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re: 150 years ago this day...

Posted on 4/3/15 at 10:50 pm to
Posted by BadLeroyDawg
Member since Aug 2013
848 posts
Posted on 4/3/15 at 10:50 pm to
Tuesday, 4 April 1865 (continued)

He stayed at City Point, sensing that the final push was near. Grant’s forces overran the Petersburg line on April 2, and the Confederate government fled the capital later that day. Union forces occupied Richmond on 3 April, and Lincoln sailed up the James River to see the spoils of war. His ship could not pass some obstructions that had been placed in the river by the Confederates so 12 soldiers rowed him to shore. He landed without fanfare but was soon recognized by some black workmen who ran to him and bowed. The modest Lincoln told them to “…kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy.”

Lincoln, accompanied by a small group of soldiers and a growing entourage of freed slaves, walked to the Confederate White House and sat in President Jefferson Davis chair. He walked to the Virginia statehouse and saw the chambers of the Confederate Congress. Lincoln even visited Libby Prison, where thousands of Union officers were held during the War. Lincoln remained in Richmond a few more days in hopes that Robert E. Lee’s army would surrender, but on 9 April he headed back to Washington. Six days later, Lincoln would be shot as he watched a play, Our American Cousin, at Ford’s Theater.
Posted by BadLeroyDawg
Member since Aug 2013
848 posts
Posted on 4/4/15 at 10:51 pm to
Wednesday, 5 April 1865

Commander William Henry Alexander Macomb steadily pushed up the narrowing Chowan River and its tributaries preparing for General William Tecumseh Sherman's move north. This date he reported from "Meherrin River, near Murfreesboro, N.C." near the Virginia border and fat inland: "The steamer Shokokon arrived at Winton yesterday, and I have stationed her a short distance below here near an ugly bluff some 60 or 80 feet high, on which I thought the Rebels might give us some trouble on our return. There were some rifle pits on the brow of this bluff, but I sent a party down there and had them filled up. There is also an old earthwork, made to mount six guns, a short distance below here, which I have had partially destroyed. The river is rather narrower than the Roanoke, but not quite so crooked. I got 50 men (soldiers) from Winton to hold the bluff till we have passed, the river being very crooked and narrow at this point, so much so that we are unable to steam by, but will have to warp the ship round."

Frederick Tracy Dent, USA, is appointed Brigadier General.

Union troops scout from Huntsville to New Market, Maysville, in Alabama.

A Federal expedition travels from Camp Bidwell to Antelope Creek, California.

Skirmishes erupt at Newport Bridge, Florida.

The destruction of Union transports commences on the Neuse River, North Carolina.

A Federal expedition travels from Georgetown to Camden, South Carolina, and skirmishes at Dingle's Mill, near Sumterville, near Statesburg, at Boykins' Mill, at Bradford Springs, at Beech Creek, near Statesburg and at Denkins' Mill. Another Federal expedition moves from Charleston to the Santee River, South Carolina.

The engagement at Amelia Springs, Virginia, occurs as General Robert E. Lee unable to feed his troops, orders food be sent by rail from Lynchburg, and turns his army toward Farmville. Major General George G. Meade refrains Major General Philip H. Sheridan from attacking until more Union reinforcements arrive, in the Appomattox Campaign.

Skirmishing takes place at Paine's Cross Roads, Virginia, in the Appomattox Campaign.

The steamer Harriet DeFord was boarded and seized in the Chesapeake Bay, 30 miles below Annapolis, Maryland, by a party of 27 Confederate guerrillas led by Captain Thaddeus Fitzhugh. A naval detachment under Lieutenant Commander Edward Hooker was sent in pursuit and found the Harriet DeFord trapped in Dimer's Creek, Virginia, burned to the water's edge. A captive reported that a pilot had taken the steamer into the creek and that she went aground several times. Some of the cargo was thrown overboard to lighten the ship and the remainder was unloaded with the help of local farmers before the torch was put to the steamer.



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