Title: Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, Volume 2, Part 5
Author: Sheridan, Philip Henry
Language: English
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF

P. H. SHERIDAN

Volume II.

Part 5

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]


CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI.
Battle of Dinwiddie Court House—Pickett Repulsed —Reinforced by the
Fifth Corps—Battle of Five Forks—Turning the Confederate Left—An
Unqualified Success—Relieving General Warren—The Warren Court of
Inquiry—General Sherman's Opinion

CHAPTER VII.
Result of the Battle of Five Forks—Retreat of Lee —An Intercepted
Despatch—At Amelia Court House —Battle of Sailor's Creek—The
Confederates' Stubborn Resistance—A Complete Victory —Importance of the
Battle

CHAPTER VIII.
Lincoln's Laconic Despatch—Capturing Lee's Supplies —Delighted
Engineers—The Confederates' Last Effort—A Flag of Truce—General Geary's
"Last Ditch" Absurdity—Meeting of Grant and Lee —The Surrender—Estimate
of General Grant

CHAPTER IX.
Ordered to Greensboro', N. C.—March to the Dan River—Assigned to the
Command West of the Mississippi—Leaving Washington—Flight of General
Early—Maximilian—Making Demonstrations on the Upper Rio
Grande—Confederates Join Maximilian—The French Invasion of Mexico, and
its Relations to the Rebellion—Assisting the Liberals—Restoration of
the Republic

CHAPTER X.
A. J. Hamilton Appointed Provisional Governor of Texas—Assembles a
Constitutional Convention —The Texans
Dissatisfied—Lawlessness—Oppressive
Legislation—Ex-Confederates—Controlling Louisiana—A Constitutional
Convention—The Meeting Suppressed—A Bloody Riot—My Reports of the
Massacre—Portions Suppressed by President Johnson—Sustained by a
Congressional Committee —The Reconstruction Laws

CHAPTER XI.
Passage of the Reconstruction Act Over the President's Veto—Placed in
Command of the Fifth Military District—Removing Officers—My Reasons for
Such Action—Affairs in Louisiana and Texas —Removal of Governor
Wells—Revision of the jury Lists—Relieved from the Command of the Fifth
Military District

ILLUSTRATIONS

Belle-Grove House. General Sheridan's Headquarters at Cedar Creek
Portrait of General Horatio G. Wright

LIST OF MAPS

Battle-field of Dinwiddie Court House
Battle-field of Five Forks
Battle-field of Sailor's Creek
Seventh Expedition—The Appomattox Campaign
Eighth Expedition—To the Dan River and Return



Volume II.

Part 5

By Philip Henry Sheridan



CHAPTER VI.


BATTLE OF DINWIDDIE COURT HOUSE—PICKETT REPULSED—REINFORCED BY THE
FIFTH CORPS—BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS—TURNING THE CONFEDERATE LEFT—AN
UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS—RELIEVING GENERAL WARREN—THE WARREN COURT OF
INQUIRY—GENERAL SHERMAN'S OPINION.

The night of March 30 Merritt, with Devin's division and Davies's
brigade, was camped on the Five Forks road about two miles in front of
Dinwiddie, near J. Boisseau's.  Crook, with Smith and Gregg's brigades,
continued to cover Stony Creek, and Custer was still back at Rowanty
Creek, trying to get the trains up.  This force had been counted while
crossing the creek on the 29th, the three divisions numbering 9,000
enlisted men, Crook having 3,300, and Custer and Devin 5,700.

During the 30th, the enemy had been concentrating his cavalry, and by
evening General W. H. F. Lee and General Rosser had joined Fitzhugh Lee
near Five Forks.  To this force was added, about dark, five brigades of
infantry—three from Pickett's division, and two from Johnson's—all
under command of Pickett.  The infantry came by the White Oak road from
the right of General Lee's intrenchments, and their arrival became
positively known to me about dark, the confirmatory intelligence being
brought in then by some of Young's scouts who had been inside the
Confederate lines.

On the 31st, the rain having ceased, directions were given at an early
hour to both Merritt and Crook to make reconnoissances preparatory to
securing Five Forks, and about 9 o'clock Merritt started for the
crossroads, Davies's brigade supporting him.  His march was necessarily
slow because of the mud, and the enemy's pickets resisted with
obstinacy also, but the coveted crossroads fell to Merritt without much
trouble, as the bulk of the enemy was just then bent on other things. 
At the same hour that Merritt started, Crook moved Smith's brigade out
northwest from Dinwiddie to Fitzgerald's crossing of Chamberlain's
Creek, to cover Merritt's left, supporting Smith by placing Gregg to
his right and rear.  The occupation of this ford was timely, for
Pickett, now in command of both the cavalry and infantry, was already
marching to get in Merritt's rear by crossing Chamberlain's Creek.

To hold on to Fitzgerald's ford Smith had to make a sharp fight, but
Mumford's cavalry attacking Devin, the enemy's infantry succeeded in
getting over Chamberlain's Creek at a point higher up than Fitzgerald's
ford, and assailing Davies, forced him back in a northeasterly
direction toward the Dinwiddie and Five Forks road in company with
Devin.  The retreat of Davies permitted Pickett to pass between Crook
and Merritt, which he promptly did, effectually separating them and
cutting off both Davies and Devin from the road to Dinwiddie, so that
to get to that point they had to retreat across the country to B.
Boisseau's and then down the Boydton road.

Gibbs's brigade had been in reserve near the intersection of the Five
Forks and Dabney roads, and directing Merritt to hold on there, I
ordered Gregg's brigade to be mounted and brought to Merritt's aid, for
if Pickett continued in pursuit north of the Five Forks road he would
expose his right and rear, and I determined to attack him, in such
case, from Gibbs's position.  Gregg arrived in good season, and as soon
as his men were dismounted on Gibbs's left, Merritt assailed fiercely,
compelling Pickett to halt and face a new foe, thus interrupting an
advance that would finally have carried Pickett into the rear of
Warren's corps.

It was now about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and we were in a critical
situation, but having ordered Merritt to bring Devin and Davies to
Dinwiddie by the Boydton road, staff-officers were sent to hurry Custer
to the same point, for with its several diverging roads the Court House
was of vital importance, and I determined to stay there at all hazards.
 At the same time orders were sent to Smith's brigade, which, by the
advance of Pickett past its right flank and the pressure of W. H. F.
Lee on its front, had been compelled to give up Fitzgerald's crossing,
to fall back toward Dinwiddie but to contest every inch of ground so as
to gain time.

When halted by the attack of Gregg and Gibbs, Pickett, desisting from
his pursuit of Devin, as already stated, turned his undivided attention
to this unexpected force, and with his preponderating infantry pressed
it back on the Five Forks road toward Dinwiddle, though our men,
fighting dismounted behind barricades at different points, displayed
such obstinacy as to make Pickett's progress slow, and thus give me
time to look out a line for defending the Court House.  I selected a
place about three-fourths of a mile northwest of the crossroads, and
Custer coming up quickly with Capehart's brigade, took position on the
left of the road to Five Forks in some open ground along the crest of a
gentle ridge.  Custer got Capehart into place just in time to lend a
hand to Smith, who, severely pressed, came back on us here from his
retreat along Chamberlain's "bed"—the vernacular for a woody swamp such
as that through which Smith retired.  A little later the brigades of
Gregg and Gibbs, falling to the rear slowly and steadily, took up in
the woods a line which covered the Boydton Road some distance to the
right of Capehart, the intervening gap to be filled with Pennington's
brigade.  By this time our horse-artillery, which for two days had been
stuck in the mud, was all up, and every gun was posted in this line.

It was now near sunset, and the enemy's cavalry thinking the day was
theirs, made a dash at Smith, but just as the assailants appeared in
the open fields, Capehart's men opened so suddenly on their left flank
as to cause it to recoil in astonishment, which permitted Smith to
connect his brigade with Custer unmolested.  We were now in good shape
behind the familiar barricades, and having a continuous line, excepting
only the gap to be filled with Pennington, that covered Dinwiddie and
the Boydton Road.  My left rested in the woods about half a mile west
of the Court House, and the barricades extended from this flank in a
semicircle through the open fields in a northeasterly direction, to a
piece-of thick timber on the right, near the Boydton Road.

A little before the sun went down the Confederate infantry was formed
for the attack, and, fortunately for us, Pennington's brigade came up
and filled the space to which it was assigned between Capehart and
Gibbs, just as Pickett moved out across the cleared fields in front of
Custer, in deep lines that plainly told how greatly we were
outnumbered.

Accompanied by Generals Merritt and Custer and my staff, I now rode
along the barricades to encourage the men.  Our enthusiastic reception
showed that they were determined to stay.  The cavalcade drew the
enemy's fire, which emptied several of the saddles—among others Mr.
Theodore Wilson, correspondent of the New York Herald, being wounded. 
In reply our horse-artillery opened on the advancing Confederates, but
the men behind the barricades lay still till Pickett's troops were
within short range.  Then they opened, Custer's repeating rifles
pouring out such a shower of lead that nothing could stand up against
it.  The repulse was very quick, and as the gray lines retired to the
woods from which but a few minutes before they had so confidently
advanced, all danger of their taking Dinwiddie or marching to the left
and rear of our infantry line was over, at least for the night.  The
enemy being thus checked, I sent a staff-officer—Captain Sheridan—to
General Grant to report what had taken place during the afternoon, and
to say that I proposed to stay at Dinwiddie, but if ultimately
compelled to abandon the place, I would do so by retiring on the Vaughn
road toward Hatcher's Run, for I then thought the attack might be
renewed next morning.  Devin and Davies joined me about dark, and my
troops being now well in hand, I sent a second staff-officer—Colonel
John Kellogg—to explain my situation more fully, and to assure General
Grant that I would hold on at Dinwiddie till forced to let go.



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By following me to Dinwiddie the enemy's infantry had completely
isolated itself, and hence there was now offered the Union troops a
rare opportunity.  Lee was outside of his works, just as we desired,
and the general-in-chief realized this the moment he received the first
report of my situation; General Meade appreciated it too from the
information he got from Captain Sheridan, en route to army headquarters
with the first tidings, and sent this telegram to General Grant:


"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
"March 31, 1865.  9:45 p.m.

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT:

"Would it not be well for Warren to go down with his whole corps and
smash up the force in front of Sheridan?  Humphreys can hold the line
to the Boydton plank-road, and the refusal along with it.  Bartlett's
brigade is now on the road from G. Boisseau's, running north, where it
crosses Gravelly Run, he having gone down the White Oak road. Warren
could go at once that way, and take the force threatening Sheridan in
rear at Dinwiddie, and move on the enemy's rear with the other two.

"G. G. MEADE, Major-General."

An hour later General Grant replied in these words:


"HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
"DABNEY'S MILLS, March 311, 1865.  10:15 P. M.

"MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE,
"Commanding Army of the Potomac.

Let Warren move in the way you propose, and urge him not to stop for
anything.  Let Griffin (Griffin had been ordered by Warren to the
Boydton road to protect his rear) go on as he was first directed.

"U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General."

These two despatches were the initiatory steps in sending the Fifth
Corps, under Major-General G. K. Warren, to report to me, and when I
received word of its coming and also that Genera Mackenzie's cavalry
from the Army of the James was likewise to be added to my command, and
that discretionary authority was given me to use all my forces against
Pickett, I resolved to destroy him, if it was within the bounds of
possibility, before he could rejoin Lee.

In a despatch, dated 10:05 p.m., telling me of the coming of Warren and
Mackenzie, General Grant also said that the Fifth Corps should reach me
by 12 o'clock that night, but at that hour not only had none of the
corps arrived, but no report from it, so believing that if it came all
the way down to Dinwiddie the next morning, our opportunity would be
gone, I concluded that it would be best to order Warren to move in on
the enemy's rear while the cavalry attacked in front, and, therefore,
at 3 o'clock in the morning of April 1 sent this despatch to General
Warren:


"CAVALRY HEADQUARTERS, DINWIDDIE C. H.,
"April 1, 1865—3. A.M.

"MAJOR-GENERAL WARREN, "Commanding Fifth Army Corps.

"I am holding in front of Dinwiddie Court House, on the road leading to
Five Forks, for three-quarters of a mile with General Custer's
division.  The enemy are in his immediate front, lying so as to cover
the road just this side of A. Adams's house, which leads across
Chamberlain's bed, or run.  I understand you have a division at J.[G]
Boisseau's; if so, you are in rear of the enemy's line and almost on
his flank.  I will hold on here.  Possibly they may attack Custer at
daylight; if so, attack instantly and in full force.  Attack at
daylight anyhow, and I will make an effort to get the road this side of
Adams's house, and if I do, you can capture the whole of them. Any
force moving down the road I am holding, or on the White Oak road, will
be in the enemy's rear, and in all probability get any force that may
escape you by a flank movement.  Do not fear my leaving here.  If the
enemy remains, I shall fight at daylight.

"P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General."

With daylight came a slight fog, but it lifted almost immediately, and
Merritt moved Custer and Devin forward.  As these divisions advanced
the enemy's infantry fell back on the Five Forks road, Devin pressing
him along the road, while Custer extended on the left over toward
Chamberlain's Run, Crook being held in watch along Stony Creek,
meanwhile, to be utilized as circumstances might require when Warren
attacked.

The order of General Meade to Warren the night of March 31—a copy being
sent me also—was positive in its directions, but as midnight came
without a sign of or word from the Fifth Corps, notwithstanding that
was the hour fixed for its arrival, I nevertheless assumed that there
were good reasons for its non-appearance, but never once doubted that
measures would be taken to comply with my despatch Of 3 A. M. and
therefore hoped that, as Pickett was falling back slowly toward Five
Forks, Griffin's and Crawford's divisions would come in on the
Confederate left and rear by the Crump road near J.[G] Boisseau's
house.

But they did not reach there till after the enemy had got by.  As a
matter of fact, when Pickett was passing the all-important point
Warren's men were just breaking from the bivouac in which their chief
had placed them the night before, and the head of Griffin's division
did not get to Boisseau's till after my cavalry, which meanwhile had
been joined by Ayres's division of the Fifth Corps by way of the
Boydton and Dabney roads.  By reason of the delay in moving Griffin and
Crawford, the enemy having escaped, I massed the Fifth Corps at J.[G]
Boisseau's so that the men could be rested, and directed it to remain
there; General Warren himself had not then come up.  General Mackenzie,
who had reported just after daybreak, was ordered at first to stay at
Dinwiddie Court House, but later was brought along the Five Forks road
to Dr. Smith's, and Crook's division was directed to continue watching
the crossings of Stony Creek and Chamberlain's Run.

That we had accomplished nothing but to oblige our foe to retreat was
to me bitterly disappointing, but still feeling sure that he would not
give up the Five Forks crossroads without a fight, I pressed him back
there with Merritt's cavalry, Custer advancing on the Scott road, while
Devin drove the rearguard along that leading from J.[G] Boisseau's to
Five Forks.

By 2 o'clock in the afternoon Merritt had forced the enemy inside his
intrenchments, which began with a short return about three-quarters of
a mile east of the Forks and ran along the south side of the White Oak
road to a point about a mile west of the Forks.  From the left of the
return over toward Hatcher's Run was posted Mumford's cavalry,
dismounted.  In the return itself was Wallace's brigade, and next on
its right came Ransom's, then Stewart's, then Terry's, then Corse's. On
the right of Corse was W. H. F. Lee's division of cavalry.  Ten pieces
of artillery also were in this line, three on the right of the works,
three near the centre at the crossroads, and four on the left, in the
return.  Rosser's cavalry was guarding the Confederate trains north of
Hatcher's Run beyond the crossing of the Ford road.

I felt certain the enemy would fight at Five Forks—he had to—so, while
we were getting up to his intrenchments, I decided on my plan of
battle.  This was to attack his whole front with Merritt's two cavalry
divisions, make a feint of turning his right flank, and with the Fifth
Corps assail his left.  As the Fifth Corps moved into action, its right
flank was to be covered by Mackenzie's cavalry, thus entirely cutting
off Pickett's troops from communication with Lee's right flank, which
rested near the Butler house at the junction of the Claiborne and White
Oaks roads.  In execution of this plan, Merritt worked his men close in
toward the intrenchments, and while he was thus engaged, I ordered
Warren to bring up the Fifth Corps, sending the order by my engineer
officer, Captain Gillespie, who had reconnoitred the ground in the
neighborhood of Gravelly Run Church, where the infantry was to form for
attack.

Gillespie delivered the order about 1 o'clock, and when the corps was
put in motion, General Warren joined me at the front.  Before he came,
I had received, through Colonel Babcock, authority from General Grant
to relieve him, but I did not wish to do it, particularly on the eve of
battle; so, saying nothing at all about the message brought me, I
entered at once on the plan for defeating Pickett, telling Warren how
the enemy was posted, explaining with considerable detail, and
concluding by stating that I wished his troops to be formed on the
Gravelly Church road, near its junction with the White Oak road, with
two divisions to the front, aligned obliquely to the White Oak road,
and one in reserve, opposite the centre of these two.

General Warren seemed to understand me clearly, and then left to join
his command, while I turned my attention to the cavalry, instructing
Merritt to begin by making demonstrations as though to turn the enemy's
right, and to assault the front of the works with his dismounted
cavalry as soon as Warren became engaged.  Afterward I rode around to
Gravelly Run Church, and found the head of Warren's column just
appearing, while he was sitting under a tree making a rough sketch of
the ground.  I was disappointed that more of the corps was not already
up, and as the precious minutes went by without any apparent effort to
hurry the troops on to the field, this disappointment grew into
disgust.  At last I expressed to Warren my fears that the cavalry might
expend all their ammunition before the attack could be made, that the
sun would go down before the battle could be begun, or that troops from
Lee's right, which, be it remembered, was less than three miles away
from my right, might, by striking my rear, or even by threatening it,
prevent the attack on Pickett.

Warren did not seem to me to be at all solicitous; his manner exhibited
decided apathy, and he remarked with indifference that "Bobby Lee was
always getting people into trouble."  With unconcern such as this, it
is no wonder that fully three hours' time was consumed in marching his
corps from J.[G]  Boisseau's to Gravelly Run Church, though the
distance was but two miles.  However, when my patience was almost worn
out, Warren reported his troops ready, Ayres's division being formed on
the west side of the Gravelly Church road, Crawford's on the east side,
and Griffin in reserve behind the right of Crawford, a little different
from my instructions.  The corps had no artillery present, its
batteries, on account of the mud, being still north of Gravelly Run. 
Meanwhile Merritt had been busy working his men close up to the
intrenchments from the angle of the return west, along the White Oak
road.

About 4 o'clock Warren began the attack.  He was to assault the left
flank of the Confederate infantry at a point where I knew Pickett's
intrenchments were refused, almost at right angles with the White Oak
road.  I did not know exactly how far toward Hatcher's Run this part of
the works extended, for here the videttes of Mumford's cavalry were
covering, but I did know where the refusal began.  This return, then,
was the point I wished to assail, believing that if the assault was
made with spirit, the line could be turned.  I therefore intended that
Ayres and Crawford should attack the refused trenches squarely, and
when these two divisions and Merritt's cavalry became hotly engaged,
Griffin's division was to pass around the left of the Confederate line;
and I personally instructed Griffin how I wished him to go in, telling
him also that as he advanced, his right flank would be taken care of by
Mackenzie, who was to be pushed over toward the Ford road and Hatcher's
Run.

The front of the corps was oblique to the White Oak road; and on
getting there, it was to swing round to the left till perpendicular to
the road, keeping closed to the left.  Ayres did his part well, and to
the letter, bringing his division square up to the front of the return
near the angle; but Crawford did not wheel to the left, as was
intended.  On the contrary, on receiving fire from Mumford's cavalry,
Crawford swerved to the right and moved north from the return, thus
isolating his division from Ayres; and Griffin, uncertain of the
enemy's position, naturally followed Crawford.

The deflection of this division on a line of march which finally
brought it out on the Ford road near C. Young's house, frustrated the
purpose I had in mind when ordering the attack, and caused a gap
between Ayres and Crawford, of which the enemy quickly took advantage,
and succeeded in throwing a part of Ayres's division into confusion. 
At this juncture I sent word to General Warren to have Crawford
recalled; for the direction he was following was not only a mistaken
one, but, in case the assault at the return failed, he ran great risk
of capture.  Warren could not be found, so I then sent for
Griffin—first by Colonel Newhall, and then by Colonel Sherman—to come
to the aid of Ayres, who was now contending alone with that part of the
enemy's infantry at the return.  By this time Griffin had observed and
appreciated Crawford's mistake, however, and when the staff-officers
reached him, was already faced to the left; so, marching across
Crawford's rear, he quickly joined Ayres, who meanwhile had rallied his
troops and carried the return.

When Ayres's division went over the flank of the enemy's works, Devin's
division of cavalry, which had been assaulting the front, went over in
company with it; and hardly halting to reform, the intermingling
infantry and dismounted cavalry swept down inside the intrenchments,
pushing to and beyond Five Forks, capturing thousands of prisoners. 
The only stand the enemy tried to make was when he attempted to form
near the Ford road.  Griffin pressed him so hard there, however, that
he had to give way in short order, and many of his men, with three
pieces of artillery, fell into the hands of Crawford while on his
circuitous march.



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The right of Custer's division gained a foothold on the enemy's works
simultaneously with Devin's, but on the extreme left Custer had a very
severe combat with W. H. F. Lee's cavalry, as well as with Corse's and
Terry's infantry.  Attacking Terry and Corse with Pennington's brigade
dismounted, he assailed Lee's cavalry with his other two brigades
mounted, but Lee held on so obstinately that Custer gained but little
ground till our troops, advancing behind the works, drove Corse and
Terry out.  Then Lee made no further stand except at the west side of
the Gillian field, where, assisted by Corse's brigade, he endeavored to
cover the retreat, but just before dark Custer, in concert with some
Fifth Corps regiments under Colonel Richardson, drove ihe last of the
enemy westward on the White Oak road.

Our success was unqualified; we had overthrown Pickett, taken six guns,
thirteen battle-flags, and nearly six thousand prisoners.  When the
battle was practically over, I turned to consider my position with
reference to the main Confederate army.  My troops, though victorious,
were isolated from the Army of the Potomac, for on the 31st of March
the extreme left of that army had been thrown back nearly to the
Boydton plank-road, and hence there was nothing to prevent the enemy's
issuing from his trenches at the intersection of the White Oak and
Claiborne roads and marching directly on my rear. I surmised that he
might do this that night or early next morning. It was therefore
necessary to protect myself in this critical situation, and General
Warren having sorely disappointed me, both in the moving of his corps
and in its management during the battle, I felt that he was not the man
to rely upon under such circumstances, and deeming that it was to the
best interest of the service as well as but just to myself, I relieved
him, ordering him to report to General Grant.

I then put Griffin in command of the Fifth Corps, and directed him to
withdraw from the pursuit as quickly as he could after following the
enemy a short distance, and form in line of battle near Gravelly Run
Church, at right angles with the White Oak road, with Ayres and
Crawford facing toward the enemy at the junction of the White Oak and
Claiborne roads, leaving Bartlett, now commanding Griffin's division,
near the Ford road.  Mackenzie also was left on the Ford road at the
crossing of Hatcher's Run, Merritt going into camp on the Widow
Gillian's plantation.  As I had been obliged to keep Crook's division
along Stony Creek throughout the day, it had taken no active part in
the battle.

Years after the war, in 1879, a Court of Inquiry was given General
Warren in relation to his conduct on the day of the battle.  He assumed
that the delay in not granting his request for an inquiry, which was
first made at the close of the war, was due to opposition on my part. 
In this he was in error; I never opposed the ordering of the Court, but
when it was finally decided to convene it I naturally asked to be
represented by counsel, for the authorization of the Inquiry was so
peculiarly phrased that it made me practically a respondent.


"NEW YORK CITY, May 3, 1880

"MAJOR-GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK, U. S. A.
"President Court of Inquiry, Governor's Island.

"Sir: Since my arrival in this city, under a subpoena to appear and
testify before the Court of which you are president, I have been
indirectly and unofficially informed that the Court some time ago
forwarded an invitation to me (which has not been received) to appear
personally or by counsel, in order to aid it in obtaining a knowledge
as to the facts concerning the movements terminating in the battle of
'Five Forks,' with reference to the direct subjects of its inquiry. Any
invitation of this character I should always and do consider it
incumbent on me to accede to, and do everything in my power in
furtherance of the specific purposes for which courts of inquiry are by
law instituted.

"The order convening the Court (a copy of which was not received by me
at my division headquarters until two days after the time appointed for
the Court to assemble) contemplates an inquiry based on the application
of Lieutenant Colonel G. K. Warren, Corps of Engineers, as to his
conduct while major-general commanding the Fifth Army Corps, under my
command, in reference to accusations or imputations assumed in the
order to have been made against him, and I understand through the daily
press that my official report of the battle of Five Forks has been
submitted by him as a basis of inquiry.

"If it is proposed to inquire, either directly or indirectly, as to any
action of mine so far as the commanding general Fifth Army Corps was
concerned, or my motives for such action, I desire to be specifically
informed wherein such action or transaction is alleged to contain an
accusation or imputation to become a subject of inquiry, so that,
knowing what issues are raised, I may intelligently aid the Court in
arriving at the facts.

"It is a long time since the battle of Five Forks was fought, and
during the time that has elapsed the official reports of that battle
have been received and acknowledged by the Government; but now, when
the memory of events has in many instances grown dim, and three of the
principal actors on that field are dead—Generals Griffin, Custer, and
Devin, whose testimony would have been valuable—an investigation is
ordered which might perhaps do injustice unless the facts pertinent to
the issues are fully developed.

"My duties are such that it will not be convenient for me to be present
continuously during the sessions of the Court.  In order, however, that
everything may be laid before it in my power pertinent to such specific
issues as are legally raised, I beg leave to introduce Major Asa Bird
Gardner as my counsel.

"Very respectfully,

"P. H. SHERIDAN, Lieut.-General."

Briefly stated, in my report of the battle of Five Forks there were
four imputations concerning General Warren.  The first implied that
Warren failed to reach me on the 1st of April, when I had reason to
expect him; the second, that the tactical handling of his corps was
unskillful; the third, that he did not exert himself to get his corps
up to Gravelly Run Church; and the fourth, that when portions of his
line gave way he did not exert himself to restore confidence to his
troops.  The Court found against him on the first and second counts,
and for him on the third and fourth.  This finding was unsatisfactory
to General Warren, for he hoped to obtain such an unequivocal
recognition of his services as to cast discredit on my motives for
relieving him.  These were prompted by the conditions alone—by the
conduct of General Warren as described, and my consequent lack of
confidence in him.

It will be remembered that in my conversation with General Grant on the
30th, relative to the suspension of operations because of the mud, I
asked him to let me have the Sixth Corps to help me in breaking in on
the enemy's right, but that it could not be sent me; it will be
recalled also that the Fifth Corps was afterward tendered and declined.
 From these facts it has been alleged that I was prejudiced against
General Warren, but this is not true.  As we had never been thrown much
together I knew but little of him.  I had no personal objection to him,
and certainly could have none to his corps.  I was expected to do an
extremely dangerous piece of work, and knowing the Sixth Corps well—my
cavalry having campaigned with it so successfully in the Shenandoah
Valley, I naturally preferred it, and declined the Fifth for no other
reason.  But the Sixth could not be given, and the turn of events
finally brought me the Fifth after my cavalry, under the most trying
difficulties, had drawn the enemy from his works, and into such a
position as to permit the realization of General Grant's hope to break
up with my force Lee's right flank.  Pickett's isolation offered an
opportunity which we could not afford to neglect, and the destruction
of his command would fill the measure of General Grant's expectations
as well as meet my own desires.  The occasion was not an ordinary one,
and as I thought that Warren had not risen to its demand in the battle,
I deemed it injudicious and unsafe under the critical conditions
existing to retain him longer.  That I was justified in this is plain
to all who are disposed to be fair-minded, so with the following
extract from General Sherman's review of the proceedings of the Warren
Court, and with which I am convinced the judgment of history will
accord, I leave the subject:


"....It would be an unsafe and dangerous rule to hold the commander of
an army in battle to a technical adherence to any rule of conduct for
managing his command.  He is responsible for results, and holds the
lives and reputations of every officer and soldier under his orders as
subordinate to the great end—victory.  The most important events are
usually compressed into an hour, a minute, and he cannot stop to
analyze his reasons.  He must act on the impulse, the conviction, of
the instant, and should be sustained in his conclusions, if not
manifestly unjust.  The power to command men, and give vehement impulse
to their joint action, is something which cannot be defined by words,
but it is plain and manifest in battles, and whoever commands an army
in chief must choose his subordinates by reason of qualities which can
alone be tested in actual conflict.

"No one has questioned the patriotism, integrity, and great
intelligence of General Warren.  These are attested by a long record of
most excellent service, but in the clash of arms at and near Five
Forks, March 31 and April 1, 1865, his personal activity fell short of
the standard fixed by General Sheridan, on whom alone rested the great
responsibility for that and succeeding days.

"My conclusion is that General Sheridan was perfectly justified in his
action in this case, and he must be fully and entirely sustained if the
United States expects great victories by her arms in the future."



CHAPTER VII.


RESULT OF THE BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS—RETREAT OF LEE—AN INTERCEPTED
DESPATCH—AT AMELIA COURT HOUSE—BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK—THE
CONFEDERATES' STUBBORN RESISTANCE—A COMPLETE VICTORY—IMPORTANCE OF THE
BATTLE.

When the news of the battle at Five Forks reached General Grant, he
realized that the decisive character of our victory would necessitate
the immediate abandonment of Richmond and Petersburg by the enemy; and
fearing that Lee would escape without further injury, he issued orders,
the propriety of which must be settled by history, to assault next
morning the whole intrenched line.  But Lee could not retreat at once. 
He had not anticipated, disaster at Five Forks, and hence was
unprepared to withdraw on the moment; and the necessity of getting off
his trains and munitions of war, as well as being obliged to cover the
flight of the Confederate Government, compelled him to hold on to
Richmond and Petersburg till the afternoon of the 2d, though before
that Parke, Ord, and Wright had carried his outer intrenchments at
several points, thus materially shortening the line of investment.

The night of the 1st of April, General Humphreys's corps—the Second—had
extended its left toward the White Oak road, and early next morning,
under instructions from General Grant, Miles's division of that corps
reported to me, and supporting him with Ayres's and Crawford's
divisions of the Fifth Corps, I then directed him to advance toward
Petersburg and attack the enemy's works at the intersection of the
Claiborne and White Oak roads.

Such of the enemy as were still in the works Miles easily forced across
Hatcher's Run, in the direction of Sutherland's depot, but the
Confederates promptly took up a position north of the little stream,
and Miles being anxious to attack, I gave him leave, but just at this
time General Humphreys came up with a request to me from General Meade
to return Miles.  On this request I relinquished command of the
division, when, supported by the Fifth Corps it could have broken in
the enemy's right at a vital point; and I have always since regretted
that I did so, for the message Humphreys conveyed was without authority
from General Grant, by whom Miles had been sent to me, but thinking
good feeling a desideratum just then, and wishing to avoid wrangles, I
faced the Fifth Corps about and marched it down to Five Forks, and out
the Ford road to the crossing of Hatcher's Run.  After we had gone,
General Grant, intending this quarter of the field to be under my
control, ordered Humphreys with his other two divisions to move to the
right, in toward Petersburg.  This left Miles entirely unsupported, and
his gallant attack made soon after was unsuccessful at first, but about
3 o'clock in the afternoon he carried the point which covered the
retreat from Petersburg and Richmond.

Merritt had been sent westward, meanwhile, in the direction of Ford's
Station, to break the enemy's horse which had been collecting to the
north of Hatcher's Run.  Meeting, with but little opposition, Merritt
drove this cavalry force in a northerly direction toward Scott's
Corners, while the Fifth Corps was pushed toward Sutherland's depot, in
the hope of coming in on the rear of the force that was confronting
Miles when I left him.  Crawford and Merritt engaged the enemy lightly
just before night, but his main column, retreating along the river road
south of the Appomattox, had got across Namozine Creek, and the
darkness prevented our doing more than to pick up some stragglers.  The
next morning the pursuit was resumed, the cavalry again in advance, the
Fifth Corps keeping up with it all the while, and as we pressed our
adversaries hundreds and hundreds of prisoners, armed and unarmed, fell
into our hands, together with many wagons and five pieces of artillery.
 At Deep Creek the rearguard turned on us, and a severe skirmish took
place.  Merritt, finding the enemy very strong, was directed to await
the arrival of Crook and for the rear division of the Fifth Corps; but
by the time they reached the creek, darkness had again come to protect
the Confederates, and we had to be content with meagre results at that
point.

From the beginning it was apparent that Lee, in his retreat, was making
for Amelia Court House, where his columns north and south of the
Appomattox River could join, and where, no doubt, he expected to meet
supplies, so Crook was ordered to march early on April 4 to strike the
Danville railroad, between Jettersville and Burkeville, and then move
south along the railroad toward Jettersville, Merritt to move toward
Amelia Court House, and the Fifth Corps to Jettersville itself.

The Fifth Corps got to Jettersville about 5 in the afternoon, and I
immediately intrenched it across the Burkeville road with the
determination to stay there till the main army could come up, for I
hoped we could force Lee to surrender at Amelia Court House, since a
firm hold on Jettersville would cut him off from his line of retreat
toward Burkeville.

Accompanied only by my escort—the First United States Cavalry, about
two hundred strong—I reached Jettersville some little time before the
Fifth Corps, and having nothing else at hand I at once deployed this
handful of men to cover the crossroads till the arrival of the corps. 
Just as the troopers were deploying, a man on a mule, heading for
Burkeville, rode into my pickets.  He was arrested, of course, and
being searched there was found in his boots this telegram in duplicate,
signed by Lee's Commissary General.


"The army is at Amelia Court House, short of provisions.  Send 300,000
rations quickly to Burkeville Junction." One copy was addressed to the
supply department at Danville, and the other to that at Lynchburg.  I
surmised that the telegraph lines north of Burkeville had been broken
by Crook after the despatches were written, which would account for
their being transmitted by messenger.  There was thus revealed not only
the important fact that Lee was concentrating at Amelia Court House,
but also a trustworthy basis for estimating his troops, so I sent word
to Crook to strike up the railroad toward me, and to Merritt—who, as I
have said, had followed on the heels of the enemy—to leave Mackenzie
there and himself close in on Jettersville.  Staff-officers were also
despatched to hurry up Griffin with the Fifth Corps, and his tired men
redoubled their strides.

My troops too were hard up for rations, for in the pursuit we could not
wait for our trains, so I concluded to secure if possible these
provisions intended for Lee.  To this end I directed Young to send four
of his best scouts to Burkeville Junction.  There they were to
separate, two taking the railroad toward Lynchburg and two toward
Danville, and as soon as a telegraph station was reached the telegram
was to be transmitted as it had been written and the provisions thus
hurried forward.

Although the Fifth Corps arrived at Jettersville the evening of April
4, as did also Crook's and Merritt's cavalry, yet none of the army of
the Potomac came up till about 3 o'clock the afternoon of the 5th, the
Second Corps, followed by the Sixth, joining us then.  General Meade
arrived at Jettersville an hour earlier, but being ill, requested me to
put his troops in position.  The Fifth Corps being already intrenched
across the Amelia Court House road facing north, I placed the Sixth on
its right and the Second on its left as they reached the ground.

As the enemy had been feeling us ever since morning—to learn what he
was up to I directed Crook to send Davies's brigade on a reconnoissance
to Paine's crossroads.  Davies soon found out that Lee was trying to
escape by that flank, for at the crossroads he found the Confederate
trains and artillery moving rapidly westward.  Having driven away the
escort, Davies succeeded in burning nearly two hundred wagons, and
brought off five pieces of artillery.  Among these wagons were some
belonging to General, Lee's and to General Fitzhugh Lee's headquarters.
 This work through, Davies withdrew and rejoined Crook, who, with Smith
and Gregg, was established near Flat Creek.

It being plain that Lee would attempt to escape as soon as his trains
were out of the way, I was most anxious to attack him when the Second
Corps began to arrive, for I felt certain that unless we did so he
would succeed in passing by our left flank, and would thus again make
our pursuit a stern-chase; but General Meade, whose plan of attack was
to advance his right flank on Amelia Court House, objected to assailing
before all his troops were up.

I then sent despatches to General Grant, explaining what Davies had
done, and telling him that the Second Corps was arriving, and that I
wished he himself was present.  I assured him of my confidence in our
capturing Lee if we properly exerted ourselves, and informed him,
finally, that I would put all my cavalry, except Mackenzie, on my left,
and that, with such a disposition of my forces, I could see no escape
for Lee.  I also inclosed him this letter, which had just been
captured:


"AMELIA C. H., April 5, 1865.

"DEAR MAMMA:

"Our army is ruined, I fear.  We are all safe as yet.  Shyron left us
sick.  John Taylor is well—saw him yesterday.  We are in line of battle
this morning.  General Robert Lee is in the field near us.  My trust is
still in the justice of our cause, and that of God.  General Hill is
killed.  I saw Murray a few minutes since.  Bernard, Terry said, was
taken prisoner, but may yet get out.  I send this by a negro I see
passing up the railroad to Mechlenburg.  Love to all.

"Your devoted son,

"Wm. B. TAYLOR, Colonel."

General Grant, who on the 5th was accompanying General Ord's column
toward Burkeville Junction, did not receive this intelligence till
nearly nightfall, when within about ten miles of the Junction.  He set
out for Jettersville immediately, but did not reach us till near
midnight, too late of course to do anything that night.  Taking me with
him, we went over to see Meade, whom he then directed to advance early
in the morning on Amelia Court House.  In this interview Grant also
stated that the orders Meade had already issued would permit Lee's
escape, and therefore must be changed, for it was not the aim only to
follow the enemy, but to get ahead of him, remarking during the
conversation that, "he had no doubt Lee was moving right then." On this
same occasion Meade expressed a desire to have in the proposed attack
all the troops of the Army of the Potomac under his own command, and
asked for the return of the Fifth Corps.  I made no objections, and it
was ordered to report, to him.

When, on the morning of the 6th, Meade advanced toward Amelia Court
House, he found, as predicted, that Lee was gone.  It turned out that
the retreat began the evening of the 5th and continued all night.
Satisfied that this would be the case, I did not permit the cavalry to
participate in Meade's useless advance, but shifted it out toward the
left to the road running from Deatonsville to Rice's station, Crook
leading and Merritt close up.  Before long the enemy's trains were
discovered on this road, but Crook could make but little impression on
them, they were so strongly guarded; so, leaving Stagg's brigade and
Miller's battery about three miles southwest of Deatonsville—where the
road forks, with a branch leading north toward the Appomattox—to harass
the retreating column and find a vulnerable point, I again shifted the
rest of the cavalry toward the left, across-country, but still keeping
parallel to the enemy's line of march.

Just after crossing Sailor's Greek, a favorable opportunity offering,
both Merritt and Crook attacked vigorously, gained the Rice's Station
road, destroyed several hundred wagons, made many prisoners, and
captured sixteen pieces of artillery.  This was important, but more
valuable still was the fact that we were astride the enemy's line of
retreat, and had cut off from joining Longstreet, waiting at Rice's
Station, a corps of Confederate infantry under General Ewell, composed
of Anderson's, Kershaw's, and Custis Lee's divisions. Stagg's brigade
and Miller's battery, which, as I have said, had been left at the forks
of the Deatonsville road, had meanwhile broken in between the rear of
Ewell's column and the head of Gordon's, forcing Gordon to abandon his
march for Rice's Station, and to take the right-hand road at the forks,
on which he was pursued by General Humphreys.

The complete isolation of Ewell from Longstreet in his front and Gordon
in his rear led to the battle of Sailor's Creek, one of the severest
conflicts of the war, for the enemy fought with desperation to escape
capture, and we, bent on his destruction, were no less eager and
determined.  The capture of Ewell, with six of his generals and most of
his troops, crowned our success, but the fight was so overshadowed by
the stirring events of the surrender three days later, that the battle
has never been accorded the prominence it deserves.

The small creek from which the field takes its name flows in a
northwesterly direction across the road leading from Deatonsville to
Rice's Station.  By shifting to the left, Merritt gained the Rice's
Station road west of the creek, making havoc of the wagon-trains, while
Crook struck them further on and planted himself square across the
road.  This blocked Ewell, who, advancing Anderson to some high ground
west of the creek, posted him behind barricades, with the intention of
making a hard fight there, while the main body should escape through
the woods in a westerly direction to roads that led to Farmville.  This
was prevented, however, by Crook forming his division, two brigades
dismounted and one mounted, and at once assaulting all along Anderson's
front and overlapping his right, while Merritt fiercely attacked to the
right of Crook.  The enemy being thus held, enabled the Sixth
Corps—which in the meantime I had sent for—to come upon the ground, and
Ewell, still contending with the cavalry, found himself suddenly beset
by this new danger from his rear.  To, meet it, he placed Kershaw to
the right and Custis Lee to the left of the Rice's Station road, facing
them north toward and some little distance from Sailor's Creek,
supporting Kershaw with Commander Tucker's Marine brigade.  Ewell's
skirmishers held the line of Sailor's Creek, which runs through a
gentle valley, the north slope of which was cleared ground.

By General Grant's directions the Sixth Corps had been following my
route of march since the discovery, about 9 o'clock in the morning,
that Lee had decamped from Amelia Court House.  Grant had promptly
informed me of this in a note, saying, "The Sixth Corps will go in with
a vim any place you may dictate," so when I sent word to Wright of the
enemy's isolation, and asked him to hurry on with all speed, his
gallant corps came as fast as legs could carry them, he sending to me
successively Major McClellan and Colonel Franklin, of his staff, to
report his approach.



pb273-Wright.jpg (76K)



I was well advised as to the position of the enemy through information
brought me by an intelligent young soldier, William A. Richardson,
Company "A," Second Ohio, who, in one of the cavalry charges on
Anderson, had cleared the barricades and made his way back to my front
through Ewell's line.  Richardson had told me just how the main body of
the enemy was posted, so as Seymour's division arrived I directed
General Wright to put it on the right of the road, while Wheaton's men,
coming up all hot and out of breath, promptly formed on Seymour's left.
 Both divisions thus aligned faced southwest toward Sailor's Creek, and
the artillery of the corps being massed to the left and front of the
Hibbon house, without waiting for Getty's division—for I feared that if
we delayed longer the enemy might effect his escape toward
Farmville—the general attack was begun.  Seymour and Wheaton, moving
forward together, assailed the enemy's front and left, and Stagg's
brigade, too, which in the mean time had been placed between Wheaton's
left and Devin's right, went at him along with them, Merritt and Crook
resuming the fight from their positions in front of Anderson.  The
enemy, seeing little chance of escape, fought like a tiger at bay, but
both Seymour and Wheaton pressed him vigorously, gaining ground at all
points except just to the right of the road, where Seymour's left was
checked. Here the Confederates burst back on us in a counter-charge,
surging down almost to the creek, but the artillery, supported by
Getty, who in the mean time had come on the ground, opened on them so
terribly that this audacious and furious onset was completely broken,
though the gallant fellows fell back to their original line doggedly,
and not until after they had almost gained the creek.  Ewell was now
hemmed in on every side, and all those under his immediate command were
captured.  Merritt and Crook had also broken up Anderson by this time,
but he himself, and about two thousand disorganized men escaped by
making their way through the woods toward the Appomattox River before
they could be entirely enveloped.  Night had fallen when the fight was
entirely over, but Devin was pushed on in pursuit for about two miles,
part of the Sixth Corps following to clinch a victory which not only
led to the annihilation of one corps of Lee's retreating army, but
obliged Longstreet to move up to Farmville, so as to take a road north
of the Appomattox River toward Lynchburg instead of continuing toward
Danville.



pb185.jpg (43K)



At the close of the battle I sent one of my staff—Colonel Redwood
Price—to General Grant to report what had been done; that we had taken
six generals and from nine to ten thousand prisoners.  On his way Price
stopped at the headquarters of General Meade, where he learned that not
the slightest intelligence of the occurrence on my line had been
received, for I not being under Meade's command, he had paid no
attention to my movements.  Price gave the story of the battle, and
General Meade, realizing its importance, sent directions immediately to
General Wright to make his report of the engagement to the headquarters
of the Army of the Potomac, assuming that Wright was operating
independently of me in the face of Grant's despatch Of 2 o'clock, which
said that Wright was following the cavalry and would "go in with a vim"
wherever I dictated.  Wright could not do else than comply with Meade's
orders in the case, and I, being then in ignorance of Meade's reasons
for the assumption, could say nothing. But General Grant plainly
intending, and even directing, that the corps should be under my
command, remedied this phase of the matter, when informed of what had
taken place, by requiring Wright to send a report of the battle through
me.  What he then did, and what his intentions and orders were, are
further confirmed by a reference to the episode in his "Memoirs," where
he gives his reasons for ordering the Sixth Corps to abandon the move
on Amelia Court House and pass to the left of the army.  On the same
page he also says, referring to the 6th of April: "The Sixth Corps now
remained with the cavalry under Sheridan's direct command until after
the surrender."  He unquestionably intended all of this, but his
purpose was partly frustrated by General Meade's action next morning in
assuming direction of the movements of the corps; and before General
Grant became aware of the actual conditions the surrender was at hand.



CHAPTER VIII.


LINCOLN'S LACONIC DESPATCH—CAPTURING LEE'S SUPPLIES—DELIGHTED
ENGINEERS—THE CONFEDERATES' LAST EFFORT—A FLAG OF TRUCE—GENERAL GEARY'S
"LAST DITCH" ABSURDITY—MEETING OF GRANT AND LEE—THE SURRENDER—ESTIMATE
OF GENERAL GRANT.

The first report of the battle of Sailor's Creek that General Grant
received was, as already stated, an oral message carried by Colonel
Price, of my staff.  Near midnight I sent a despatch giving the names
of the generals captured.  These were Ewell, Kershaw, Barton, Corse,
Dubose, and Custis Lee.  In the same despatch I wrote: "If the thing is
pressed, I think that Lee will surrender."  When Mr. Lincoln, at City
Point, received this word from General Grant, who was transmitting
every item of news to the President, he telegraphed Grant the laconic
message: "Let the thing be pressed." The morning of the 7th we moved
out at a very early hour, Crook's division marching toward Farmville in
direct pursuit, while Merritt and Mackenzie were ordered to Prince
Edward's Court House to anticipate any effort Lee might make to escape
through that place toward Danville since it had been discovered that
Longstreet had slipped away already from the front of General Ord's
troops at Rice's Station.  Crook overtook the main body of the
Confederates at Farmville, and promptly attacked their trains on the
north side of the Appomattox with Gregg's brigade, which was fiercely
turned upon and forced to re-cross the river with the loss of a number
of prisoner's, among them Gregg himself.  When Crook sent word of this
fight, it was clear that Lee had abandoned all effort to escape to the
southwest by way of Danville.  Lynchburg was undoubtedly his objective
point now; so, resolving to throw my cavalry again across his path, and
hold him till the infantry could overtake him, I directed everything on
Appomattox depot, recalling Crook the night of the 7th to Prospect
Station, while Merritt camped at Buffalo Creek, and Mackenzie made a
reconnoissance along the Lynchburg railroad.

At break of day, April 8, Merritt and Mackenzie united with Crook at
Prospect Station, and the cavalry all moved then toward Appomattox
depot.  Hardly had it started when one of the scouts—Sergeant
White—informed me that there were four trains of cars at the depot
loaded with supplies for Lee's army; these had been sent from
Lynchburg, in compliance with the telegram of Lee's commissary-general,
which message, it will be remembered, was captured and transmitted to
Lynchburg by two of Young's scouts on the 4th.  Sergeant White, who had
been on the lookout for the trains ever since sending the despatch,
found them several miles west of Appomattox depot feeling their way
along, in ignorance of Lee's exact position.  As he had the original
despatch with him, and took pains to dwell upon the pitiable condition
of Lee's army, he had little difficulty in persuading the men in charge
of the trains to bring them east of Appomattox Station, but fearing
that the true state of affairs would be learned before long, and the
trains be returned to Lynchburg, he was painfully anxious to have them
cut off by breaking the track west of the station.

The intelligence as to the trains was immediately despatched to Crook,
and I pushed on to join him with Merritt's command.  Custer having the
advance, moved rapidly, and on nearing the station detailed two
regiments to make a detour southward to strike the railroad some
distance beyond and break the track.  These regiments set off at a
gallop, and in short order broke up the railroad enough to prevent the
escape of the trains, Custer meanwhile taking possession of the
station, but none too soon, for almost at the moment he did so the
advance-guard of Lee's army appeared, bent on securing the trains. 
Without halting to look after the cars further, Custer attacked this
advance-guard and had a spirited fight, in which he drove the
Confederates away from the station, captured twenty-five pieces of
artillery, a hospital train, and a large park of wagons, which, in the
hope that they would reach Lynchburg next day, were being pushed ahead
of Lee's main body.

Devin coming up a little before dusk, was put in on the right of
Custer, and one of Crook's brigades was sent to our left and the other
two held in reserve.  I then forced the enemy back on the Appomattox
road to the vicinity of the Court House, and that the Confederates
might have no rest, gave orders to continue the skirmishing throughout
the night.  Meanwhile the captured trains had been taken charge of by
locomotive engineers, soldiers of the command, who were delighted
evidently to get back at their old calling.  They amused themselves by
running the trains to and fro, creating much confusion, and keeping up
such an unearthly screeching with the whistles that I was on the point
of ordering the cars burned.  They finally wearied of their fun,
however, and ran the trains off to the east toward General Ord's
column.

The night of the 8th I made my headquarters at a little frame house
just south of the station.  I did not sleep at all, nor did anybody
else, the entire command being up all night long; indeed, there had
been little rest in the, cavalry for the past eight days.  The
necessity of getting Ord's column up was so obvious now that
staff-officer after staff-officer was sent to him and to General Grant
requesting that the infantry be pushed on, for if it could get to the
front, all knew that the rebellion would be ended on the morrow.
Merritt, Crook, Custer, and Devin were present at frequent intervals
during the night, and everybody was overjoyed at the prospect that our
weary work was about to end so happily.  Before sun-up General Ord
arrived, and informed me of the approach of his column, it having been
marching the whole night.  As he ranked me, of course I could give him
no orders, so after a hasty consultation as to where his troops should
be placed we separated, I riding to the front to overlook my line near
Appomattox Court House, while he went back to urge along his weary
troops.

The night before General Lee had held a council with his principal
generals, when it was arranged that in the morning General Gordon
should undertake to break through my cavalry, and when I neared my
troops this movement was beginning, a heavy line of infantry bearing
down on us from the direction of the village.  In front of Crook and
Mackenzie firing had already begun, so riding to a slight elevation
where a good view of the Confederates could be had, I there came to the
conclusion that it would be unwise to offer more resistance than that
necessary to give Ord time to form, so I directed Merritt to fall back,
and in retiring to shift Devin and Custer to the right so as to make
room for Ord, now in the woods to my rear.  Crook, who with his own and
Mackenzie's divisions was on my extreme left covering some by-roads,
was ordered to hold his ground as long as practicable without
sacrificing his men, and, if forced to retire, to contest with
obstinacy the enemy's advance.

As already stated, I could not direct General Ord's course, he being my
senior, but hastily galloping back to where he was, at the edge of the
timber, I explained to him what was taking place at the front.
Merritt's withdrawal inspired the Confederates, who forthwith began to
press Crook, their line of battle advancing with confidence till it
reached the crest whence I had reconnoitred them.  From this ground
they could see Ord's men emerging from the woods, and the hopelessness
of a further attack being plain, the gray lines instinctively halted,
and then began to retire toward a ridge immediately fronting Appomattox
Court House, while Ord, joined on his right by the Fifth Corps,
advanced on them over the ground that Merritt had abandoned.

I now directed my steps toward Merritt, who, having mounted his
troopers, had moved them off to the right, and by the time I reached
his headquarters flag he was ready for work, so a move on the enemy's
left was ordered, and every guidon was bent to the front.  As the
cavalry marched along parallel with the Confederate line, and in toward
its left, a heavy fire of artillery opened on us, but this could not
check us at such a time, and we soon reached some high ground about
half a mile from the Court House, and from here I could see in the low
valley beyond the village the bivouac undoubtedly of Lee's army.  The
troops did not seem to be disposed in battle order, but on the other
side of the bivouac was a line of battle—a heavy
rear-guard—confronting, presumably, General Meade.

I decided to attack at once, and formations were ordered at a trot for
a charge by Custer's and Devin's divisions down the slope leading to
the camps.  Custer was soon ready, but Devin's division being in rear
its formation took longer, since he had to shift further to the right;
Devin's preparations were, therefore, but partially completed when an
aide-decamp galloped up to with the word from Custer, "Lee has
surrendered; do not charge; the white flag is up."  The enemy
perceiving that Custer was forming for attack, had sent the flag out to
his front and stopped the charge just in time.  I at once sent word of
the truce to General Ord, and hearing nothing more from Custer himself,
I supposed that he had gone down to the Court House to join a mounted
group of Confederates that I could see near there, so I, too, went
toward them, galloping down a narrow ridge, staff and orderlies
following; but we had not got half way to the Court House when, from a
skirt of timber to our right, not more than three hundred yards
distant, a musketry fire was opened on us.  This halted us, when,
waving my hat, I called out to the firing party that we were under a
truce, and they were violating it.  This did not stop them, however, so
we hastily took shelter in a ravine so situated as to throw a ridge
between us and the danger.



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We traveled in safety down this depression to its mouth, and thence by
a gentle ascent approached the Court House.  I was in advance, followed
by a sergeant carrying my battleflag.  When I got within about a
hundred and fifty yards of the enemy's line, which was immediately in
front of the Court House, some of the Confederates leveled their pieces
at us, and I again halted.  Their officers kept their men from firing,
however, but meanwhile a single-handed contest had begun behind me, for
on looking back I heard a Confederate soldier demanding my battle-flag
from the color-bearer, thinking, no doubt, that we were coming in as
prisoners.  The sergeant had drawn his sabre and was about to cut the
man down, but at a word from me he desisted and carried the flag back
to my staff, his assailant quickly realizing that the boot was on the
other leg.

These incidents determined me to remain where I was till the return of
a staff-officer whom I had sent over to demand an explanation from the
group of Confederates for which I had been heading.  He came back in a
few minutes with apologies for what had occurred, and informed me that
General Gordon and General Wilcox were the superior officers in the
group.  As they wished me to join them I rode up with my staff, but we
had hardly met when in front of Merritt firing began. At the sound I
turned to General Gordon, who seemed embarrassed by the occurrence, and
remarked: "General, your men fired on me as I was coming over here, and
undoubtedly they are treating Merritt and Custer the same way.  We
might as well let them fight it out."  He replied, "There must be some
mistake."  I then asked, "Why not send a staff-officer and have your
people cease firing; they are violating the flag." He answered, "I have
no staff-officer to send."  Whereupon I said that I would let him have
one of mine, and calling for Lieutenant Vanderbilt Allen, I directed
him to carry General Gordon's orders to General Geary, commanding a
small brigade of South Carolina cavalry, to discontinue firing.  Allen
dashed off with the message and soon delivered it, but was made a
prisoner, Geary saying, "I do not care for white flags: South
Carolinians never surrender...."  By this time Merritt's patience being
exhausted, he ordered an attack, and this in short order put an end to
General Geary's "last ditch" absurdity, and extricated Allen from his
predicament.

When quiet was restored Gordon remarked: "General Lee asks for a
suspension of hostilities pending the negotiations which he is having
with General Grant."  I rejoined: "I have been constantly informed of
the progress of the negotiations, and think it singular that while such
discussions are going on, General Lee should have continued his march
and attempted to break through my lines this morning.  I will entertain
no terms except that General Lee shall surrender to General Grant on
his arrival here.  If these terms are not accepted we will renew
hostilities."  Gordon replied: "General Lee's army is exhausted.  There
is no doubt of his surrender to General Grant."

It was then that General Ord joined us, and after shaking hands all
around, I related the situation to him, and Gordon went away agreeing
to meet us again in half an hour.  When the time was up he came back
accompanied by General Longstreet, who brought with him a despatch, the
duplicate of one that had been sent General Grant through General
Meade's lines back on the road over which Lee had been retreating.

General Longstreet renewed the assurances that already had been given
by Gordon, and I sent Colonel Newhall with the despatch to find General
Grant and bring him to the front.  When Newhall started, everything on
our side of the Appomattox Court House was quiet, for inevitable
surrender was at hand, but Longstreet feared that Meade, in ignorance
of the new conditions on my front might attack the Confederate
rearguard.  To prevent this I offered to send Colonel J. W. Forsyth
through the enemy's lines to let Meade know of my agreement, for he too
was suspicious that by a renewed correspondence Lee was endeavoring to
gain time for escape.  My offer being accepted, Forsyth set out
accompanied by Colonel Fairfax, of Longstreet's staff, and had no
difficulty in accomplishing his mission.

About five or six miles from Appomattox, on the road toward Prospect
Station near its intersection with the Walker's Church road, my
adjutant-general, Colonel Newhall, met General Grant, he having started
from north of the Appomattox River for my front the morning of April 9,
in consequence of the following despatches which had been sent him the
night before, after we had captured Appomattox Station and established
a line intercepting Lee:


"CAVALRY HEADQUARTERS, April 8, 1865—9:20 P. M.

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT,
"Commanding Armies of the U.  S.

"General: I marched early this morning from Buffalo Creek and Prospect
Station on Appomattox Station, where my scouts had reported trains of
cars with supplies for Lee's army.  A short time before dark General
Custer, who had the advance, made a dash at the station, capturing four
trains of supplies with locomotives.  One of the trains was burned and
the others were run back toward Farmville for security.  Custer then
pushed on toward Appomattox Court House, driving the enemy—who kept up
a heavy fire of artillery—charging them repeatedly and capturing, as
far as reported, twenty-five pieces of artillery and a number of
prisoners and wagons.  The First Cavalry Division supported him on the
right.  A reconnoissance sent across the Appomattox reports the enemy
moving on the Cumberland road to Appomattox Station, where they expect
to get supplies.  Custer is still pushing on.  If General Gibbon and
the Fifth Corps can get up to-night, we will perhaps finish the job in
the morning.  I do not think Lee means to surrender until compelled to
do so.

"P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General."



"HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY, April 8, 1865—9:40 p.m.

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
"Commanding Armies U. S.

"GENERAL: Since writing the accompanying despatch, General Custer
reports that his command has captured in all thirty-five pieces of
artillery, one thousand prisoners—including one general officer—and
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred wagons.

"P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General."

In attempting to conduct the lieutenant-general and staff back by a
short route, Newhall lost his bearings for a time, inclining in toward
the enemy's lines too far, but regained the proper direction without
serious loss of time.  General Grant arrived about 1 o'clock in the
afternoon, Ord and I, dismounted, meeting him at the edge of the town,
or crossroads, for it was little more.  He remaining mounted, spoke
first to me, saying simply,

"How are you, Sheridan?"  I assured him with thanks that I was
"first-rate," when, pointing toward the village, he asked, "Is General
Lee up there?" and I replied: "There is his army down in that valley,
and he himself is over in that house (designating McLean's house)
waiting to surrender to you."  The General then said, "Come, let us go
over," this last remark being addressed to both Ord and me. We two then
mounted and joined him, while our staff-officers followed,
intermingling with those of the general-in-chief as the cavalcade took
its way to McLean's house near by, and where General Lee had arrived
some time before, in consequence of a message from General Grant
consenting to the interview asked for by Lee through Meade's front that
morning—the consent having been carried by Colonel Babcock.

When I entered McLean's house General Lee was standing, as was also his
military secretary, Colonel Marshall, his only staff-officer present. 
General Lee was dressed in a new uniform and wore a handsome sword. 
His tall, commanding form thus set off contrasted strongly with the
short figure of General Grant, clothed as he was in a soiled suit,
without sword or other insignia of his position except a pair of dingy
shoulder-straps.  After being presented, Ord and I, and nearly all of
General Grant's staff, withdrew to await the agreement as to terms, and
in a little while Colonel Babcock came to the door and said, "The
surrender had been made; you can come in again."

When we re-entered General Grant was writing; and General Lee, having
in his hand two despatches, which I that morning requested might be
returned, as I had no copies of them, addressed me with the remark: "I
am sorry.  It is probable that my cavalry at that point of the line did
not fully understand the agreement." These despatches had been sent in
the forenoon, after the fighting had been stopped, notifying General
Lee that some of his cavalry in front of Crook was violating the
suspension of hostilities by withdrawing.  About 3 o'clock in the
afternoon the terms of surrender were written out and accepted, and
General Lee left the house, as he departed cordially shaking hands with
General Grant.  A moment later he mounted his chunky gray horse, and
lifting his hat as he passed out of the yard, rode off toward his army,
his arrival there being announced to us by cheering, which, as it
progressed, varying in loudness, told he was riding through the bivouac
of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The surrender of General Lee practically ended the war of the
rebellion.  For four years his army had been the main-stay of the
Confederacy; and the marked ability with which he directed its
operations is evidenced both by his frequent successes and the length
of time he kept up the contest.  Indeed, it may be said that till
General Grant was matched against him, he never met an opponent he did
not vanquish, for while it is true that defeat was inflicted on the
Confederates at Antietam and Gettysburg, yet the fruits of these
victories were not gathered, for after each of these battles Lee was
left unmolested till he had a chance to recuperate.

The assignment of General Grant to the command of the Union armies in
the winter of 1863-64 gave presage of success from the start, for his
eminent abilities had already been proved, and besides, he was a tower
of strength to the Government, because he had the confidence of the
people.  They knew that henceforth systematic direction would be given
to our armies in every section of the vast territory over which active
operations were being prosecuted, and further, that this coherence,
this harmony of plan, was the one thing needed to end the war, for in
the three preceding years there had been illustrated most lamentable
effects of the absence of system.  From the moment he set our armies in
motion simultaneously, in the spring of 1864, it could be seen that we
should be victorious ultimately, for though on different lines we were
checked now and then, yet we were harassing the Confederacy at so many
vital points that plainly it must yield to our blows.  Against Lee's
army, the forefront of the Confederacy, Grant pitted himself; and it
may be said that the Confederate commander was now, for the first time,
overmatched, for against all his devices—the products of a mind fertile
in defense—General Grant brought to bear not only the wealth of
expedient which had hitherto distinguished him, but also an
imperturbable tenacity, particularly in the Wilderness and on the march
to the James, without which the almost insurmountable obstacles of that
campaign could not have been overcome.  During it and in the siege of
Petersburg he met with many disappointments—on several occasions the
shortcomings of generals, when at the point of success, leading to
wretched failures.  But so far as he was concerned, the only apparent
effect of these discomfitures was to make him all the more determined
to discharge successfully the stupendous trust committed to his care,
and to bring into play the manifold resources of his well ordered
military mind. He guided every subordinate then, and in the last days
of the rebellion, with a fund of common sense and superiority of
intellect, which have left an impress so distinct as to exhibit his
great personality.  When his military history is analyzed after the
lapse of years, it will show, even more clearly than now, that during
these as well as in his previous campaigns he was the steadfast Centre
about and on which everything else turned.



CHAPTER IX.


ORDERED TO GREENSBORO', N. C.—MARCH TO THE DAN RIVER—ASSIGNED TO THE
COMMAND WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI—LEAVING WASHINGTON—FLIGHT OF GENERAL
EARLY—MAXIMILIAN—MAKING DEMONSTRATIONS ON THE UPPER RIO
GRANDE—CONFEDERATES JOIN MAXIMILIAN—THE FRENCH INVASION OF MEXICO AND
ITS RELATIONS TO THE REBELLION—ASSISTING THE LIBERALS—RESTORATION OF
THE REPUBLIC.



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The surrender at Appomattox put a stop to all military operations on
the part of General Grant's forces, and the morning of April 10 my
cavalry began its march to Petersburg, the men anticipating that they
would soon be mustered out and returned to their homes.  At Nottoway
Court House I heard of the assassination of the President.  The first
news came to us the night after the dastardly deed, the telegraph
operator having taken it from the wires while in transmission to
General Meade.  The despatch ran that Mr. Lincoln had been, shot at 10
o'clock that morning at Willard's Hotel, but as I could conceive of
nothing to take the President there I set the story down as a canard,
and went to bed without giving it further thought.  Next morning,
however, an official telegram confirmed the fact of the assassination,
though eliminating the distorted circumstances that had been
communicated the night before.

When we reached Petersburg my column was halted, and instructions given
me to march the cavalry and the Sixth Corps to Greensboro', North
Carolina, for the purpose of aiding General Sherman (the surrender of
General Johnston having not yet been effected), so I made the necessary
preparations and moved on the 24th of April, arriving at South Boston,
on the Dan River, the 28th, the Sixth Corps having reached Danville
meanwhile.  At South Boston I received a despatch from General Halleck,
who immediately after Lee's surrender had been assigned to command at
Richmond, informing me that General Johnston had been brought to terms.
 The necessity for going farther south being thus obviated we retraced
our steps to Petersburg, from which place I proceeded by steamer to
Washington, leaving, the cavalry to be marched thither by easy stages.

The day after my arrival in Washington an important order was sent me,
accompanied by the following letter of instructions, transferring me to
a new field of operations:


"HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
"Washington, D. C., May 17, 1865.

"GENERAL: Under the orders relieving you from the command of the Middle
Military Division and assigning you to command west of the Mississippi,
you will proceed without delay to the West to arrange all preliminaries
for your new field of duties.

"Your duty is to restore Texas, and that part of Louisiana held by the
enemy, to the Union in the shortest practicable time, in a way most
effectual for securing permanent peace.

"To do this, you will be given all the troops that can be spared by
Major-General Canby, probably twenty-five thousand men of all arms; the
troops with Major-General J. J. Reynolds, in Arkansas, say twelve
thousand, Reynolds to command; the Fourth Army Corps, now at Nashville,
Tennessee, awaiting orders; and the Twenty-Fifth Army Corps, now at
City Point, Virginia, ready to embark.

"I do not wish to trammel you with instructions; I will state, however,
that if Smith holds out, without even an ostensible government to
receive orders from or to report to, he and his men are not entitled to
the considerations due to an acknowledged belligerent.  Theirs are the
conditions of outlaws, making war against the only Government having an
existence over the territory where war is now being waged.

"You may notify the rebel commander west of the Mississippi—holding
intercourse with him in person, or through such officers of the rank of
major-general as you may select—that he will be allowed to surrender
all his forces on the same terms as were accorded to Lee and Johnston. 
If he accedes, proceed to garrison the Red River as high up as
Shreveport, the seaboard at Galveston, Malagorda Bay, Corpus Christi,
and mouth of the Rio Grande.

"Place a strong force on the Rio Grande, holding it at least to a point
opposite Camargo, and above that if supplies can be procured.

"In case of an active campaign (a hostile one) I think a heavy force
should be put on the Rio Grande as a first preliminary.  Troops for
this might be started at once.  The Twenty-Fifth Corps is now
available, and to it should be added a force of white troops, say those
now under Major-General Steele.

"To be clear on this last point, I think the Rio Grande should be
strongly held, whether the forces in Texas surrender or not, and that
no time should be lost in getting troops there.  If war is to be made,
they will be in the right place; if Kirby Smith surrenders, they will
be on the line which is to be strongly garrisoned.

"Should any force be necessary other than those designated, they can be
had by calling for them on Army Headquarters.

"U. S. GRANT,
"Lieutenant-General.


"To MAJOR-GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN,
"United States Army."

On receipt of these instructions I called at once on General Grant, to
see if they were to be considered so pressing as to preclude my
remaining in Washington till after the Grand Review, which was fixed
for the 23d and 24th of May, for naturally I had a strong desire to
head my command on that great occasion.  But the General told me that
it was absolutely necessary to go at once to force the surrender of the
Confederates under Kirby Smith.  He also told me that the States lately
in rebellion would be embraced in two or three military departments,
the commanders of which would control civil affairs until Congress took
action about restoring them to the Union, since that course would not
only be economical and simple, but would give the Southern people
confidence, and encourage them to go to work, instead of distracting
them with politics.

At this same interview he informed me that there was an additional
motive in sending me to the new command, a motive not explained by the
instructions themselves, and went on to say that, as a matter of fact,
he looked upon the invasion of Mexico by Maximilian as a part of the
rebellion itself, because of the encouragement that invasion had
received from the Confederacy, and that our success in putting down
secession would never be complete till the French and Austrian invaders
were compelled to quit the territory of our sister republic. With
regard to this matter, though, he said it would be necessary for me to
act with great circumspection, since the Secretary of State, Mr.
Seward, was much opposed to the use of our troops along the border in
any active way that would be likely to involve us in a war with
European powers.

Under the circumstances, my disappointment at not being permitted to
participate in the review had to be submitted to, and I left Washington
without an opportunity of seeing again in a body the men who, while
under my command, had gone through so many trials and unremittingly
pursued and, assailed the enemy, from the beginning of the campaign of
1864 till the white flag came into their hands at Appomattox Court
House.

I went first to St. Louis, and there took the steamboat for New
Orleans, and when near the mouth of the Red River received word from
General Canby that Kirby Smith had surrendered under terms similar to
those accorded Lee and Johnston.  But the surrender was not carried out
in good faith, particularly by the Texas troops, though this I did not
learn till some little time afterward when I was informed that they had
marched off to the interior of the State in several organized bodies,
carrying with them their camp equipage, arms, ammunition, and even some
artillery, with the ultimate purpose of going to Mexico.  In
consequence of this, and also because of the desire of the Government
to make a strong showing of force in Texas, I decided to traverse the
State with two columns of cavalry, directing one to San Antonio under
Merritt, the other to Houston under Custer.  Both commands were to
start from the Red River—Shreveport and Alexandria—being the respective
initial points—and in organizing the columns, to the mounted force
already on the Red River were added several regiments of cavalry from
the east bank of the, Mississippi, and in a singular way one of these
fell upon the trail of my old antagonist, General Early.  While
crossing the river somewhere below Vicksburg some of the men noticed a
suspicious looking party being ferried over in a rowboat, behind which
two horses were swimming in tow.  Chase was given, and the horses,
being abandoned by the party, fell into the hands of our troopers, who,
however, failed to capture or identify the people in the boat.  As
subsequently ascertained, the men were companions of Early, who was
already across the Mississippi, hidden in the woods, on his way with
two or three of these followers to join the Confederates in Texas, not
having heard of Kirby Smith's surrender.  A week or two later I
received a letter from Early describing the affair, and the capture of
the horses, for which he claimed pay, on the ground that they were
private property, because he had taken them in battle.  The letter also
said that any further pursuit of Early would be useless, as he
"expected to be on the deep blue sea" by the time his communication
reached me.  The unfortunate man was fleeing from imaginary dangers,
however, for striking his trail was purely accidental, and no effort
whatever was being made to arrest him personally.  Had this been
especially desired it might have been accomplished very readily just
after Lee's surrender, for it was an open secret that Early was then
not far away, pretty badly disabled with rheumatism.

By the time the two columns were ready to set out for San Antonio and
Houston, General Frank Herron,—with one division of the Thirteenth
Corps, occupied Galveston, and another division under General Fred
Steele had gone to Brazos Santiago, to hold Brownsville and the line of
the Rio Grande, the object being to prevent, as far as possible, the
escaping Confederates from joining Maximilian.  With this purpose in
view, and not forgetting Grant's conviction that the French invasion of
Mexico was linked with the rebellion, I asked for an increase of force
to send troops into Texas in fact, to concentrate at available points
in the State an army strong enough to move against the invaders of
Mexico if occasion demanded.  The Fourth and Twenty-fifth army corps
being ordered to report to me, accordingly, I sent the Fourth Corps to
Victoria and San Antonio, and the bulk of the Twenty-fifth to
Brownsville.  Then came the feeding and caring for all these troops—a
difficult matter—for those at Victoria and San Antonio had to be
provisioned overland from Indianola across the "hog-wallow prairie,"
while the supplies for the forces at Brownsville and along the Rio
Grande must come by way of Brazos Santiago, from which point I was
obliged to construct, with the labor of the men, a railroad to
Clarksville, a distance of about eighteen miles.

The latter part of June I repaired to Brownsville myself to impress the
Imperialists, as much as possible, with the idea that we intended
hostilities, and took along my chief of scouts—Major Young—and four of
his most trusty men, whom I had had sent from Washington.  From
Brownsville I despatched all these men to important points in northern
Mexico, to glean information regarding the movements of the Imperial
forces, and also to gather intelligence about the ex-Confederates who
had crossed the Rio Grande.  On information furnished by these scouts,
I caused General Steele to make demonstrations all along the lower Rio
Grande, and at the same time demanded the return of certain munitions
of war that had been turned over by ex-Confederates to the Imperial
General (Mejia) commanding at Matamoras.  These demands, backed up as
they were by such a formidable show of force created much agitation and
demoralization among the Imperial troops, and measures looking to the
abandonment of northern Mexico were forthwith adopted by those in
authority—a policy that would have resulted in the speedy evacuation of
the entire country by Maximilian, had not our Government weakened;
contenting itself with a few pieces of the contraband artillery
varnished over with the Imperial apologies.  A golden opportunity was
lost, for we had ample excuse for crossing the boundary, but Mr. Seward
being, as I have already stated, unalterably opposed to any act likely
to involve us in war, insisted on his course of negotiation with
Napoleon.

As the summer wore away, Maximilian, under Mr. Seward's policy, gained
in strength till finally all the accessible sections of Mexico were in
his possession, and the Republic under President Juarez almost
succumbed.  Growing impatient at this, in the latter part of September
I decided to try again what virtue there might be in a hostile
demonstration, and selected the upper Rio Grande for the scene of my
attempt.  Merritt's cavalry and the Fourth Corps still being at San
Antonio, I went to that place and reviewed these troops, and having
prepared them with some ostentation for a campaign, of course it was
bruited about that we were going to invade Mexico. Then, escorted by a
regiment of horse I proceeded hastily to Fort Duncan, on the Rio Grande
just opposite the Mexican town of Piedras Negras.  Here I opened
communication with President Juarez, through one of his staff, taking
care not to do this in the dark, and the news, spreading like wildfire,
the greatest significance was ascribed to my action, it being reported
most positively and with many specific details that I was only awaiting
the arrival of the troops, then under marching orders at San Antonio,
to cross the Rio Grande in behalf of the Liberal cause.

Ample corroboration of the reports then circulated was found in my
inquiries regarding the quantity of forage we could depend upon getting
in Mexico, our arrangements for its purchase, and my sending a pontoon
train to Brownsville, together with which was cited the renewed
activity of the troops along the lower Rio Grande.  These reports and
demonstrations resulted in alarming the Imperialists so much that they
withdrew the French and Austrian soldiers from Matamoras, and
practically abandoned the whole of northern Mexico as far down as
Monterey, with the exception of Matamoras, where General Mejia
continued to hang on with a garrison of renegade Mexicans.

The abandonment of so much territory in northern Mexico encouraged
General Escobedo and other Liberal leaders to such a degree that they
collected a considerable army of their followers at Comargo, Mier, and
other points.  At the same time that unknown quantity, Cortinas,
suspended his free-booting for the nonce, and stoutly harassing
Matamoras, succeeded in keeping its Imperial garrison within the
fortifications.  Thus countenanced and stimulated, and largely supplied
with arms and ammunition, which we left at convenient places on our
side of the river to fall into their hands, the Liberals, under General
Escobedo—a man of much force of character—were enabled in northern
Mexico to place the affairs of the Republic on a substantial basis.

But in the midst of what bade fair to cause a final withdrawal of the
foreigners, we were again checked by our Government, as a result of
representations of the French Minister at Washington.  In October, he
wrote to Mr. Seward that the United States troops on the Rio Grande
were acting "in exact opposition to the repeated assurances Your
Excellency has given me concerning the desire of the Cabinet at
Washington to preserve the most strict neutrality in the events now
taking place in Mexico," and followed this statement with an emphatic
protest against our course.  Without any investigation whatever by our
State Department, this letter of the French Minister was transmitted to
me, accompanied by directions to preserve a strict neutrality; so, of
course, we were again debarred from anything like active sympathy.

After this, it required the patience of Job to abide the slow and poky
methods of our State Department, and, in truth, it was often very
difficult to restrain officers and men from crossing the Rio Grande
with hostile purpose.  Within the knowledge of my troops, there had
gone on formerly the transfer of organized bodies of ex-Confederates to
Mexico, in aid of the Imperialists, and at this period it was known
that there was in preparation an immigration scheme having in view the
colonizing, at Cordova and one or two other places, of all the
discontented elements of the defunct Confederacy—Generals Price,
Magruder, Maury, and other high personages being promoters of the
enterprise, which Maximilian took to readily.  He saw in it the
possibilities of a staunch support to his throne, and therefore not
only sanctioned the project, but encouraged it with large grants of
land, inspirited the promoters with titles of nobility, and, in
addition, instituted a system of peonage, expecting that the silver
hook thus baited would be largely swallowed by the Southern people.

The announcement of the scheme was followed by the appointment of
commissioners in each of the Southern States to send out emigrants; but
before any were deluded into starting, I made to General Grant a report
of what was going on, with the recommendation that measures be taken,
through our State Department, looking to the suppression of the colony;
but, as usual, nothing could be effected through that channel; so, as
an alternative, I published, in April, 1866, by authority of General
Grant, an order prohibiting the embarkation from ports in Louisiana and
Texas, for ports in Mexico, of any person without a permit from my
headquarters.  This dampened the ardor of everybody in the Gulf States
who had planned to go to Mexico; and although the projectors of the
Cordova Colonization Scheme—the name by which it was known—secured a
few innocents from other districts, yet this set-back led ultimately to
failure.

Among the Liberal leaders along the Rio Grande during this period there
sprang up many factional differences from various causes, some
personal, others political, and some, I regret to say, from downright
moral obliquity—as, for example, those between Cortinas and
Canales—who, though generally hostile to the Imperialists, were
freebooters enough to take a shy at each other frequently, and now and
then even to join forces against Escobedo, unless we prevented them by
coaxing or threats.  A general who could unite these several factions
was therefore greatly needed, and on my return to New Orleans I so
telegraphed General Grant, and he, thinking General Caravajal (then in
Washington seeking aid for the Republic) would answer the purpose,
persuaded him to report to me in New Orleans.  Caravajal promptly
appeared, but he did not impress me very favorably.  He was old and
cranky, yet, as he seemed anxious to do his best, I sent him over to
Brownsville, with credentials, authorizing him to cross into Mexico,
and followed him myself by the next boat.  When I arrived in
Brownsville, matters in Matamoras had already reached a crisis. General
Mejia, feeling keenly the moral support we were giving the Liberals,
and hard pressed by the harassing attacks of Cortinas and Canales, had
abandoned the place, and Caravajal, because of his credentials from our
side, was in command, much to the dissatisfaction of both those chiefs
whose differences it was intended he should reconcile.

The, day after I got to Brownsville I visited Matamoras, and had a long
interview with Caravajal.  The outcome of this meeting was, on my part,
a stronger conviction than ever that he was unsuitable, and I feared
that either Canales or Cortinas would get possession of the city. 
Caravajal made too many professions of what he would do—in short,
bragged too much—but as there was no help for the situation, I made the
best of it by trying to smooth down the ruffled feathers of Canales and
Cortinas.  In my interview with Caravajal I recommended Major Young as
a confidential man, whom he could rely upon as a "go-between" for
communicating with our people at Brownsville, and whom he could trust
to keep him informed of the affairs of his own country as well.

A day or two afterward I recrossed the Gulf to New Orleans, and then,
being called from my headquarters to the interior of Texas, a fortnight
passed before I heard anything from Brownsville.  In the meanwhile
Major Young had come to New Orleans, and organized there a band of men
to act as a body-guard for Caravajal, the old wretch having induced him
to accept the proposition by representing that it had my concurrence. 
I at once condemned the whole business, but Young, having been
furnished with seven thousand dollars to recruit the men and buy their
arms, had already secured both, and was so deeply involved in the
transaction, he said, that he could not withdraw without dishonor, and
with tears in his eyes he besought me to help him.  He told me he had
entered upon the adventure in the firm belief that I would countenance
it; that the men and their equipment were on his hands; that he must
make good his word at all hazards; and that while I need not approve,
yet I must go far enough to consent to the departure of the men, and to
loan him the money necessary to provision his party and hire a schooner
to carry them to Brazos.  It was hard in deed to resist the appeals of
this man, who had served me so long and so well, and the result of his
pleading was that I gave him permission to sail, and also loaned him
the sum asked for; but I have never ceased to regret my consent, for
misfortune fell upon the enterprise almost from its inception.

By the time the party got across the Gulf and over to Brownsville,
Caravajal had been deposed by Canales, and the latter would not accept
their services.  This left Young with about fifty men to whom he was
accountable, and as he had no money to procure them subsistence, they
were in a bad fix.  The only thing left to do was to tender their
services to General Escobedo, and with this in view the party set out
to reach the General's camp, marching up the Rio Grande on the American
side, intending to cross near Ringgold Bar racks.  In advance of them,
however, had spread far and wide the tidings of who they were, what
they proposed to do, and where they were going, and before they could
cross into Mexico they were attacked by a party of ex-Confederates and 
renegade Mexican rancheros.  Being on American soil, Young forbade his
men to return the fire, and bent all his efforts to getting them over
the river; but in this attempt they were broken up, and became
completely demoralized.  A number of the men were drowned while
swimming the river, Young himself was shot and killed, a few were
captured, and those who escaped—about twenty in all—finally joined
Escobedo, but in such a  plight as to be of little use.  With this
distressing affair came to an end pretty much all open participation of
American sympathizers with the Liberal cause, but the moral support
afforded by the presence of our forces continued, and this was
frequently supplemented with material aid in the shape of munitions of
war, which we liberally supplied, though constrained to do so by the
most secret methods.

The term of office of Juarez as President of the Mexican Republic
expired in December, 1865, but to meet existing exigencies he had
continued himself in office by proclamation, a course rendered
necessary by the fact that no elections could be held on account of the
Imperial occupation of most of the country.  The official who, by the
Mexican Constitution, is designated for the succession in such an
emergency, is the President of the Supreme Court, and the person then
eligible under this provision was General Ortega, but in the interest
of the Imperialists he had absented himself from Mexico, hence the
patriotic course of Juarez in continuing himself at the head of affairs
was a necessity of the situation.  This action of the President gave
the Imperialists little concern at first, but with the revival of the
Liberal cause they availed themselves of every means to divide its
supporters, and Ortega, who had been lying low in the United States,
now came forward to claim the Presidency.  Though ridiculously late for
such a step, his first act was to issue a manifesto protesting against
the assumption of the executive authority by Juarez.  The protest had
little effect, however, and his next proceeding was to come to New
Orleans, get into correspondence with other disaffected Mexicans, and
thus perfect his plans.  When he thought his intrigue ripe enough for
action, he sailed for Brazos, intending to cross the Rio Grande and
assert his claims with arms. While he was scheming in New Orleans,
however, I had learned what he was up to, and in advance of his
departure had sent instructions to have him arrested on American soil. 
Colonel Sedgwick, commanding at Brownsville, was now temporary master
of Matamoras also, by reason of having stationed some American troops
there for the protection of neutral merchants, so when Ortega appeared
at Brazos, Sedgwick quietly arrested him and held him till the city of
Matamoras was turned over to General Escobedo, the authorized
representative of Juarez; then Escobedo took charge, of Ortega, and
with ease prevented his further machinations.

During the winter and spring of 1866 we continued covertly supplying
arms and ammunition to the Liberals—sending as many as 30,000 muskets
from Baton Rouge Arsenal alone—and by mid-summer Juarez, having
organized a pretty good sized army, was in possession of the whole line
of the Rio Grande, and, in fact, of nearly the whole of Mexico down to
San Louis Potosi.  Then thick and fast came rumors pointing to the
tottering condition of Maximilian's Empire-first, that Orizaba and Vera
Cruz were being fortified; then, that the French were to be withdrawn;
and later came the intelligence that the Empress Carlotta had gone home
to beg assistance from Napoleon, the author of all of her husband's
troubles.  But the situation forced Napoleon to turn a deaf ear to
Carlotta's prayers.  The brokenhearted woman besought him on her knees,
but his fear of losing an army made all pleadings vain.  In fact, as I
ascertained by the following cablegram which came into my hands,
Napoleon's instructions for the French evacuation were in Mexico at the
very time of this pathetic scene between him and Carlotta.  The
despatch was in cipher when I received it, but was translated by the
telegraph operator at my headquarters, who long before had mastered the
key of the French cipher:


"PARIS, January 10, 1867.  FRENCH CONSUL, New Orleans, La.

"To GENERAL CASTELNAU, at Mexico.

"Received your despatch of the 9th December.  Do not compel the Emperor
to abdicate, but do not delay the departure of the troops; bring back
all those who will not remain there.  Most of the fleet has left.

"NAPOLEON."

This meant the immediate withdrawal of the French.  The rest of the
story—which has necessarily been but in outline—is soon told.
Maximilian, though deserted, determined to hold out to the last, and
with the aid of disloyal Mexicans stuck to his cause till the spring.
When taken prisoner at Queretaro, he was tried and executed under
circumstances that are well known.  From promptings of humanity
Secretary Seward tried hard to save the Imperial prisoner, but without
success.  The Secretary's plea for mercy was sent through me at New
Orleans, and to make speed I hired a steamer to proceed with it across
the Gulf to Tampico.  The document was carried by Sergeant White, one
of my scouts, who crossed the country from Tampico, and delivered it to
Escobedo at Queretaro; but Mr. Seward's representations were without
avail—refused probably because little mercy had been shown certain
Liberal leaders unfortunate enough to fall into Maximilian's hands
during the prosperous days of his Empire.

At the close of our war there was little hope for the Republic of
Mexico.  Indeed, till our troops were concentrated on the Rio Grande
there was none.  Our appearance in such force along the border
permitted the Liberal leaders, refugees from their homes, to establish
rendezvous whence they could promulgate their plans in safety, while
the countenance thus given the cause, when hope was well-nigh gone,
incited the Mexican people to renewed resistance. Beginning again with
very scant means, for they had lost about all, the Liberals saw their
cause, under the influence of such significant and powerful backing,
progress and steadily grow so strong that within two years Imperialism
had received its death-blow.  I doubt very much whether such, results
could have been achieved without the presence of an American army on
the Rio Grande, which, be it remembered, was sent there because, in
General Grant's words, the French invasion of Mexico was so closely
related to the rebellion as to be essentially a part of it.

[Illustration]



CHAPTER X.


A. J. HAMILTON APPOINTED PROVISIONAL GOVERNOR OF TEXAS—ASSEMBLES A
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION—THE TEXANS
DISSATISFIED—LAWLESSNESS—OPPRESSIVE LEGISLATION—EX-CONFEDERATES
CONTROLLING LOUISIANA—A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION—THE MEETING
SUPPRESSED—A BLOODY RIOT—MY REPORTS OF THE MASSACRE—PORTIONS SUPPRESSED
BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON—SUSTAINED BY A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE—THE
RECONSTRUCTION LAWS.

Although in 1865-66 much of my attention was directed to international
matters along the Rio Grande, the civil affairs of Texas and Louisiana
required a certain amount of military supervision also in the absence
of regularly established civil authority.  At the time of Kirby Smith's
surrender the National Government had formulated no plan with regard to
these or the other States lately in rebellion, though a provisional
Government had been set up in Louisiana as early as 1864.  In
consequence of this lack of system, Governor Pendleton Murray, of
Texas, who was elected under Confederate rule, continued to discharge
the duties of Governor till President Johnson, on June 17, in harmony
with his amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865, appointed A. J. Hamilton
provisional Governor.  Hamilton was empowered by the President to call
a Constitutional convention, the delegates to which were to be elected,
under certain prescribed qualifications, for the purpose of organizing
the political affairs of the State, the Governor to be guided by
instructions similar to those given the provisional Governor of North
Carolina (W. W. Holden), when appointed in May.

The convening of this body gave rise to much dissatisfaction among the
people of Texas.  They had assumed that affairs were to go on as of
old, and that the reintegration of the State was to take place under
the administration of Governor Murray, who, meanwhile, had taken it
upon himself, together with the Legislature, to authorize the election
of delegates to a State Convention, without restriction as to who
should be entitled to vote.  Thus encouraged, the element but lately in
armed rebellion was now fully bent on restoring the State to the Union
without any intervention whatever of the Federal Government; but the
advent of Hamilton put an end to such illusions, since his proclamation
promptly disfranchised the element in question, whose consequent
disappointment and chagrin were so great as to render this factor of
the community almost uncontrollable.  The provisional Governor at once
rescinded the edict of Governor Murray, prohibited the assembling of
his convention, and shortly after called, one himself, the delegates to
which were to b chosen by voters who could take the amnesty-oath.  The
proclamation convening this assemblage also announced the policy that
would be pursued in governing the State until its affairs were
satisfactorily reorganized, defined in brief the course to be followed
by the Judiciary, and provided for the appointment, by the Governor, of
county officials to succeed those known to be disloyal.  As this action
of Hamilton's disfranchised all who could not take the amnesty oath,
and of course deprived them of the offices, it met at once with
pronounced and serious opposition, and he quickly realized that he had
on his hands an arduous task to protect the colored people,
particularly as in the transition state of society just after the close
of the war there prevailed much lawlessness, which vented itself
chiefly on the freedmen.  It was greatly feared that political rights
were to be given those so recently in servitude, and as it was
generally believed that such enfranchisement would precipitate a race
war unless the freedmen were overawed and kept in a state of
subjection, acts of intimidation were soon reported from all parts of
the State.

Hamilton, an able, determined, and fearless man, tried hard to curb
this terrorism, but public opinion being strong against him, he could
accomplish little without military aid.  As department commander, I was
required, whenever called upon, to assist his government, and as these
requisitions for help became necessarily very frequent, the result was
that shortly after he assumed his duties, detachments of troops were
stationed in nearly every county of the State.  By such disposition of
my forces fairly good order was maintained under the administration of
Hamilton, and all went well till the inauguration of J. W.
Throckmorton, who, elected Governor in pursuance of an authorization
granted by the convention which Hamilton had called together, assumed
the duties of the office August 9, 1866.

One of Governor Throckmorton's first acts was to ask the withdrawal or
non-interference of the military.  This was not all granted, but under
his ingenious persuasion President Johnson, on the 13th of August,
1866, directed that the new State officials be entrusted with the
unhampered control of civil affairs, and this was more than enough to
revive the bulldozing methods that had characterized the beginning of
Hamilton's administration.  Oppressive legislation in the shape of
certain apprentice and vagrant laws quickly followed, developing a
policy of gross injustice toward the colored people on the part of the
courts, and a reign of lawlessness and disorder ensued which,
throughout the remote districts of the State at least, continued till
Congress, by what are known as the Reconstruction Acts, took into its
own hands the rehabilitation of the seceded States.

In the State of Louisiana a provisional government, chosen by the loyal
element, had been put in operation, as already mentioned, as early as
1864.  This was effected under encouragement given by President
Lincoln, through the medium of a Constitutional convention, which met
at New Orleans in April, 1864, and adjourned in July.  The constitution
then agreed upon was submitted to the people, and in September, 1864,
was ratified by a vote of the few loyal residents of the State.

The government provided under this constitution being looked upon as
provisional merely, was never recognized by Congress, and in 1865 the
returned Confederates, restored to citizenship by the President's
amnesty proclamation, soon got control of almost all the State.  The
Legislature was in their hands, as well as most of the State and
municipal offices; so, when the President, on the 20th of August, 1866,
by proclamation, extended his previous instructions regarding civil
affairs in Texas so as to have them apply to all the seceded States,
there at once began in Louisiana a system of discriminative legislation
directed against the freedmen, that led to flagrant wrongs in the
enforcement of labor contracts, and in the remote parishes to numbers
of outrages and murders.

To remedy this deplorable condition of things, it was proposed, by
those who had established the government of 1864, to remodel the
constitution of the State; and they sought to do this by reassembling
the convention, that body before its adjournment having provided for
reconvening under certain conditions, in obedience to the call of its
president.  Therefore, early in the summer of 1866, many members of
this convention met in conference at New Orleans, and decided that a
necessity existed for reconvening the delegates, and a proclamation was
issued accordingly by B. K. Howell, President-pro-tempore.

Mayor John T.  Monroe and the other officials of New Orleans looked
upon this proposed action as revolutionary, and by the time the
convention assembled (July 30), such bitterness of feeling prevailed
that efforts were made by the mayor and city police to suppress the
meeting.  A bloody riot followed, resulting, in the killing and
wounding of about a hundred and sixty persons.

I happened to be absent from the city at the time, returning from
Texas, where I had been called by affairs on the Rio Grande.  On my way
up from the mouth of the Mississippi I was met on the night of July 30
by one of my staff, who reported what had occurred, giving the details
of the massacre—no milder term is fitting—and informing me that, to
prevent further slaughter, General Baird, the senior military officer
present, had assumed control of the municipal government.  On reaching
the city I made an investigation, and that night sent the following
report of the affair:


"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE GULF,
"NEW ORLEANS, LA., Aug.  1, 1866.

"GENERAL U. S. GRANT:

"You are doubtless aware of the serious riot which occurred in this
city on the 30th.  A political body, styling themselves the Convention
of 1864, met on the 30th, for, as it is alleged, the purpose of
remodeling the present constitution of the State.  The leaders were
political agitators and revolutionary men, and the action of the
convention was liable to produce breaches of the public peace.  I had
made up my mind to arrest the head men, if the proceedings of the
convention were calculated to disturb the tranquility of the
Department; but I had no cause for action until they committed the
overt act.  In the meantime official duty called me to Texas, and the
mayor of the city, during my absence suppressed the convention by the
use of the police force, and in so doing attacked the members of the
convention, and a party of two hundred negroes, with fire-arms, clubs,
and knives, in a manner so unnecessary and atrocious as to compel me to
say that it was murder. About forty whites and blacks were thus killed,
and about one hundred and sixty wounded.  Everything is now quiet, but
I deem it best to maintain a military supremacy in the city for a few
days, until the affair is fully investigated.  I believe the sentiment
of the general community is great regret at this unnecessary cruelty,
and that the police could have made any arrest they saw fit without
sacrificing lives.

"P. H. SHERIDAN,
"Major-General Commanding."


On receiving the telegram, General Grant immediately submitted it to
the President.  Much clamor being made at the North for the publication
of the despatch, Mr. Johnson pretended to give it to the newspapers. 
It appeared in the issues of August 4, but with this paragraph omitted,
viz.:


"I had made up my mind to arrest the head men, if the proceedings of
the convention were calculated to disturb the tranquility of the
Department, but I had no cause for action until they committed the
overt act.  In the mean time official duty called me to Texas, and the
mayor of the city, during my absence, suppressed the convention by the
use of the police force, and in so doing attacked the members of the
convention, and a party of two hundred negroes, with fire-arms, clubs,
and knives, in a manner so unnecessary and atrocious as to compel me to
say it was murder."

Against this garbling of my report—done by the President's own order—I
strongly demurred; and this emphatic protest marks the beginning of Mr.
Johnson's well-known personal hostility toward me.  In the mean time I
received (on August 3) the following despatch from General Grant
approving my course:



"HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
"WAR DEPT., WASHINGTON, D. C., "August 3, 1866—5 p.m.

"MAJOR-GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN,
"Commanding Mil. Div. of the Gulf,
"New Orleans, La.

"Continue to enforce martial law, so far as may be necessary to
preserve the peace; and do not allow any of the civil authorities to
act, if you deem such action dangerous to the public safety.  Lose no
time in investigating and reporting the causes that led to the riot,
and the facts which occurred.

"U. S. GRANT,
"Lieutenant-General."

In obedience to the President's directions, My report of August 1 was
followed by another, more in detail, which I give in full, since it
tells the whole story of the riot:


"HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE GULF,
"NEW ORLEANS, LA., August 6, 1866.

"His EXCELLENCY ANDREW JOHNSON,
"President United States

"I have the honor to make the following reply to your despatch of
August 4.  A very large number of colored people marched in procession
on Friday night, July twenty-seven (27), and were addressed from the
steps of the City Hall by Dr. Dostie, ex-Governor Hahn, and others. 
The speech of Dostie was intemperate in language and sentiment.  The
speeches of the others, so far as I can learn, were characterized by
moderation.  I have not given you the words of Dostie's speech, as the
version published was denied; but from what I have learned of the man,
I believe they were intemperate.

"The convention assembled at twelve (12)M. on the thirtieth (30), the
timid members absenting themselves because the tone of the general
public was ominous of trouble.  I think there were about twenty-six
(26) members present.  In front of the Mechanics Institute, where the
meeting was held, there were assembled some colored men, women, and
children, perhaps eighteen (18) or twenty (20), and in the Institute a
number of colored men, probably one hundred and fifty (150).  Among
those outside and inside there might have been a pistol in the
possession of every tenth (10) man.

"About one (1) p. m.  a procession of say from sixty (60) to one
hundred and thirty (130) colored men marched up Burgundy Street and
across Canal Street toward the convention, carrying an American flag.
These men had about one pistol to every ten men, and canes and clubs in
addition.  While crossing Canal Street a row occurred.  There were many
spectators on the street, and their manner and tone toward the
procession unfriendly.  A shot was fired, by whom I am not able to
state, but believe it to have been by a policeman, or some colored man
in the procession.  This led to other shots and a rush after the
procession.  On arrival at the front of the Institute there was some
throwing of brickbats by both sides.  The police, who had been held
well in hand, were vigorously marched to the scene of disorder.  The
procession entered the Institute with the flag, about six (6) or eight
(8) remaining outside.  A row occurred between a policeman and one of
these colored men, and a shot was again fired by one of the parties,
which led to an indiscriminate fire on the building through the windows
by the policemen.  This had been going on for a short time, when a
white flag was displayed from the windows of the Institute, whereupon
the firing ceased, and the police rushed into the building.

"From the testimony of wounded men, and others who were inside the
building, the policemen opened an indiscriminate fire upon the audience
until they had emptied their revolvers, when they retired, and those
inside barricaded the doors.  The door was broken in, and the firing
again commenced, when many of the colored and white people either
escaped throughout the door or were passed out by the policemen inside;
but as they came out the policemen who formed the circle nearest the
building fired upon them, and they were again fired upon by the
citizens that formed the outer circle.  Many of those wounded and taken
prisoners, and others who were prisoners and not wounded, were fired
upon by their captors and by citizens.  The wounded were stabbed while
lying on the ground, and their heads beaten with brickbats.  In the
yard of the building, whither some of the colored men had escaped and
partially secreted themselves, they were fired upon and killed or
wounded by policemen.  Some were killed and wounded several squares
from the scene.  Members of the convention were wounded by the police
while in their hands as prisoners, some of them mortally.

"The immediate cause of this terrible affair was the assemblage of this
Convention; the remote cause was the bitter and antagonistic feeling
which has been growing in this community since the advent of the
present Mayor, who, in the organization of his police force, selected
many desperate men, and some of them known murderers. People of clear
views were overawed by want of confidence in the Mayor, and fear of the
thugs, many of which he had selected for his police force.  I have
frequently been spoken to by prominent citizens on this subject, and
have heard them express fear, and want of confidence in Mayor Monroe. 
Ever since the intimation of this last convention movement I must
condemn the course of several of the city papers for supporting, by
their articles, the bitter feeling of bad men.  As to the merciless
manner in which the convention was broken up, I feel obliged to confess
strong repugnance.

"It is useless to disguise the hostility that exists on the part of a
great many here toward Northern men, and this unfortunate affair has so
precipitated matters that there is now a test of what shall be the
status of Northern men—whether they can live here without being in
constant dread or not, whether they can be protected in life and
property, and have justice in the courts.  If this matter is permitted
to pass over without a thorough and determined prosecution of those
engaged in it, we may look out for frequent scenes of the same kind,
not only here, but in other places.  No steps have as yet been taken by
the civil authorities to arrest citizens who were engaged in this
massacre, or policemen who perpetrated such cruelties.  The members of
the convention have been indicted by the grand jury, and many of them
arrested and held to bail.  As to whether the civil authorities can
mete out ample justice to the guilty parties on both sides, I must say
it is my opinion, unequivocally, that they cannot.  Judge Abell, whose
course I have closely watched for nearly a year, I now consider one of
the most dangerous men that we have here to the peace and quiet of the
city. The leading men of the convention—King, Cutler, Hahn, and
others—have been political agitators, and are bad men.  I regret to say
that the course of Governor Wells has been vacillating, and that during
the late trouble he has shown very little of the man.

"P. H. SHERIDAN,
"Major-General Commanding."


Subsequently a military commission investigated the subject of the
riot, taking a great deal of testimony.  The commission substantially
confirmed the conclusions given in my despatches, and still later there
was an investigation by a select committee of the House of
Representatives, of which the Honorables Samuel Shellabarger, of Ohio,
H. L. Elliot, of Massachusetts, and B. M. Boyer, of Pennsylvania, were
the members.  The majority report of the committee also corroborated,
in all essentials, my reports of the distressing occurrence.  The
committee likewise called attention to a violent speech made by Mr.
Johnson at St. Louis in September, 1866, charging the origin of the
riot to Congress, and went on to say of the speech that "it was an
unwarranted and unjust expression of hostile feeling, without pretext
or foundation in fact."  A list of the killed and wounded was embraced
in the committee's report, and among other conclusions reached were the
following: "That the meeting of July 30 was a meeting of quiet
citizens, who came together without arms and with intent peaceably to
discuss questions of public concern.... There has been no occasion
during our National history when a riot has occurred so destitute of
justifiable cause, resulting in a massacre so inhuman and fiend-like,
as that which took place at New Orleans on the 30th of July last.  This
riotous attack upon the convention, with its terrible results of
massacre and murder, was not an accident.  It was the determined
purpose of the mayor of the city of New Orleans to break up this
convention by armed force."

The statement is also made, that, "He [the President] knew that
'rebels' and 'thugs' and disloyal men had controlled the election of
Mayor Monroe, and that such men composed chiefly his police force."

The committee held that no legal government existed in Louisiana, and
recommended the temporary establishment of a provisional government
therein; the report concluding that "in the meantime the safety of all
Union men within the State demands that such government be formed for
their protection, for the well being of the nation and the permanent
peace of the Republic."

The New Orleans riot agitated the whole country, and the official and
other reports served to intensify and concentrate the opposition to
President Johnson's policy of reconstruction, a policy resting
exclusively on and inspired solely by the executive authority—for it
was made plain, by his language and his acts, that he was seeking to
rehabilitate the seceded States under conditions differing not a whit
from those existing before the rebellion; that is to say, without the
slightest constitutional provision regarding the status of the
emancipated slaves, and with no assurances of protection for men who
had remained loyal in the war.

In December, 1866, Congress took hold of the subject with such vigor as
to promise relief from all these perplexing disorders, and, after much
investigation and a great deal of debate, there resulted the so-called
"Reconstruction Laws," which, for a clear understanding of the powers
conferred on the military commanders, I deem best to append in full:

AN ACT to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States.

WHEREAS, no legal State governments or adequate protection for life or
property now exist in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida,
Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas, it is necessary that peace and good
order should be enforced in said States until loyal and republican
State governments can be legally established; therefore,

BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That said rebel States shall
be divided into military districts and made subject to the military
authority of the United States as hereinafter prescribed; and for that
purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North Carolina
and South Carolina, the second district; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida,
the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas, the fourth district; and
Louisiana and Texas, the fifth district.

SEC. 2.  And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the
President to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer
of the army not below the rank of brigadier-general, and to detail a
sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform his duties
and enforce his authority within the district to which he is assigned.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each
officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of
person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence,
and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public
peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals
to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment
it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to
organize military commissions or tribunals for that purpose, and all
interference, under cover of State authority, with the exercise of
military authority under this act, shall be null and void.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all persons put under military
arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay,
and no cruel or unjust punishment shall be inflicted; and no sentence
of any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized affecting the
life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved
by the officer in command of the district; and the laws and regulations
for the government of the army shall not be affected by this act except
in so far as they conflict with its provisions: Provided, That no
sentence of death, under the provisions of this act, shall be carried
into effect without the approval of the President.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the people of any one of
said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in
conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all respects,
framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of
said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or
previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year
previous to the day of such election, except such as may be
disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for felony at
common law; and when such constitution shall provide that the elective
franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the
qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates; and when such
constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on
the question of ratification who are qualified as electors for
delegates, and when such constitution shall have been submitted to
Congress for examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved
the same; and when said State, by a vote of its legislature elected
under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the
Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth
Congress, and known as article fourteen; and when said article shall
have become a part of the Constitution of the United States, said State
shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and senators
and representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the
oath prescribed by law; and then and thereafter the preceding sections
of this act shall be inoperative in said State: Provided, That no
person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall be eligible to
election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any
of said rebel States, nor shall any such person vote for members of
such convention.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That until the people of said rebel
States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress of
the United States, any civil government which may exist therein shall
be deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the
paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish,
modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all elections to any
office under such provisional governments all persons shall be entitled
to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote under the fifth
section of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any office
under any such provisional governments who would be disqualified from
holding office under the provisions of the third article of said
constitutional amendment.

SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, President of the Senate pro tempore.


AN ACT supplementary to an act entitled "An act to provide for the more
efficient government of the rebel States," passed March second,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, and to facilitate restoration.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That before the first day of
September, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, the commanding general in
each district defined by an act entitled "An act to provide for the
more efficient government of the rebel States," passed March second,
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, shall cause a registration to be made
of the male citizens of the United States, twenty-one years of age and
upwards, resident in each county or parish in the State or States
included in his district, which registration shall include only those
persons who are qualified to vote for delegates by the act aforesaid,
and who shall have taken and subscribed the following oath or
affirmation: "I,———, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of
the Almighty God, that I am a citizen of the State of ————-; that I
have resided in said State for——- months next preceding this day, and
now reside in the county of ———-, or the parish of ————, in said State,
(as the case may be); that I am twenty-one years old; that I have not
been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war
against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of
any State or of the United States; that I have never been a member of
any State Legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any
State, and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the
United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; that I
have never taken an oath as a member of Congress of the United States,
or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State
Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to
support the constitution of the United States, and afterwards engaged
in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid or
comfort to the enemies thereof; that I will faithfully support the
Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the
best of my ability, encourage others so to do: so help me God."; which
oath or affirmation may be administered by any registering officer.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That after the completion of the
registration hereby provided for in any State, at such time and places
therein as the commanding general shall appoint and direct, of which at
least thirty days' public notice shall be given, an election shall be
held of delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing a
constitution and civil government for such State loyal to the Union,
said convention in each State, except Virginia, to consist of the same
number of members as the most numerous branch of the State Legislature
of such State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be apportioned
among the several districts, counties, or parishes of such State by the
commanding general, giving each representation in the ratio of voters
registered as aforesaid as nearly as may be.  The convention in
Virginia shall consist of the same number of members as represented the
territory now constituting Virginia in the most numerous branch of the
Legislature of said State in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, to be
apportioned as aforesaid.

SEC.  3. And be it further enacted, That at said election the
registered voters of each State shall vote for or against a convention
to form a constitution therefor under this act.  Those voting in favor
of such a convention shall have written or printed on the ballots by
which they vote for delegates, as aforesaid, the words "For a
convention," and those voting against such a convention shall have
written or printed on such ballot the words "Against a convention." The
persons appointed to superintend said election, and to make return of
the votes given thereat, as herein provided, shall count and make
return of the votes given for and against a convention; and the
commanding general to whom the same shall have been returned shall
ascertain and declare the total vote in each State for and against a
convention.  If a majority of the votes given on that question shall be
for a convention, then such convention shall be held as hereinafter
provided; but if a majority of said votes shall, be against a
convention, then no such convention shall be held under this act:
Provided, That such convention shall not be held unless a majority of
all such registered voters shall have voted on the question of holding
such convention.

SEC.  4.  And be it further enacted, That the commanding general of
each district shall appoint as many boards of registration as may be
necessary, consisting of three loyal officers or persons, to make and
complete the registration, superintend the election, and make return to
him of the votes, list of voters, and of the persons elected as
delegates by a plurality of the votes cast at said election; and upon
receiving said returns he shall open the same, ascertain the persons
elected as delegates, according to the returns of the officers who
conducted said election, and make proclamation thereof; and if a
majority of the votes given on that question shall be for a convention,
the commanding general, within sixty days from the date of election,
shall notify the delegates to assemble in convention, at a time and
place to be mentioned in the notification, and said convention, when
organized, shall proceed to frame a constitution and civil government
according to the provisions of this act, and the act to which it is
supplementary; and when the same shall have been so framed, said
constitution shall be submitted by the convention for ratification to
the persons registered under the provisions of this act at an election
to be conducted by the officers or persons appointed or to be appointed
by the commanding general, as hereinbefore provided, and to be held
after the expiration of thirty days from the date of notice thereof, to
be given by said convention; and the returns thereof shall be made to
the commanding general of the district.

SEC.  5.  And be it further enacted, That if, according to said
returns, the constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the votes
of the registered electors qualified as herein specified, cast at said
election, at least one-half of all the registered voters voting upon
the question of such ratification, the president of the convention
shall transmit a copy of the same, duly certified, to the President of
the United States, who shall forthwith transmit the same to Congress,
if then in session, and if not in session, then immediately upon its
next assembling; and if it shall moreover appear to Congress that the
election was one at which all the registered and qualified electors in
the State had an opportunity to vote freely, and without restraint,
fear, or the influence of fraud, and if the Congress shall be satisfied
that such constitution meets the approval of a majority of all the
qualified electors in the State, and if the said constitution shall be
declared by Congress to be in conformity with the provisions of the act
to which this is supplementary, and the other provisions of said act
shall have been complied with, and the said constitution shall be
approved by Congress, the State shall be declared entitled to
representation, and senators and representatives shall be admitted
therefrom as therein provided.

SEC.  6.  And be it further enacted, That all elections in the States
mentioned in the said "Act to provide for the more efficient government
of the rebel States" shall, during the operation of said act, be by
ballot; and all officers making the said registration of voters and
conducting said elections, shall, before entering upon the discharge of
their duties, take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the act
approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act
to prescribe an oath of office": Provided, That if any person shall
knowingly and falsely take and subscribe any oath in this act
prescribed, such person so offending and being thereof duly convicted,
shall be subject to the pains, penalties, and disabilities which by law
are provided for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt
perjury.

SEC. 7. And be if further enacted, That all expenses incurred by the
several commanding generals, or by virtue of any orders issued, or
appointments made, by them, under or by virtue of this act, shall be
paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the convention for each State
shall prescribe the fees, salary, and compensation to be paid to all
delegates and other officers and agents herein authorized or necessary
to carry into effect the purposes of this act not herein otherwise
provided for, and shall provide for the levy and collection of such
taxes on the property in such State as may be necessary to pay the
same.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the word "article," in the
sixth section of the act to which this is supplementary, shall be
construed to mean, "section."

SCHUYLER COLFAX, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

B. F. WADE, President of the Senate pro tempore.



CHAPTER XI.


PASSAGE OF THE RECONSTRUCTION ACT OVER THE PRESIDENT'S VETO—PLACED IN
COMMAND OF THE FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT—REMOVING OFFICERS—MY REASONS FOR
SUCH ACTION—AFFAIRS IN LOUISIANA AND TEXAS—REMOVAL OF GOVERNOR
WELLS—REVISION OF THE JURY LISTS—RELIEVED FROM THE COMMAND OF THE FIFTH
MILITARY DISTRICT.

The first of the Reconstruction laws was passed March 2, 1867, and
though vetoed by the President, such was the unanimity of loyal
sentiment and the urgency demanding the measure, that the bill became a
law over the veto the day the President returned it to Congress. March
the 11th this law was published in General Orders No. 10, from the
Headquarters of the Army, the same order assigning certain officers to
take charge of the five military districts into which the States lately
in rebellion were subdivided, I being announced as the commander of the
Fifth Military District, which embraced Louisiana and Texas, a
territory that had formed the main portion of my command since the
close of the war.

Between the date of the Act and that of my assignment, the Louisiana
Legislature, then in special session, had rejected a proposed repeal of
an Act it had previously passed providing for an election of certain
municipal officers in New Orleans.  This election was set for March 11,
but the mayor and the chief of police, together with General Mower,
commanding the troops in the city, having expressed to me personally
their fears that the public peace would be disturbed by the election,
I, in this emergency, though not yet assigned to the district, assuming
the authority which the Act conferred on district commanders, declared
that the election should not take place; that no polls should be opened
on the day fixed; and that the whole matter would stand postponed till
the district commander should be appointed, or special instructions be
had.  This, my first official act under the Reconstruction laws, was
rendered necessary by the course of a body of obstructionists, who had
already begun to give unequivocal indications of their intention to
ignore the laws of Congress.

A copy of the order embodying the Reconstruction law, together with my
assignment, having reached me a few days after, I regularly assumed
control of the Fifth Military District on March 19, by an order wherein
I declared the State and municipal governments of the district to be
provisional only, and, under the provisions of the sixth section of the
Act, subject to be controlled, modified, superseded, or abolished.  I
also announced that no removals from office would be made unless the
incumbents failed to carry out the provisions of the law or impeded
reorganization, or unless willful delays should necessitate a change,
and added: "Pending the reorganization, it is, desirable and intended
to create as little disturbance in the machinery of the various
branches of the provisional governments as possible, consistent with
the law of Congress and its successful execution, but this condition is
dependent upon the disposition shown by the people, and upon the length
of time required for reorganization."

Under these limitations Louisiana and Texas retained their former
designations as military districts, the officers in command exercising
their military powers as heretofore.  In addition, these officers were
to carry out in their respective commands all provisions of the law
except those specially requiring the action of the district commander,
and in cases of removals from and appointment to office.

In the course of legislation the first Reconstruction act, as I have
heretofore noted, had been vetoed.  On the very day of the veto,
however, despite the President's adverse action, it passed each House
of Congress by such an overwhelming majority as not only to give it the
effect of law, but to prove clearly that the plan of reconstruction
presented was, beyond question, the policy endorsed by the people of
the country.  It was, therefore, my determination to see to the law's
zealous execution in my district, though I felt certain that the
President would endeavor to embarrass me by every means in his power,
not only on account of his pronounced personal hostility, but also
because of his determination not to execute but to obstruct the
measures enacted by Congress.

Having come to this conclusion, I laid down, as a rule for my guidance,
the principle of non-interference with the provisional State
governments, and though many appeals were made to have me rescind
rulings of the courts, or interpose to forestall some presupposed
action to be taken by them, my invariable reply was that I would not
take cognizance of such matters, except in cases of absolute necessity.
 The same policy was announced also in reference to municipal affairs
throughout the district, so long as the action of the local officers
did not conflict with the law.

In a very short time, however, I was obliged to interfere in municipal
matters in New Orleans, for it had become clearly apparent that several
of the officials were, both by acts of omission and commission,
ignoring the law, so on the 27th of March I removed from office the
Mayor, John T.  Monroe; the Judge of the First District Court, E.
Abell; and the Attorney-General of the State, Andrew S. Herron; at the
same time appointing to the respective offices thus vacated Edward
Heath, W. W. Howe, and B. L. Lynch.  The officials thus removed had
taken upon themselves from the start to pronounce the Reconstruction
acts unconstitutional, and to advise such a course of obstruction that
I found it necessary at an early dav to replace them by men in sympathy
with the law, in order to make plain my determination to have its
provisions enforced.  The President at once made inquiry, through
General Grant, for the cause of the removal, and I replied:


"HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT,
"New Orleans, La., April 19, 1867.

"GENERAL: On the 27th day of March last I removed from office Judge E.
Abell, of the Criminal Court of New Orleans; Andrew S. Herron,
Attorney-General of the State of Louisiana; and John T. Monroe, Mayor
of the City of New Orleans.  These removals were made under the powers
granted me in what is usually termed the 'military bill,' passed March
2, 1867, by the Congress of the United States.

"I did not deem it necessary to give any reason for the removal of
these men, especially after the investigations made by the military
board on the massacre Of July 30, 1866, and the report of the
congressional committee on the same massacre; but as some inquiry has
been made for the cause of removal, I would respectfully state as
follows:

"The court over which judge Abell presided is the only criminal court
in the city of New Orleans, and for a period of at least nine months
previous to the riot Of July 30 he had been educating a large portion
of the community to the perpetration of this outrage, by almost
promising no prosecution in his court against the offenders, in case
such an event occurred.  The records of his court will show that he
fulfilled his promise, as not one of the guilty has been prosecuted.

"In reference to Andrew J. Herron, Attorney-General of the State of
Louisiana, I considered it his duty to indict these men before this
criminal court.  This he failed to do, but went so far as to attempt to
impose on the good sense of the whole nation by indicting the victims
of the riot instead of the rioters; in other words, making the innocent
guilty and the guilty innocent.  He was therefore, in my belief, an
able coadjutor with judge Abell in bringing on the massacre of July 30.

"Mayor Monroe controlled the element engaged in this riot, and when
backed by an attorney-general who would not prosecute the guilty, and a
judge who advised the grand jury to find the innocent guilty and let
the murderers go free, felt secure in engaging his police force in the
riot and massacre.

"With these three men exercising a large influence over the worst
elements of the population of this city, giving to those elements an
immunity for riot and bloodshed, the general-in-chief will see how
insecurely I felt in letting them occupy their respective positions in
the troubles which might occur in registration and voting in the
reorganization of this State.

"I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"P. H. SHERIDAN,
"Major-General U. S. A.


"GENERAL U. S. GRANT,
"Commanding Armies of the United States,
"Washington, D. C."

To General Grant my reasons were satisfactory, but not so to the
President, who took no steps, however, to rescind my action, for he
knew that the removals were commended by well-nigh the entire community
in the city, for it will be understood that Mr. Johnson was, through
his friends and adherents in Louisiana and Texas, kept constantly
advised of every step taken by me.  Many of these persons were active
and open opponents of mine, while others were spies, doing their work
so secretly and quickly that sometimes Mr. Johnson knew of my official
acts before I could report them to General Grant.

The supplemental Reconstruction act which defined the method of
reconstruction became a law despite the President's veto on March 23.
This was a curative act, authorizing elections and prescribing methods
of registration.  When it reached me officially I began measures for
carrying out its provisions, and on the 28th of March issued an order
to the effect that no elections for the State, parish, or municipal
officers would be held in Louisiana until the provisions of the laws of
Congress entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government
of the rebel States," and of the act supplemental thereto, should have
been complied with.  I also announced that until elections were held in
accordance with these acts, the law of the Legislature of the State
providing for the holding over of those persons whose terms of office
otherwise would have expired, would govern in all cases excepting only
those special ones in which I myself might take action.  There was one
parish, Livingston, which this order did no reach in time to prevent
the election previously ordered there, and which therefore took place,
but by a supplemental order this election was declare null and void.

In April.  I began the work of administering the Supplemental Law,
which, under  certain condition of eligibility, required a registration
of the voter of the State, for the purpose of electing delegate to a
Constitutional convention.  It therefore became necessary to appoint
Boards of Registration throughout the election districts, and on April
10 the boards for the Parish of Orleans were given out, those for the
other parishes being appointed ten days later.  Before announcing these
boards, I had asked to be advised definitely as to what persons were
disfranchised by the law, and was directed by General Grant to act upon
my own interpretation of it, pending an opinion expected shortly from
the Attorney-General—Mr. Henry Stanbery—so, for the guidance of the
boards, I gave the following instructions:


"HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT.
"New Orleans, La., April 10, 1867.

"Special Orders, No. 15.

"....In obedience to the directions contained in the first section of
the Law of Congress entitled "An Act supplemental to an Act entitled
'An Act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel
States'" the registration of the legal voters, according to that law in
the Parish of Orleans, will be commenced on the 15th instant, and must
be completed by the 15th of May.

"The four municipal districts of the City of New Orleans and the Parish
of Orleans, right bank (Algiers), will each constitute a Registration
district.  Election precincts will remain as at present constituted.

"....Each member of the Board of Registers, before commencing his
duties, will file in the office of the Assistant-Inspector-General at
these headquarters, the oath required in the sixth section of the Act
referred to, and be governed in the execution of his duty by the
provisions of the first section of that Act, faithfully administering
the oath therein prescribed to each person registered.

"Boards of Registers will immediately select suitable offices within
their respective districts, having reference to convenience and
facility of registration, and will enter upon their duties on the day
designated.  Each Board will be entitled to two clerks.  Office-hours
for registration will be from 8 o'clock till 12 A. M., and from 4 till
7 P. M.

"When elections are ordered, the Board of Registers for each district
will designate the number of polls and the places where they shall be
opened in the election precincts within its district, appoint the
commissioners and other officers necessary for properly conducting the
elections, and will superintend the same.

"They will also receive from the commissioners of elections of the
different precincts the result of the vote, consolidate the same, and
forward it to the commanding general.

"Registers and all officers connected with elections will be held to a
rigid accountability and will be subject to trial by military
commission for fraud, or unlawful or improper conduct in the
performance of their duties.  Their rate of compensation and manner of
payment will be in accordance with the provisions of sections six and
seven of the supplemental act.

"....Every male citizen of the United States, twenty-one years old and
upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who has been
resident in the State of Louisiana for one year and Parish of Orleans
for three months previous to the date at which he presents himself for
registration, and who has not been disfranchised by act of Congress or
for felony at common law, shall, after having taken and subscribed the
oath prescribed in the first section of the act herein referred to, be
entitled to be, and shall be, registered as a legal voter in the Parish
of Orleans and State of Louisiana.

"Pending the decision of the Attorney-General of the United States on
the question as to who are disfranchised by law, registers will give
the most rigid interpretation to the law, and exclude from registration
every person about whose right to vote there may be a doubt.  Any
person so excluded who may, under the decision of the Attorney-General,
be entitled to vote, shall be permitted to register after that decision
is received, due notice of which will be given.

"By command of Major-General P. H. SHERIDAN,

"GEO. L. HARTSUFF,
"Assistant Adjutant-General."

The parish Boards of Registration were composed of three members each. 
Ability to take what was known as the "ironclad oath" was the
qualification exacted of the members, and they were prohibited from
becoming candidates for office.  In the execution of their duties they
were to be governed by the provisions of the supplemental act. It was
also made one of their functions to designate the number and location
of the polling-places in the several districts, to appoint
commissioners for receiving the votes and in general to attend to such
other matters as were necessary, in order properly to conduct the
voting, and afterward to receive from the commissioners the result of
the vote and forward it to my headquarters.  These registers, and all
other officers having to do with elections, were to be held to a rigid
accountability, and be subject to trial by military commission for
fraud or unlawful or improper conduct in the performance of their
duties; and in order to be certain that the Registration Boards
performed their work faithfully and intelligently, officers of the army
were appointed as supervisors. To this end the parishes were grouped
together conveniently in temporary districts, each officer having from
three to five parishes to supervise.  The programme thus mapped out for
carrying out the law in Louisiana was likewise adhered to in Texas, and
indeed was followed as a model in some of the other military districts.

Although Military Commissions were fully authorized by the
Reconstruction acts, yet I did not favor their use in governing the
district, and probably would never have convened one had these acts
been observed in good faith.  I much preferred that the civil courts,
and the State and municipal authorities already in existence, should
perform their functions without military control or interference, but
occasionally, because the civil authorities neglected their duty, I was
obliged to resort to this means to ensure the punishment Of offenders. 
At this time the condition of the negroes in Texas and Louisiana was
lamentable, though, in fact, not worse than that of the few white
loyalists who had been true to the Union during the war. These last
were singled out as special objects of attack, and were, therefore,
obliged at all times to be on the alert for the protection of their
lives and property.  This was the natural outcome of Mr. Johnson's
defiance of Congress, coupled with the sudden conversion to his cause
of persons in the North—who but a short time before had been his
bitterest enemies; for all this had aroused among the disaffected
element new hopes of power and place, hopes of being at once put in
political control again, with a resumption of their functions in State
and National matters without any preliminary authorization by Congress.
 In fact, it was not only hoped, but expected, that things were
presently to go on just as if there had been no war.

In the State of Texas there were in 1865 about 200,000 of the colored
race—roughly, a third of the entire population—while in Louisiana there
were not less than 350,000, or more than one-half of all the people in
the State.  Until the enactment of the Reconstruction laws these
negroes were without rights, and though they had been liberated by the
war, Mr. Johnson's policy now proposed that they should have no
political status at all, and consequently be at the mercy of a people
who, recently their masters, now seemed to look upon them as the
authors of all the misfortunes that had come upon the land. Under these
circumstances the blacks naturally turned for protection to those who
had been the means of their liberation, and it would have been little
less than inhuman to deny them sympathy.  Their freedom had been given
them, and it was the plain duty of those in authority to make it
secure, and screen them from the bitter political resentment that beset
them, and to see that they had a fair chance in the battle of life. 
Therefore, when outrages and murders grew frequent, and the aid of the
military power was an absolute necessity for the protection of life, I
employed it unhesitatingly—the guilty parties being brought to trial
before military commissions—and for a time, at least, there occurred a
halt in the march of terrorism inaugurated by the people whom Mr.
Johnson had deluded.

The first, Military Commission was convened to try the case of John W.
Walker, charged with shooting a negro in the parish of St. John. The
proper civil authorities had made no effort to arrest Walker, and even
connived at his escape, so I had him taken into custody in New Orleans,
and ordered him tried, the commission finding him guilty, and
sentencing him to confinement in the penitentiary for six months. This
shooting was the third occurrence of the kind that had taken place in
St.  John's parish, a negro being wounded in each case, and it was
plain that the intention was to institute there a practice of
intimidation which should be effective to subject the freedmen to the
will of their late masters, whether in making labor contracts, or in
case these newly enfranchised negroes should evince a disposition to
avail themselves of the privilege to vote.

The trial and conviction of Walker, and of one or two others for
similiar outrages, soon put a stop to every kind of "bull-dozing" in
the country parishes; but about this time I discovered that many
members of the police force in New Orleans were covertly intimidating
the freedmen there, and preventing their appearance at the registration
offices, using milder methods than had obtained in the country, it is
true, but none the less effective.

Early in 1866 the Legislature had passed an act which created for the
police of New Orleans a residence qualification, the object of which
was to discharge and exclude from the force ex-Union soldiers.  This of
course would make room for the appointment of ex-Confederates, and
Mayor Monroe had not been slow in enforcing the provisions of the law. 
It was, in fact, a result of this enactment that the police was so
reorganized as to become the willing and efficient tool which it proved
to be in the riot of 1866; and having still the same personnel, it was
now in shape to prevent registration by threats, unwarranted arrests,
and by various other influences, all operating to keep the timid blacks
away from the registration places.

That the police were taking a hand in this practice of repression, I
first discovered by the conduct of the assistant to the chief of the
body, and at once removed the offender, but finding this ineffectual I
annulled that part of the State law fixing the five years' residence
restriction, and restored the two years' qualification, thus enabling
Mayor Heath, who by my appointment had succeeded Monroe, to organize
the force anew, and take about one-half of its members from ex-Union
soldiers who when discharged had settled in New Orleans.  This action
put an end to intimidation in the parish of Orleans; and now were put
in operation in all sections the processes provided by the supplemental
Reconstruction law for the summoning of a convention to form a
Constitution preparatory to the readmission of the State, and I was
full of hope that there would now be much less difficulty in
administering the trust imposed by Congress.

During the two years previous great damage had been done the
agricultural interests of Louisiana by the overflow of the Mississippi,
the levees being so badly broken as to require extensive repairs, and
the Legislature of 1866 had appropriated for the purpose $4,000,000, to
be raised by an issue of bonds.  This money was to be disbursed by a
Board of Levee Commissioners then in existence, but the term of service
of these commissioners, and the law creating the board, would expire in
the spring of 1867.  In order to overcome this difficulty the
Legislature passed a bill continuing the commissioners in office but as
the act was passed inside of ten days before the adjournment of the
Legislature, Governor Wells pocketed the bill, and it failed to become
a law.  The Governor then appointed a board of his own, without any
warrant of law whatever.  The old commissioners refused to recognize
this new board, and of course a conflict of authority ensued, which, it
was clear, would lead to vicious results if allowed to continue; so, as
the people of the State had no confidence in either of the boards, I
decided to end the contention summarily by appointing an entirely new
commission, which would disburse the money honestly, and further the
real purpose for which it had been appropriated.  When I took this
course the legislative board acquiesced, but Governor Wells immediately
requested the President to revoke my order, which, however, was not
done, but meanwhile the Secretary of War directed me to suspend all
proceedings in the matter, and make a report of the facts.  I complied
in the following telegram:


"HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT,
"NEW ORLEANS, La., June 3, 1867.

"SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of
this date in reference to the Levee Commissioners in this State.

"The following were my reasons for abolishing the two former boards,
although I intended that my order should be sufficiently explanatory:

"Previous to the adjournment of the Legislature last winter it passed
an act continuing the old Levee board in office, so that the four
millions of dollars ($4,000,000) in bonds appropriated by the
Legislature might be disbursed by a board of rebellious antecedents.

"After its adjournment the Governor of the State appointed a board of
his own, in violation of this act, and made the acknowledgment to me in
person that his object was to disburse the money in the interest of his
own party by securing for it the vote of the employees at the time of
election.

"The board continued in office by the Legislature refused to turn over
to the Governor's board, and each side appealed to me to sustain it,
which I would not do.  The question must then have gone to the courts,
which, according to the Governor's judgment when he was appealing to me
to be sustained, would require one year for decision. Meantime the
State was overflowed, the Levee boards tied up by political chicanery,
and nothing done to relieve the poor people, now fed by the charity of
the Government and charitable associations of the North.

"To obviate this trouble, and to secure to the overflowed districts of
the State the immediate relief which the honest disbursement of the
four millions ($4,000,000) would give, my order dissolving both boards
was issued.


"I say now, unequivocally, that Governor Wells is a political trickster
and a dishonest man.  I have seen him myself, when I first came to this
command, turn out all the Union men who had supported the Government,
and put in their stead rebel soldiers who had not yet doffed their gray
uniform.  I have seen him again, during the July riot of 1866, skulk
away where I could not find him to give him a guard, instead of coming
out as a manly representative of the State and joining those who were
preserving the peace.  I have watched him since, and his conduct has
been as sinuous as the mark left in the dust by the movement of a
snake.

"I say again that he is dishonest, and that dishonesty is more than
must be expected of me.

"P. H. SHERIDAN,
"Major-General, U. S. A.


"Hon. E. M. STANTON,
"Secretary of War, Washington, D. C."

The same day that I sent my report to the Secretary of War I removed
from office Governor Wells himself, being determined to bear no longer
with the many obstructions he had placed in the way of reorganizing the
civil affairs of the State.  I was also satisfied that he was unfit to
retain the place, since he was availing himself of every opportunity to
work political ends beneficial to himself. In this instance Wells
protested to me against his removal, and also appealed to the President
for an opinion of the Attorney-General as to my power in the case; and
doubtless he would have succeeded in retaining his office, but for the
fact that the President had been informed by General James B. Steadman
and others placed to watch me that Wells was wholly unworthy.


"NEW ORLEANS, June 19, 1867.
"ANDREW JOHNSON, President United States,
"Washington City:

"Lewis D.  Campbell leaves New Orleans for home this evening.  Want of
respect for Governor Wells personally, alone represses the expression
of indignation felt by all honest and sensible men at the unwarranted
usurpation of General Sheridan in removing the civil officers of
Louisiana.  It is believed here that you will reinstate Wells.  He is a
bad man, and has no influence.

"I believe Sheridan made the removals to embarrass you, believing the
feeling at the North would sustain him.  My conviction is that on
account of the bad character of Wells and Monroe, you ought not to
reinstate any who have been removed, because you cannot reinstate any
without reinstating all, but you ought to prohibit the exercise of this
power in the future.

"Respectfully yours,

"JAMES B. STEADMAN."

I appointed Mr. Thomas J. Durant as Wells's successor, but he
declining, I then appointed Mr. Benjamin F. Flanders, who, after I had
sent a staff-officer to forcibly eject Wells in case of necessity, took
possession of the Governor's office.  Wells having vacated, Governor
Flanders began immediately the exercise of his duties in sympathy with
the views of Congress, and I then notified General Grant that I thought
he need have no further apprehension about the condition of affairs in
Louisiana, as my appointee was a man of such integrity and ability that
I already felt relieved of half my labor.  I also stated in the same
despatch that nothing would answer in Louisiana but a bold and firm
course, and that in taking such a one I felt that I was strongly
supported; a statement that was then correct, for up to this period the
better classes were disposed to accept the Congressional plan of
reconstruction.

During the controversy over the Levee Commissioners, and the
correspondence regarding the removal of Governor Wells, registration
had gone on under the rules laid down for the boards.  The date set for
closing the books was the 3oth of June, but in the parish of Orleans
the time was extended till the 15th of July.  This the President
considered too short a period, and therefore directed the registry
lists not to be closed before the 1st of August, unless there was some
good reason to the contrary.  This was plainly designed to keep the
books open in order that under the Attorney-General's interpretation of
the Reconstruction laws, published June 20, many persons who had been
excluded by the registration boards could yet be registered, so I
decided to close the registration, unless required by the President
unconditionally, and in specific orders, to extend the time.  My
motives were manifold, but the main reasons were that as two and a half
months had been given already, the number of persons who, under the
law, were qualified for registry was about exhausted; and because of
the expense I did not feel warranted in keeping up the boards longer,
as I said, "to suit new issues coming in at the eleventh hour," which
would but open a "broad macadamized road for perjury and fraud."

When I thus stated what I intended to do, the opinion of the
Attorney-General had not yet been received.  When it did reach me it
was merely in the form of a circular signed by Adjutant-General
Townsend, and had no force of law.  It was not even sent as an order,
nor was it accompanied by any instructions, or by anything except the
statement that it was transmitted to the 11 respective military
commanders for their information, in order that there might be
uniformity in the execution  of the Reconstruction acts.  To adopt Mr.
Stanbery's interpretation of the law and reopen registration
accordingly, would defeat the purpose of Congress, as well as add to my
perplexities.  Such a course would also require that the officers
appointed by me for the performance of specified duties, under laws
which I was empowered to interpret and enforce, should receive their
guidance and instructions from an unauthorized source, so on
communicating with General Grant as to how I should act, he directed me
to enforce my own construction of the military bill until ordered to do
otherwise.

Therefore the registration continued as I had originally directed, and
nothing having been definitely settled at Washington in relation to my
extending the time, on the 10th of July I ordered all the registration
boards to select, immediately, suitable persons to act as commissioners
of election, and at the same time specified the number of each set of
commissioners, designated the polling-places, gave notice that two days
would be allowed for voting, and followed this with an order
discontinuing registration the 31st of July, and then another
appointing the 27th and 28th of September as the time for the election
of delegates to the State convention.

In accomplishing the registration there had been little opposition from
the mass of the people, but the press of New Orleans, and the
office-holders and office-seekers in the State generally, antagonized
the work bitterly and violently, particularly after the promulgation of
the opinion of the Attorney-General.  These agitators condemned
everybody and everything connected with the Congressional plan of
reconstruction; and the pernicious influence thus exerted was
manifested in various ways, but most notably in the selection of
persons to compose the jury lists in the country parishes it also
tempted certain municipal officers in New Orleans to perform illegal
acts that would seriously have affected the credit of the city had
matters not been promptly corrected by the summary removal from office
of the comptroller and the treasurer, who had already issued a quarter
of a million dollars in illegal certificates.  On learning of this
unwarranted and unlawful proceeding, Mayor Heath demanded an
investigation by the Common Council, but this body, taking its cue from
the evident intention of the President to render abortive the
Reconstruction acts, refused the mayor's demand.  Then he tried to have
the treasurer and comptroller restrained by injunction, but the city
attorney, under the same inspiration as the council, declined to sue
out a writ, and the attorney being supported in this course by nearly
all the other officials, the mayor was left helpless in his endeavors
to preserve the city's credit.  Under such circumstances he took the
only step left him—recourse to the military commander; and after
looking into the matter carefully I decided, in the early part of
August, to give the mayor officials who would not refuse to make an
investigation of the illegal issue of certificates, and to this end I
removed the treasurer, surveyor, comptroller, city attorney, and
twenty-two of the aldermen; these officials, and all of their
assistants, having reduced the financial credit of New Orleans to a
disordered condition, and also having made efforts—and being then
engaged in such—to hamper the execution of the Reconstruction laws.

This action settled matters in the city, but subsequently I had to
remove some officials in the parishes—among them a justice of the peace
and a sheriff in the parish of Rapides; the justice for refusing to
permit negro witnesses to testify in a certain murder case, and for
allowing the murderer, who had foully killed a colored man, to walk out
of his court on bail in the insignificant sum of five hundred dollars;
and the sheriff, for conniving at the escape from jail of another
alleged murderer.  Finding, however, even after these removals, that in
the country districts murderers and other criminals went unpunished,
provided the offenses were against negroes merely (since the jurors
were selected exclusively from the whites, and often embraced those
excluded from the exercise of the election franchise) I, having full
authority under the Reconstruction laws, directed such a revision of
the jury lists as would reject from them every man not eligible for
registration as a voter.  This order was issued August 24, and on its
promulgation the President relieved me from duty and assigned General
Hancock as my successor.


"HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT,
"NEW ORLEANS, LA., August 24, 1867.

"SPECIAL ORDERS, No.  125.

"The registration of voters of the State of Louisiana, according to the
law of Congress, being complete, it is hereby ordered that no person
who is not registered in accordance with said law shall be considered
as, a duly qualified voter of the State of Louisiana.  All persons duly
registered as above, and no others, are consequently eligible, under
the laws of the State of Louisiana, to serve as jurors in any of the
courts of the State.

"The necessary revision of the jury lists will immediately be made by
the proper officers.

"All the laws of the State respecting exemptions, etc., from jury duty
will remain in force.

"By command of Major-General P. H. SHERIDAN.

"GEO. L. HARTNUFF, Asst. Adj't-General."

Pending the arrival of General Hancock, I turned over the command of
the district September 1 to General Charles Griffin; but he dying of
yellow fever, General J. A. Mower succeeded him, and retained command
till November 29, on which date General Hancock assumed control.
Immediately after Hancock took charge, he revoked my order of August 24
providing for a revision of the jury lists; and, in short, President
Johnson's policy now became supreme, till Hancock himself was relieved
in March, 1868.

My official connection with the reconstruction of Louisiana and Texas
practically closed with this order concerning the jury lists.  In my
judgment this had become a necessity, for the disaffected element,
sustained as it was by the open sympathy of the President, had grown so
determined in its opposition to the execution of the Reconstruction
acts that I resolved to remove from place and power all obstacles; for
the summer's experience had convinced me that in no other way could the
law be faithfully administered.

The President had long been dissatisfied with my course; indeed, he had
harbored personal enmity against me ever since he perceived that he
could not bend me to an acceptance of the false position in which he
had tried to place me by garbling my report of the riot of 1866. When
Mr. Johnson decided to remove me, General Grant protested in these
terms, but to no purpose:


"HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
"WASHINGTON, D. C., August 17, 1867

"SIR: I am in receipt of your order of this date directing the
assignment of General G. H. Thomas to the command of the Fifth Military
District, General Sheridan to the Department of the Missouri, and
General Hancock to the Department of the Cumberland; also your note of
this date (enclosing these instructions), saying: 'Before you issue
instructions to carry into effect the enclosed order, I would be
pleased to hear any suggestions you may deem necessary respecting the
assignments to which the order refers.'

"I am pleased to avail myself of this invitation to urge—earnestly
urge—urge in the name of a patriotic people, who have sacrificed
hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands of millions of
treasure to preserve the integrity and union of this country—that this
order be not insisted on.  It is unmistakably the expressed wish of the
country that General Sheridan should not be removed from his present
command.

"This is a republic where the will of the people is the law of the
land.  I beg that their voice may be heard.

"General Sheridan has performed his civil duties faithfully and
intelligently.  His removal will only be regarded as an effort to
defeat the laws of Congress.  It will be interpreted by the
unreconstructed element in the South—those who did all they could to
break up this Government by arms, and now wish to be the only element
consulted as to the method of restoring order—as a triumph.  It will
embolden them to renewed opposition to the will of the loyal masses,
believing that they have the Executive with them.

"The services of General Thomas in battling for the Union entitle him
to some consideration.  He has repeatedly entered his protest against
being assigned to either of the five military districts, and especially
to being assigned to relieve General Sheridan.

"There are military reasons, pecuniary reasons, and above all,
patriotic reasons, why this should not be insisted upon.

"I beg to refer to a letter marked 'private,' which I wrote to the
President when first consulted on the subject of the change in the War
Department.  It bears upon the subject of this removal, and I had hoped
would have prevented it.

"I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

"U. S. GRANT,
"General U. S. A., Secretary of War ad interim.


"His Excellency A. JOHNSON,
"President of the United States."

I was ordered to command the Department of the Missouri (General
Hancock, as already noted, finally becoming my successor in the Fifth
Military District), and left New Orleans on the 5th of September.  I
was not loath to go.  The kind of duty I had been performing in
Louisiana and Texas was very trying under the most favorable
circumstances, but all the more so in my case, since I had to contend
against the obstructions which the President placed in the way from
persistent opposition to the acts of Congress as well as from antipathy
to me—which obstructions he interposed with all the boldness and
aggressiveness of his peculiar nature.

On more than one occasion while I was exercising this command, impurity
of motive was imputed to me, but it has never been truthfully shown
(nor can it ever be) that political or corrupt influences of any kind
controlled me in any instance.  I simply tried to carry out, without
fear or favor, the Reconstruction acts as they came to me.  They were
intended to disfranchise certain persons, and to enfranchise certain
others, and, till decided otherwise, were the laws of the land; and it
was my duty to execute them faithfully, without regard, on the one
hand, for those upon whom it was thought they bore so heavily, nor, on
the other, for this or that political party, and certainly without
deference to those persons sent to Louisiana to influence my conduct of
affairs.

Some of these missionaries were high officials, both military and
civil, and I recall among others a visit made me in 1866 by a
distinguished friend of the President, Mr. Thomas A. Hendricks.  The
purpose of his coming was to convey to me assurances of the very high
esteem in which I was held by the President, and to explain personally
Mr. Johnson's plan of reconstruction, its flawless constitutionality,
and so on.  But being on the ground, I had before me the exhibition of
its practical working, saw the oppression and excesses growing out of
it, and in the face of these experiences even Mr. Hendricks's
persuasive eloquence was powerless to convince me of its beneficence. 
Later General Lovell H. Rousseau came down on a like mission, but was
no more successful than Mr. Hendricks.

During the whole period that I commanded in Louisiana and Texas my
position was a most unenviable one.  The service was unusual, and the
nature of it scarcely to be understood by those not entirely familiar
with the conditions existing immediately after the war.  In
administering the affairs of those States, I never acted except by
authority, and always from conscientious motives.  I tried to guard the
rights of everybody in accordance with the law.  In this I was
supported by General Grant and opposed by President Johnson.  The
former had at heart, above every other consideration, the good of his
country, and always sustained me with approval and kind suggestions.
The course pursued by the President was exactly the opposite, and seems
to prove that in the whole matter of reconstruction he was governed
less by patriotic motives than by personal ambitions.  Add to this his
natural obstinacy of character and personal enmity toward me, and no
surprise should be occasioned when I say that I heartily welcomed the
order that lifted from me my unsought burden.





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