Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-08


1t Is remarkable that no further on
slaught was made by the federal
throughout the day, or during the even
ing, although the flames springing up il
many parts Of the town must have toll,
their own tale. At nightfsll on the z
all the Confederate troops, about 400
strong, which remeined unoer the com
mand of Gen. .Ewell, to the north Of Jane
river, fell back from their lines, ant
passed through the sewildered streets o
Richmond, traveTsing, before daybreak
the bridges over the James river, whicl
were so soon to be given to the flames
About eight on the night OF the same %
the Confederate troops also commeuce'
leaving Petersburg, their retreat beini
covered by Fields division under Long
street Pursuit there was none. Il il
! probable that already Grant was bend
/ ing all his energies to get round and Gu
( of Lees retreat. The Petersburg sec
ton of the Confederate troops, full q
! vigor and elan, crossed to the north side
of the Appomattox river on pontcOT
bridge, and made sixteen miles during
their first night Of retreat
It would be difficult TO conceive any
/ thing brighter or more hopeful than tht
tone of Gen. Lees spirits on the morning
Of the Sd. II have got my army satt
out Of its breastworks," he said, land
{ in order to- follow me, my enemy mus
abandon his lines, and can derive nc
+ further benefit from his railroads or from
1 the James river" There can be little
doubt that Lees design was to recruit
his army with rations which he hoped &c
ind in abundance at Amelia courthouse
and to fall in detail upon the federal:
who, breaking up into bodies OF oneor
two army corps, were scattering all over
the country with a view to a vigorous
pursuit. Two days rations at Amelia
courthouse for 40, 900 men would possibly
have made a crest difference in the i'm
mediate, though, as l believe, none in
the ultimate history of the continent OF
North America.
There is little satisfaction in dwelling
in detail upon the five subsequent days,
for which a parallel must be sought on
the banks of the Beresina, or in other
similar passages of military anguish. 1t
is hardly necessary to state that at
Amelia courthouse Lee found not a
ration I shall not pause now to dis
tribute blame, or to investigate who was
at fault. All that have to state is that
the fault was not Lees, whose orders on
this subject for fortnight past had been
urgent and precise. 1t became neces-
sary for Lee to break nearly half his
army Up into foraging parties to get
food The country through which be was
passing was q tract of struggling woods
and pine barrens, with occasional little
patches Of clearings. The fOraging par
ties bad to 90 so far a. field in quest Of
food that they were taken prisoners by
wholesale. In the face o. such suffer-
ing as they left behind, it cannot be
wondered at if some of the poor fellows
courted capture.
Those foragers who returned to Lee
brought little or nothing with them. The
sufferiDgs of the men from the pangs of
hunger has not been approached in the
military annals of the past fifty years.
But the sutferiDgs Of the mules and
horses must have been even keener; for
the men assuaged their cravings by
plucking the buds and twigs Of trees Just
shooting in the early spring, whereas the
grass had not yet started from its winter
sleep, and food for the unhappy quadru-
peds there was none. AS early as the
morning Of the 4th Lee sent of half his
artillery toward the railroad 10 relieve
the famished horses. The artillery max
ing slow progress, thanks to the exhaus-
ton Of the horses, was captured by the
federais on the SUh, but not until Gen.
Lindsay Walker td buried many Of his
guns, which were Of course subsequently
exhumed seventy Of them at one haul
by their captors.
Ii is easy to see that the locOmOtion of
an army In such plight must have been
slow and slower. The retreat was con-
Quoted in the following fashion About
midnight the Confederates slipped out
of their hassy works, which they had
thrown up and held during the previous
day, and fell back until 10 or u O'Clock
the next morning. Then they halted,
and Immediately threw up earth works
for their protection during the day. 1t
was not long before the wolves we're
again on their heels, and from their
eartbworks the COnfsderates exchanged
a heavy FIRE with their pufsueFs through
out the day. Delayed with the necessity
of guarding an ammunition train from
thiTty-fve to forty miles in length, en-
feeSled BY hunger and sleeplessness, the
retreating ssI.y Wss only able to make
ten miles each night. Fhe delay enabled
the active Sheridan to get anea4 with
his cavalry, and to destroy the depOts of
provisions along the railroad between
Purkeville and Danville. Upon the 5th
many Of the mules and horses ceased to
struggle. Il became necessary to burn
hundreds Of WagSnE. At intervals the
enemy's cavalry dashed IA, Rld atruck
the inteTminable ammunition train here
and there, capturing and burning dozens
upo,a dozens Of wagons. Toward evening
of the 5th, aaG al day of the 9Th, hun
dreds of men dropped from exhaustion,
and thousands let fall their msssets iT5Fl
inability to carry them any farther
The scenes of the 5th, 9Th 7th and 9th,
were OF a nal3Lc which can be appre.
heDded in its vivid reality only by men
who are thoroughly familiar with the
narrowing details of war. Behind, and
on either Aank, IN ubiquitous, and in
craasingly adventurous cnemy-every
mud hOla 8pd every rise in the road
choked with blRzlng wagons-tbe air
filled with the deafening reports Of am
munition exploding, and shells bursting
When touched by the tlames-dense
columns Of smoke ascending to heaven
from tae burning and exploding vehi-
cles--exhausted RleD, wQrn out mules
and horses, lying down size by side,
gaunt famine glRrlDg hopel6ssly from
sunken lGck-luster eyes-dead mules,
dead horses, dead men everywhere,
death, many times welcomed as Gods
blessing ig disguise-who can wonder II
many hearts, tried in the fiery furnace
Of four years unpafaiied suffering and
never hitherto found wanting should
have quailed in presence of starvation,
fatigue, sleeplessness, misery-uninter-
mitted for five or six days, and cul-
minating in hOpelessness
Yet there were not wanting occasional
old pride of former memories, and re-
minded men that this hunted, famished
crowd was still the same army that had
won two Bull Runs, which had twice in
pursuit of q fatal policy trOdden its
enemy's soil, and had written Freder-
icksburg, Chaneellorsville, and a dozen
other glorious names upon its banners.
On the 9th a large body Of federal cav
airy, having got ahead of Lees army
and occupied Riee's station, was attacked
by some Confederate horse under Gen.
ROsser, who drove them of, capturing
ESQ prisoners. On the 7th, a heavy at
tack was made upon MahOne's division,
and the proves Of this active Confed-
crate general, so. frequently exhibited
during the last twelve months of the
war, was maintained to the end, mas
much ~ a federal brigade, getting en-
tangled in a ravine, was surrounded by
MahOne's H9ep, and literally disappeared.
On the evening Of the 7th, Gen. Gregg,
with six or seven thousand federal cav
alry, made desperate attempt to cap
ture all tie wagon trains. He was gal
lantly met by two thousand horsemen
under Fitzhugh Lee, and defeated.
Gregg bimself was captured.
Throughout these gloomy days, as an
offset to the countless Confederates cap
tured while fOraging, by the federals,
numerous federal prisoners were taken
bv the Confederates, ana become partic-
ipants Of hunger and suffering Of which
thew had no previous conception. / may
as well mention now that as the surren-
der became more inevitable, Gems. Fitz-
hugh Lee and Rosser, with about 1000
Confederate cavalry, tacitly determined
not TO be included in it, and started off
toward Lynehburg. On their road they
fell in with federal supply train, and
burned $50 wagons. The scanty and par