Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-04-11
THEFINAL CAMPAIGN
3. w. VAN DER WEIR particle
PATED IN TERRIBLE FIGHTING
BEFORE SURRENDER.
Closing Campaign Of Great Civil War
j ested Men to Limits Of Human En-.
durance-Mr. Van Der Veer Has
Confederate Jacket,

Forty years ago tomorrow General
Robert p. Lee, the idol of the confed-
eracy gave up his hopeless struggle
and surrendered to General Grant at
Appomattox court house." Said B. w.
Van der Veer, today. Had the flag Of
truce reached our lines a half hour
later on that day my battery would
have been at the front and might
have seen that surrender"
Mr.. Van der Veer was but II years
and 6 months old when he enlisted in
the One Hundred Twentieth New York
later he was transferred from his reg
iment to fill out Battery of the United
States artillery. 1t was while mem
Der of this battery that he passed
through the desperate days from March
25 to April 8, 1866, when General Lee
surrounded on all sides, his rations
gone and his men worn to the limits
Of human endurance by the relentless
pursuit Of General Grant and the
union armies, submitted to the inevi-
table and ended for all times the
hopes Of the confederacy.
Those were terrible days immedi-
ately preceding the surrender. 1 can
hardly see now how we stood it, said
Mr.. Van der Veer. But we were all
trained soldiers and we knew how to
take care Of ourselves, but even then
the strain was something awful.
The Last Campaign.
1.-THE beginning of the end was
really March rs when General Gordon
made a sudden and unexpected charge
and captured one of our forts. He was
driven back later with terrific losses.
It was on the night of April 2, fol-
lowing this that Lee evacuated Peters
burg. Our advance was planned for
the morning of April 8. Our lines in
front of Petersburg were extremely
close SO that our pickets were con-
stantly firing back and forth. The con-
federates had dubbed the fort on our
side as Fort He'll. We in turn called
their. Fort Malone, Fort Damnation.'
"On the morning of April our bat
terry fired few shots at the confed-
crates and then waited for a reply.
None came. We fred few more
shots and waited again. Then our
picket and skirmish lines were then
ordered to advance. They lined up and
started for the other side almost on a
run. Not a shot was fired as they ad-
vanced. The suspense as they con-
tinued to approach the confederate
fort became so great that we all sim
ply stood and stared expecting every
instant to hear the batteries ring out
and to See our men moved down in a
terrible slaughter.
ION they went, faster and faster I'M
til they reached the protecting works
Of the fort. They tore these aside and
made for the walls. The first men
rose over the walls and peered down
on the. other side, then there arose a
yell, the like of which was never heard
before.
Incessant Pursuit.
From that hour on until the last
fatal hour on April 9, when the flag
OF truce came to our lines the pursuit
never stopped for an instant and the
fighting was incessant. We captured
thousands of prisoners. Of the $4,000
which General Lee had when he left
Petersburg, he had but $4,000 when
he surrendered. Words simply cannot
describe the days preceding that sur
render. The toiling and the exertions
to which we were subjected seems
more than any human could endure.
Zone of the most desperate encoun-
tiers of the last days took place on
the night Of April at Sailors Creek
where we captured between 800 and
400 wagon loads of rations and sup
plies. / have confederate jacket at
my home which took out of wagon
that night and which prize very
highly.
AS soon as Lee surrendered al
great cheer arose but General Grant
stopped that. He also ordered 2S,OOOl
rations issued to the confederates at