Posted on Apr 2, 2016
Union forces capture Petersburg line - Apr 02, 1865 - HISTORY.com
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On this day in 1865 Union forces capture Petersburg line:
After a ten-month siege, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his troops on a desperate retreat westward.
The ragged Confederate troops could no longer maintain the 40-mile network of defenses that ran from southwest of Petersburg to north of Richmond, the Rebel capital 25 miles north of Petersburg. Through the winter, desertion and attrition melted Lee’s army down to less than 60,000, while Grant’s army swelled to over 120,000. Grant attacked Five Forks southwest of Petersburg on April 1, scoring a huge victory that cut Lee’s supply line and inflicted 5,000 casualties. The next day, Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, “I think it absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight…”
Grant’s men attacked all along the Petersburg front. In the predawn hours, hundreds of Federal cannon roared to life as the Yankees bombarded the Rebel fortifications. Said one soldier, “the shells screamed through the air in a semi-circle of flame.” At 5:00 in the morning, Union troops silently crawled toward the Confederates, shrouded in darkness. Confederate pickets alerted the troops, and the Yankees were raked by heavy fire, but the determined troops poured forth and began overrunning the trenches. Four thousand Union troops were killed or wounded, but a northern officer wrote, “It was a great relief, a positive lifting of a load of misery to be at last let at them.”
Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia and one of Lee’s most trusted lieutenants, rode to the front to rally his men. As he approached some trees with his aide, two Union soldiers emerged and fired, killing Hill instantly. Hill had survived four years of war and dozens of battles only to die during the final days of the Confederacy. When Lee received the news, he quietly said, “He is at rest now, and we who are left are the ones to suffer.”
By nightfall, President Davis and the Confederate government were in flight and Richmond was on fire. Retreating Rebel troops set ablaze several huge warehouses to prevent them from being captured by the Federals and the fires soon spread. With the army and government officials gone, bands of thugs roamed the streets looting what was left.
On this day in 1865 Union forces capture Petersburg line:
After a ten-month siege, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his troops on a desperate retreat westward.
The ragged Confederate troops could no longer maintain the 40-mile network of defenses that ran from southwest of Petersburg to north of Richmond, the Rebel capital 25 miles north of Petersburg. Through the winter, desertion and attrition melted Lee’s army down to less than 60,000, while Grant’s army swelled to over 120,000. Grant attacked Five Forks southwest of Petersburg on April 1, scoring a huge victory that cut Lee’s supply line and inflicted 5,000 casualties. The next day, Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, “I think it absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position tonight…”
Grant’s men attacked all along the Petersburg front. In the predawn hours, hundreds of Federal cannon roared to life as the Yankees bombarded the Rebel fortifications. Said one soldier, “the shells screamed through the air in a semi-circle of flame.” At 5:00 in the morning, Union troops silently crawled toward the Confederates, shrouded in darkness. Confederate pickets alerted the troops, and the Yankees were raked by heavy fire, but the determined troops poured forth and began overrunning the trenches. Four thousand Union troops were killed or wounded, but a northern officer wrote, “It was a great relief, a positive lifting of a load of misery to be at last let at them.”
Confederate General Ambrose Powell Hill, a corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia and one of Lee’s most trusted lieutenants, rode to the front to rally his men. As he approached some trees with his aide, two Union soldiers emerged and fired, killing Hill instantly. Hill had survived four years of war and dozens of battles only to die during the final days of the Confederacy. When Lee received the news, he quietly said, “He is at rest now, and we who are left are the ones to suffer.”
By nightfall, President Davis and the Confederate government were in flight and Richmond was on fire. Retreating Rebel troops set ablaze several huge warehouses to prevent them from being captured by the Federals and the fires soon spread. With the army and government officials gone, bands of thugs roamed the streets looting what was left.
Union forces capture Petersburg line - Apr 02, 1865 - HISTORY.com
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
Thanks SGT John " Mac " McConnell and good morning. I love Saturdays - but then again every day is Saturday!
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Good morning Mark.. Just like all Saturday's. I am getting ready to go to work. Yuck ! There's that 4 letter word again. Oh well ! More coffee.....
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Less than 1 year and I can retire... Doesn't mean I will.. My Job is both physically and mentally challenging... But the pay is great.. They don't want to hire dinonsaurs like me anymore.. But they need us old telephone men.. Alan K.
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I just subscribed to the site......There was all sorts of history in one place....Nice
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A little sidebar on Ambrose Powell (A P) Hill.
While a cadet at West Point he contracted gonorrhea during a visit to New York City over class break.
It would haunt him for the rest of his life, occasionally making him too ill to carry out his duties as a Corp Commander during the Civil War. On the last day of his life he had been sick in bed when he got a request from General Lee to find out what was happening to the end of his line there in Petersburg.
Hill decided to get out of bed and to personally check to see for himself what was happening. He and his aide came across Union Soldiers where both demanded surrender of the other. Shots were exchanged and Hill was killed.
He has a place in lore of the passing of both Generals Thomas Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.
LTG Stonewall Jackson CSA
Before sinking into a final delirium, he took note of the time. “It is the Lord’s Day,” he said. “I have always desired to die on Sunday.” He then began talking as though he was still on the battlefield: “Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front!”
Jackson died at 3:15 p.m. His final words: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”
It was said that Robert E. Lee also called for Hill in his final moments: "Tell Hill he must come up."
Hill would be one of several Confederate generals to have a federal fort named after him, Fort A P Hill in Bowling Green, VA ironically enough only a few miles from where John Wilkes Booth was surrounded and killed. And Hill was one of a few Confederate generals to have a navy vessel named after him, the Liberty Ship USS A P Hill in World War II.
A P Hill was buried three times, once in a church cemetery outside of Richmond due to its fall in 1865. In 1867 he was then moved to the famous Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. In 1891 He was moved for the final time to a monument to him on the corner of Laburnum Road and Hermitage Road where his was said to have been buried standing up. In Richmond, Virginia the city he gave his life defending.
While a cadet at West Point he contracted gonorrhea during a visit to New York City over class break.
It would haunt him for the rest of his life, occasionally making him too ill to carry out his duties as a Corp Commander during the Civil War. On the last day of his life he had been sick in bed when he got a request from General Lee to find out what was happening to the end of his line there in Petersburg.
Hill decided to get out of bed and to personally check to see for himself what was happening. He and his aide came across Union Soldiers where both demanded surrender of the other. Shots were exchanged and Hill was killed.
He has a place in lore of the passing of both Generals Thomas Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.
LTG Stonewall Jackson CSA
Before sinking into a final delirium, he took note of the time. “It is the Lord’s Day,” he said. “I have always desired to die on Sunday.” He then began talking as though he was still on the battlefield: “Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front!”
Jackson died at 3:15 p.m. His final words: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”
It was said that Robert E. Lee also called for Hill in his final moments: "Tell Hill he must come up."
Hill would be one of several Confederate generals to have a federal fort named after him, Fort A P Hill in Bowling Green, VA ironically enough only a few miles from where John Wilkes Booth was surrounded and killed. And Hill was one of a few Confederate generals to have a navy vessel named after him, the Liberty Ship USS A P Hill in World War II.
A P Hill was buried three times, once in a church cemetery outside of Richmond due to its fall in 1865. In 1867 he was then moved to the famous Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. In 1891 He was moved for the final time to a monument to him on the corner of Laburnum Road and Hermitage Road where his was said to have been buried standing up. In Richmond, Virginia the city he gave his life defending.
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