The Tree of AppomattoxAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
History
The Tree of Appomattox
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
Shepard had spoken truly, when he said that the North now had generals
who would not be driven back. Nor would they cease to attack. As soon
as the light was sufficient, Grant and Sheridan began to press Lee with
all their might. Pickett, who had led the great charge at Gettysburg,
and Johnson, who held a place called Five Forks, were assailed fiercely
by overpowering numbers, and, despite a long and desperate resistance,
their command was cut in pieces and the fragments scattered, leaving
Lee's right flank uncovered.
The day, like the one before it, ended in defeat and confusion, and, at
the next dawn, Grant, silent, tenacious, came anew to the attack, his
dense columns now assailing the front before Petersburg, and carrying
the trenches that had held them so long. The thin Confederate lines
there fought in vain to hold them, but the Union brigades, exultant and
cheering, burst through everything, flung aside those of their foes
whom they did not overthrow, and advanced toward the city. Here fell
the famous Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, a man of frail body and
valiant soul, beloved of Lee and the whole army.
The next noon came, somber to Harry beyond all description. The
youngest officer knew that while General Lee was still in Petersburg he
could no longer hold it, and that they were nearly surrounded by the
victorious and powerful Union host. The break in the lines had been
made just after sunrise, and had been widened in the later hours of the
morning. Now there was a momentary lull in the firing, but the lifting
clouds of smoke enabled them to see vast masses of men in blue
advancing and already in the suburbs of the town.
Lee's headquarters were about a mile and a half west of Petersburg,
where he stood on a lawn and watched the progress of the combat.
Nearly opposite him was a tall observatory that the Union men had
erected, and from its summit the Northern generals also were watching.
Harry and Dalton stood near Lee, awaiting with others his call, and
every detail he saw that day always remained impressed upon Harry
Kenton's mind.
He intently watched his general. Feeling that the Southern army was so
near destruction he thought that the face of Lee would show agitation.
But it was not so. His calm and grave demeanor was unchanged. He was
in full uniform of fine gray, and had even buckled to his belt his
dress sword which he seldom carried. It was told of him that he said
that morning if he were compelled to surrender he would do so in his
best. But he had not yet given up hope.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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