FINE FORKS AND THE PURSUIT OF LEE.
717
Hays’s division of his corps had carried an im-portant earth-work, with three guns and most ofthe garrison. At 8:25 a.m. the general sat downto write another telegram to the President, sum-ming up the progress made. Before he had fin-ished it a dispatch was "brought in from Ordsaying some of his troops had just captured theenemy’s works south of Hatcher’s Run, and thisnews was added to the tidings which the generalwas sending to Mr. Lincoln.
The general and staff now rode out to the front,as it was necessary to give immediate direction tothe actual movements of the troops, and preventconfusion from the overlapping and interminglingof the several corps as they pushed forward. Heurged his horse over the works that Wright’scorps had captured, and suddenly came upon a"body of three thousand prisoners marching to therear. His wdiole attention was for some timeriveted upon them, and we knew he was enjoyinghis usual satisfaction in seeing them. Some of theguards told the prisoners who the general was, andthey "became wild with curiosity to get a good lookat him. Next he came up with a division of theSixth Corps flushed with success, and rushing for-ward with a dash that was inspiriting beyond de-scription. When they caught sight of the leader,whom they had patiently followed from the Rapidanto the Appomattox, their cheers broke forth with awill and their enthusiasm knew no bounds. Thegeneral galloped along toward the right, and soonmet Meade, with whom he had been in constantcommunication, and who had been pushing for-ward the Army of the Potomac with all vigor.Congratulations were quickly exchanged, and bothwent to pushing forward the work. General Grant,after taking in the situation, directed both Meadeand Ord to face their commands toward the east,and close up toward the inner lines which coveredPetersburg. Lee had been pushed so vigorouslythat he seemed for a time to be making but littleeffort to recover any of his lost ground, but nowhe made a determined fight against Parke’s corps,which was threatening his inner line on his ex-treme left and the bridge across the Appomattox.Repeated assaults were made, but Parke resistedthem all successfully, and could not be movedfrom his position. Lee had ordered Longstreetfrom the north side of the James, and with thesetroops reenforced his extreme right. GeneralGrant dismounted near a farm-house which stoodon a knoll within a mile of the enemy’s extremeline, and from which he could get a good view ofthe field of operations. He seated himself at thefoot of a tree, and was soon busy receiving dis-patches and writing orders to officers conductingthe advance. The position was under fire, and assoon as the group of staff-officers was seen theenemy’s guns began paying their respects. Thislasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and as thefire became hotter and hotter several of the offi-cers, apprehensive of the general’s safety, urgedhim to move to some less conspicuous position,but he kept on writing and talking without theleast interruption from the shots falling aroundhim, and apparently not noticing what a target
the place was becoming. After he had finishedhis dispatches, he got up, took a view of the situa-tion, and as he started toward the other side ofthe farm-house said, with a quizzical look at thegroup around him: “Well, they do seem to havethe range on us.” The staff was now sent tovarious points of the advancing lines, and all wasactivity in pressing forward the good work. By
LIEUTENANT-GENERAE RICHARD H. ANDERSON, C. S. A.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
noon, nearly all the outer line of works was in ourpossession, except two strong redoubts which occu-pied a commanding position, named respectivelyFort Gregg and Fort Whitworth. The generaldecided that these should be stormed, and about 1o’clock three of Ord’s brigades swept down uponFort Gregg. The garrison of 300 [under Lieu-tenant-Colonel J. H. Duncan] with two rifledcannon made a desperate defense, and a mostgallant contest took place. For half an hour afterour men had gained the parapet a bloody hand-to-hand struggle continued, but nothing could standagainst the onslaught of Ord’s troops, flushed withtheir morning’s, victory. By half-past two 57 ofthe brave garrison lay dead, and about 250 hadsurrendered. Fort Whitworth was at once aban-doned, but the guns of Fort Gregg were openedupon the garrison as they marched out, and thecommander [Colonel Joseph M. Jayne] and sixtymen were surrendered.
About this time Miles had struck a force of theenemy at Sutherland’s Station on Lee’s extremeright, and had captured two pieces of artillery andnearly a thousand prisoners. At 4: 40 the general,who had been keeping Mr. Lincoln fully advisedof the history that was so rapidly being madethat day, sent him a telegram inviting him tocome out the next day and pay him a visit. A