Headquarters Army Of Potomac
Richmond and Burkeville
R.R.
10 miles north of
Burkeville
April 6, 1865
We are pelting after Old Lee as hard as the poor doughboys'
legs can go. I estimate our prisoners at 16,000, with lots of guns and colors.
At six A.M. the three infantry corps advanced in line of battle, on Amelia
Court House; 2d on the left; 5th in the centre; and 6th on the right.
Sheridan's cavalry, meantime, struck off to the left, to head off their
waggon-trains in the direction of the Appomattox River. We did not know just
then, you perceive, in what precise direction the enemy was moving. Following
the railroad directly towards Amelia C.H., General Meade received distinct
intelligence, at nine o'clock, that the enemy was moving on Deatonsville,
intending probably to cross the Appomattox at High Bridge. Instantly General
Meade gave orders for the 6th Corps to face about and move by the left flank
and seek roads in the direction of High Bridge, with the idea of supporting the
cavalry in their attempt to head off the enemy; the 2d Corps were turned into
the left-hand road nearest Jetersville, and directed to push on and strike the
enemy wherever they could. At nine we got to the left-hand road lying some way
beyond Jetersville, and here the 5th Corps was turned in, with orders to follow
the road through Paineville and attack whatever they found. These prompt
dispositions ensured the grand success of the day, which the newspapers have
gracefully handed over to General Sheridan! Here I may as well say that Lee was
trying to escape with his large artillery and waggon trains. At first he
thought to move directly along the railroad, through Burkeville, to Danville.
Cut off by the 5th Corps and the cavalry, he now was trying to march “cross
lots” and get to the Danville road, somewhere below us. . . . At ten, we got back to Jetersville, a
collection of half-a-dozen houses with a country church. From the second story
of a house I witnessed a most curious spectacle — a fight, four miles off in a
straight line! At that point was a bare ridge, a little above Deatonsville, and
there, with my good glass, I could see a single man very well. It was just like
a play of marionettes! and the surrounding woods made side scenes to this
stage. At first, I saw only the Rebel train, moving along the ridge towards
Deatonsville, in all haste: there now goes a pigmy ambulance drawn by
mouse-like horses, at a trot. Here come more ambulances and many waggons from
the woods, and disappear, in a continuous procession, over the ridge. Suddenly
— boom! boom! and the distant smoke of Humphreys' batteries curls above
the pine trees. At this stimulus the Lilliputian procession redoubles its speed
(I am on the point of crying “bravo!” at this brilliant stroke of the gentleman
who is pulling the wires). But now enter from the woods, in some confusion, a
good number of Rebel cavalry; they form on the crest — but, boom! boom! go
the cannon, and they disappear. Ah! here come the infantry! Now for a fight!
Yes, a line of battle in retreat, and covering the rear. There are mounted
officers; they gallop about, waving their tiny swords. Halt! The infantry form
a good line on the crest; you can't scare them. What are they carrying?
Spears? No, rails; that's what it is, rails for to revet a breastwork.
They scramble about like ants. You had better hurry up, Yanks, if you want to
carry that crest! (The stage manager informs me the Yanks are hurrying
and the next act will be — Enter Duke Humphrey, in haste.) Hullo! There come
six fleet mice dragging something, followed by more: yes, a battery. They
unlimber: a pause: Flash! — (count twenty-two seconds by Captain Barrows's
watch) then, bang! — flash! flash! bang! bang! There come in
their skirmishers! running for their lives; certainly the Yanks are in those
woods. Now they turn their guns more to the left; they are getting flanked.
Their officers gallop wildly. You seem to hear them shout, "Change front
to the rear!" anyhow they do so, at a double-quick. Then one volley of
musketry, and they are gone, guns and all! The next moment our skirmishers go
swarming up the hill; up goes a battery, and down goes the curtain.
There is no rest for the wicked. All day long the peppery
Humphreys, glaring through those spectacles, presses hotly in their rear; the
active Sheridan is felling trees across their front; on their right is the
Appomattox, impassible; and now, as the afternoon closes, here comes the
inevitable Wright, grimly on their left flank, at Sailor's Creek. The 6th Corps
charges; they can't be stopped — result, five Rebel generals; 8600 prisoners,
14 cannon; the Rebel rear-guard annihilated! As we get to our camp, beyond
Deatonsville, there comes a Staff officer with a despatch. “I attacked
with two divisions of the 6th Corps. I
captured many thousand prisoners, etc., etc. P. H. Sheridan.” “Oh,” said Meade,
“so General Wright wasn't there”
“Oh, yes!” cried the Staff officer, as if speaking of some worthy
man who had commanded a battalion, “Oh, yes, General Wright was there.”
Meade turned on his heel without a word, and Cavalry Sheridan's despatch
proceeded — to the newspapers!
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 348-51
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