Chapter XIII: By E. C. Strouss

Beginning of Our Last Campaign--Battle of Five Forks--On Picket Duty
on Old Hatcher's Run Battlefield--Jubilant Rebels--Enemy's Lines
Broken--Petersburg and Richmond Evacuated--In Pursuit of the
Enemy--Battle of Sailor's Creek--High Bridge--General Mott
Wounded--Lee's Army Breaking Up--Appomattox--Joy Over the
Surrender--On the Backward March--Camp at Burkesville Junction.

Before daylight on the morning of March 29th our men were astir getting their breakfasts, packing up, and preparing for the march, which was to terminate in the surrender of our old antagonists, the Army of Northern Virginia, ten days later.

We moved out by the Vaughn road, across Hatcher's run, our corps resting its right on the run, and its left in communication with the 5th corps. General Ord's troops of the Army of the James occupied the entrenchments vacated by our corps. We moved out toward the enemy: but in that country of woods and swamps it took nearly the whole day to rectify the line and get into position. It rained heavily all night of the 29th and all the next day, rendering the roads impassable for artillery and wagons until corduroyed. On the 30th our corps continued its advance, driving the enemy inside his entrenchments along Hatcher's run from the Crow house to the Boydton road, pressing close up against them, but not assaulting.

On the 31st the 5th corps under General Warren on our left was more or less engaged with the enemy with varying success. Our first division under General Miles, which joined Warren's right, engaged the enemy in a brisk fight, drove them back and relieved the pressure on Warren. Our division made an attempt to attack the enemy's entrenchments at the Boydton road crossing of Hatcher's run, but the works were found to be too strong, so the attack was countermanded.

Late in the afternoon of April 1st General Warren, assisted by Sheridan's cavalry, succeeded in carrying the enemy's strong position at Five Forks, about five miles to our left. The enemy under General Pickett had 4,500 prisoners, 13 colors and 6 guns captured.

During the afternoon of this day the regiment with the brigade was posted in the same field in which we had fought the enemy on the 27th of October previous.

Just before dark a heavy detail of the 57th in charge of Captains Strouss and Moore and First Lieut. R. I. Campbell was sent to the front instructed to guard carefully against a night attack from the enemy. Only a short distance in our front were the rebel pickets. They yelled at us: "Yanks, do you know that General Sheridan is killed?" They were answered: "You lie, you greybacks, you haven't lead enough to kill him." They had no doubt been told that we had lost the battle at Five Forks, and that Sheridan had been killed. At least they were very hilarious during the fore part of the night. They also yelled to us asking: "Yanks, have you got any whiskey over thar?" Being answered in the negative, they yelled: "We have lots of it over har; come over and get some." They evidently had plenty of whiskey or applejack, as some of those we "gobbled" next morning were very weak in the legs.

On our side we were busy strengthening our picket pits, hurrying to get the work finished before the rise of the moon. During the latter part of the night there was more or less picket-firing along the lines, which we kept up until daylight, when they also opened on us with several pieces of artillery in a redoubt close by. One of their shells struck a large pine tree near which Captain Moore was standing, and exploding, threw a large piece of wood against him, injuring him painfully.

Long before daylight on the 2d began the terrible cannonade which preceded the attack of the 6th and 9th corps on the rebel works near Petersburg. This was miles away on our right, but the sound of the cannon and the reverberation through the woods, together with our anxiety as to how the battle would end, put us on an awful strain. In a few hours, however, we learned that our troops had been victorious and had broken and held the rebel lines in several places, and also that Gen. A. P. Hill, one of Lee's corps commanders, had been killed. On our part of the line we captured about one hundred of the enemy, also the cannon in the redoubt in our front.

About 8 o'clock our corps took up the line of march via the Boydton plank road, to near Petersburg. Here we formed line, about noon, parallel with the Appomattox river, the right of our line joining the left of the 6th corps. Here we were considerably annoyed by a battery of the enemy on the opposite side of the river, until some of our sharpshooters drove the cannoneers away from their guns.

Later in the day we took up a new line near a large brick house which the day before had been the rebel General Mahone's headquarters.

A little before dark the enemy from one of their forts opened on us with artillery, but did little damage, as we were sheltered by the brow of a hill and most of their shots passed over us. An officer of our division, while standing by a pump near the brick house mentioned above, was killed by a cannon ball which passed through the pump. Several men of the 57th who had gone to a spring in rear of our line for water were also injured by fragments of shell.

The enemy evacuated Petersburg and Richmond during the night of the 2d and morning of the 3d. Lee's army moved westward with the expectation of reaching Lynchburg or Danville, Va.

Our corps took up the line of march in pursuit of the enemy about 8 o'clock a. m. on the 3d. We marched about twenty miles this day without any fighting, although some of our infantry and cavalry had some brisk skirmishes with the enemy's rear guard.

On the 4th we only marched about eight miles, but spent most of the day in repairing bridges the enemy had destroyed and mending the roads, which recent rains had put in very bad order. Our corps and the 6th were on what was known as the River road; the 5th corps and the main body of the cavalry were on a road further south, and Ord's army and the 9th corps were following the line of the South Side railroad.

By the evening of the 5th nearly all of Lee's army was at Amelia Court House. Lee had expected to find rations here for his army, which were ordered to be left there on the 2d. But the authorities at Richmond, anxious to get away, ordered the trains to go through to that place, where the rations were dumped out, the cars loaded with the heads of the various departments and their archives, and started south again, the occupants being in great dread of capture by the Yankees. The consequence was that Lee's army had to go hungry, as but little to eat was to be found in the country through which they were marching.

The 5th corps had reached Jetersville--a station on the South Side railroad--late in the afternoon of the 5th and began to entrench as they were in front and across the path of the rebel army, only five miles distant. Our corps joined the 5th corps about dark and the 6th corps a few hours later.

On the morning of the 6th the three corps advanced toward Amelia Court House, but it was soon found that Lee had during the night slipped around our left flank, or, in other words, passed to the north of us and continued his retreat. He was closely followed and there was some hot fighting during the day. Our brigade's first encounter was on the afternoon of the 6th at a place called Amelia Springs, about four miles from Jetersville. We drove the enemy and captured some prisoners. The road we followed on this day was strewn for miles with tents, camp equipage, baggage, documents, etc., which the enemy threw from their wagons to enable the half-starved mules to pull them through. Our brigade had frequent skirmishes with the enemy's rear guard until near dark, when we struck them at Sailor creek at Perkinson's mill, a few miles from where the creek empties into the Appomattox. Here, assisted by a portion of Miles' division, we succeeded in capturing several hundred prisoners, thirteen flags, and three guns, and a large part of the main trains of Lee's army, which were huddled together in a confused mass at the bridge crossing the creek. Our regiment and the 17th Maine dashed through the train and pursued the enemy across the creek, but both regiments were recalled after dark. In this engagement the regiment had none killed, and but seven men wounded. Among the wounded was Lieutenant-Colonel Perkins. Our division commander, General Mott, was wounded during the day's fighting.

On the same day, further to our left, or up the creek, the 6th corps and Sheridan's cavalry had a battle with the enemy in which the latter met with severe losses.

General Humphreys, in his book before quoted, says: "The total loss to Lee's army today (the 6th) in its actions with the 6th corps and the cavalry, and with the 2d corps, was not less than eight thousand men."

Among the prisoners were Generals Ewell, Kershaw, Custis Lee, and Dubose of Ewell's command, and Generals Hunton and Corse, of Pickett's division.

The 2d corps resumed the pursuit at half past five o'clock in the morning of the 7th, keeping near to the river and taking the routes which appeared to have been marched on by the largest bodies of infantry, and came upon High Bridge just as the enemy had blown up the redoubt that formed the bridge-head and had set fire to the railroad bridge, and were trying to burn the wagon road bridge. The railroad bridge was called High Bridge because built on piers about sixty feet high, across the narrow river and the wide marshy low ground on the north bank. This bridge was saved with the loss of four spans at the north end, chiefly by the exertions of Colonel Livermore, of General Humphreys' staff, whose party put out the fire, while the enemy's skirmishers were fighting under their feet. It was a wooden, open deck bridge. The wagon road bridge which the enemy tried to burn but failed, was still smoking as we crossed it. Sixteen pieces of artillery which were in the redoubts at either end of the railroad bridge fell into our hands.

The divisions of Miles and De Trobriand (the latter now commanding Mott's division) arrived at the Lynchburg stage road about 1 p. m., when we suddenly came in contact with the enemy, who opened on us with a heavy fire of artillery. Dispositions were at once made for an attack, and a heavy skirmish line was pressed close up against the enemy to develop their strength. From prisoners taken it was found that Lee's whole army was present in strong position covering the stage and plank roads to Lynchburg, which was entrenched sufficiently for cover, and had artillery in place.

General Humphreys pressed against the rebel positions with his two divisions, but found the enemy too strong to be dislodged with the forces then under him. General Meade was notified of the state of affairs, when it was found that no pontoon bridge was available at Farmville, that the river was too deep for fording, and that it would be night before a bridge could be built to enable the force on our left to come to our assistance. So all we could do was to lie still and watch the enemy.

By detention until night at this place, General Lee lost invaluable time, which he could not regain by night marching, lost the supplies awaiting him at Appomattox station, and gave time to Sheridan and his cavalry, and General Ord with the 5th and 24th corps to post themselves across his path at Appomattox Court House.

Lee continued his retreat some time during the night, and the 2d corps started after him at 5:30 on the morning of the 8th. There was some skirmishing during the day, but no hard fighting. The enemy was anxious to get away, and thousands of their stragglers and deserters lined the roads. Our regiment acted as flankers to the main column on the 8th, moving on the left of it, about a quarter of a mile distant.

Correspondence pertaining to the surrender of the rebel army was already passing between Grant and Lee; but of this we knew nothing at the time.

On the morning of the 9th we moved a few miles and then halted for several hours and then moved on a short distance and halted within a few rods of where General Meade had his headquarters, about noon. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon an ambulance bearing a flag of truce and in which were seated some rebel officers, coming from the front, drove up to General Meade's headquarters. The ambulance soon returned accompanied by General Meade and his chief of staff, General Webb. They had been at the front but a short time when we heard great cheering in that direction, and also heard the music of the bands playing patriotic airs. The cheering came nearer and nearer, and our men began to line both sides of the road, when soon we saw the forms of Generals Meade and Webb approaching, their horses at an easy gallop. General Webb was riding ahead and shouting to the men: "Boys, your fighting is over; General Lee has surrendered." General Meade, who had been sick for several days, was waving his cap, but was so exhausted that he was scarcely able to dismount.

Then for a while it seemed as if our army had suddenly become insane with joy. Men pushed each other over, mounted a stump or fence and crowed like roosters, laughed or wept for joy. It was hard to realize that the men whom we had been fighting for nearly four years were no longer our foes, and that the weary nights on picket duty in storm and rain were ended.

According to the records of the War Department the number of officers and enlisted men of Lee's army paroled on the 9th of April, 1865, was: Officers, 2,862; enlisted men, 25,494; total, 28,356. Of the troops surrendered only 8,000 were armed.

When the surrender took place our corps was near Clover Hill, about three miles from Appomattox Court House. It remained there on the 10th and on the 11th we moved to the rear and bivouacked for the night at a place called New Store. Moving on the next day over very muddy roads and in the rain, we halted for the night at Farmville. On the 13th, after a hard march, we arrived at Burkesville Junction, where we went into camp and remained there until May 2d. While at this place we heard the sad news that President Lincoln had been assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington on the night of April 14th.

On the 28th we had the joyful news that the rebel army under General Johnson had surrendered to Gen. W. T. Sherman. The most doubtful now knew that the war was over.