March 25.—A very beautiful day. I feel very low-spirited regarding our cause. A friend, Dr. —— has just called, and has not served to dispel the gloom. He denounced President Davis, and said that, in putting negroes into the field, he should have given them not only their own freedom but that of their families. He added, that Davis’s last proclamation was the essence of despair, and that he and all in congress know that our cause is gone, and that we soon shall be subjugated. I contended against him to the best of my ability, and said, that if even both our armies were scattered we would not then give up. I could not help feeling there might be some truth in what Dr. —— said.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Goldsboro, N. C., March 25, 1865.
We were two days coming back from Bentonville. Have a nice camp ground and will enjoy ourselves, I think. Town don’t amount to anything.
Chattanooga, Saturday, March 25. Night quite cold, day is pleasant. Bunks are being put up in the new houses to-day. Many of the boys have moved in. I did not do much to-day but read State Journal received from home. Griff has gone to cooking instead of Bob Grey. Sorry for it, I fear he will work himself sick again. Five trains passed to-day loaded with from twenty to thirty ambulances apiece, each one with the triangle of the 4th Corps painted on its side. They go to Knoxville and look ominous.
March 25th.—Clear and cool.
It is reported that Grant is reinforcing Sherman, and that the latter has fallen back upon Goldsborough. This is not yet confirmed by any official statement. A single retrograde movement by Sherman, or even a delay in advancing, would snatch some of his laurels away, and enable Lee to obtain supplies. Yet it may be so. He may have been careering the last month on the unexpended momentum of his recent successes, and really operating on a scale something more than commensurate with the forces of his command. Should this be the case, the moral effect on our people and the army will be prodigious, and a series of triumphs on our side may be the consequence.
The Northern papers chronicle the rise in flour here—to $1500 per barrel—a few days ago, and this affords proof of the fact that every occurrence of military importance in Richmond is immediately made known in Washington. How can success be possible? But our authorities are confirmed in their madness.
There were some movements yesterday. Pickett’s division was ordered from this side of the river to the Petersburg depot, to be transported in haste to that town; but it was countermanded, and the troops now (9 A.M.) are marching back, down Main Street. I have not learned what occasioned all this.
The marching and countermarching of troops on this side of the river very much alarmed some of the people, who believed Lee was about to evacuate the city.
Eleven A.M. Gen. Lee attacked the enemy’s fort (Battery No. 5) near Petersburg this morning, the one which has so long been shelling the town, and captured it, with 600 prisoners, and several guns. This may interfere with Gen. Grant’s projects on his left wing, against the railroad.
It is rumored that Gen. Grant is moving heavy bodies of troops toward Weldon, to reinforce Sherman.
Saturday, 25th—We remained in camp all day. Large foraging parties were sent out to get feed for the mules and horses. Our train loaded with supplies returned from Kingston, down on the river. A construction train came in from Kingston, repairing the railroad. The Twenty-third Corps from Schofield’s army has been moved to Kingston. All the troops are in camp in and around Goldsboro, and it will be but a short time until all our supplies will be brought in from the coast by the railroad. The Thirteenth Iowa received three hundred recruits today.
25th. Ready to march at 6. Took my pockets full of mail to the landing. Dismounted men went by boats. Our regt. in rear of Div. and train. Crossed the Chickahominy on pontoons and reached Harrison’s Landing in evening. Fortifications.
Camp Hastings, March 25, 1865.
Dear Mother: — We have had a sudden and severe change of weather. For the first time this month the ground is white with snow, and the mountains look like midwinter. The wind blows our tents down once in a while, and makes a little trouble. In other respects the change does not trouble us much.
General Crook has been exchanged and given a command under Grant before Richmond. He was placed in command of his old Department a few days to show that Grant had not lost confidence in him. He came out to my camp, where the troops gave him a most enthusiastic reception. . . .
We are ready to move from here at any time. It is not known, I think, by anybody where [and] when we shall go. . . .
Affectionately, your son,
R.
Mrs. Sophia Hayes.
Camp before Petersburg, March 25th, 1865.
One more “battle fought and victory won” for right and freedom. Never was an attack made under more favorable circumstances for the Rebels; never was repulse more complete.
The excitement and expectancy of the last two weeks had entirely died away. Sutlers had returned, and only yesterday General Wilcox’s Headquarters was enlivened by the presence of ladies.
This morning I was awakened, about daylight, by a single cannon. Soon a well-known sound struck my ear; a sound that instantly aroused all my faculties. Often had I heard it; at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, at Cold Harbor, in the Wilderness and at Petersburg.
No, I cannot be mistaken; it is the Rebel “battle cry.” They are charging our works! But I hear no answering shout; no rattling musketry! It cannot be! They have heard good news, or are having a big drunk.
These are some of the thoughts that flashed through my mind as I listened to those fearful yells; more hideous, far, than tongue can tell or pen describe.
I was not long left in doubt. “Fall in, Seventeenth, with guns and equipments,” was the order that passed from tent to tent.
Then I knew that work was to be done. The Rebels had played a “Yankee trick” on our pickets by sending out a small force in advance, which, by pretending to desert, threw them off their guard until near enough to force them to surrender. Thus an opening was made through which they advanced on Fort Steadman, taking the garrison completely by surprise, most of whom they captured. Then they swept down the line, driving the Third Brigade from their works and taking possession.
Thus matters stood at daylight. Fort Steadman in their possession, their skirmishers advancing, supported by three brigades of infantry. When the Seventeenth formed in front of General Wilcox’s Headquarters, the Rebel skirmishers were within one hundred rods of them, evidently bent on paying their respects to the General.
Thinking their presence might be intrusive, at this early hour, our boys charged them, as only the Seventeenth can charge, and drove them back upon their main body, taking about thirty prisoners. By this time the Third Division of the Ninth Corps, held in reserve, had formed in front of the gap and checked their further advance. The Seventeenth formed on the right of the Third Division, and when the final charge was made for the recovery of the lost works, charged with them and held a position in the line until 1 o’clock in the afternoon, when they were relieved.
In this last charge one man of Company G was killed, and Captain Sudborough was wounded in the right side and arm.
At 2 o’clock we had recovered every foot of lost ground, and were as firmly established as before. I have heard, as yet, no estimate of our loss, or of the Rebels, except in prisoners. We took between three and four thousand prisoners, which is more men than we had engaged.
I feel a little curiosity as to the coloring correspondents will give this affair. Will they acknowledge it a surprise? The commander of the fort was taken in bed; also most of the garrison. After it was discovered, it was superbly managed, and Lee’s desperate attempt to join his forces with Johnson’s was rendered abortive.
March 25, 1865.—We started this morning at nine o’clock. The train ran off the track six miles out and had to stay there seven hours. I saw the hills on which the rebels had guns planted and often fired at the trains, especially if they were transporting soldiers. We arrived at Stevenson safely.
March—Nothing new. It is the same gloomy and discouraging news from the South, and gloomy and discouraging in prison.
