Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War

It had happened three times previously, at Yorktown, Antietam, and Gettysburg. The Confederate army had slipped away with no pursuit by Union forces. This time was to be different. After Lee ordered his Army of Northern Virginia to evacuate Petersburg under cover of a rainstorm and darkness, the Army of the Potomac picked up the scent and set off like a pack of wolves trailing a herd of deer. For the next 98 miles they would nip at the Rebel army’s heels, drawing blood, weakening Lee, until he was left with no recourse but to save further slaughter through surrender.

After ten months of trench warfare the Union had finally succeeded in breaking through Confederate lines at Petersburg and Lee ordered the withdrawal of his troops on April 2, 1865. The initial goal was to reach Sutherland Station and the Southside railroad. Union troops beat Lee there, seizing the railroad line and cutting off this vital supply lifeline. The following day, April 3rd, Lee’s army reached Namozine Church, where blue and gray cavalry engaged in a minor skirmish. Without supplies, Lee directed his men to forage for food over the next two days, between Namozine Church and Amelia Court House, a delay which allowed Union cavalry to effectively negate Lee’s head start. This was no tactical blunder on Lee's part. His men were literally starving.

Lee pushed his evershrinking army westward toward Amelia Springs, where the two cavalries skirmished again on April 5th. It was here the wolf pack dashed any remaining hope Lee might have habored that he could reach Danville. Thrust, block, parry, now one step ahead, the pack turned as he turned. Lee now set his sights on Farmville some 25 miles away and its promise of supplies. It was a place he’d never reach.

By following Route 360 out of Richmond I picked up the line of retreat about a third of the way through, near Amelia Springs. The land at this juncture is still wide open and sparsely settled and, but for heavy rains, would have provided Lee’s men with a comparatively easy march, as the ground rolls much like an ocean with gentle swells. Historical markers placed by the State of Virginia abound so it’s conceivable to follow the entire line of retreat without a map. You can also tune your radio to 1610 on the AM dial and listen to a narrative of the actions that took place along the route.



The most significant site before reaching Appomattox is Sailor’s Creek State Park. Although sporadic fighting followed, the action at Sailor’s Creek on June 6, 1865 was the last major battle between the Army of Northern Virginia and Army of the Potomac. Here Confederates and units of the Sixth Corps engaged in a game of Red Rover. Centering the Union Line, the Sixth Corps bowed backwards, but did not break, and, after a Union artillery barrage against an army lacking their own cannons, counterattacked. By outflanking the Rebel army on both sides of its line six Confederate generals, including Lt. General Richard Ewell, and an estimated three to seven thousand troops were compelled to raise their hands in surrender.



April 6th was also witness to a skirmish involving Longstreet’s Corps near Rice’s Station. Longstreet was able to maneuver his men across the Appomattox River at High Bridge, but it was here that Lee found his way to Farmville blocked. Fighting continued around High Bridge through the following day and it was on April 7th that Grant sent his first letter to Lee proposing the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Like a gambler down to his last dollar, Lee bet on reaching Appomattox Court House, but not before sending a response to Grant, requesting the terms of surrender. The odds of escaping and hooking up with Johnston in North Carolina were being reduced almost hourly and it was perhaps then that Lee realized the end lay near.



April 8th. All hope disappeared with the Union seizure of a supply train and 25 cannon at Appomattox Station. The spirit was sagging, but there was still pride and fight left in General John B. Gordon’s Corps on April 9th. His attack on Sheridan’s cavalry line was successful in pushing back the Union horsemen, but then Gordon’s men came face to face with the snarling bare fanged pack that comprised the vaunted Fifth Corps. Surrounded now on three sides, Confederate guns grew silent and three riders were sent out in separate directions, each bearing a white flag of truce. It was almost over. Along this trail, where the prospect of a jubilant victory and the haunting specter of a soul crushing defeat intertwined, the war was almost over.