Sheridan's exploits in the valley, and his destruction of the rebel supplies, put an end to Confederate operations in that quarter. Washington was not menaced again, and the Sixth Corps was sent back to Petersburg to resume its place in the line of investment. The army of the Potomac was still battering away with its siege works at the rebel fortifications. It had extended its line around Petersburg, and destroyed twenty miles of the Weldon Railroad. There was no rest for the troops in the trenches. Every day brought its labors and its battle on a larger or a smaller scale. The sharp-shooters were picking off any man who showed his head above the breastworks. It was ceaseless toil and ceaseless vigilance. Grant was everywhere, on the watch for an opportunity to take advantage of any favoring circumstances. The winter came, and the lieutenant general did not desert the army to engage in the festivities or the excitements of the capital. He still kept his gaze firmly fixed on the prize which would end the Rebellion.
While the general-in-chief had been "hammering" away at the rebel army in Virginia, Sherman, under his direction, had been striking heavy blows at the South. He had fought and flanked his way down to Atlanta, carrying dismay and desolation before his victorious banners. The series of disasters which attended the operations of Johnston caused his removal from the command, Hood taking his place. The "great flanker" punished him even worse than his predecessor, and Hood went into Tennessee, with an army of fifty thousand men, to overwhelm Thomas; but this veteran almost wiped him out, and drove him to the south, with the loss of half his force and more than half his guns and munitions. Farragut thundered into Mobile Bay with his squadron, and, having defeated or sunk the rebel fleet, captured all the forts which covered Mobile. During the winter, Fort Fisher fell, and Wilmington dropped quietly into the hands of the Union forces. To crown the disasters of the Confederacy, Sherman made his grand march to the sea, mowing a wide swath on his passage, and leaving desolation and ruin in his path.
The Confederacy was on its last legs in the spring of 1865, though Lee still held his lines at Petersburg and Richmond. Jeff. Davis was still confident, though his general declared that he was no longer able to make a good fight. Some attempts to negotiate a peace were made, but they failed because the rebels still wanted terms which a conqueror might have asked. Grant had long ago demonstrated that the Confederacy was nothing but a "shell," and it had been broken in a hundred places. Still the rebels held out wherever they had a foot of ground whereon to stand. Still they prated about the "last ditch," and looked confidently, even up to the time of the final disaster, to foreign interference, or to some miraculous interposition of circumstances.
Sherman continued his march, captured Savannah, caused the evacuation of Charleston, and occupied Columbia. Johnston was gathering an army in North Carolina for the purpose of overwhelming him. Grant feared that Lee would desert Richmond, and seek to join the forces of Johnston. Indeed, he had been partly moved by this consideration in the selection of the south side of the James as his field of operations. Richmond, without the rebel army which for four long years had been defending it, would be a showy, but not a substantial prize.
President Lincoln went down to City Point, and visited the national army in its several positions, as well to inform himself practically of the situation as to encourage the soldiers who had so long and so valiantly struggled for the salvation of the nation. The preparations for the final campaign were completed, and the army was to move on the 29th of March; but four days before this time arrived, Lee made his last struggle to escape the gripe of Grant's anaconda, and to realize the indefinite circumstance which was to clear up the horizon of Southern prospects. He massed his troops, and made an impetuous assault on Fort Steadman. The attack was so sudden and violent, that for the moment it was a success, and the rebels were in full possession of the redoubt. But the Union guns were immediately pointed at the work, and a terrible fire poured in upon the enemy. The infantry charged upon the rebels in the fort, now cut off from their retreat, and two thousand of them were compelled to surrender. President Lincoln had been invited to review the troops; but from a hill he was permitted to behold the recapture of the fort, which suited him better, as a spectacle. A general attack was ordered, and the Union line dashed gallantly forward, capturing the enemy's picket line, which they were unable to recover.
About this time Sherman, whose army was at Goldsboro', made a hasty visit to City Point, where he had a consultation with the president, Grant, Meade, and Sheridan, and plans were matured to prevent a junction between Lee and Johnston. The lieutenant general's "hammering" process was now bringing forth its proper fruit in the rebel ranks. Deserters and stragglers from them were thicker than snow-flakes at Christmas. They had learned what Grant was. They had found that he was a fighting general, and they were not willing to be sacrificed to the Moloch of the South, battling for what was already a "Lost Cause." It was confidently believed that Lee was more intent upon the problem of retiring with his army than on that of longer protecting Richmond. His movement upon Fort Steadman was doubtless intended to facilitate his escape.
Grant had no idea of permitting his wily foe to "retire." He was more desirous of capturing the rebel army than of taking Richmond. On the 29th of March—the day appointed for the grand movement—Sheridan was sent out to Dinwiddie Court House, south-west of Petersburg. The left of the main army had been advanced so that Grant's line extended from the Appomattox, below Petersburg, to Dinwiddie. Grant himself was at Gravelly Run, between Sheridan and the left of the main body, watching coolly, but with the most intense anxiety, the development of his programme. Sheridan, in spite of the heavy rains which had rendered the roads impassable for wagons, floundered through the mud with his cavalry to Five Forks, where the enemy was in force. Warren, with the Fifth Corps, extended his lines nearly up to the same point.
Sheridan "went in" with his usual impetuosity, and seized Five Forks. The enemy made a desperate attack upon Warren, and forced him back for a time, though he soon recovered from the shock and held his own. The enemy then turned upon Sheridan, occupying an isolated position, and compelled him slowly to fall back; and he retreated upon Dinwiddie, instead of upon the main line, thus compelling the rebels in their pursuit to extend their line—a piece of strategy which called forth the warmest commendations of his commander. Grant, solicitous for his safety, sent two divisions of the Fifth Corps to Sheridan, who with this aid attacked the rebels on his front, and drove them back to Five Forks again.
At this point the Confederates were in heavy force; but Sheridan made his dispositions with remarkable skill, hurried up the Fifth Corps, and with his cavalry executed a brilliant manœuvre, by which the battle was won, the rebels routed, and six thousand prisoners captured. By this bold and skilful movement, so admirably executed by Sheridan, the right of the rebel line was turned. In support of this operation on the left, Grant ordered a heavy bombardment to be kept up during the entire night of April 1, the day on which Sheridan had fought this decisive action, and at four o'clock the next morning (Sunday) a combined assault was made with perfect success, which was followed up till the enemy broke from his lines, and fled from the lost field, following the road along the south bank of the Appomattox.