AROUND PETERSBURG

CHAPTER XV

FROM Cold Harbor to Petersburg there were frequent clashes between the two armies in a small way, Gen. Grant apparently trying to pull off and withdraw across the James and Gen. Lee always on the watch to strike a favorable blow. As Grant's plans were gradually unfolded and it became apparent that Petersburg was his destination, we were soon there to confront him. Our lines were formed and all hands began to strengthen our works preparing to give "our friends", the enemy, a warm reception should they call on us. I shall not attempt to describe the siege of Petersburg, as I only propose to speak of my own little part in that great war. During the winter of '64-'65, we were encamped west of Petersburg between the canal and the river. -This winter was attended with great hardships by reason of increased and laborious guard duty and a lack of food, and it demonstrated how little food would sustain great physical effort. I think our meat ration was one eighth of a pound of salt bacon per day, and a small tin cup of corn meal, with an occasional allowance of sorghum syrup. This miserable diet disagreed with me and for the first time during the war I was real sick. My stomach re (Page 132) volted at corn bread and fat bacon three times a day and I could not eat it. I did not leave camp, but was weak and emaciated because I could not eat. I am satisfied I would have died if we had remained there much longer. It was at this time that my mess mates seeing my plight, and realizing something must be done for my relief, asked me to name something I thought I could eat, offering to get it if it was to be had in Petersburg. I called for a rice pudding and they brought it to me the next day. Quite an insignificant affair, but they said it cost over thirty dollars ($30) And I didn't want it when I got it because it was so unlike the rice pudding I was accustomed to. The old woman who prepared it said the eggs in it cost several dollars apiece. This shows the condition of our affairs at this time. It was this way throughout the South. The blockade of our ports, cutting off communication with the outside world, and the terrible strain of the war, had brought the Confederacy to the lowest ebb. The great crater explosion where our lines were undermined and blown up occurred just in front of where we were stationed at the time, and I recall the alarm and great excitement produced by the fearful detonation. I was lying down, sick, in my tent and as the earth seemed almost to shake under me I jumped to my feet and looking around soon discovered that my battalion were making (Page 133) in the direction from which the sound came and I too hurried on after them. We all know now about that terrific explosion and there is no need to speak of it further. Those who planned it and put it into execution were sadly disappointed in the results and most bitterly beaten at their own game. The two lines of battle here at Petersburg were so close together in some places that the least exposure of the person resulted in almost certain death. Many brave men on both sides lost their lives by a little carelessness. The crack of rifles between the pickets was almost incessant, night or day, and occasionally the boom of cannon added to the music. This was the monotonous order of things for weeks, for months, and after undergoing all the severities of the winter, many succumbing to its rigors, we found the spring of 1865 approaching.

It is now apparent to all intelligent observers that the situation was almost desperate. Gen. Grant had, it was evident, everything in his favor. What more could he wish. He had a preponderance of numbers in every department of his great army, and fresh recruits were available at all times. Whereas Gen. Lee saw his army constantly depleted by the very exigencies of the war. Already far inferior numerically to that of his antagonist, and no possibility for recruits from any source. As Gen. Grant fortified and held his position, moving further and further to his left, all the (Page 134) time strengthening his position as he moved, Gen. Lee must move to meet him thus stretching his already thin line. How long before Lee's line would become too attenuated to hold together? This was exactly the situation and it is in a nutshell the tactics of Grant at Petersburg. Of course with unlimited resources Grant could reach out so far that Lee's lines would break by being stretched beyond their limit. And this is what happened. The time came in this way when we were obliged to abandon Richmond and Petersburg in order to save the remnants of a once proud and invincible army. Gen. Lee's artillery horses were in bad condition having, like the men, been poorly fed during the siege, and the army teams were no better. But with the roads full of mud from the winter rains, Gen. Lee was forced to hold on until spring should open up before he could move. In the meantime Grant was busy and Gen. Sherman had cut the Confederacy in two in his march through Georgia and was now heading toward Virginia to assist Grant. The situation was indeed a desperate one. Grant moved his lines around our right until he seized all the railroads, but one. Only this one line remained over which supplies could reach Lee's needy soldiers. On the 31st of March and the 1st of April the battles of Five Forks were fought. Gen. Grant had sent a large force to seize the last line of railroad away around on Gen. Lee's right and (Page 135) rear, and in this battle the Confederates were defeated, and this may be styled the dying effort. Our main line was so weakened by the detachment of troops to meet and stem these flank movements on the right and to protect the railroad that it was now only a strong skirmish line. Gen. Grant was aware of this, and on the 2nd of April, about the breaking of the dawn of that morning, he threw a heavy column against a weak point and the weight of numbers carried them through and beyond the feeble Confederate line and masses of the Federals pushed on to improve the advantage thus obtained. Our men retreated to an inner line which they held against all assaults until night. During the night Gen. Lee was forced to begin the evacuation and retreat from Petersburg. His purpose, I suppose, was to effect a juncture with Gen. Johnson's army in North Carolina. He was compelled to wait a day to collect food for man and beast, and this delay proved fatal to his plans as it gave Grant time to throw a large force across his line of retreat. Gen. A. P. Hill was killed here, and I am sure the last command he ever gave was to myself. I was in a charge of a skirmish line, and Gen. Hill on his horse, followed by probably two couriers, was making for a skirt of woods already occupied by the enemy scouts. Observing my line of skirmishers he sent his courier to order me to advance my line to those (Page 136) woods and hold the enemy in check. Just a few moments after I saw him brought out of the woods by his courier, on his horse, dead He had encountered some Yankee videttes or scouts in the wood and riding boldly up to them demanding their surrender when one of them shot him. His command, through his courier, to me was, I am sure, the last he ever gave. The Fifth Alabama Battalion had been attached to his command throughout the war, and we had learned to love and trust him. He was in every important battle fought by the Army of Northern Virginia and came out of them all with distinction. No general of Gen. Lee's army was more faithful to duty than he. He was slightly wounded at Chancellorsville, it being the only wound he received during the war. His Light Division, as it was known, will always occupy an important place in the history of Gen. Lee's army, and his own place there will be second to none save that of Stonewall Jackson. To resume Gen. Lee's movements-he endeavored to pass around the force Grant had placed across his line of retreat, but seeing their advantage the Federals followed close on Lee's rear and flanks, pressing hard his weary, hungry, ragged soldiers who were compelled to fight their way at every step night and day.

Thus began that memorable retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox. How can I ever forget it? It is impossible, at this late date for (Page 137) me to attempt a description. The mental anguish, the physical strain, the terrible ordeal of it all are beyond any efforts on my part to depict adequately. I wish I could describe the terrible sights of some of the night scenes as I witnessed them. Looking away to the rear and off on our flanks I could see an unbroken line of fire as the death-dealing muskets kept up an incessant roar, and the sky overhead was lit up by the lurid flashes of the guns. This went on through the night and by day it was the same. My battalion was double-quicked to the rescue of the wagon train which had been raided by the enemy's cavalry, and as soon as those were run off we would "double-quick" to another point to drive them away again. I witnessed some gallant deeds, too. On one of these occasions, when Sheridan's cavalry had cut off a section of our wagon train and we were rushed to the rescue, our assistant surgeon, Dr. Turk, from Calhoun County, Alabama, a tall handsome young man, seized a musket and ran out in front of the battalion leading the way in the charge, calling to the men as he rushed toward the Yankees, "Come on Fifth Alabama!" and he never halted until the cavalry fled in confusion. A Yankee private shot through the thigh, left by his fleeing comrades, called to us as we passed over him and said, "Boys, you had just as well give it up for we have got you." I expect he was nearer (Page 138) the truth than he really knew, but of course we paid little attention to his words. But I could not but admire his pluck. Badly wounded, in the hands of those whom he regarded as enemies, alone in the corner of a fence-poor fellow, he needed friends if ever one did. Yet there he was, flinging it in our faces that we were whipped. Poor way to secure friends or help! But sometimes a soldier's admiration for such spunk will cause a foe to respect his fallen enemy quicker than mean flunkeyism (so often shown) can ever produce. I hope he got help but I was soon gone to other parts and know no more of him. Gen. Grant with overwhelming numbers was pressing hard our rear and flanks night and day, and Gen. Sheridan with a cavalry force outnumbering Lee's entire army was continually intercepting our progress. What were we to do? Surrender was inevitable. There was no escape and this retreat from Petersburg to Appomattox will go into history as one of the most trying ordeals a brave heroic army ever had to undergo, and the same history will record how they met it in their indomitable courage, patient endurance and patriotic determination. (Page 139)

Family Record and War Reminiscences
by William Frierson Fulton, Jr.
Livingston, AL, 1919
Transcribed by James W. Martin