Stacking Arms: The Cockade City Unravels
In the spring of 1865, U.S. Grant literally stretched the Army of Northern Virginia to its breaking point. His offensive movements in late March forced Robert E. Lee, entrenched around the city of Petersburg, to detach troops from elsewhere along the line to bolster his threatened right. Federal forces identified several chosen points of attack and sprung into action on April 2. Rapid success against fortifications guarding Boydton Plank Road meant the rebels could not long remain, a fact known to every man in uniform. By mid-morning, Lee issued orders to collect the dissected elements of his forces at Amelia Court House, over a day’s march westward.
While Lee pondered the logistics of this movement, a civilian living across from his headquarters at Edge Hill paid him a visit. “General, do you think the reinforcements will be here from Richmond in time to restore the lines?” asked the concerned citizen. “No sir” was the reply. “Then will you have to give us up?” “Yes, sir, give my kind regards to Mrs. [Nottingham] and the little girls.”[1]
Marse Robert resumed his designs, continuing until the last moment. Union shells rained down that afternoon as five VI Corps brigades amassed in front of the house. His telegraph operator, carrying the machine with him, barely evaded capture.[2] Lee rode toward the city and its interior defenses on Traveler, uttering an understatement, “This is a bad business.”[3]
Obligated to continue at a different house, he finalized his plans, calling for a departure at 8:00 p.m., bringing along as many hospital workers as possible. Despite the sounds of battle, most Petersburgers were not made sure of the evacuation until that evening when they saw the troops moving through the city. Turmoil ensued as Lee withdrew the bulk of his forces to the north across the Appomattox River. Looters seized unguarded food as small blazes ignited to keep supplies out of Federal hands erupted into infernos. Still, this destruction paled in comparison to that of Richmond’s.[4]
That night, members of the town council gathered to compose a message of surrender, which they copied and distributed among themselves. They traveled in small groups along all roads leading out of the city, hoping to tender its resignation as soon as possible to stop potential retribution. The text read, “General: The city of Petersburg having been evacuated by the Confederate troops, we, a committee authorized by the common council, do hereby surrender the city to the U.S. forces, with a request for the protection of the persons and property of its inhabitants.”[5]
Grant remained unsure of the status of the Confederate defenders. He ordered two of his corps commanders to prepare all the artillery for a 5 a.m. barrage upon the enemy works, followed by an attack if practicable. Yet as time passed it seemed more and more likely that the rebels had withdrawn.
In the early morning, several Union units cautiously probed ahead. The Second Michigan Infantry and First Michigan Sharpshooters began their trek at 3:10 a.m. and rejoiced upon encountering empty defenses. By 4:00 a.m., they entered Petersburg. Nearing the courthouse, they were met by members of the council flying a flag of truce. But the Michigander major in charge insisted upon replacing the flag atop the municipal building first. At 4:28 a.m., the banner of the First Michigan Sharpshooters flew high above the courthouse. It was the first American flag flown there in nearly four years. True to his word, Maj. Clement A. Lounsberry immediately accepted the surrender.[6]
Petersburg’s mayor still wandered along another road and found himself caught up in a massive body of blue-coated troops. From three directions, soldiers poured into Petersburg, finding the streets empty apart from its African-American population. Infantrymen worked alongside these jubilant residents to quench fires and capture remaining rebels. Others confiscated guns from civilians and took part in scattered pillaging of storehouses. Most civilians sheltered from the commotion in fear of their new occupiers.[7]
At 11:00 a.m., President Abraham Lincoln rode into town to confer with Grant at a private home. In a 90-minute conversation on the porch of Thomas Wallace’s house, Lincoln outlined his vision of offering southern states a merciful return to the Union. When the two bid each other farewell, many questions remained as to the termination of hostilities and what reconciliation would look like. But Grant never learned Lincoln’s opinions on the enduring issues. This was the last meeting for the two great heroes of the Union war effort.[8]
The following day, Maj. Gen. George Hartsuff assumed command of the city. He allowed the municipal government to maintain their obligations, goaded businesses to reopen, and encouraged residents to continue with their normal lives. Hartsuff restricted the number of Federal soldiers in the city and dispensed rations to the needy. One British sightseer remarked on April 5th, “The few inhabitants spoken to were loud in their praise of the way the Federal troops had behaved.”[9] The relative peace in the city continued through the vaunted surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9. For the citizens of Petersburg, 292 days of siege terminated with as near a return as they could hope to status quo antebellum.
[1] Noah Andre Trudeau, Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April-June 1865 (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994), 61.
[2] Walter Herron Taylor and John Hampden Chamberlayne, Four Years with General Lee (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1877), 150.
[3] A. Wilson Greene, Breaking the Backbone of the Rebellion: The Final Battles of the Petersburg Campaign (Mason City, IA: Savas Publishing Company, 2000), 421-426
[4] A. Wilson Greene, Civil War Petersburg (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2006), 248-249.
[5] Greene, Civil War Petersburg 252-253.
[6] Greene, Civil War Petersburg 251-253.
[7] Greene, Civil War Petersburg 253-259.
[8] Greene, Civil War Petersburg 258-260.
[9] Greene, Civil War Petersburg 261-263.
Good article. It is interesting that Michiganders were the first to fly the American flag in the courthouse and how General Hartsuff encouraged Petersburg town folk to resume a sense of normalcy so soon after the battle.
“Greatest…” best… “First…” worst… “Last meeting of the two great heroes of the War…” One has to watch out for superlatives, and when used, make certain they are accurate. In this instance, the LAST meeting between President Lincoln and Lieutenant General Grant was on Friday 14 April 1865 during a session of Lincoln’s cabinet. President Lincoln was fatally shot later that evening.