7 1 8
FIVE FORKS AND THE PURSUIT OF LEE.
prompt reply eame back from tlie President, say-ing : “ Allow me to tender you and all with youthe nation’s grateful thanks for the additional andmagnificent success. At your kind suggestion, Ithink I will meet you to-morrow.”
Prominent officers now urged the general tomake an assault on the inner lines and capturePetersburg that afternoon, but he was firm in hisresolve not to sacrifice the lives necessary to ac-complish such a result. He said the city wouldundoubtedly be evacuated during the night, and hewould dispose the troops for a parallel march west-ward, and try to head off the escaping army. Andthus ended the eventful Sunday.
The general was up at daylight the next morn-ing, and the first report brought in was that Parkehad gone through the lines at 4 A. M., capturinga few skirmishers, and that the city had surren-dered at 4:28 to Colonel Balpli Ely. A secondcommunication surrendering the place was sent into Wright. The evacuation had begun about 10the night before, and was completed before 3 onthe morning of the 3d. Between 5 and G A. M.the general had a conference with Meade, andorders were given to push westward with all haste.About 9 A. M. the general rode into Petersburg.Many of the citizens, panic-stricken, had escapedwith the army. Most of the whites who remainedstaid indoors, a few groups of negroes gavecheers, but the scene generally was one of com-plete desertion. Grant rode along quietly with hisstaff until he eame to a comfortable-looking briekhouse, with a yard in front, situated on one ofthe principal streets, and here he and the officersaccompanying him dismounted and took seats onthe piazza. A number of the citizens soon gath-ered on the sidewalk and gazed with eager curi-osity upon the commander of the Yankee armies.
Soon an officer came with a dispatch from Sheri-dan, who had been reenforced and ordered tostrike out along the Danville railroad, saying hewas already nine miles beyond Namozine Creekand pressing the enemy’s trains. The general wasanxious to move westward at once with the lead-ing infantry columns, but Mr. Lincoln had tele-graphed that he was on his way, and the general,though he had replied that he could not wait forhis arrival, decided to prolong his stay until thePresident came up. Mr. Lincoln, accompanied byhis little son “Tad,” dismounted in the street andcame in through the front gate with long and rapidstrides, his face beaming with delight. He seizedGeneral Grant’s hand as the general stepped for-ward to greet him, and stood shaking it for sometime and pouring out his thanks and congratula-tions with all the fervor of a heart that seemedoverflowing with its fullness of joy. I doubtwhether Mr. Lincoln ever experienced a happiermoment in his life. The scene was singularly af-fecting and one never to be forgotten. He then said:
“Do you know, General, I have had a sort ofsneaking idea for some days that you intended todo something like this, though I thought sometime ago that you would so manoeuvre as to haveSherman come up and be near enough to cooperatewith you.”
“ Yes,” replied the general, “I thought at onetime that Sherman’s army might advance so far asto be in supporting distance of the Eastern armieswhen the spring campaign against Lee opened,but I have had a feeling that it is better to let Lee’sold antagonists give his army the final blow andfinish up the job. If the Western armies wereeven to put in an appearance against Lee’s army,it might give some of our politicians a chance tostir up sectional feeling in claiming everything forthe troops from their own section of country. TheWestern armies have been very successful in theircampaigns, and it is due to the Eastern armies tolet them vanquish their old enemy single-handed.”
“I see, I see,” said Mr. Lincoln, “but I neverthought of it in that light. In fact, my anxietyhas been so great that I didn’t care where the helpcame from so the work was perfectly done.”
“Oh,” General Grant continued, “I do notsuppose it would have given rise to much of thebickering I mentioned, and perhaps the idea wouldnot have occurred to any one else. I feel surethere would have been no such feeling among thesoldiers, but there might have been among ourpoliticians. While I would not have risked the re-sult of the campaign on account of any mere senti-ment of this kind, I felt that our troops here areamply able to handle Lee.”
Mr. Lincoln then began to talk about the civilcomplications that would follow the destruction ofthe Confederate armies in the field, and showedplainly the anxiety he felt regarding the greatproblems in statecraft that would soon be thrustupon him. He intimated very plainly, however,in a rambling talk of nearly half an hour, thatthoughts of mercy and magnanimity were upper-most in his heart.
At 12:30 the general wrote a telegram to Weit-zel at Richmond, asking news from him, and showedit to the President before sending it. The gen-eral hoped that he would hear before he partedwith the President that Richmond was in our pos-session, but after the interview had lasted aboutan hour and a half, the general said he must rideon to the front and join Ord’s column, and tookleaveof the President, who shook his hand cordially, andwith great warmth of feeling wished him God -speedand every success.
The general and staff had ridden as far as Suther-land’s Station, about nine miles, when a dispatchfrom Weitzel overtook him, which had come by aroundabout way. It read: “We took Richmondat 8:15 this morning. I captured many guns.Enemy left in great haste. The city is on fire intwo places. Am making every effort to put it out.”Although the news was expected, there were wildshouts of rejoicing from the group who heard itread. The general, who never manifested theslightest sign of emotion either in victories or de-feats, merely said : “I am sorry I did not get thisbefore we left the President. However, I supposehe has heard the news by this time,” and thenadded: “ Let the news be circulated among thetroops as rapidly as possible.”
Grant and Meade both went into camp at Suther-land’s Station that evening, the 3d. The Army of