The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1911-06-28
CHAPTER XIII.
The Battle of Five Forks.


plan blighted. sank back among
the obscure hundreds Of thou
sands of the Army of the Poto-
mac. Secretary Stanton tried fer lit
tie while to make him the scapegoat
for the failure of the plot but as fuller
details came in, and 1t was clear the
fault lay rather with the secretary him
self for delaying the expedition until
spring rains began. OF course the IN
Vestigation was dropped. OH~R6turning
10 his regiment, Grigg was extremely
reticent as to where he had spent his
ten months leave of absence. His CON-
panions. however, and the soldiers under
him, soon discovered that his efficiency
Gs a cavalry officer was unimpaired.
Sheridan, who had a true generals
eye for man. began to send for Gr1gg
when he wanted some special bit OF
too, though GriGg seemed to care lit,
tie for that, and Cedar Creek beheld
him transferred TO battered remnant
Of regiment as its colonel
In blood, blaze, and fCry year
passed. Lee had been gradually maneu-
Vered and forced back from the fords Of
the Rapidan, which heretofore he had
successfully defended, and was shut up
in Richmond and Petersburg. The siege
began; the war drew to its inevitable
close. Al last came Five Forks.
All dRy long. southwest from Peters
burg. the old Virginia woods. that yes
1eTday mad Deen the nduIl OI CIIpiAuHhS
and hermit hawks, re-echoed to the
crash of guns. Sheridan's cavalry were
pressing PiCkett's infantry back into
their log breastworks on the White Oak
road, while behind Gravelly Run meet
ing house, a little white frame church
with cool, green shutters. the massed
infantry of the Federal Fifth Corps lay
waiting.
the bloody struggle went on. The Con-
fedcrates would not give back: the ad-
vanoing Federals would not be denied
A while the fight hung where deci-
planted the broken staff of a riddled
rag into the earth, and fought around
1t as though all of heaven and earth
lay in the keeping Of that stretch OF
messy fence or shallow gully. Then
came a rush of determined troopers
that swept them from it, though lives
vanished. snuffed out like candles, in the
unnoticed deed.
Phil Sheridan spurred his black horse
hither and thither to urge on the bat
tie One last desperate charge a Con-
federato colonel led at the head OF his
shattered brigade. The woods resounded
to the wild, screaming rebel yell. With
all their old-time impetuostty the mag
nifcent ragTuufiins rushed forward, their
gray coats looming black amid the dun
smoke.
Twice they halted. poured in close
volley, and came on again. They burst
out of the smoke cloud of their second
volley like whirlwind, broke the line
of carbineers at one place into dozen
detached fragments, and had almost re-
trieved the day.
Put a brazen trumpet sang clear and
shrill above the rafting fire. Hundreds
of tramnling hoofs on the matted leaves
of the forest sounded like the rush OF
waters Out of the woods on the left
rode a squadron Of norsemen who had
been moved i'll from the flank to fill the
"Hurrah. Hurrahr, roared from
blackened lips along the hard-pressed
Federal line Here's Grigg's boys COM
ingy HurrahI Hurrah!'
The waved their caps and cheered' Tor
they knew the squadron we'll It had
name for doing what it was sent TO 40
that wss why 1t was only squadron
though called a regiment.
The grizzIed- haired young offlcer
formed his men deliberately along the
outskirts of the woods, trotting his Dig
hay horse down the rank to align u.
Then he raised his saber, and they rode
forward behind him at leisure!y trol
up a gentle rise of grassy ground. -.
One might gee the men shifting ut
tie TO get a frmer seat in the saddle,
or drawing a shorter rein in the Ie1t
hand for what was 1usI an tbo notnd
sabers, Ri0emen were picking them
on. Here and there man pltchea
out Of the saddle, or a morse Went
down or reared up pd"lHS' go,
closed up and RODE on at TIC e'eoU'
Nearer and nearer they swung toward
the confused, smoke-spouting hank OF
the butternut mass which, viii N t Ine fnSh
Suddenly the grizzled young onicer,
turning in his saddle, called to his
men with a ringing voice. They spur
red their horses to EaiiOp pn D f6S 4a n5R
of the charging brigade. Under the I'M
pact the Confederate mass waVereo,
lost its momentum, stopped, ana tmen,
with rare discipline, rallied in hollow
circle. But their last chance CT victory
was gone:
In GraveIly Run meeting-house the
pulpit lamps shone over the tare' BUSY Isl
arms of surgeons, crimsoned TO the ell
how. and over the pale, dusty faces OF
the wounded. Little rills of blood ran
across the planks, and the thronging
feet Of those who brought the Gripping
stretchers left innumeraole prints on
the floor of the aisies.
There seemed no end Of stretchers;
they crowded one behind the other. The
surgeons grew weary with chopping
and cutting, and paused sometimes to
ease the overstrained muscles of their
arms. Pews, chairs, floor, the negroes,
gallery overhead, and the pulpit itself
were filled with those who waited their
turn at the tables or to be carried out
again. The churchyard was full of
them lying side by side. the dying
sometimes stretched upon the tombs Of
the dead. Federal and Confederate to-
gether. enmity forgotten IN common
misery thew waited for relief or knowl-
edge. Their forlorn and feverish voices
blended In one. eternal doleful appeal
for water-water-water.
Drawn by horror and pity, young
girl in a black gown came from a
fIeiehboring farmhouse, bringing a
heavy wooden pail that brimmed with
water. 1t was almost too heavy at
first for her strength, though 1t light
ened rapidly enough after she arrived.
She painted as she hurried along with
both small hands clasped round the
handle. Several times she came and
went Holding out her gourd TO thirsty
mouths that blessed her, she moved
about silent, white-lipped.
"God bless your they said to her.