while they walked.” At any brief halt, the
men fell to the ground and slept until their
officers woke them again. “Those first on
their feet,” wrote McCarthy, “went stum-
bling on over their prostrate comrades,
who in turn would be awakened.” After
long hours of marching, McCarthy’s unit
learned that their division had issued its
last remaining rations. No food could befound, except by robbing the horses. Each
man was issued two ears of corn originally
intended as horse feed. McCarthy recalled,
“It was parched in the coals, mixed with
salt, and eaten on the road. Chewing the
corn was hard work. It made the jaws ache
and the gums and teeth so sore as to causealmost unendurable pain.”
Hungry Confederates straggled into
Amelia Court House on April 4 and 5.
But, although some ordnance shipments
had arrived, there was no food. In the last
hours before leaving Richmond, the nec-
essary orders to the Commissary Depart-
ment had miscarried, and 350,000 rations
slated for transfer to Amelia Court Housewere never shipped out of Richmond. Nei-
ther did orders reach Danville or anywhere
else from which stockpiles of commissary
supplies could have been shipped.
Lee had intended only a brief halt at
Amelia Court House. Now he was forced
to wait. He issued an appeal to local farm-ers asking for “such meat, beef, cattle,
sheep, hogs, flour, meal, and provender
that can be spared.” Soldiers were sent out
with wagons to fill with what supplies they
could impress, but little could be found in
the sparsely populated surroundings.
While the foraging parties continued their
fruitless work, the delay allowed Union
infantry to close the gap between the two
armies.
After months of hard work and insuffi-
cient feed, the army’s draft animals were
nearly broken down during the forced
march to Amelia Springs. Artillery horses
were in such pitiable shape that they could
carry only a fraction of the army’s ord-
nance stocks. Nearly 100 caissons, loaded
with nearly three-quarters of the Army of
Northern Virginia’s artillery shells, were
set afire and blown up, leaving gunners
with only the limited supplies of ammuni-
tion packed in their limbers.
Another disaster struck the Southern
army that day. Brig. Gen. Henry E. Davies
of Crook’s division intercepted the wagon
train from Richmond before it could reach
the Confederates. Davies destroyed 200
wagons, ambulances, and caissons, deal-
ing another heavy blow to an enemy that
was already dangerously low on supplies.
Also on April 5, the Confederates discov-
ered that their route to the south was
blocked by Union troops at Jetersville,
seven miles to the southwest. Lee decided
against forcing a way through the enemy
entrenchments. Instead, he moved toward
the west, hoping to regroup and find sup-
plies at Farmville, 25 miles away.
The Confederates broke camp well before
dawn on April 6, and for a time their move
went undetected. Soon, however, the Fed-
erals resumed the chase. II and VI Corps fol-
lowed Lee down the Deatonsville Road. At
8 AM, the 1st Maine Cavalry was mounted
and on the move. Brigade commander
Charles H. Smith was heard to say, “Today
will see something big in the crushing of the
rebellion.”
Custer, Devin, and Crook followed a
parallel course to the south of the Rebels,
aiming to draw ahead and block their path
until the foot soldiers could catch up. AsABOVE: Fatal gaps in the Confederate columns attempting to escape from Virginia into North Carolina were
exploited by their relentless Union pursuers. A final stand in the boggy bottomland around Sayler’s Creek
resulted in the capture of eight Confederate generals and 7,700 men. RIGHT: A Union attempt to block the
Confederates from crossing the Appomattox River by burning the High Bridge was foiled by the quick-charg-
ing cavalry of Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser. During the fight, Brig. Gen. James Dearing became the last Confeder-
ate general killed in the war.Map © 2016 Philip Schwartzberg, Meridian Mapping, Minneapolis, MNCWQ-Sum16 Sayler's Creek_Layout 1 4/20/16 4:29 PM Page 18