Details
GRANT, Ulysses S. Autograph letter signed ("U. S. Grant"), as Lt. General, TO GEN. GEORGE MEADE, 30 March 1865. 1 page, 4to, on Head Quarters Armies of the United States stationery, in pencil.
APPROACHING ENDGAME: AT THE OUTSET OF THE APPOMATTOX OFFENSIVE, GRANT WORRIES ABOUT THE SAFETY OF HIS HEADQUARTERS
With the hard-won victory so near, Grant shows a surprising nervousness about the safety of his headquarters and troop train. The Union commander had launched his climactic campaign against Lee on 29 March, moving against the weakened Confederate right that stretched from the Vaughan Road near Hatcher's Run to Five Forks. Here he worries about a possible attack in the rear: "Would not the trains be in a better position and nearer the troops if they were west of the Vaughan road and between here and Hatcher's Run than where they are? Do you know of any troops between where my Hd Qrs are and Stony Creek station? I have but about 210 men at Hd Qrs and half of them are orderlies. I have just been thinking it a limited protection if the enemy should have any enterprising scouts about."
A pouring rain on 30 March slowed the Union advance. Skirmishes flared along the road from Hatcher's Run to Five Forks, but if there were any "enterprising scouts" about, they made no sally against the commander's camp. When the weather cleared the following morning, Grant was able to hit Lee at Dinwiddie Court House and then more decisively at Five Forks on 1 April. Grant's real headquarters was in the saddle, on the move (he makes an interesting emendation to this letter, starting to write "City Point," then crossing it out). The victory at Five Forks smashed Lee's right flank, and with it the entire rebel line at Petersburg. Lee told Jefferson Davis that Richmond was lost, and on 2 April the rebel president fled the capital. Lee made one last lunge westward, towards the only escape route still open to him: across the Appomattox River.
APPROACHING ENDGAME: AT THE OUTSET OF THE APPOMATTOX OFFENSIVE, GRANT WORRIES ABOUT THE SAFETY OF HIS HEADQUARTERS
With the hard-won victory so near, Grant shows a surprising nervousness about the safety of his headquarters and troop train. The Union commander had launched his climactic campaign against Lee on 29 March, moving against the weakened Confederate right that stretched from the Vaughan Road near Hatcher's Run to Five Forks. Here he worries about a possible attack in the rear: "Would not the trains be in a better position and nearer the troops if they were west of the Vaughan road and between here and Hatcher's Run than where they are? Do you know of any troops between where my H
A pouring rain on 30 March slowed the Union advance. Skirmishes flared along the road from Hatcher's Run to Five Forks, but if there were any "enterprising scouts" about, they made no sally against the commander's camp. When the weather cleared the following morning, Grant was able to hit Lee at Dinwiddie Court House and then more decisively at Five Forks on 1 April. Grant's real headquarters was in the saddle, on the move (he makes an interesting emendation to this letter, starting to write "City Point," then crossing it out). The victory at Five Forks smashed Lee's right flank, and with it the entire rebel line at Petersburg. Lee told Jefferson Davis that Richmond was lost, and on 2 April the rebel president fled the capital. Lee made one last lunge westward, towards the only escape route still open to him: across the Appomattox River.