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VIII.
the end of the War
[As the Army of the Potomac was now settling down to winter quarters before
Petersburg,
Meade chaffingly remarked to
Lyman one day toward the end of December: “I have a Christmas present for
Mrs. Lyman--a certain worthless officer whom I shall send home to her.”
And that evening he gave him a 300-day leave, with the understanding that
Lyman was to return with the opening of the active campaign in the spring.
Toward the end of February, Lyman became restless, and fearing that operations might start in his absence, turned up at Headquarters on March 1.
On going into dinner, he was kindly greeted by General Meade, who, poor man, although he had just come back from burying his son, managed to say playfully that he would have Lyman court-martialed for returning without orders.
The Appomattox campaign opened in the spring, with the forces under Grant numbering 113,000, while those under Lee were only 49,000.1 The resources of the North were unimpaired, those of the South were rapidly vanishing.
On March 25, Lee made an energetic but unsuccessful sortie.
On April 1, Sheridan won a brilliant victory at Five Forks.
Grant followed this up by attacking all along the line the next day. The result of the engagement was that the Confederate Army was cut in halves, and Grant established himself between the two parts.
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Lee's position was untenable; Richmond and Petersburg were abandoned that night.
Retreat was still open toward the westward.
Accordingly, Lee withdrew along the line of the Richmond and Danville railroad, hoping to join Johnston, who was opposing Sherman's advance from the south.
As a last resort, Lee planned to retreat to the mountains of Virginia, where he thought he might continue the war indefinitely.
The Union Army followed close on the heels of the retreating southerners.
The chase was continued for eighty miles. In the neighborhood of Appomattox Court House, the cavalry under Sheridan got across the railroad in front of the enemy.
Lee was unable to break through.
Hemmed in, with his men worn out and starved, Lee surrendered the remnant of his army, less than 27,000 men,2 on April 9.
This virtually ended the war.]
Headquarters Army of Potomac March 2, 1865
It was raw yesterday, or chilly rather, without being cold, and to-day we are favored by a persistent northeast rain, such as we had a month later than this at
Culpeper.
The season, I should fancy, is earlier here than at
Culpeper — very likely by two weeks or more.
Indeed last night the toads were whistling in the bog-holes, as they do with us in the last of April; and Rosie had, on his mantel, a bud of narcissus, or some such flower, he had found in a swamp.
You would not give us much credit for a chance to move, could you see the country; the ground everywhere saturated and rotten, and giving precarious tenure even to single horses, or waggons.
I did not believe very earnestly that we should soon move, when I left, but only wanted to be within all chances.
I do really doubt whether anything
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will be done before the 1st of April.
I think the state of the country will hardly permit it to either party.
When
Sherman gets, say, in the latitude of
Weldon, if he does so without check, he must, I think, strike the perfection of the mud zone; and must stick for a while; besides which he must establish a regular base, and, if he contemplates hard or protracted fighting, he must have a protected line for supplies.
All these things take time, and take
season also.
Of course, it is not
Lee's policy to let go his hold hereabout, till the very last moment.
He has gone south in person, to gather up all possible forces and put them in the best order for resistance he can. The impression here seems to be, that the combined forces against
Sherman are not very strong in the sum total, and are, of course, not so good in quality as
Lee's own men. Then again, his very army, it is within bounds to say, never was so low in morale as now. During the twenty-eight days of February nearly 900 men deserted to the lines of this army alone, and a proportional number to those of the Army of the James.
The remarkable point, also, is that these are
old men — nearly all of them — and not the raw conscripts.
In one day there came over 134 men, including also their non-commissioned officers, bringing their arms with them.
Among the deserters have been four commissioned officers.
During the time I have been with the army, I recall only two or three instances, besides these.
Of course many more desert to the
rear than to the enemy; so that I doubt not that
Lee's losses from this cause during February were something between.
a large brigade and a small division.
General Meade, after reviewing
Lee's position and prospects, said: “I do not see what he is to do!” --which is a very strong speech for the cautious General.
Well, as I have always said, he has the remaining chance, should everything work
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precisely to favor him, of falling with fury and with all available troops, on a part of
Sherman's army, or even on the whole of it, and dealing a stunning blow, whereby his evil day would be postponed; but how it could be averted seems to me inconceivable, save by a sort of miracle.
If I am not mistaken, the forces now opposed to the
Rebels in the east are at least as two to one.
And again they have almost everything against them excepting the important advantage of interior lines.
Meantime all is very quiet with us. Last night I certainly heard not over half-a-dozen musket-shots, whereas in the autumn we had a real skirmish fire all the night through, not to speak of intermittent shelling.
As I told you, Duane was on hand to welcome me. He looks very well and is better as to his eyes.
Then Rosie — had he not, in my honor, caused constructed a new and very high hedge, or shelter, of pine branches, topped off with a tuft of cedar, and a triumphal arch of the same over the door-way!
Within the tent were further improvements; and-irons to wit (weak as to their legs, and frequently tumbling over on their sides at critical moments). Then a large Swedish flag, with the Union over my bed — a gift from some Scandinavian marines who visited the Headquarters, and upon whom Rosie quite ran himself aground in the matter of oysters, at the saloon over the way. Then, too, the middle tent-pole has been removed and the interior of the tent supported by a framework, a part of which takes the form of a shelf, running round the sides and very handy for any small articles.
I must also give credit to that idiotic Frenchman, who waited at table, for having ingeniously burned down our mess tent, during my absence, whereby we now have a much improved hospital tent, very pleasant,
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and we have got rid of the idiot and have a quite intelligent nig, who actually keeps the spoons clean.
March 3, 1865
Our evanescent
Chief-of-Staff,
General Webb, has gone to
Washington for a day or two, to see his wife.
He insisted, before he went, that the Rebs were not going to evacuate
Petersburg at present, on any account.
“Ah!”
said
General Meade, “
Webb is an anti-evacuationist, because he wants to go to see his wife, and so wants to prove there isn't going to be any move at present.”
General Webb is a good piece of luck, as successor to
General Humphreys.
He is very jolly and pleasant, while, at the same time, he is a thorough soldier, wide-awake, quick and attentive to detail.
In fact, I believe him much better for the place than
Gen. H. from the very circumstance that
he was such a very superior man, that
General Meade would take him as a confidential adviser, whereas the
General does much better without any adviser at all. My only objection to
General Webb is that he continually has a way of suddenly laughing in a convulsive manner, by drawing in his breath, instead of letting it out — the which goes to my bones.
It is not too much to say that yesterday was a day without striking events, as it was characterized by a more or less steady rain, from the rising to the going down of the sun. I wrote you a letter, I entertained the chronic Duane, and I entertained — oh, I forgot to tell you about him. I entertained the officer from Roumania, the one whom General Meade could not make out because he had no map of Europe.
This Roumania, as I have ascertained by diligent study, is what we call Wallachia and Moldavia, and
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is a patch of territory lying north of the Danube, and running from its mouth, on the Black Sea, to the northwest, into the Carpathian mountains.
As to the Roumanians themselves, they have the misfortune to be tremendously protected by everybody.
Imprimis, they pay to the Porte an “honorary tribute” of 600,000 crowns, in return for which his word is pledged to protect them against all comers, which is a good joke, seeing he can't protect himself against any comer at all!
Then the Emperor Nap considers them “une nation Latine,” and so he is to protect them.
Then the British protect them for fear the Russians should invade Turkey on that side.
Then the Russians protect them because they want their land as a high road to Constantinople; and finally, the Austrians and Italians protect them, just to keep in the mode.
Meanwhile the Roumanians seem to dislike all their kind friends, but still keep smiling and bowing round at them, hoping these protectors will one day get into a shindy, when they, the protected, propose to discontinue the honorary tribute, grab Bulgaria from the Turks, Bessarabia from the Russians, the Banat and part of Transylvania from the Austrians, and make a grand pan-Roumanian empire, with no protectors at all. All of which we shall know when they do it. Captain Botiano (that's his name) informed me that his countrymen were descended from Roman colonists, led thither by Trajan.
To judge from the gallant
