On the 8th,
General Lee, with the remainder of the army, resumed his march towards
Lynchburg and reached Appomattox Courthouse; but during the evening of that day
Sheridan, supported by
Ord, cut across his line of march just beyond the courthouse, and in doing so, cut off from the rest of the army the artillery of
A. P. Hill's corps, under the command of
Brigadier-General R. Lindsay Walker, and the artillery of
R. H. Anderson's corps, under the command of
Colonel H. P. Jones.
Sheridan evidently did not understand the situation, for this
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artillery—about one-half the artillery of
Lee's army, without any infantry or cavalry with it—would have fallen an easy prey to his ambitious cavalry.
After spending nearly the whole night of the 8th in marching around
Sheridan, in the attempt to reunite the army, when it was light, finding that was impossible,
Jones' artillery moved on to
Lynchburg and reported to
General L. L. Lomax, in command there, and
Walker buried his guns near an old church and disbanded his command.
On the 9th
General Lee ordered
Gordon and
Fitz Lee to drive
Sheridan away, that the army might resume its march, which they did very promptly, but found that
Ord was there also and further efforts must be vain.
The surrender of the army was then arranged for and the officers and men paroled.
This ended the career of the Army of Northern Virginia, and the downfall of the
Confederate States quickly followed.
There were paroled 28,231 officers and men. But of that number only about 11,000 bearing arms, the rest, in the main, belonged to the class of ‘Impedimenta.’
