A reckless military order.--Scenes of horror.-Mobs of plunderers. The scene at the commissary depot.-Weitzel's entry into Richmond. -Suffering of the people.-Scene on Capitol Square.--Devastations of the fire.The burnt district.-Weitzel's and Shepley's general orders.-Yankee rejoicings over the fall of Richmond.--Bell-ringings, hymns, and dancing in the streets of New York. A grand illumination in Washington.-Yankee mottoes.-A memorable speech.

GRANT was quick in retaliating for General Lee's attempt on his lines, which, as we have seen, drove the enemy at Hare's Hill, but did not hold the ground it traversed, or accomplish any decisive results.

THE BATTLES AROUND PETERSBURG.

On the 29th of March, Grant began a heavy movement towards the Southside Railroad. The cavalry command, consisting of General Crook's division and Sheridan's cavalry, moved out on the Jerusalem plankroad, about three and a half miles from Hancock Station, where they took the country road leading across the Weldon Railroad at Ream's Station, and into the Vaughn road cne mile from the Dinwiddie Courthouse, General Crook's division going in advance. They reached Dinwiddie Court-house about four o'clock in the evening.

In the mean time the Fifth and Second corps of infantry had been moving in a parallel line on the Vaughn road. Gen

eral Grant's headquarters on the night of the 29th were cn the Boydtown Plankroad, in the neighborhood of Gravelly Run.

The next day heavy rains impeded operations; but the force of the enemy pressed on towards the Five Forks, the extreme right of Lee's line on the Southside Railroad.

General Lee had not been idle in meeting this movement. On the 31st of March, the enemy found on his front, prepared to contest the prize of the railroad, Pickett's division of infantry, and General Fitzhugh Lee's and General William H. Lee's divisions of cavalry. In the afternoon of the day, the Confederates made a determined and gallant charge upon the whole cavalry line of the Yankees, forced it back, and drove the enemy to a point within two miles of Dinwiddie Courthouse.

But the news of Sheridan's repulse had no sooner reached General Grant, than the Fifth Corps was moved rapidly to his relief. The re-enforcement arrived in time to retrieve the fortunes of the enemy. The next day, April 1st, the combined forces of Yankee cavalry and Warren's infantry advanced against the Confederates. Overpowered by numbers, the Confederates retreated to the Five Forks, where they were flanked by a part of the Fifth Corps, which had moved down the White Oak road. It was here that several thousand prisoners were taken.

On the night of Saturday, April 1st, the prospect was a most discouraging one for General Lee. Grant had held all his lines in front of Petersburg, had manoeuvred troops far to his left, had turned Lee's right, and was now evidently prepared to strike a blow upon the thin lines in front of Petersburg.

By daylight, on Sunday, April 2d, these lines were assaulted in three different places by as many different Yankee corps. They were pierced in every place. The Sixth Corps went through first, at a point about opposite the western extremity of Petersburg; the Twenty-fourth, a little way further west; and the Ninth Corps further east, near to the Jerusalem plankroad, capturing Fort Mahone, one of the largest forts in the Petersburg defences. The Confederates made a desperate struggle for Fort Mahone, which was protracted through the day, but

without success. At dark the position of the contending par ties was the same as during the day.

The Yankees had congratulated themselves that, by the success of the Sixth Corps, they had cut Lee's army in two-cutting off the troops that were not in Petersburg. As that place was supposed to be the Confederate point of manoeuvre-as it was supposed that troops could not cross the Appomattox except through the city-their capture was taken as certain by the enemy, since they were hemmed in between Sheridan, the Sixth Corps, and the river. But in this they were mistaken. The Confederates easily forded the river; and the close of the day found Lee's army brought together within the inner line of the Petersburg defences.*

Among the Confederate killed was the brave General A. P. Hill, whose name had been illustriously connected with the Army of Northern Virginia all during the war. He had desired to obtain a nearer view of a portion of the Yankee line during the attack of the 2d of April, and leaving his staff behind in a place of safety, rode forward, accompanied by a single orderly, and soon came upon a squad of Yankees, who had advanced along ravines far beyond their lines. He immediately ordered them to surrender, which they were on the point of doing, under the supposition that a column of troops were at hi heels. They soon discovered he was nearly unattended, and shot him through the heart.

General Hill was a native of Culpepper County, Virginia, and descended from an ancient family, famous in the political annals of that portion of the commonwealth; although he himself had had nothing to do with civil or po litical life. He appeared to be about thirty-six or thirty-seven years of age, and was a soldier by profession. He was graduated at West Point, entered the army, and served in the Mexican war, and made arms not only his profession, but an enthusiastic study, to which he was prompted by the natural tastes and disposition of his mind.

General Hill was, undoubtedly, a commander of remarkable talents and qualities. He had risen rapidly in the war by the force of personal merit. At the famous field of Manassas he was colonel of the Thirteenth Virginia regiment, in General Johnston's army, which, it will be recollected, arrived on the field in time to secure and complete the great victory of that memorable day. At the battle of Williamsburg he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general; and in that fight he exhibited an extraordinary spirit and energy, which were recognized by all who observed his behavior on that field, and drew the eyes of the public upon him.

General Hill made his greatest reputation by his conspicuous part in the seven days battles around Richmond, in the summer of 1862. Having then been made major-general, he occupied, with his division, the extreme left of our position in the neighborhood of Meadow Bridge. He was put in command of one of the largest divisions of the Army of Richmond, his division being com

But the disasters which had already ocurred were, in General Lee's opinion, irretrievable. In killed and wounded his loss had been small-two thousand would probably cover it in the entire series of engagements; but he had lost an entire line of defence around Petersburg, and with it the Southside Railroad, so important to Richmond as an avenue of supply

THE EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.

The morning of Sunday, the 2d of April, broke calmly and pleasantly over the city of Richmond. The usual crowds were collected at the Post-office and the War Department, asking for news, discussing common-places, and idling away the irksome hours of the Sabbath in Richmond. There was not a breath of excitement in the general community. It is a remarkable circumstance that, outside of official circles, not half a dozen persons in Richmond knew, on that Sunday morning, of the three days' fighting that had taken place around Petersburg, and at the distance of only a few hours' ride from the capital. For months past, the Government had been reticent of all military news whatever; the newspapers had beer warned not to publish any military matters, but what shoul be dictated to them from the War Department; and the public was left to imagine pretty much what it pleased concerning the progress of the war. Indeed, the idea current in the streets on this Sunday morning was rather pleasant and reassuring than

posed of the brigades of Anderson, Branch, Pender, Gregg, Field, and perhaps some others. He rapidly brought his division to perfection in organization. It was made his duty to cross at Meadow Bridge, and make the first attack upon McClellan's forces. He performed this duty alone, without waiting for other movements; and, unassisted by a portion of his command (for Generals Branch and Gregg did not come up until late in the evening), he sustained a terrible conflict with the enemy, encouraging his troops by examples of per sonal audacity, which kept him constantly exposed to the enemy's fire. That position of the enemy being gained, the division of General Hill followed his subsequent movements, being placed first in the line of our advance, and bearing the brunt of the action to Frazier's farm, where occurred the memor able engagement in which the command of General Hill, composed of his own division and one division of General Longstreet's two, fought the whole Yankee force, and achieved a success which broke the spirit of the enemy, and completed the circuit of our famous victories around Richmond in 1862.

otherwise; for there was a general impression that Johnston was moving to Lee's lines, and that the combined force was tc take the offensive against the enemy. Beyond this general anticipation, the Richmond public had on the day referred to not the slightest inkling of the situation. The news which a few hours later was to overwhelm them, of the reverse of Lee and the forced evacuation of Richmond, was to burst upon them like a thunderclap from clear skies.

The first breath of the report was obtained in the churches. While President Davis was seated in his pew in St. Paul's church, the services were interrupted by a messenger handing him a dispatch. It was from General Lee; it stated that his lines had been broken in three places, and that preparations should be made to evacuate Richmond by eight o'clock the ensu ing night, in the event that he should be unable to re-establish his lines. The President left the church with a measured, but nervous step. It was the constrained calmness of despair. No one but himself knew the exact contents of the dispatch; but an uneasy whisper ran through the congregation, and, as they were hastily dismissed, the rumor was caught up in the streets that Richmond was to be evacuated, and was soon carried to the ends of the city.

In another of the churches, the news was more plainly told. Dr. Hoge, the beloved pastor of the Presbyterian church, than whom there was no brighter Christian or nobler patriot within the limits of Richmond, had, at the conclusion of his sermon, given out a beautiful hymn to be sung by his congregation. Before they raised their voices, he told them, with his own voice broken with emotion, that he had sad news to communicate; that our army had "met with a reverse;" that without being exactly apprised of the extent and nature of the re verse, he was convinced that it was probable that they might never again meet in that house of God; and then he spoke to those who had so long known and loved him a tender farewell, in such beautiful and plaintive words that there was not a dry eye among all those dismayed faces which hung upon his words.

Men, women, and children rushed from the churches, passing from lip to lip news of thc impending fall of Richmond And yet it was difficult to believe it. To look up to the calm,