Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 2.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

The brief campaign of 1865.

Foreign critics have censured Lee, who in February of this year was raised to the empty rank of General-in-Chief, because he did [300] not take the commissariat into his own hands and perfect measures for the better care of his men; but it is criticism based on imperfect knowledge, for, under General St. John, the commissariat at this time reached a creditable state of efficiency,¹ and these critics should not forget that the dictum of the foremost master of the art of war is, that “to command an army well, a general must think of nothing else.” Others have expressed surprise that a soldier of such nice foresight should have persisted for so long a time in endeavoring to maintain lines of such extent with a force constantly decreasing, ill fed and poorly clad; but surely they have failed to remember how often in war the sun of military genius has been obscured by the mists of politics.

Too late was evacuation determined upon, and on March 25th Gordon made his brilliant assault against the Federal right — a daring stroke, indeed, but the daring of wisdom and not the rashness of ignoble despair, for by this means alone could Lee hope to force Grant to draw in his left flank, which menaced the proposed line of retreat.

How Gordon's sudden blow was at first crowned with success; how his guides ran away and left his storming columns groping in ignorance;² how his supports failed to reach him; how, in short, a moody fortune defeated the accomplishment of the bold plan — how later, when, to use Lee's own phrase, “the line stretched so long as to break,” the great commander yet yielded not to Fate, but struck again and again with the old, fierce skill — all this, as well as the unsparing story of the ill-starred battle of Five Forks, will, I trust, be one day recounted to us by some comrade in memorable detail.

On the evening of April 1st, the battle of Five Forks was fought, and lost to the Confederates, and at dawn next morning, from Appomattox to Hatcher's Run, the Federal assaults began. Lee was forced back from the whole line covering the Boydton Plank Road, and Gibbon's division of Ord's corps boldly essayed to break through into the town. The way was barred by an open work of heavy profile, known as “Battery Gregg,” garrisoned by a mixed force [301] of infantry, chiefly North Carolinians of Lane's brigade, and a score of artillerymen, in all 250 men. Thrice Gibbon's columns, above 5,000 strong, surged against the devoted outpost — thrice they recoiled, but about noon a fourth assault was ordered, and the assailants, rushing in, front and rear, discovered with surprise and admiration that of these two hundred and fifty brave men, two hundred and twenty had been struck down, yet were the wounded loading and passing up their muskets to the thirty unhurt and invincible veterans, who, with no thought of surrender, still maintained a biting fire from the front. A splendid feat of arms, which taught prudence to the too eager enemy for the remainder of the day, for nearly six hundred of Gibbon's men lay dead and stricken in front of the work, and the most daring of the assailants recognized that an army of such metal would not easily yield the inner lines.³