A Stillness at Appomattox (170 page)

Obviously,
therefore,
Grant's
best
move
was
to
extend
his left
flank
once
more—a
repetition
of
the
move
that
had
been made
so
many
times
since
the
army
crossed
the
Rapidan. In
preparation,
Grant
was
shifting
men
about
even
before Sherman
got
to
City
Point.

In
the
Bermuda
Hundred
lines
and
directly
before
Richmond
was
the
Army
of
the
James,
now
under
General
Ord. This
army
was
composed
of
two
infantry
corps,
one
containing
three
divisions
of
white
troops
and
the
other,
three
divisions
of
colored
troops.
Unnoticed
by
the
Confederates
Ord quietly
took
two
white
divisions
and
one
colored
division
out of
the
trenches
one
evening
and
led
them
down
to
Petersburg on
a
grueling
thirty-six-mile
hike.

To
occupy
the
lines
facing
Petersburg,
Grant
detailed Ord's
three
divisions
plus
the
IX
Corps
and
the
VI
Corps. For
a
movable
force
to
menace
Lee's
flank
he
thus
had
two full
army
corps—Humphreys
and
the
II
Corps
and
Warren and
the
V
Corps.
He
also
had
three
superb
divisions
of cavalry
under
Sheridan,
and
from
the
moment
he
began
to plan
this
move
he
seems
to
have
concluded
that
the
operation as
a
whole
would
be
pretty
largely
under
Sheridan's
command.

He
would
start
by
sending
Sheridan
and
the
cavalry
to the
little
hamlet
of
Dinwiddie
Court
House,
half
a
dozen miles
south
and
slightly
west
of
the
Hatcher's
Run
area. While
Sheridan
made
this
move
Humphreys
and
Warren were
to
take
their
men
up
through
the
flat,
wooded
country closer
to
Hatcher's
Run.
They
were
not
supposed
to
attack Confederate
trenches
there,
but
their
presence
might
induce Lee
to
make
a
new
extension
of
his
line.
At
the
very
least it
would
cover
Sheridan—who,
from
Dinwiddie
Court
House, could
march
northwest
ten
or
twelve
miles
and
strike
the Southside
Railroad.
After
that
Sheridan
might
go
on
and break
the
Richmond
and
Danville
road
as
well,
and
in
the end
he
might
even
go
down
cross
country
and
join
Sherman. Plans
were
fluid.
The
chief
idea
was
to
shake
things
loose and
end
the
long
deadlock.
¹²

It
was
March
29,
at
last,
three
o'clock
of
a
clammy
damp morning,
with
low
clouds
blotting
out
the
stars,
and
behind the
Union
lines
the
grim
columns
began
to
move.
Many times
since
they
reached
Petersburg
different
parts
of
the army
had
marched
toward
the
left,
and
each
time
the
result had
been,
if
not
an
actual
rebuff,
nothing
more
exciting
than a
mere
extension
of
the
Union
lines.
But
now
men
seemed to
feel
that
the
last
act
was
beginning.
Lincoln
had
been
at City
Point
(was
still
there,
as
a
matter
of
fact,
to
wait
for news)
and
Sherman
had
been
there,
and
Sheridan
had
come down
from
the
Valley,
and
spring
was
in
the
air—and,
altogether,
perhaps
this
was
it.
A
general
in
the
V
Corps
wrote that
men
felt
it
so,
and
he
said
that
as
they
took
to
the road
it
was
almost
as
if,
overhead,
they
saw
"a
great
light filling
the
sky."
¹⁸

Yet
there
were
skeptics.
A
private
in
the
11th
Pennsylvania wrote
that
"there
was
nothing
borne
on
the
wings
of
the wind"
to
hint
that
this
move
was
going
to
be
any
different than
all
the
earlier
ones
had
been.
"Four
years
of
war,"
he said,
"while
it
made
the
men
brave
and
valorous,
had
entirely cured
them
of
imagining
that
each
campaign
would
be
the last."
Many
times
in
the
past
high
hopes
had
been
disappointed.
This
morning
as
they
moved
out
of
winter
quarters a
soldier
raised
the
butt
of
his
musket
to
knock
down
the stick-and-clay
chimney
of
one
of
the
shacks.
A
contraband serving
as
company
cook
begged
him
not
to
destroy
it: "We'll
be
back
ag'in
in
a
week,
and
I’ll
want
to
use
it."
¹⁴

The
infantry
reached
their
designated
position,
and
had a
sharp
little
fight
with
Confederate
infantry
which
came down
to
see
what
the
Yankees
were
up
to.
Farther
west
and south,
Sheridan
pushed
Rebel
skirmishers
out
of
the
way and
put
his
men
in
bivouac
near
Dinwiddie,
making
his headquarters
in
a
big
frame
tavern
opposite
the
courthouse building.
As
evening
came
down
it
brought
rain,
the
rain continued
all
night
long,
and
there
was
no
letup
with
the dawn.
All
of
the
country
around
Hatcher's
Run
and
Din
widdie
Court
House
was
low,
covered
with
second-growth timber
and
seamed
by
many
little
brooks
and
creeks,
and by
noon
of
March
30
the
whole
area
was
a
swamp.
Sheridan put
Custer's
entire
division
to
work
corduroying
the
roads
in rear
of
his
position,
the
roads
having
become
all
but
totally impassable
for
wagons
and
guns.
A
trooper
remembered spending
an
atrocious
night
"with
rations
all
soaked
and blankets
all
wet,
and
spongy
beds
under
leaking
shelters."
¹⁵