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American Civil WarSoldiers
20th North Carolina Infantry Regiment
At 3 a.m. on the 3rd Parke and Wright discovered that the
enemy had been withdrawn from the trenches in their front, and
upon advancing ascertained that Petersburg was evacuated.
Willcox was ordered to occupy the town with his division,
while the remainder of the 9th, with all of the 6th and 2nd
corps, pushed on after Lee. Weitzel, who commanded the Union
forces on the north side of the James, was informed by Gen.
Devens about 5 o'clock that the Federal pickets had possession
of the enemy's line. Two staff officers, with 40 of the
headquarters, cavalry, were sent forward to receive the
surrender of the city, in case the Confederates had evacuated
it, and soon afterward Weitzel followed with the divisions of
Kautz and Devens. Entering the city by the Osborn pike,
Weitzel rode direct to the city hall, where he received the
formal surrender of the city at 8:15 a.m. For several days
Lieut. J. L. de Peyster, a son of Maj.Gen. J. W. de Peyster,
had carried a United States flag upon the pommel of his
saddle, ready to raise it over the Confederate capitol when
the city should fall into the hands of the Union forces. The
same flag had waved over Butler's headquarters at New Orleans.
Scarcely had the surrender been made before de Peyster, in
company with Capt. Langdon, chief of artillery on Weitzel's
staff, raised this flag over the state house, bringing
Virginia once more under the realm of the Stars and Stripes.
PETERSBURG, VA
Feb. 27-March 28, 1865
Sheridan's
Expedition
On the 27th Maj.-Gen. P. H. Sheridan left
Winchester for an expedition to the front of Petersburg, the
object being the destruction of the Virginia Central railroad,
the James river canal, and the capture of Lynchburg, after
which Sheridan was to join Gen. Sherman's army in North
Carolina or return to Winchester. His forces consisted of the
1st and 3rd cavalry divisions of the Army of the Shenandoah,
respectively commanded by Brig.-Gen. T. C. Devin and Bvt.
Maj.Gen. G. A. Custer; one section of the 2nd and one of the
4th U. S. artillery, and a pontoon train; the total strength
being about 10,000 men. Mount Crawford was reached on March
1, and here about 200 of Rosser's Confederate cavalry were
discovered trying to burn the bridge over the middle fork of
the Shenandoah. Two regiments of Capehart's brigade swam the
river above the bridge charged and routed Rosser, pursuing him
nearly to Staunton, killing a few of his men and capturing 30
prisoners, with 20 wagons and ambulances, Capehart's loss
being 5 men wounded. This caused Gen. Early to retreat from
Staunton to Waynesboro, where he intrenched a position. At
Staunton Sheridan detached a part of his command for the
destruction of some stores at Swoope's station, and pushed on
with the main column, Custer's division in advance, for
Waynesboro. At Fisherville, 6 miles from Staunton, Custer's
advance encountered the enemy's pickets and drove them rapidly
to Waynesboro. Without waiting for the 1st division to come
up, Custer sent the 2nd brigade against Early's position, to
display the force in the works, and directed Lieut.-Col.
Whitaker to take three regiments of Pennington's brigade to
the extreme right. The 1st Conn., 2nd Ohio and 3rd N. J., all
armed with Spencer carbines, were moved to the right and
dismounted under cover of the woods. When they were in
position to attack, Woodruff's section of horse artillery
opened fire with such vigor that the Confederates were
compelled to lie down behind their embankment. Wells and
Capehart moved their brigades to the attack in front, at the
charge, and at the same time the three regiments on the right
caught the enemy on the flank, the whole movement being so
sudden that Early's men were completely routed and fled in all
directions, leaving 11 pieces of artillery, with their horses
and caissons, 200 wagons loaded with subsistence, with their
teams and harness; a large quantity of ammunition; all the
camp equipage and officers, baggage; the headquarters, papers;
16 battle flags and 1,600 prisoners in the hands of the
Federals.
On the 3rd the expedition moved toward Charlottesville,
which place was reached on the 4th, the bridges, depots, etc.,
between Staunton and Charlottesville having been destroyed
during the march. At Charlottesville the command divided, the
1st division moving to Scottsville on the James river, and the
3rd, with the wagon trains, along the Lynchburg railroad,
destroying the bridges and culverts as far as Buffalo river.
The two divisions came together near New Market, where the dam
and locks on the canal were thoroughly destroyed. At
Duguidsville, on the 8th, the Confederates fired on Devin's
division from across the river, but the 5th U. S. cavalry was
dismounted and covered the retirement of the rest of the
division. All the locks on the canal between Goochland and
Duguidsville were destroyed, as well as large stores of
cotton, tobacco and subsistence. Columbia was reached on the
1Oth. where the expedition rested for a day, and on the 12th
the march was resumed toward the Virginia Central railroad,
which was struck at Tolersville on the 13th, and several miles
of track torn up. The next day Custer directed his march
toward Ground Squirrel bridge, while Devin moved along the
railroad to the South Anna. Both bridges were destroyed after
a slight skirmish with the guards, in which the 5th U. S.
cavalry captured a number of prisoners and 3 pieces of
artillery. The 1st division was here ordered to move toward
Hanover Court House and the 3rd to push south as far as
Ashland, but upon learning that a considerable force of the
enemy under Longstreet was moving to intercept the expedition,
the two divisions were united, the whole command recrossed the
South Anna and moved along the north bank of the Pamunkey to
White House landing, which was reached on the 18th. Here the
expedition rested until the 25th, when it again took up the
march and two days later rejoined the Army of the Potomac.
During the movement Sheridan's forces captured 1,603
prisoners, 2,154 horses and mules, 16 battle flags, 17 pieces
of artillery and over 2,000 stands of small arms. The line of
march was marked by wholesale destruction. Sixteen large
mills and factories 26 warehouses and 8 railroad depots,
together with their contents of valuable stores, were laid in
ashes 47 miles of railroad track, 30 miles of telegraph, 49
canal locks, 44 railroad and several wagon bridges, 10
watertanks, and about 40 canal and flatboats all loaded with
provisions, etc., were completely destroyed.
[Source: The Union Army, vol. 5]
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