The Tree of Appomattox

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE CLOSING DAYS

  Within the Southern lines and just beyond the range of the Northernguns, two men sat playing chess. They were elderly, gray and thin, butnever had the faces of the two colonels been more defiant. With theConfederacy crumbling about them it was characteristic of both thatthey should show no despair, if in truth they felt it. Theirconfidence in Lee was sublime. He could still move mountains, althoughhe had no tools with which to move them, and the younger officers, mereboys many of them, would come back to them again and again forencouragement. Spies had brought word that Grant, after nine months ofwaiting, and with Sheridan and a huge cavalry force on his flank, wasabout to make his great attack. But the dauntless souls of ColonelLeonidas Talbot and Lieutenant Colonel Hector St. Hilaire remainedunmoved.

  "I'm glad the rains are apparently about to cease, Hector," saidColonel Talbot. "When the ground grows firmer it will give General Leea chance to make one of his great circling swoops, and rout the Yankeearmy."

  "So it will, Leonidas. We've been waiting for it a long time, but thechance is here at last. We've had enough of the trenches. It's amonotonous life at best. Ah, I take your pawn, the one for which I'vebeen lying in ambush more than a month."

  "But that pawn dies in a good cause, Hector. When he fell, heuncovered the path to your remaining knight, as a dozen more moves willshow you. What is it, Harry?"

  Harry Kenton, thin, but hardy and strong, saluted.

  "We have news, sir," he replied, "that the portion of the Union armyunder General Sheridan is moving. I bring you a dispatch from GeneralLee to march and meet them. Other regiments, of course, will go withyou."

  They put away the chessmen and with St. Clair and Langdon marshaled thetroops in line of battle. Harry felt a sinking of the heart when hesaw how thin their ranks were, but the valiant colonels made nocomplaint. Then he went back to General Lee, whose manner was calm inface of the storm that was so obviously impending. The information hadcome that Grant and the bulk of his army were marching to the attack onthe White Oak road, and, if he broke through there, nothing could savethe Army of Northern Virginia.

  Harry, after taking the dispatch to the Invincibles, carried orders toanother regiment, while Dalton was engaged on similar errands. It wasobvious to him that Lee was gathering his men for a great effort, andhis heart sank. There was not much to gather. Throughout all thatlong autumn and winter the Army of Northern Virginia had disintegratedsteadily. Nobody came to take the place of the slain, the wounded andthe sick. All the regiments were skeletons. Many of them could notmuster a hundred men apiece.

  But Harry saw no sign of discouragement on the face of the chief whomhe respected and admired so much. Lee was thinner and his hair waswhiter, but his figure was as erect and vigorous as ever, and his faceretained its ruddy color. Yet he knew the odds against him. Grantoutside his works mustered a hundred thousand trained fighters, not rawlevies, and the seasoned Army of the Potomac, that had persisted alikethrough victory and defeat, and proof now against any adversity, sawits prize almost in its hand. And the worn veterans whom the Southernleader could marshal against Grant were not one third his numbers.

  The orderly who usually brought Lee's horse was missing on anothererrand, and Harry himself was proud to bring Traveler. The general wasabsorbed in deep thought, and he did not notice until he was in thesaddle who held the bridle.

  "Ah, it is you, Lieutenant Kenton!" he said. "You are always where youare needed. You have been a good soldier."

  Harry flushed deeply with pleasure at such a compliment from such asource.

  "I've tried to do my best, sir," he replied modestly.

  "No one can do any more. You and Mr. Dalton keep close to me. We mustgo and deal with those people, once more."

  His calm, steady tones brought Harry's courage back. To the younghero-worshiper Lee himself was at least fifty thousand men, and evenwith his scanty numbers he would pluck victory from the very heart ofdefeat.

  There could no longer be any possible doubt that Grant was about toattack, and Lee made his dispositions rapidly. While he led the bulkof his army in person to battle, Longstreet was left to face the armynorth of the James, while Gordon at the head of Ewell's old corps stoodin front of Petersburg. Then Lee turned away to the right with lessthan twenty thousand men to meet Grant, and fortified himself along theWhite Oak Road. Here he waited for the Union general, who had not yetbrought up his masses, but Harry and Dalton felt quite sure thatdespite the disparity of numbers Lee was the one who would attack. Ithad been so all through the war, and they knew that in the offensivelay the best defensive. The event soon proved that they read theirgeneral's mind aright.

  It was the last day of March when Lee suddenly gave the order for hisgaunt veterans to advance, and they obeyed without faltering. Therains had ceased, a bright sun was shining, and the Southern trumpetssang the charge as bravely as at the Second Manassas orChancellorsville. They had only two thousand cavalry on their flank,under Fitz Lee, but the veteran infantry advanced with steadiness andprecision. Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant Colonel Hector St.Hilaire were on foot now, having lost their horses long since, but,waving their small swords, they walked dauntlessly at the head of theirlittle regiment, St. Clair and Langdon, a bit farther back, showingequal courage.

  The speed of the Southern charge increased and they were met at firstby only a scattering fire. The Northern generals, not expecting Lee tomove out of his works, were surprised. Before they could take theproper precautions Lee was upon them and once more the rebel yell thathad swelled in victory on so many fields rang out in triumph. Thefront lines of the men in blue were driven in, then whole brigades werethrown back, and Harry felt a wild thrill of delight when he beheldsuccess where success had not seemed possible.

  He saw near him the Invincibles charging home, and the two colonelsstill waving their swords as they led them, and he saw also the wornfaces of the veterans about him suffused once more with the fire ofbattle. He watched with glowing eyes as the fierce charge drove theNorthern masses back farther and farther.

  But the Union leaders, though taken by surprise, did not permitthemselves and their troops to fall into a panic. They had come toofar and had fought too many battles to lose the prize at the very lastmoment. Their own trumpets sounded on a long line, calling back theregiments and brigades. Although the South had gained much groundHarry saw that the resistance was hardening rapidly. Grant andSheridan were pouring in their masses. Heavy columns of infantrygathered in their front, and Sheridan's numerous and powerful cavalrybegan to cut away their flanks. The Southern advance became slow andthen ceased entirely.

  Harry felt again that dreadful sinking of the heart. Leadership, valorand sacrifice were of no avail, when they were faced by leadership,valor and sacrifice also added to overwhelming numbers.

  The battle was long and fierce, the men in gray throwing away theirlives freely in charge after charge, but they were gradually borneback. Lee showed all his old skill and generalship, marshaling his menwith coolness and precision, but Grant and Sheridan would not bedenied. They too were cool and skillful, and when night came theSouthern army was driven back at all points, although it had displayeda valor never surpassed in any of the great battles of the war. ButLee's face had not yet shown any signs of despair, when he gathered hismen again in his old works.

  It was to Harry, however, one of the gloomiest nights that he had everknown. As a staff officer, he knew the desperate position of theSouthern force, and his heart was very heavy within him. He saw acrossthe swamps and fields the innumerable Northern campfires, and he heardthe Northern bugles calling to one another in the dusk. But as thenight advanced and he had duties to do his courage rose once more.Since their great commander-in-chief was steady and calm he would tryto be so too.

  The opposing sentinels were very close to one another in the dark andas usual they often talked. Harry, as he went on one errand oranother, hear
d them sometimes, but he never interfered, knowing thatnothing was to be gained by stopping them. Deep in the night, when hewas passing through a small wood very close to the Union lines, afigure rose up before him. It was so dark that he did not know the manat first, but at the second look he recognized him.

  "Shepard!" he exclaimed. "You here!"

  "Yes, Mr. Kenton," replied the spy, "it's Shepard, and you will not tryto harm me. Why should you at such a moment? I am within theConfederate lines for the last time."

  "So, you mean to give up your trade?"

  "It's going to give me up. Chance has made you and me antagonists, Mr.Kenton, but our own little war, as well as the great war in which weboth fight, is about over. I will not come within the Southern linesagain because there is no need for me to do so. In a few days therewill be no Southern lines. Don't think that I'm trying to exult overyou, but remember what I told you four years ago in Montgomery. TheSouth has made a great and wonderful fight, but it was never possiblefor her to win."

  "We are not beaten yet, Mr. Shepard."

  "No, but you will be. I suppose you'll fight to the last, but the endis sure as the rising of tomorrow's sun. We have generals now whocan't be driven back."

  Harry was silent because he had no answer to make, and Shepard resumed:

  "I'm willing to tell you, Mr. Kenton, that your cousin, Mr. Mason, acaptain now, is here with General Sheridan, and that he went throughtoday's battle uninjured."

  "I'm glad at any rate that Dick is now a captain."

  "He has earned the rank. He is my good friend, as I hope you will beafter the war."

  "I see no reason why we shouldn't. You've served the North in your ownway and I've served the South in mine. I want to say to you, Mr.Shepard, that if in our long personal struggle I held any maliceagainst you it's all gone now, and I hope that you hold none againstme."

  "I never felt any. Good-by!"

  "Good-by!"

  Shepard was gone so quickly and with so little noise that he seemed tovanish in the air, and Harry turned back to his work, resolved not tobelieve the man's assertion that the war was over. He slept a little,and so did Dalton, but both were awake, when a red dawn came alive withthe crash of cannon and rifles.

  Shepard had spoken truly, when he said that the North now had generalswho would not be driven back. Nor would they cease to attack. As soonas the light was sufficient, Grant and Sheridan began to press Lee withall their might. Pickett, who had led the great charge at Gettysburg,and Johnson, who held a place called Five Forks, were assailed fiercelyby overpowering numbers, and, despite a long and desperate resistance,their command was cut in pieces and the fragments scattered, leavingLee's right flank uncovered.

  The day, like the one before it, ended in defeat and confusion, and, atthe next dawn, Grant, silent, tenacious, came anew to the attack, hisdense columns now assailing the front before Petersburg, and carryingthe trenches that had held them so long. The thin Confederate linesthere fought in vain to hold them, but the Union brigades, exultant andcheering, burst through everything, flung aside those of their foeswhom they did not overthrow, and advanced toward the city. Here fellthe famous Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, a man of frail body andvaliant soul, beloved of Lee and the whole army.

  The next noon came, somber to Harry beyond all description. Theyoungest officer knew that while General Lee was still in Petersburg hecould no longer hold it, and that they were nearly surrounded by thevictorious and powerful Union host. The break in the lines had beenmade just after sunrise, and had been widened in the later hours of themorning. Now there was a momentary lull in the firing, but the liftingclouds of smoke enabled them to see vast masses of men in blueadvancing and already in the suburbs of the town.

  Lee's headquarters were about a mile and a half west of Petersburg,where he stood on a lawn and watched the progress of the combat.Nearly opposite him was a tall observatory that the Union men haderected, and from its summit the Northern generals also were watching.Harry and Dalton stood near Lee, awaiting with others his call, andevery detail he saw that day always remained impressed upon HarryKenton's mind.

  He intently watched his general. Feeling that the Southern army was sonear destruction he thought that the face of Lee would show agitation.But it was not so. His calm and grave demeanor was unchanged. He wasin full uniform of fine gray, and had even buckled to his belt hisdress sword which he seldom carried. It was told of him that he saidthat morning if he were compelled to surrender he would do so in hisbest. But he had not yet given up hope.

  Harry turned his eyes away from Lee to the enemy. Without the aid ofglasses now, he saw the great columns in blue advancing, preceded by atremendous fire of artillery that filled the air with bursting shells.The infantry themselves were advancing with the bayonet, the sunlightgleaming on the polished metal. As far as he could see the ring offire and steel extended. One heavy column was advancing toward thevery lawn on which they stood.

  "Looks as if they were going to trample us under foot," said Dalton.

  "Yes, but the general may still find a way out of it," said Harry.

  "They are still coming," said Dalton.

  The shells were bursting about them and bullets too soon began tostrike upon the lawn. A battery that sought to drive back theadvancing column was exposed to such a heavy fire that it was compelledto limber up and retreat. The officers urged Lee to withdraw and atlength, mounting Traveler, he rode back slowly and deliberately to hisinner line. Harry often wondered what his feelings were on that day,but whatever they were his face expressed nothing. When he stopped inhis new position he said to one of his staff, but without raising hisvoice:

  "This is a bad business, colonel."

  Harry heard him say a little later to another officer:

  "Well, colonel, it has happened as I told them it would at Richmond.The line has stretched until it has broken."

  But the general and his staff were not permitted to remain long attheir second stop. The Union columns never ceased to press theshattered Southern army. Their great artillery, served with therapidity and accuracy that had marked it all through the war, pouredshowers of shell and grape and canister upon the thin ranks in gray,and the rifles were close enough to add their own stream of missiles tothe irresistible fire.

  Harry was in great fear for his general. It seemed as if the Northerngunners had recognized him and his staff. Perhaps they knew his famouswar horse, Traveler, as he rode slowly away, but in any event, theshells began to strike on all sides of the little group. One burstjust behind Lee. Another killed the horse of an officer close to him,and the bursting fragments inflicted slight wounds upon members of thestaff. Lee, for the first time, showed emotion. Looking back over hisshoulder his eyes blazed, and his cheeks flushed. Harry knew that hewished to turn and order a charge, but there was nothing with which tocharge, and, withdrawing his gaze from the threatening artillery, herode steadily on.

  The general's destination now was an earthwork in the suburbs of thecity, manned by a reserve force, small but ardent and defiant. Itwelcomed Lee and his staff with resounding cheers, and Harry's heartsprang up again. Here, at least, was confidence, and as they rodebehind them the guns replied fiercely to the advancing Northernbatteries, checking them for a little while, and giving the retreatingtroops a chance to rest.

  Now came a lull in the fighting, but Harry knew well that it was only alull. Presently Grant and Sheridan would press harder than ever. Theywere fully aware of the condition of the Southern army, its smallnessand exhaustion, and they would never cease to hurl upon it theircolumns of cavalry and infantry, and to rake it with the numerousbatteries of great guns, served so well. Once more his heart sank low,as he thought of what the next night might bring forth. He knew thatGeneral Lee had sent in the morning a messenger to the capital with thestatement that Petersburg could be held no longer and that he wouldretreat in the night.

  Every effort was made to gather the remaining portion of the So
uthernarmy into one strong, cohesive body. Longstreet, at the order of Lee,left his position north of the James River, while Gordon took charge ofthe lines to the east of Petersburg. It was when they gathered forthis last stand that Harry realized fully how many of the greatConfederate officers were gone. It was here that he first heard of thedeath of A. P. Hill, of whom he had seen so much at Gettysburg. And hechoked as he thought of Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart, Turner Ashby andall the long roll of the illustrious fallen, who were heroes to him.

  The Northern infantry and cavalry did not charge now, but the cannoncontinued their work. Battery after battery poured its fire upon theearthworks, although the men there, sheltered by the trenches, did notsuffer so much for the present.

  Harry found time to look up his friends, and discovered the Invinciblesin a single trench, about sixty of them left, but all showing acheerfulness, extraordinary in such a situation. It was characteristicof both Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire that theyshould present a bolder front, the more desperate their case. Nor werethe younger officers less assured. Captain Arthur St. Clair wascarefully dusting from his clothing dirt that had been thrown there bybursting shells, and Lieutenant Thomas Langdon was contemplating withsatisfaction the track of a bullet that had gone through his leftsleeve without touching the arm.

  "The sight of you is welcome, Harry," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot ineven tones. "It is pleasant to know at such a time that one's friendis alive, because the possibilities are always against it. Still,Harry, I've always felt that you bear a charmed life, and so do St.Clair and Langdon. Tell me, is it true that we evacuate Petersburgtonight?"

  "It's no secret, sir. The orders have been issued and we do."

  "If we must go, we must, and it's no time for repining. Well, the townhas been defended long and valiantly against overwhelming numbers. Ifwe lose it, we lose with glory. It can never be said of the South thatwe were not as brave and tenacious as any people that ever lived."

  "The Northern armies that fight us will be the first to give us thatcredit, sir."

  "That is true. Soldiers who have tested the mettle of one another oninnumerable desperate fields do not bear malice and are always ready toacknowledge the merits of the foe. Ah, see how closely that shellburst to us! And another! And a third! And a fourth! Hector, youread the message, do you not?"

  "Certainly, Leonidas, it's as plain as print to you and me. JohnCarrington--good old John! honest old John!--is now in command of thatgroup of batteries on the right. He has been in charge of gunselsewhere, and has been suddenly shifted to this point. The greatincrease in volume and accuracy of fire proves it."

  "Right, Hector! He's as surely there as we are here. The voice ofthose cannon is the voice of John Carrington. Well, if we're to becrushed I prefer for good old John to do it."

  "But we're not crushed, Leonidas. We'll go out of Petersburg tonight,beating off every attack of the enemy, and then if we can't holdRichmond we'll march into North Carolina, gather together all theremaining forces of the Confederacy, and, directed by the incomparablegenius of our great commander, we'll yet win the victory."

  "Right, Hector! Right! Pardon me my moment of depression, but it wasonly a moment, remember, and it will not occur again. The loss of acapital--even if it should come to that--does not necessarily mean theloss of a cause. Among the hills and mountains of North Carolina wecan hold out forever."

  Harry was cheered by them, but he did not fully share their hopes andbeliefs.

  "Aren't they two of the greatest men you've ever known?" whispered St.Clair to him.

  "If honesty and grandeur of soul make greatness they surely are,"replied Harry feelingly.

  He returned now to his general's side, and watched the greatbombardment. Scores of guns in a vast half circle were raining shellsupon the slender Confederate lines. The blaze was continuous on a longfront, and huge clouds of smoke gathered above. Harry believed thatthe entire Union army would move forward and attack their works, butthe charge did not come. Evidently Grant remembered Cold Harbor, and,feeling that his enemy was in his grasp, he refrained from uselesssacrifices.

  Another terrible night, lighted up by the flash of cannon andthundering with the crash of the batteries came, and Lee, collectinghis army of less than twenty thousand men, moved out of Petersburg. Ittore Harry's heart to leave the city, where they had held Grant at bayso long, but he knew the necessity. They could not live another dayunder that concentrated and awful fire. They might stay and surrenderor retreat and fight again, and valiant souls would surely choose thelatter.

  The march began just after twilight turned to night, and the darknessand clouds of skirmishers hid it from the enemy. They crossed theAppomattox, and then advanced on the Hickory road on the north side ofthe river. General Lee stood on foot, but with the bridle of Travelerin his hand and his staff about him, at the entrance to the road, andwatched the troops as they marched past.

  His composure and steadiness seemed to Harry as great as ever, and hisvoice never broke, as he spoke now and then to the marching men. Norwas the spirit of the men crushed. Again and again they cheered asthey saw the strong figure of the gray commander who had led them sooften to victory. Nor were they shaken by the booming of the cannonbehind them, nor by the tremendous crashes that marked the explosionsof the magazines in Petersburg.

  When the last soldier had passed, General Lee and his staff mountedtheir horses and followed the army in the dusk and gloom. Behind themlofty fires shed a glaring light over fallen Petersburg.