Image credit : Wikimedia Commons
For the next few workweek , we ’ll be cover the final days of the Civil War precisely 150 years subsequently . This is the seventh episode of the serial publication .
April 1-3, 1865: Breakthrough and the Burning of Richmond
The endgame of the Civil War set out on April 1 , 1865 , when Union power defeat the ragged and outnumber Confederates at the Battle of Five Forks , then shattered their defensive lines resolutely at the Third Battle of Petersburg on April 2 . As Robert E. Lee top the buffet Army of North Virginia west in a final , desperate retreat into central Virginia , Union force play enter the Confederate capital at Richmond unopposed – only to discover it immerse in fire , a fitting epitaph for the Southern rebellion ( top , the ruins of Richmond ) .
Five Forks
On March 24 , Union universal - in - chief Ulysses S. Grant rate a general assault on the rebel lines to begin March 29 , a plan unaltered by the desperate breakoutattempton March 25 . As Union force maneuver to the sou'-west of Petersburg , threatening to geld off Lee ’s line of retreat , on March 31 the Confederate general - in - chief endeavor to disrupt the unfolding offence with two attack of his own , at the Battles of White Oak Road and Dinwiddie Courthouse . insurrectionist commander George Pickett scored a circumscribed triumph over Philip Sheridan ’s cavalry at Dinwiddie Courthouse , but withdrew as Sheridan was reinforced . This preliminary encounter congeal the stage for the Battle of Five Forks .
Umd.edu
On the morning of April 1 , Sheridan led his merge force of horse , infantry , and artillery , 22,000 unassailable , northwest in search of Pickett ’s smaller force of 10,600 men , now dug in face in the south at Five Forks , where White Oak Road intersected three other roads ( above , Five Forks today ) . come in front of the Confederate positions around 1 pm , Sheridan ’s horse cavalry get off and pinned the Confederates down with rifle fire for gain time for the Union foot to catch up .
Around 4:15 Sheridan order a world-wide assault , with Gouverneur Warren leave an foot onrush on the Confederate left ( eastern ) flank , followed by two simultaneous attacks by dismounted cavalry trooper , one led by George Armstrong Custer ( of “ Custer ’s Last Stand ” fame ) against the Confederate right ( western ) flank , and a second led by Thomas Devin against the Confederate front . Sheridan hop the first onset would thrust Pickett to weaken his shopping centre and rightfulness to harbor off the menace to his leftover wing , pull in the way for the get down cavalry to drift up the Confederate positions from the west .
However confusion rule on both side during the Battle of Five Forks . The Union troops believe the Confederate left wing was located much further east than it was , resulting in a holdup as they hurried west to engage the foeman . Meanwhile the Confederate air force officer , Pickett , was enjoying a picnic a little over a knot to the Frederick North and did n’t know he was under attack at Five Forks at first because the landscape blocked the noises of struggle ; he late hurried south to take rush when the battle was already well underway .
By this head the Union tone-beginning attack was waver under heavy rifle and cannon fire from the Confederate left wing – but Sheridan himself leapt into the affray and facilitate rally some of the disorganized troops for a all important complaint , as recounted by his staff officer Horace Porter :
There was plenty of striking heroism to go around that sidereal day , as the Confederates withdrew and reestablished their justificative line on the odd wing two more time , requiring reincarnate attacks to dislodge them . Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ( a college professor - turned - officer from Maine , already famous for his bravery and quick thought process at Gettysburg ) described what it was like for Union foot charging Confederate guns in the face of withering cannon fervency near Ford ’s route :
By evenfall Sheridan ’s attack force had routed the Confederates , inflicting over 1,000 casualty and take at least 2,000 prisoners ( below , Confederate soldiers becharm at Five Forks ) , at a cost of only 830 casualties to themselves – an especially favorable effect considering Pickett ’s force was just half the size and could scarcely afford these losses . On the other mitt at least half the Confederate force managed to escape and Sheridan , annoyed and quick to judgment , took out his frustrations on Warren by relieving him of command , triggering a controversy that call on the carpet long after the war was over .
Dickinson.edu
But for the second jubilation reigned , as even ordinary Union soldiers understand victory was now within reach . According to Porter , “ The roads in many place were corduroyed with captured musket ; ammunition - trains and ambulance were still fight ahead ; trucker , captive , straggler , and wounded were choking the roadway … cheers were resounding on all sides , and everybody was tumultuous over the victory . ”
On the other side this anticipation was matched by dread of imminent frustration . One of Lee ’s preferred generals , John Brown Gordon , remember the swell captain say , “ It has happen as I told them in Richmond it would happen . The line has been stretched until it is break . ”
Breakthrough
With the Confederate right-hand flank reverse , divulge the already overstretched defender to lash out from the rear , Grant have a go at it Lee might now try out to crawfish out his whole army from Petersburg , abandoning Richmond to the Yankees , then quickly destroy Sheridan ’s force play and head south , hoping to join forces with Johnston ’s army confront Sherman in North Carolina . Of naturally this would be a gamble for Lee , as it meant leaving hard defensive positions and hope the foe did n’t get on until it was too previous .
To prevent him from doing this , after Five Forks Grant right away ordered a worldwide assault to begin in the former morning of April 2 , intending to pin Lee ’s forces in their deep while Sheridan began to roll them up from the west . The Union Army of the James under Edward Ord would hit all along the line , with the Union VI Corps under Horatio Wright and II Corps under Andrew Humphreys attacking the Confederate heart SW of Petersburg , while the IX Corps under John Parke pressed the Confederates east of the city . At the same time Sheridan would continue bear on northward to cut off the Confederate line of retreat to the west .
At 4:30 am on April 2 the IX Corps launch its attack to trap down defenders east of Petersburg , and ten moment later the leftover annexe of Wright ’s VI Corps began moving towards Confederate positions southwest of the urban center , come on 600 yards over mostly open reason in gloomy wickedness . This flack would mark around 14,000 attacker against just 2,800 withstander circularise out along a mile of justificatory line of credit . As they forced their way of life through justificative obstacles Confederate weapon and rifle fire inflicted heavy injured party , but were unable to stop the dreary waving that now lave over the rebel breastwork . This breakthrough cleared the way for Wright ’s VI Corps to release southwest and attack the neighboring force of 1,600 Confederate defenders from the fundament . By 7 am this military force was also on the streak , while further west Humphreys ’ II Corps was attacking the next department of Confederate defence .
As the sunlight rose the Confederate line had been broken broad opened , and another Union United States Army corps , the XXIV , was pour into the gap to defend the advance and fight down against counterattacks . With rebel defenses completely collapsing , around 9 am Ord and Wright decided to reverse northeast and join the attack on the remain Confederate forces at Petersburg .
Seeing the situation was now untenable , Lee advised Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Secretary of War John Breckenridge that he would have to call in his army from Petersburg before the enemy switch off off its only remaining line of retreat to the Cicily Isabel Fairfield . Of of course this meant abandoning Richmond , so the Confederate government would have to fly as well . As fighting go on into the good afternoon of April 2 , hundreds of patrol wagon were hurriedly filled with regime property and official documents and dispatch to Lee for protection ( seriously occlude his mobility ) .
At 8 pm on April 2 , the Army of Northern Virginia began to withdraw in an orderly way along roads nor'-west of Petersburg ; a few hours later the Confederate storage locker and treasury left Richmond on a train confine for Danville , Virginia . Richmond itself was leave defenceless . On the other side , as presently as he come up out the Confederates had abandon Petersburg Grant ordered a hot sideline , chase after the enemy west along the Appomattox River . John Brown Gordon later hark back the nightmarish days that abide by :
After 292 days , the Siege of Petersburg was over , and the last movement of the state of war had begun .
Richmond In Flames
unluckily for the residents of Richmond , the goal of the siege did n’t signify an remnant to their hurt – just the opposite . Many were about to lose their homes in a Brobdingnagian conflagration that began on the eve of April 2 and continue into April 3 , gutting the center of the metropolis .
While there ’s still disceptation about which side was responsible for burningColumbia , in Richmond ’s case the Confederates were definitely to pick . Confederate commanders say their soldier to put flak to bridges , warehouses , and weapons memory cache before pull back in rescript to deny them to the foe . Although they probably did n’t intend to torch the whole town , these fires quickly blazed out of restraint and burned the entire downtown district to the ground ( below , a Currier and Ives house painting ) .
Cambridgema.gov
As with the electrocution of Columbia , the sights that greeted occupy Union troops in the early cockcrow hours of April 3 , 1865 was both terrible and striking . One observer , George A. Bruce , painted a bright picture of Richmond in flame :
Few in the north credibly disgorge many crying for the working capital of the rebellion , but the human cost was very real , as ordinary people , already facing starving , now fall behind their domicile as well . On entering the town Bruce encountered a ridiculous and also rather surreal passel :
The only rational thing go out for the Confederate governing to do was surrender and make for an end to the suffering – and yet as so often in chronicle understanding was no match for the impulse of war . In North Carolina , where Johnston ’s beleaguered army could do nothing to stop Sherman ’s much large force , Confederate Senator W.A. Graham piercingly criticized the irrational indecisiveness and irresponsibility that now paralyzed the Southern elite group , preclude it from accepting the inevitable :
See the old entryhere . See all entrieshere .
