The Confederate lines broken.
Fall of A. P. Hill.
Before it was light on the morning of the 2d of April,
Parke broke through the line near the
Appomattox, but was soon driven back at that point.
Later he broke through the line near the
Plank Road, and after a severe engagement, lasting throughout the day, in which every available man of
Gordon's and
A. P. Hill's command were used to re-establish the line,
Parke, reinforced by the seserves from
City Point and troops from
Wright and
Ord, succeeded in holding on to a small part of the works captured in the morning.
In this engagement the brilliant corps commander,
General A. P. Hill, was killed, who, during the campaign of ‘64, commanded the right wing of
Lee's army and was so successful in defeating all of
Grant's efforts.
Wright was resisted by but few troops in his assaults upon the rest of the line, and soon swept the line until he connected with
Ord, who, likewise meeting with but little resistance, had passed through the lines, faced his army towards
Petersburg, and was advancing towards the inner line of redoubts immediately surrounding the city.
Humphreys, as soon as he could get his corps together (
Miles' division having been ordered by
Sheridan to him), captured all the works around Burgess' Mill, as the
[
176]
few troops holding them were in the act of being withdrawn, after
Ord had gone in between them and
Petersburg, and swept around to Sutherland Depot, on the Southside Railroad.
Ord during the evening succeeded in capturing several redoubts to the northwest of the city, when, at last,
Longstreet arrived with his two divisions and held a line protecting the city in that direction until night closed the engagement.
