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[577]
whirlwind.
There was one bewildering moment in which the rebels fought on every hand, and then they threw down their arms and surrendered.
Ewell, in command of the force, Kershaw, Custis Lee, Semmes, Corse, De Foe, Barton—all generals, hundreds of inferior officers, and seven thousand men, were prisoners.
Fourteen guns fell into the hands of the cavalry, and the entire rear-guard of Lee's army was destroyed.
A few officers escaped on the backs of artillery horses, and some of the men broke their muskets before submitting.
A part of the wagon train had gone on during the battle, but Ewell's command surrendered on the open field.
Getty's division was pushed on for a mile or two, in support of Devin's troopers, sent to beat up the country further on; but it was now long after dark, and the remainder of Sheridan's command, including the Sixth corps, went into bivouac south of Sailor's creek.
The rebel generals were taken to Sheridan's Headquarters, and the gray and the blue were clustered about the camp-fire in almost equal numbers.
The prisoners shared the blankets as well as the suppers of their conquerors, but only an hour or two of sleep was allowed to either, for Sheridan started in pursuit of Lee before daylight, while the seven thousand captives were marched to Burksville junction.1
1 On the 7th of April, Grant was moving in person between the commands, and I was left to receive dispatches in his absence. During the day the prisoners arrived at Burksville, and the general officers were brought to Grant's Headquarters. It was a sorry company of tired and hungry and dejected men. Ewell at once asked to be allowed to write a letter to Grant, in which he protested that he had only obeyed his orders in setting fire to the warehouses in Richmond. I gave them some whiskey, and they warmed themselves at the campfire, and then they were locked up in a house near by, under the orders of the provost marshal, Colonel Sharpe.
New York Appleton 1885.
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