A Stillness at Appomattox (185 page)

Custer
spied
a
Confederate
wagon
train
winding
through hill
country,
the
bleak
woods
glistening
from
the
spring
rains, and
he
whistled
his
squadrons
in
on
the
dead
run
with
sabers swinging.
Confederate
infantry
fell
into
line
to
repel
the attack,
but
up
ahead
a
gap
developed
in
the
moving
column and
Custer's
men
went
pouring
through
it,
stopping
the
wagon train,
cutting
the
traces
and
driving
the
teams
away,
sabering drivers,
breaking
wagon
wheels
with
axes,
and
setting
fire to
the
wreckage.
More
and
more
cavalry
went
into
the
gap, and
Sheridan
sent
couriers
back
to
bring
up
the
infantry: here
is
a
whole
section
of
Lee's
army
cut
off,
come
on
up quick
and
we
can
bag
the
lot!
¹⁰

Nearest
infantry
was
the
VI
Corps,
which
had
marched
all night
and
all
day
without
food
and
was
just
filing
into
some fields
to
make
coffee
and
eat
bacon
and
hardtack
when
Sheridan's
messengers
came
up.
Down
the
lines
went
staff
officers and
colonels
to
tell
the
men
the
news:
Sheridan
is
just
ahead and
he
wants
help,
and
we
can
all
eat
later
perhaps.
The men
fell
into
ranks
cheering
and
they
stepped
off
eagerly,
and before
long
they
formed
a
battle
line
on
a
slope
looking
down to
a
little
creek,
on
the
far
side
of
which
there
was
a
Confederate
battle
line.
Sheridan
rode
up,
and
the
VI
Corps veterans
who
had
followed
him
in
the
Valley
pointed
and told
each
other:
"There's
Phil!
There's
Phil!"
and
yelled
their heads
off.
One
of
their
officers
mused:
"The
sight
of
that man
on
the
field
was
more
gratifying
than
rations,
more
inspiring
than
reinforcements."
¹¹

On
the
horizon
was
the
burning
Confederate
wagon
train. Straight
in
front
was
a
fair
piece
of
the
Rebel
army,
brought to
bay
at
last,
the
men
dangerous
as
so
many
wounded panthers;
and
off
to
the
left
were
four
brigades
of
Yankee cavalry,
moving
forward
at
a
walk
as
if
passing
in
review, heading
for
the
Confederate
flank.
For
a
minute
or
two
everything
seemed
to
hang
in
suspense,
as
if
the
army
had
gone
to great
pains
to
pose
a
dramatic
picture.
Then
the
wild
high notes
of
the
bugles
sounded
from
end
to
end
of
the
line,
and everybody
went
forward
on
the
run,
cavalry
and
infantry alike,
and
there
was
a
great
shouting
and
the
smoke
from thousands
of
muskets
banked
up
over
the
valley.
Then
the cavalry
had
broken
through,
and
the
infantry
was
tussling in
the
shallows,
and
suddenly
there
was
no
more
Rebel battle
line,
nothing
but
groups
of
men
throwing
down their
arms,
cavalry
ranging
far
and
wide
to
round
up
fugitives, thousands
of
Confederates
surrounded
and
surrendering— among
them,
picturesque
one-legged
General
Dick
Ewell, who
had
been
Stonewall
Jackson's
lieutenant
when
the
world was
young.
Far
in
the
distance,
Lee
on
a
hilltop
watched
it all
and
told
an
officer
beside
him:
"That
half
of
our
army
has been
destroyed."
¹²

There
was
exaggeration
in
the
remark,
but
not
a
great
deal. What
remained
of
two
Confederate
army
corps
had
gone
to pieces,
with
thousands
of
men
taken
prisoner,
only
a
few
escaping
through
the
woods.
The
rear
guard
hung
on
until dark
and
then
the
Confederates
followed
their
last
fading chance
to
the
north
side
of
the
Appomattox
River,
burning the
bridges
behind
them.
If
they
could
keep
the
Federals south
of
that
still
unfordable
river
and
go
on
with
desperate forced
marches
it
might
yet
be
possible
.
.
.
just
barely
possible
...
to
get
away
and
join
Johnston,
or
reach
the
mountains,
or
find
somewhere
a
chance
to
rest
and
refit
and
make the
war
go
on
a
little
longer.

Along
the
creek
where
they
had
won
their
triumph
the Federals
cheered
and
danced.
Someone
found
barrels
of
Confederate
paper
money
in
a
headquarters
wagon
not
yet burned,
and
the
men
went
scampering
about
with
handfuls of
it,
tossing
it
in
the
air,
using
it
to
kindle
fires,
offering
great bundles
of
it
to
the
gloomy
prisoners.
All
of
the
ground
was covered
with
the
debris
of
the
broken
army,
and
as
the
VI Corps
moved
away
the
men
found
the
road
for
two
miles
so littered
with
discarded
muskets
that
it
was
hard
to
move without
stepping
on
them.
A
major
of
the
65th
New
York was
mortally
wounded
when
someone's
horse
trod
on
one
of these
muskets
and
caused
it
to
go
off
and
shoot
him.
¹⁸