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or thirty years ago. That magazine, having learned in some manner that I was the last soldier of General R. E. Lee's army to leave Richmond, wrote to me for a narrative of the circumstances of my retreat.
Colonel Sulivane has written elsewhere:
Concerning that retreat from Richmond there has been a curious coincidence of record between Lieutenant-Colonel H. Kyd Douglas, of Hagerstown, Md., and myself. When not quite twenty-three we both left our homes in Maryland and enlisted as private soldiers in the Confederate Army in the spring of 1861. That fall we were both promoted to the staff as first lieutenants and aides-de-camp. In 1864 we were both in the Adjutant-General's Department with the rank of captain on the brigade staff. When our respective generals became major-generals in the early spring of 1865, we became entitled to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but application was not made for our commissions as such, because we were both recommended to be made brigadier-generals. The order for such commissions was issued by President Davis, but did not reach us in the general turmoil and confusion of the last days of Richmond. When General Ewell was ordered by General Lee, on April 2, to evacuate the north branch of the James and march on to Amelia Courthouse, he selected me to command his extreme rear guard and placed me in command for that purpose. When Lieut.—Gen. Gordon was directed by General Lee to cover his retreat on the south side of the James, that officer selected Kyd Douglas, in command of his brigade, for that purpose. And thus it happened that in that famous fighting army the same posts of honor and danger were entrusted to two young Marylanders, each twenty-six years of age. Each made good his retreat. One was the last to see the Capitol dome of Richmond, the other the last to see the spires of Petersburg. Finally we both surrendered within a week, and returned to our respective homes in June, 1865, after having served throughout the entire war in exactly parallel lines.
X. X.
