The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-10-25
The Last struggle.

! corps, terribly shattered and WITHOUT Its
commander, crossed the river first, and
followed, having orders from General
Lee to cover the retreat. We spent the
night in marching, and early the next
morning the enemy rushed upon Us. We
had to turn and beat them back. Then
began the most heroic and desperate
struggle ever sustained by troops
| worn and exhausted force of hardly 1000
men. with q vast and victorious army,
| fresh and strong, pressing upon our
heels. We turned upon every hill top to
meet them and give our wagon trains and
| artillery time to get ahead. Instantly
| they would strike us. and we invariably
repulsed them. They never broke
| through my dauntless heroes, but after
we had fought for an hour or two we
would find huge masses of men pressing
down our TANKS, and to keep from being
surrounded I had to withdraw my men.
We always retreated in good order,
slough always under fire, or repeI a rush,
and then stagger on to the next hill top
or vantage ground, where . new fight
would be made. And so on through the
entire day At night my men had no
rest. We marched through the night IN
order to get little respite from fighting.
ALI night long would see my poor fel-
lows hobbIing along, prying wagons or
artillery out of the mud, and supple
menting the work of our broken-down
horses. At dawn, though, they would be
in line ready for battle, and they would
| fight with the steadiness and valor of the
old guard.
This lasted until the night Of the 7th Of
April. The retreat of Lees army was lit
up with the fire and flash of battle, in
which my brave men moved about like
demigods for five days and nights. Then
we were sent to the front for rest, and
Longstreet was ordered to cover the re-
treating army On the evening of the
| 8th, when / had reached the front, my
| scout, George, brought me two men in
Confederate uniform, who, he said, he
believed belonged to the enemy, as he
had seen them counting our men as they
| fled past. had the men brought to my
campfire and examined them. They
made most plausible defense. but
George was positive they were spies, and
I ordered them searched He failed to
find anything, when ordered him to ex-
anime their boots. In the bottom of one
of the boots I found an order from Gen
eraI Grant to General Ord, telling him to
move hv forced ,narches toward I,vnch-
bnro and emf off General Lees retreat
The men then confessed that tbev we're
sJesse's, and belonged to General Sheri-
dan They stated that they knew that
the penalty of their course was death,
but asked that should not kill them, as
the war could last only a few days
longer, anyhow. I kept them prisoners,
! dan aftar tba surrender al onca
sent the Information to General Lee. and
. short time afterward received orders "a
oo "a his beadauarters That NIGHT was
So1S Iaa.s iast sc,,,,s;, ,f 80, T,,a-s
was was rresent ~ r de General Lee General Fitz-
bugb I.ee as the head of the .,avalrv and
Pendlaton as cb;af of art;llery and NV
salf General Tongstraat Was fb;nk
too busily ENGAGED To- attend. General
% tba,, ;I;ts5 +, ~ tb.a ,a,.~as,,o,,,5
ence ~ he had had with General Grant that
day and asked onr onin;,n Of the s;tna-
t;on If IT, seemed @ tbat Surrender r Was NAV.
;tol,ia Tic onlv chanca of asca,,.s xvaa
that / could cut way for the army
tbroroh tba l;ras in front az me Cen
aral lee asked me- If I could 40 this. r
/ renl;ed that I did not know what forces
|
had not arriyed-as we thoucht then he
had not-with his heavy masses Of in
| fantrv conld emf throuch- ouaran-
teed that nv men wouId cnt ! vav
thronob all the cavalry that eonld he
massed in front Of them. The eounc;l
i finally dissolved with the undersfandino
that the army should be surrendered if /
discovered the next morninr. after feel.
inc the enemy,s line. That The infantry
had arrived in such force that / could moi
cut INV way through.
NV men were drawn mn in the little
town of Appomattox that night. I still
had about 4 900 men under me. as the
army had been divided into two com
mands and given to General I,oncstree
and myself. Early on the morning O
, the 9th prepared for the assault upo,
the enemies line and began thelast fight
ing done in Virginia. NV men rushel
! forward gameIy and broke the line of III,
enemy and captured two pieces of artil
i lery. / was still unable to tell what
, | was fighting. I did not know whether
: was striking infantry or dismounted cav
alry. / only knew that nv men wer
/ driving them baclr and ,rara e,att;,,e, En-,
ther and further tbrough Jnst then
+ had a message from General Lee. tellin
n,a Acc f trrca mo-. =, -.
5 inc Il to NV d;seret;on a. as to what so,,rs ,urs
: to pursue. NV men we're still nnsb;n
then wavo sant | ~ on.a s.l1 :. haar pust. III,
{ General onoutraat faal;ns, , a. ,,t - m NJ
i marching toward me ya 1n;gbt ,,lb st;lI m :,
e throuoh and carry the aTny forvard
!. learned that he was aI,o,,t awe ,,,;las "a
v;.h be r,sn fana5 ;,,st sin ~ ..laos 81. :.
= mine f;ebt;ng for he j;fe 1l.v .I,,,s -. -.
# tha csnse ras homeless Tba f,,rti,ar -
. 81 nc d,,,.a az a. E, -. -
it dr;fted anart and tba more s, ernosa5 .saa1 :
q left o,,r eyo, t,o;,,s a,,J
f - was narIaJ bstwaar ne Enass !" ~ ~
q a;tbar Of ne b,.oLa o,,l,. o,,a,,oJ *. -. :.
4 tha 1.;Sa~ coz ,s,a;,., sl..t AZ ~ ~, =
a-o,a sro,,,5 90, Ip,,al, -. s.as sl.e s1 :.
a thar thera ro,1d hasa usa hoe,, see as, ~
4 tLo.asasa 5ata.r.;aas s -. Den as ~ -
: = .usaie assIl sa1IaI l,iisu - " ssna nag
ealisu Iaior n1nser, OF m
+ s.au, " nae ana oiu MN tnas sanss
, mn - eaery q nag VI truce iof"aro.
iep1s p.m !,
= ue1eTal, nave no nag OF truce;
= s.GanaaI n.i 70 - Ges @ one az no lepileu. n
:. nave uo mag VI tluoe
our m oonnnaa1 .s .sr,
= Inen sala 1; ihen get your nam
- - kercn,si, ,s put II on SUCK, and go 10
: = "..q. .n
= .sIlln nase NJ nanuAerciliei ale erenerai.
= iaen oorro" one ana go Iorwai
. Will ID.