National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-07-23
RICHMOND'S Siege.
Jo1DENTs IN THE TERRIBLE
LAST DAYS.

'.X ltAOA1ulVID W bAbuhs
Jo1DnNTs IN THE TERRIBLE
LAST DAYS.
\ ne Interior of the Confederate Capital
While Waiting for the End-How Lee
Blockade.
AS the federal anaconda lin the words
Gen. Scott, who first outlined the
4 'mpaign TO suppress the efforts Of the
= puthern states) during the last six or
ght months of the life of the confed-
.acy was gradually tightening its coils
,out Richmond and Petersburg, the
BY points of the confederacy, the situa-
on was full of dramatic incident and of
artling surprises, to the confederates,
least; but to none did these come
ONE more wildly than to those who,
ehind the fighting line where husbands,
rothers, sons, and relatives stood up
rmly in battle array, breathlessly
& 'otched the rapid course of events. Tile
onfederates were fighting under the
lew, and might say, under the very
+ yes Of their mothers. their sisters,
1eir sweethearts, and their wives. Is
Z wonderful, considering also that
hey were defending the capital of the
onfederacy-when that was gone, all
ms gone-is IL wonderful, 1 say, that
hey fought like tigersY
a. The history of the defense Of Rich
8oond and Petersburg during the final
~ avs of Gen. Grants assault has never
,eep wr ten; but when it is fairly writ
en- ii will reveal an amount of heroism
nj endurance OH the part of soldiers,
n civilians, aud women and children "A
ecord of which the American people
nay we'll be proud / was there and /
Jaw il oil, and nothing but the hide.
bound limits of newspaper article de-
ers me from writing nll l saw and my
Impressions as to the facts ut the time of
Occurrence.
THE LAST DAYS BEFORE RICHMOND.
To recur to the last days before Rich
mond. There was absolutely nothing
| upon which to build hope of future
success, and yet the majority of the peo-
1 pie and the troops either could not or
tually up. There was an unbounded
faith in thu ability and strategical re-
sources of Gen. Lee, and despite the fact
that the already inadequate numbers of
the army of northern Virginia were be-
ing enormously depleted by sickness and
desertion, and that there were no re-
cruits to fill up the attenuated ranks, the
confederates fatuously believed that at
the critical moment Lee, by some rapid
massing of his troops, would, in one
grand assault. shatter the federal lines
before the beleaguered cities and in fact,
such desperate attempt was afterwards
actually made in front of Petersburg
under the leadership of Gen, John B.
Gordon, and which signally failed.
HOPE OF EUROPEAN HELP.
Again, the rumor was kept circulating,
no doubt by the authorities, that Eng
land and France we're about to unite in
raising the blockade, as neither of these
powers was willing that the confederacy
should be utterly crushed. And again il
was said that the able-bodied slaves were
to be organized, differed by whites, and
placed behind the Notifications, thus re-
leasing the white troops. who would act
vigorously on the offensive, There were
q thousand and one wild rumors afioat.
which were eagerly accepted, for we
easily believe that which we wish to be-
lieve.
Meantime Gen. Grant was slowly but
surely removing the obstacles and ham,
mering down the barriers which opposed
his victorious advance.
The writer at that time was an officer
of the "Irish battalion" list Virginia bat
talon of infantry. and had exceptional
opportunity to note all that was going on
behind the lines ut Richmond and Peters
burg in the closing days of the war. The
battalion had done good service in the
valley under jackson and at Cedar Noun
tain, after which. as the men were regu-
lars, not volunteers, it was detached by
Gen. Lee to net as the general provost
guard of the army. When Gen. Grant
sat down before Petersburg the battalion
was moved to that city for provost duty.
The writer's company (E) was few days
thereafter ordered to proceed to camp at
Halfway station on the Richmond and
Petersburg road, with the view that its
three lieutenants should act rs officers of
the train guards. detailed from the com.
pany, between the two cities. This duty
from the beginning was laborious and re-
sponsible.
THE SIEGE BEGUN.
When the siege began the trains
started from the depot near PocahontaS
bridge over the Appomattox, but one
morning before daylight, rs the train
was slowly pulling out of the depot,
with the usual pr, caution of lights all
extinguished, battery, which, no doubt
had been planted and trained for this
object the evening before, blazed away
ON the heights, and before the train
could get under full Roadway several
cars were almost knocked to pieces and
some of the guards and passengers
wounded by the flying splinters. Fortu-
nately, and might say almost miracu-
lously, no one was MORALLY wounded or
killed. II is needless to state that the
trains were run no more from this depot :,
but depot was established about two
miles ont of town under the shelter of
the hills.
II was the order at this time that the
passes signed by major generals, &C.,
should be respected by the train officers,
and, as consequence, the two cities
were thronged with officers and men
whose presence was needed on the lines,
and the provost guards had their hands
full in quelliug drunken brawls. Any
quantity of apple brandy could be OBJ
tanned at So the wine glassful, and in
quality for producing craziness it was
fully equal to Jersey lightning. Rich
mond, in particular, was filled with
Jews, blockade runners, exempts, and
human sharks of every description, oil
engaged in struggle of preying on the
government, the troops, and, for that
matter, on each other.