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VIII.
the end of the War
[As the Army of the Potomac was now settling down to winter quarters before
Petersburg,
Meade chaffingly remarked to
Lyman one day toward the end of December: “I have a Christmas present for
Mrs. Lyman--a certain worthless officer whom I shall send home to her.”
And that evening he gave him a 300-day leave, with the understanding that
Lyman was to return with the opening of the active campaign in the spring.
Toward the end of February,
Lyman became restless, and fearing that operations might start in his absence, turned up at Headquarters on March 1.
On going into dinner, he was kindly greeted by
General Meade, who, poor man, although he had just come back from burying his son, managed to say playfully that he would have Lyman court-martialed for returning without orders.
The
Appomattox campaign opened in the spring, with the forces under
Grant numbering 113,000, while those under
Lee were only 49,000.
1 The resources of the
North were unimpaired, those of the
South were rapidly vanishing.
On March 25,
Lee made an energetic but unsuccessful sortie.
On April 1,
Sheridan won a brilliant victory at
Five Forks.
Grant followed this up by attacking all along the line the next day. The result of the engagement was that the Confederate Army was cut in halves, and
Grant established himself between the two parts.