The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-07

l the second corps on the lcIt, tHe olAlh l corps on the right. Of course Sheridan was there in fun spirits. But when l they got to about four miles of Amelia Court House they found the property had vanished Lee had not been con- l suited about the transfer and naturally l took no part looking to it. During the night his army had been marched out ! of their works and rapidly pushed for ward toward Lynchburg, intending to l reach the place by the vantage which an all nights march would give to it. l They were rapid marchers and there 1 fore had good reason for their expecta- ton. Provisions were ordered from Lynchburg to meet them at Appomat- tox station. It was the rear guard that the advance of the Army of the Poto-
 mac had come up with four miles from
 where they intended to meet with them. Immediately the several corps were turned in the same direction. And now
 began the historic race. It was really
 the first time the two armies had tried 1t. The Second corps had had race with a part of the same army at Mine Run and had come in ahead as by neck If it had not done so there would
 have been no Second corps in the race
 on that Sixth day of April Now would the rebel army be able to accomplish that feat for themselves? At 1t both went. Along on parallel lines they
 stretched themselves out neck and neck.
 Sometimes they could see each other.
 They did not stop. There was no time
 for complaints. One army was trying
 to escape. The other by Grants order
 was trying to head it off. For that req
 son when the rear guard attacked Lee
 kept right on. The rear must look out
 for itself. Some part of the army must,
 If possible, get away But that rear
 had hard time of it. Again and again
 the Union force would strike it. Then
 the artillery would be unlimbered, one
 shot made to the rear, then limbered up
 again and the retreat resumed. They
 were days of great anxiety to one and
 of fierce exultation to the other. It was
 what they had been fighting for for
 four years. There was no sense of
 weariness, no thought of resting. It
 seemed that every man of the army had
 dronk deep of the spirit of the fiery
 Sheridan, whose laconic command was
 Keep them on the jump" There was
 sound of battle all day long. Prisoners
 kept coming in and they were received
 with good natured bantering or with
 grim smiles. possibly only a wink. But
 that spoke volumes. But it must not
 be supposed that the rebels, though on
 retreat, were demoralized. veteran
 of the army of Lee said to me at that
 very time, If you northern soldiers get
 nIo st ,ol1 %ka
 day, while if we are whipped we get
 discouraged. There was nothing of
 that on that march. Though they knew
 there was no hope in the fight; that so
 far everything they had, with awful
 sacrifices, struggled for, had been lost,
 they were as steady in the sharp en-
 counters on that day, with their foes
 flushed with victory, as they had been in the best days of their wonderful his
 tory. There was no rout if there was a
 retreat. They marched in order and fought with steadiness. The control of
 their commanders over them was per feet to the last And if Lee, instead of surrendering, had called upon them for one supreme effort. they would, with the old rebel yell, have precipitated them selves on their assailants., Let us give all honor both to wearers of gray and blue. It Is the truth and only makes the final victory the more brilliant. We are more susceptible to men who on the side of the Union write in the interest of
 the enemy. Thus Swinton, the author of the Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac says that Lees army, when at Amelia Court House. was about twenty thousand men. That Is false hood written to take with the south,
 whom he does not offend. There were six or nine thousand lost to them on this day alone and three days after Grant paroled over twenty-eight thou
 sand more, besides the stragglers and deserters in the interval of the two dates. Lees army at Amelia Court House must have been not far from for
 ty thousand men. A man Is justified In respecting the men whose valor so of ten and so long beat off every attempt to throw them down; and he is also jus tif1ed in abhoring false friend as he did a Simon pure. unadulterated, ac- cursed copperhead when the life of the nation was at stake. But the sixth day of April was to be more Hateful than by the desultory fighting already set forth During the afternoon the enemy who had been so hard pressed that every thing not needed in the march, tents, baggage, limbers, &c., strewed the line of retreat, made stand at Sailor Creek, a small stream entering into the Appomattox river. The line of attack was soon formed and ordered. Through the creek our men went with a rush that announced victory In ad- vance; up the steep and slippery bank they charged in the face of galling fire, broke the rebel line at every point it struck, taking seven thousand pris- oners six general officers, Lieutenant l General Ewell among the number, with all the artillery, colors, stand of arms, &c. that belonged to such force. I re- call no day so disastrous in the record | of that army, But most gallant deed | done on that day should also be noticed | here. Early In the morning General | Ord, who had been directed to guard all | the roads between Burksville Junction l and High Bridge, sent Colonel Wash | burn, of the Fifth Massachusetts and | two small infantry regiments amount | ing to five hundred men, to destroy | High Bridge, which crossed the Appo- | mattox few miles from Farmvile 1 Later in the day, learning that Lees