After getting over the White Oak Road we never saw any clearing of any description until we came over the cleared field in which were the chimneys of some houses, which is marked "chimneys" on the map. We swung to the north of those chimneys and as the line came around we went into the woods again. Coulter, who had been in reserve, was now on the line of battle and connected with the Second Brigade, Baxter's.
It was a very wide sweep that the Third Division made and in its progress a battery was captured, the division being under fire all of the time, and this advance of Crawford's men caused an evacuation of the enemy's entrenchments. Again quoting Captain Porter, we have:—
As the Third Division neared Five Forks, under orders from General Warren, the troops were faced west and we pushed on with our left a little north of the White Oak Road, and when we reached the clearing known as Gilliams' we found the enemy had made a final stand and erected temporary earthworks at right angles to their original lines. The men being out of breath and the formation somewhat broken, the troops halted and opened a desultory fire upon the enemy. General Warren, hastening up, quickly discovered the cause of the delay and, after giving a little time to the reforming of the troops, a very good line was formed, and under the gallant leadership of him who had commanded us for more than a year the troops sprang forward and carried the works. General Warren's horse was shot under him, directly astride the works; and Lieut. Colonel Richardson received the bullet that would have struck our beloved corps commander. By this time, the night was well upon us, and, the enemy being thoroughly dispersed, the troops were halted and General Warren sent one of his staff to find General Sheridan and to ask for further orders. The aide reached Sheridan and received in reply the words that orders had been sent to Warren, and not long after Bankhead's return, Colonel Forsyth arrived with the order from Sheridan relieving Warren from the command of the corps.
Thus on the field of battle after the most successful day's work that he had ever taken part in, Warren was deprived of the command of the corps which he had commanded since March, 1864, and a position which he had earned by soldierly courage and brilliant conduct on many fields. Beginning at Great Bethel, his name is associated with every field upon which the Army of the Potomac was engaged. The insulting remark and the tone and gestures of Sheridan, when he alluded to Warren's services on this day, are a disgrace to this brilliant man. There is no excuse nor palliation for them. The most ardent friend that Sheridan has cannot explain away the insult conveyed to one of the bravest and most devoted of soldiers in the Army of the Potomac.
Crawford's Division suffered more than the other portions of the corps, its casualties being nearly equal to those of the other two divisions. We came under fire as soon as any of the corps and continued to be under fire until after the attack on Gilliam's field.
Long years after the war Sergt. Wm. A. Mentzer of "A" was wont to tell of seeing Sheridan at Five Forks with his Staff, riding along the rear of our lines, shouting, "See the Sons of B——s run! Give them H—L, boys!" "After going a little way into the woods we came to the rear of the Rebel works, where I saw a lad behind the same firing at our folks. Jamming on my bayonet I jumped to the works and ordered him to come out; he looked up and had the impudence, with a smile on his face, to say, 'I wish you would let me fire these five cartridges.' I think I swore some and told him I'd put the bayonet right through him unless he came out at once, and he came. When going to the rear with my prisoner I saw General Warren riding the same way, but not till the next morning did I know that our great and good leader had been relieved of his command."
April 2d, as usual when the most important military operations are to be undertaken, is Sunday and at 4.45 a. m. signal guns announced the general advance of the Union Apr. 2, '65 forces in front of Petersburg, from the Appomattox to Five Forks and beyond. Within half an hour, Wright of the Sixth Corps sends word to Grant that he has carried the enemy's lines in front of his position, and Parke of the Ninth reports that he has captured the outer works with artillery and 800 prisoners, and, before seven o'clock, the Lieut. General telegraphs President Lincoln at City Point the good news. This is the day in which Richmond, the Confederate Capital, lulled into fancied security, quite ignorant of the havoc along the Petersburg lines, is actually attending church and President Davis is summoned from his pew in St. Paul's church with the overwhelming news that the Yankees are coming. How pandemonium broke loose, how the iron clads and other ships in the James River were destroyed; how the three bridges which spanned the James were burned; and Richmond, itself, by a fire set by the Confederates and extinguished by the Union troops, suffered worse than Columbia from the alleged inhumanity of Sherman—all this is history. Every man who wore the blue seemed to have a mission to find someone in gray and the latter, be it said to his everlasting credit, was nothing loath to be found.
Until the afternoon of the 2d, the Fifth Corps was employed on the field of Five Forks in caring for the wounded, burying the dead and destroying the old arms of the captured Confederates. After these accomplishments the Corps, now under General Griffin, received orders to proceed towards Petersburg, Chamberlain's Brigade of Bartlett's Division (till yesterday, Griffin's) leading. Whatever opposition was encountered, it was speedily swept away and, at Church Road Crossing of the South Side Railroad, fifteen miles from Petersburg, a passing train of cars was captured. Crossing the railroad he was ordered to push out if possible to the Cox Road, crossing the line of march at right angles. The First Division continued towards Sutherland Station, still nearer Petersburg, while Crawford's coming up, at about 3 p. m., went over the road with cheers, thence passing down the same about seven miles it turned to the left, marching till 6.30 before halting for the night. In some places the stream at which the stop was made is called Namozine while General Humphreys' map has it Whipponock and here some annalist says the enemy got combative during the evening and the Thirty-ninth, as usual, went out on skirmish duty, when a few shots seemed to settle the matter for the rebels, of whom nothing more was heard during the night.
The great Confederate army that had withstood our onslaughts so many years is clearly trying to escape "on the run" is the thought in the minds of those who follow. The Union cavalry, led by the fiery Custer, is keeping the rear guard of the enemy in plain sight and the infantry is following as rapidly as it can. With the exception of Willcox's Division of the Ninth Corps, which is occupying Petersburg, the entire Potomac Army is in the chase; it is the day when Godfrey Weitzel marches into Richmond and extinguishes the conflagration started by the retiring foe; President Lincoln, leading his son, Tad, enters Petersburg and personally congratulates Grant on the great victory; of the meeting General Horace Porter says, "I doubt whether Mr. Lincoln ever experienced a happier moment in his life." The Fifth Corps follows hard after the cavalry, picking up many prisoners with five pieces of abandoned artillery and a number of wagons. At night, with Crook's Division of cavalry, the Corps encamps on the Nazomine Road, near Deep Creek. On the morning of the 4th, the Corps moves directly and rapidly towards Jetersville, a station on the Richmond and Danville R. R., Sheridan thinking that the rebels are collecting at Amelia Court House about eight miles northeast of Jetersville. On arriving we are ordered to entrench with a view of holding the point until the main army can come up. The position of the Corps is an exposed one, of which Sheridan in his report says, "The enemy lost its last chance of escape by failure to advance and attack the comparatively Apr. 4, '65 small force and so march on its way to Burkeville." However, luckily for the troops at Jetersville, the Confederates are not reaching the Court House as rapidly as Sheridan thinks and by the afternoon of the 5th, the Second and the Sixth Corps are up and ranged in line with the Fifth. While not described in detail, the whole world knows that everybody was busy in those days with scant time for sleep at night, but through the bewildering maze of horse and foot, it is ours to follow only the men of a single corps and that the Fifth. Many a page might be given to reciting the incidents of Sailor's Creek, the last pitched battle in the East, but our regiment was not in it. At last Sheridan had obtained his wish and the Sixth Corps, having been sent to him, wins renown in this final struggle, while the Fifth moves off at the right of the Second through Paineville on Deatonville. It proved a long, rapid and tiresome march, a distance of thirty-two miles to Ligontown Ferry, experiencing no greater variety on the way than the destruction of abandoned army wagons, gun carriages and caissons of the enemy and the capture of some prisoners.
Says Powell in his History of the Fifth Army Corps, "No army in the world could stand such losses as Lee was meeting every day, and no troops could long endure the strain and fatigue of marching all night and fighting by day, as Lee's men were now enduring. They were by this time deprived of everything, even food, and those captured presented a pitiable condition." Though the slumbers of the Union Army are not as prolonged as they may have been at other times, nevertheless there are halts and rations are had, and with full stomachs and a boundless supply of ammunition the pursuit is maintained. Friday, the 7th, General Meade orders Griffin with the Fifth Corps to proceed to Prince Edward Court House while the Second and the Sixth keep up the direct pursuit. Our Corps crosses the South side R. R. at Rice's Station, just fifty miles west of Petersburg and forty from Appomattox. General Grant's first letter to General Lee, relative to surrender, bears the date of the 7th and the answer of the great Confederate, asking for terms, is dated the same day. Whatever his intentions, Lee does not await the statement of Grant, but pushes on through the night towards the west on his hopeless task. The morning of the 8th beholds the tireless Second Corps, closely followed by the Sixth, in eager pursuit. The Fifth Corps also has an early start and striking the Lynchburg R. R. at Prospect Station, twenty miles from Appomattox, at about noon, follows thence Ord's forces towards Appomattox Court House and at 2 a. m. of the 9th, Sunday, bivouacks about two miles from the site of the immortal scene so soon to be enacted having marched twenty-nine miles from Prince Edward's Court House.