April 2, 1865 Sunday
“I think it is absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight…” telegraphed Gen Lee at Petersburg to President Davis in Richmond. The Confederate capital of Richmond was doomed, and with it the whole Petersburg-Richmond front. At four-forty in the morning, Federals advanced under a heavy fog along the Petersburg lines. By 7 A.M. the drive was fully under way and was everywhere successful. Horatio Wright’s Sixth Corps dashed through the defenses to the South Side Railroad. Along Hatcher’s Run the Confederate lines vanished. West of Boydton Plank Road, while attempting to rally his men, Lieut Gen A.P. Hill (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._Hill ) was killed by a Federal straggler. Only two forts, Gregg and Baldwin, held out at noon on the western part of the Petersburg lines, and retreat was possible only by crossing the Appomattox River.
Lee determined to hold inner fortifications until night enabled him to withdraw. The delaying action at Forts Gregg and Baldwin did buy enough time for new lines to be formed. In a few places the Confederates stiffened in the afternoon but it was obvious they had to pull out. Orders were issued in midafternoon to evacuate Petersburg and for the defenders north of the James River to retreat through Richmond and join the remainder of the Army of Northern Virginia. The retreat soon began, with Amelia Court House, some forty miles west, the concentration point. Federals may have numbered over 63,000 engaged with 625 killed, 3189 wounded, and 326 missing for 4140 total. Possibly 18,500 Confederates were engaged; losses are unknown. During the day Lee told an officer, “This is a sad business, colonel. It has happened as I told them in Richmond it would happen. The line has been stretched until it is broken.”
For the Federals it had been a well-organized attack to reap the reward of Five Forks and the long months of siege and extending of the lines. Some called the Union charge the deathblow of Lee’s army, and a reporter wrote, “With that Sunday’s sun the hope of the Rebels set, never to rise again.”
Also in the Petersburg area there was an engagement at Sutherland’s Station on the South Side Railroad, skirmishing at Gravelly Ford on Hatcher’s Run and action at Scott’s Cross Roads.
In Richmond a messenger had entered St Paul’s Church as the minister gave the prayer for the President of the Confederate States. President Davis left quietly and went to his office to learn of the disaster to Lee’s army. Mrs Davis and the children had already left the capital. By 11 P.M. Davis and most of the Cabinet departed on a special train for Danville, Virginia. Scenes in Richmond were heart-rending as the news spread. Many wept openly and then prepared either to stay and face the enemy or to attempt evacuation. Rail stations were jammed and the streets filled with many of the local citizens and refugees crowding the city. Soon the unruly began looting. Inmates broke from the state prison and the Local Defense Brigade was unable to keep order. Government records were either sent away or burned. Cotton, tobacco, and military stores were set afire, and the fires soon raged out of control; others were set by looters. Shells from the arsenals roared upward as the main section of Richmond became a great inferno. Many business houses, hotels, and residences, as well as factories and warehouses, were destroyed. In the James River Confederate gunboats exploded, shaking the city anew. After four years and many threats, Richmond at last was falling. On the train going into the night toward Danville, “Silence reigned over the fugitives.” But the Confederate government still existed in transit; the war was not quite over.
At Selma, Alabama some 12,000 Federal troops of James Harrison Wilson had reached near the city after besting Forrest’s men in various small engagements for several days. Forrest attempted to bring his about 7000 to 8000 men into Selma, but the investment by Wilson prevented it. Department commander Richard Taylor barely escaped as he left to gather men for Forrest. Near evening Wilson’s men attacked the thinly held works of Selma. The charge was completely successful and confusion reigned. Forrest and a few of his officers and men escaped. The Federals captured 2700 prisoners, about 40 guns, large stores of supplies, plus the important manufacturing center of Selma. The Union victors, with light casualties, now turned toward Montgomery, Alabama. At last Forrest, the invincible, had been beaten, but assuredly his force was no longer what it had been in numbers or in spirit.
On the Mobile front, the siege of Fort Blakely began, while that of Spanish Fort continued. It was only a question of time before overwhelming Federal numbers would force the capitulation of Mobile itself. But by now it was too late for the campaign to be of much strategic importance.
Elsewhere, skirmishing broke out near Goldsborough, North Carolina and Van Buren and Hickory Station, Arkansas. Two Union expeditions in Louisiana lasted several days, one from Thibodeaux, Bayou City, and Brashear City to Lake Verret and The Park, and the other from The Hermitage to French Settlement. Charles Griffin, USA, is appointed to Major General. Major General Joseph A. Mower (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Mower ), USA, assumes command of the Federal 20th Army Corps.
President Lincoln went to the front at Petersburg and saw some of the fighting from a distance, meanwhile keeping Washington informed as to the progress of Grant’s armies. At eight-fifteen in the evening he telegraphed Grant, “Allow me to tender to you, and all with you, the nations grateful thanks for this additional, and magnificent success.”