Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-04-23
LEES SURRENDER.
An Entertaining Account of the Cap
ture of the Confederate Forces
at AppOmatt0x Court House.

The sad news from the great sufiere
in New York on this the anniversary o
Lees surrender calls to mind the event
full scenes of this day twenty years agC
when General Grant was the great cen
trail figure. and, having had the honor o
serving in the First West Virginia Cav
airy, a regiment whose splendid reeor'
is second to none, thought word from
an eye witness would interest your read
ers. revive the recollectiODs of my oil
comrades in arms, and besides correc
some errors and misstatements nov
afioat in regard to that event. If yol
will permit the trespass l will tell yol
in part what l saw and heard that da,
and the day Ewell's Corps was capture'
at Sailors Greek, three days prior to tn
surrender.
On the morning of April 6, 1866, Sher
mans Cavalry Corps moved out very
early in pursuit of Lee. As the mist'
cleared away we could see the white
covers of the eaemy's wagon train NOV
ing on ridge two or three miles away
to our right. About 8 o'clock Custer.
Division lin 'front.', to which the Firsi
West Virginia Cavalry belonged, charged
across Little Sailors Greek, and captured
IS pieces of artillery and about two miles
of wagon train (burning the latter aHd
bringing off the fermer) Ewells Corps
coming up, we had all we could do dur
ing the day, but held our position on the
same side of Little Sailors Greek with
the enemy.
.One division of EwelIs Corps was
confronting us, and they quickly con-
structed rail works, while the other two
divisions lying along Big Sailors creek
awaited the attack of the Sixth corps,
then coming up on another road. About
4 o'clock p. M, the Sixth arrived, and as
they began to skirmish sharply along
Big Sailors creek, Gen. Custer, who was
sitting on his horse about 100 feet to the
right and front of the First West Vir-
ginia Cavalry Cthe right of our line,)
turned in his saddle, and taking off his
broad brim hat and swinging it above
his head, shouted: Forward that Virr
ginia Regiment and forward went that
grand third cavalry division, and the
first men to cross the rebel rail works
was the First West Virginia Cavalry,
and in thirty minutes that entire divis>
ion, with Gen. Ewell and staff, were
captured, and we being thus in the rear
of his other two divisions then hotly en-
gagged with the Sixth corps. Gen. Ewell
was compelled to surrender his whole
corps $1,000 men,
The next morning, April I, we started
quite early on brisk march, swinging
away to the south and west, in order to
avoid the enemy until We hadAFeached
his extreme advance. We saw no ene-
my during the 7th, nor until late in the
evening of the Sth. At about AZ p. NJ,
Gen. Custer gave the order ''trot march,
and away we went for five or six miles
about as fast as horse flesh coHld carry
us. Suddenly we came upon two large
trains of Lees army supplies standing at
Appomattox Station, about two miles
southwest of the Court House, with en-
gines attached, and putting under full
steam, but their wheels never turned
again for the Contederacy. A detail
quickly cared for them, but Clusters dir
vision did not halt, but pressed on to-
wards Lees trains and artillery, which
were then moving westward on the
pike, about three quarters of
mile north of the railroad, and were
guarded by brigade of infantry, with a
battery of six guns. About One-fourth
of mile north of the station, Clusters
division with my regiment in advance,
met with terrific volley from the rebels
posted III dense woods. 1t was now
dark, and we could only tell the presence
of an enemy by the flash of his gun or
the blaze of his artillery, but slowly and
steadily the Virginia Brigade, composed
of the 1st, I'd and Sd West Virginia and
the 1st New York Lincoln Cavalry
pushed back the stubborn foe through
the thick forest. Gen. Custer was every
where on that line, shouting, forward,
mel forward don't tet the Second Dir
vision take that artillery At one time
he thought we would fail. We were
within one hundred feet Of the guns, and
they were firing canister. We stopped
a few moments. Custer rode along our
regiment and cried out again, For ward,
nrenl Keep up the frel Don't let the
Second Division take that artillery
And under that inspiration the waYer+
ing line moved on, driving the enemy,
taking the guns, and reaching the pike
about II O'clock we found it so blockaded
with the abandoned artillery and wagons
that it was difficult to move along among
them.
just as we reached the train our noble
Major 5. B. Howe, as brave a man as
ever walked the earth, was killed. We
laid him to rest in a shallow grave at
the east end of the little frame church at
Station on the early morn
ing of the day that was to mark forever
slave holders wicked rebellion.
"Slowly and sadly we laid him down
From the field of his fame fresh and
gory."
By this nights battle we had captured
two immense railway trains of Lees
supplies, twenty-five pieces of his artil
lery and the great mass of his wagon
supply trains, and planted our column