cling armies, and an avenue of escape opened, Lee resolved to anticipate Grant's initiative movement by an attack upon the Union lines. This attack was made upon Fort Stedman, nearly east of Petersburg, where its success would have probably cut Grant's army in two, and opened a door for a successful withdrawal of the Confederate army southward by the most direct route, to unite with Johnston, in an endeavor to overpower Sherman.

The assault was made by Gen. John B. Gordon, early on the morning of March 25th, and Fort Stedman with three contiguous batteries was taken by surprise. The 20,000 men whom Lee had massed in the rear as support had failed to respond promptly, for some cause, and the forts were promptly retaken, and all the Confederate troops who entered them, about 4,000 in number, were taken prisoners. In short, it was the "Mine Explosion" repeated, with points of disaster reversed. Aside from prisoners, the loss to each side was about 2,500. Gen. Meade, perceiving the depleted ranks of the enemy in his front, in a spirited attack captured the strongly intrenched picket line. Lee thus, instead of freeing himself from Grant's grip, had only tightened it by his assault.

FIVE FORKS, APRIL 1, 1865.-Grant prepared arrangements for a final campaign, which resulted in the capture of Lee's army. The determined advance was commenced by the Union left on the 29th of March. To the flanking of the enemy's right was now imposed the additional task of intercepting and precluding Lee's withdrawal to North Carolina. Hence, the strat

egy of making a simultaneous attack upon the right and left flanks of the enemy was abandoned, and three divisions of the Army of the James were withdrawn from the bank of the James river, where they had so long menaced Richmond, and were brought over to join the troops facing Petersburg.

Gen. Lee, alive to his peril, left some eight thousand men under Longstreet to protect the works at Richmond, and hastily withdrew the rest of his infantry through rain and mire, to the support of his endangered right.

Gen. Sheridan, in command of the cavalry, held the extreme Union left, near Five Forks. Gen. Warren was ordered to support the cavalry, and placed under Sheridan's command. Sheridan succeeded in advancing up to a point from which he planned to make an assault upon Five Forks by the middle of the afternoon of April 1st. Warren was slow in moving his troops. Sheridan sent messenger after messenger, directing that officer to report to him. Finally he went himself in search of him, but could not find him. Sheridan then issued an order relieving Warren of the command and placing Gen. Griffin in charge of his corps. The troops were then brought up, and the assault was made in brilliant order, completely demolishing the enemy's right, and forcing him in great disorder from the field. About four thousand prisoners, many small arms and some artillery fell into Sheridan's hands, while he lost during the day about one thousand men.

Grant says: "Here a desperate hand-to-hand conflict took place. The men of the two sides were too close to fire, but used

their guns as clubs. ful. In one place a tree eighteen inches in diameter was cut down by musket-balls. All the trees between the lines were very much cut to pieces by the artillery and musketry. It was three o'clock in the morning before the fighting ceased. Some of our troops had been under fire twenty hours."

Lee's losses must have been fear

BATTLE OF PETERSBURG, AND ABANDONMENT OF RICHMOND. Grant ordered the guns opened upon the works of Petersburg from right to left, even though darkness had already fallen upon the scene. The lurid light and the roaring sound proclaimed the signal victory just achieved, and predicted more decisive triumphs near at hand. The next morning (Sunday, April 2d) the outer works of Petersburg were carried. Lee made frantic efforts to recover his lost ground, but was repulsed with heavy loss. Gen. A. P. Hill, the hero of many a Confederate battle, was mortally wounded while reconnoitering during the day. Though Petersburg was still in his possession, Lee saw he could not hold it much longer. His losses had exceeded 10,000 men. To hold out any longer was to insure the capture or destruction of his entire army.

At 10:30 A. M. he telegraphed to Jefferson Davis in Richmond these words:

"My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be evacuated this evening."

The message found Mr. Davis, at 11 A. M., in church. It was handed him amid awful silence. He read it, and immediately went quietly and soberly out-never, never to return as

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President of the Confederacy. Not a word was spoken, but the whole assemblage felt that the missive contained words of doom.

The news of the impending crisis soon passed from lip to lip. The calm and peaceful Sabbath day was soon changed into one of clamor and excitement. "Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled by men, walking as though for a wager, and behind them excited negroes with trunks and luggage of every description." Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Confederate money were destroyed. Hundreds of barrels of liquor were rolled into the street, and the ends knocked in, flooding the streets with the fiery liquid. Gen. Ewell ordered the four principal tobacco warehouses to be fired. The flames spread to other parts of the city. Pollard vividly depicts the scene that followed, thus:

"Morning broke upon a scene such as those who witnessed it can never forget. The roar of an immense conflagration sounded in their ears; tongues of flame leaped from street to street; and in this baleful glare were to be seen, as of demons, the figures of busy plunderers, moving, pushing, rioting, through the black smoke, and into the open street, bearing away every conceivable sort of plunder.

"The scene at the Commissary depot, at the head of the dock, beggared description. Hundreds of government wagons were loaded with bacon, flour, and whisky, and driven off in hot haste to join the retreating army. Thronging about the depot were hundreds of men, women and children, black and white, provided with capacious bags, baskets, tubs, buckets, tin pans, and aprons; cursing, pushing, and crowding; awaiting the throwing open of the doors and the order for each to help himself.

"About sunrise the doors were opened to the populace, and a rush that almost seemed to carry the building off of its foundations was made, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of bacon, flour, etc., were soon swept away by the clamorous crowd."

On Monday morning the Union troops occupied the city, unresisted by any force. The fire was extinguished as soon as possible, but not until it had burned the very heart of Richmond. The loss must have been millions, as fully one-third of the city was consumed. Libby Prison and Castle Thunder remained unharmed.

About one thousand prisoners were taken, besides 5,000 sick and wounded who were left in the hospitals.

Petersburg was of course abandoned simultaneously with Richmond. No explosions nor conflagrations attended the abandonment of this city. So noiselessly was it done, that the Union pickets within a stone's-throw knew not that the enemy was making the move.

THE RETREAT OF LEE.-Lee hoped to be able to escape, form a junction with Gen. Johnston, and crush Sherman's army before reinforcements could arrive.

The once formidable Army of Virginia, now reduced by desertions and heavy losses, mainly in prisoners, to 35,000 men, was concentrated at Chesterfield Court House, and then moved rapidly westward to Amelia Court House, where Lee expected supplies which he had previously ordered to that place for his famishing army. They were destined to meet with disappointment here, as an order from Richmond summoned the train to that city to aid in bringing away the fugitives; and it was taken without unloading the supplies intended for the army. Gen. Grant was soon in pursuit of the retreating Confederate army. Sheridan's cavalry, striving to head off the flight of the fugitives,