General Grant, well aware of the desperate condition of the Confederates, pressed incessantly upon their enfeebled lines. He had one hundred and sixty thousand men under his command. Sheridan joined him with a magnificent force of cavalry. Sherman with his victorious army was near. Grant began to fear that Lee would take to flight, and keep the rebellion alive on other fields. [Sidenote: March 29, 1865 A.D.] A general movement of all the forces around Richmond was decided upon. Lee struggled bravely, but in vain, against overwhelming numbers. His right was assailed by Sheridan, and driven back with heavy loss--five thousand hungry and disheartened men laying down their arms. [Sidenote: April 1.] On that same night Grant opened, from all his guns, a terrific and prolonged bombardment. [Sidenote: April 2.] At dawn the assault was made. Its strength was directed against one of the Confederate forts. The fight ceased elsewhere, and the armies looked on. There was a steady advance of the blue-coated lines; a murderous volley from the little garrison; wild cheers from the excited spectators. Under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry the soldiers of the Union rush on; they swarm into the ditch and up the sides of the works. Those who first reach the summit fall back slain by musket-shot or bayonet-thrust, but others press fiercely on. Soon their exulting cheers tell that the fort is won. Lee’s army is cut in two, and his position is no longer tenable. He telegraphed at once to President Davis that Richmond must be evacuated.