Park. My name is ranger smith and ill be with you this afternoon for the second of our mid winter talks, this one specifically on james at appomattox. Yet is famous quote of not of theborn the battle wilderness, 1864. He reports back to richmond and suggests he is ready to come back from active duty but that at least with the army of northern virginia, lee might want a more vigorous person. Is mostly recovering from his wounds. He will never recover the use of his right arm. Of the bullet exiting his throat he cannot speak above a whisper. Lee is having none of that. On october 17, he orders long street to return and resume command of the first army of northern virginia. And all of the confederate defenses north of the james river. Fromstreet has everything bermuda 100 toward sycamore harmony. Heatley will take charge of the defenses run petersburg. Lee will take charge of the defenses around petersburg. By march 29, the siege of petersburg has been going on since june of 1864 and lees lines run 37 miles. South, thenk to the south side railroad, is going to be controlled by Confederate Forces at five forks. Troops were865, captured at five forks and cut lees last will rank rail link to the south and lee has no option but to evacuate richmond and petersburg. He sends word to long street to bring troops to petersburg. Long street receives lees orders i 7 00 that night and in two hours he had his first troops and trained for petersburg. Long street decides to ride on his horse to petersburg. He arrived there before his troops got there on the trains. Long street is going to meet with lee at ed hill. Edge hill is to the right of the photograph. The marker you see is for ed hill. The main road is West Washington street, route one, in petersburg. If you go down there, look for walgreens and you will find edge tell. [laughter] daylightet arrived at at ed hill. He wrote it was still dark when he got there. Civil twilight was at 5 27 p. M. With full sunrise at 5 54 a. M. Ed hill is one mile north of fort greg. On april 2 attack would begin at 5 15 a. M. Watching street are the opening phases of the attack. Lee appeals to long street to start the advance. Long street had to admit not a man and his command was there nor had he noticed that any had reached the station at petersburg. Because of the federal attack, lee is forced to evacuate edge hill and move to cartage farm, at plank road and defense road. ,efense road runs to the right within shouting distance of battery number 45. West ofg is now mile the location. Rights i look toward petersburg and saw general bening and his brigade in a rapid march around the near hell. He had but 600 men. And they are going to be positioned to defend the area between fort what worth and the canal near the river. They arrived at petersburg about 11 00 in the morning with two regiments, the second and 15 georgia. Then wrotewrote, i to benings line of skirmishers and at the middle point turned and rode at a walk to the top of the hill, took on my glasses, and had a careful view of the enemys formidable masses. I thought i recognized a general and raise my hat. But he was busy and did not see me. Having more to do than looking for general longstreet. But longstreet will establish a in the rear of oldtown creek. The defense of fort greg and ford what worth will by the time he needs to set up his inner defense line to hold the union attack and by time to organize a retreat. Line will run from battery 45 to the appomattox river. 4 00 in the afternoon the rest of endings brigade and feels Division Takes a position along the. General bening wrote, almost done under the immediate i of general longstreet who rode the colt everywhere, frequently in front of the line, up and down, with grand unconcern. I never saw anything like it in the war. It was the talk of all. 8 00, 8 00 of april 2, leah starting his retreat from petersburg. He will retreat across the appomattox river and longstreet and his court will cross on pontoons. They will cross on the pontoon bridge many will claim to be the last of Longstreet Court to leave the line at midnight. The route would take them through mills onto the north side of the appomattox. Lee is with longstreets command. By 3 00 a. M. On april 3, lee has evacuated the petersburg front. Now theres a chase on after lee. Plan is to head for amelia courthouse. South super bowl, to parkville and to danville, virginia and to join jo johnsons Army Fighting against sherman. Lee is hoping to combine force that they can defeat sherman, turnaround and defeat grant. Its a long shot, but it is all he has at this point. One of longstreets staff hill at will ride to a the home of a friend of his from richmond. Coxe who home of judge invites lee and longstreet and staff to supper. Longstreet is still unable to use his right arm. Longstreet has little to say on any topic. Confederates cross between april 3 and april 4. Longstreet says he took up a line on the south side to cover the crossing of the artillery. It was delayed going to the roads. s command thousand men. It is the largest and most effective division in lees army. 5000 men. Lee was hoping to find supplies at amelia courthouse, and he did. There was ammunition wedding but no food. Ammunition awaiting but no food. 4 has to spend most of april sunday parties out to forage for food in the area. That is the best he can do. Outside the courthouse, Lieutenant Colonel owen remembered i saw generals lee and longstreet. They both looked confident. Longstreet said, there was skirmishing in my front for part of the way. Courthouse, i drew phils will coxs and Heat Division up and line around the town and endeavored to bring on an engagement with the enemy. They showed no disposition to attack and withdrew around dark. Recovering from a wound where he was shot by his own men. He has had to retreat from richmond to petersburg. Yes retreated to pitch from petersburg. Yet, on april 4, longstreet still wants to pitch in to the union troops and fight them. Lets bring it on now. You want to fight . We are ready. He is not ready to give up, by any means. On april 5, the confederates approached dieter so. Wrote, generally was with us. They thought the enemys position too strong to warrant aggressive battle. The command often follow to the right along flat creek tomorrow for farmville. As you can see from the map, there, yetot humphreys second car from the army of the potomac, griffins fifth from the army of the atomic, right core from the army of potomac and the calvary under general sheridan. That is why it lee chose not to bring in a battle there. Junction, major s army reached the night of april 5. Sent with aword was bridge Burning Party to burn the highbridge of the appomattox river and deny to the confederates. 6,the morning of april longstreet arrives at rights depot. His job is to clear the way for the main body of the army and the wagon trains to get through. Rices depot. He hears about the bridge Burning Party which is passed through rice station. Longstreet will take his calvary to follow after the bridge burners and capture or destroy the detachment. If it took the last man to do it. Ught the bridge burners. By sending his calvary, he increases his own chances of defeat. Guaranteedoing it, to lees escape with the rest of the army. Orgstreet reports general coming from burke phil general order coming up from burke phil. I wrote them i wrote to meet them, marched them to the line with orders to hold them until called in. Now the army of virginia starting to split. Theres a gap in the line of troops to retreat. Theyre going to split in the bottomland of sailors creek. In the bottom line part of lees army will be attacked by the six core and surgeons calvary sheridans calvary. They will capture a third of lees army. The wagon train is crossing the appomattox, with john gordon protecting them. He is being pressed by the union armies second corps. Station, with or not coming on, longstreet receives orders to move toward farmersville on what he saw as a crowded road deep in mud with sheridan fighting against longstreets rear guard. This is longstreets column and this is gordons column with the trains. And heres highbridge. The confederate cavalry was able to stop the bridge burners and capture or kill most of them. So the bridge is intact when they start to cross. The confederate engineers have been ordered to burn the highbridge. There were two bridges in the area. One is the railroad bridge, the other is a wagon bridge. Confederates did destroy parts of the train bridge which the union army quickly rebuilt. Because of the Hardwood Floors of the wagon bridge, that they cannot burn. ,. Atever fires they started or put out union troops are pouring over the appomattox river on the wagon bridge at highbridge. Willril 7, longstreet appear in farmville. He reported, we crossed early in the morning and received two days of rations. We got on the wagons, made fires, got out cooking utensils and were preparing breakfast. We had not heard of the disasters on the other route and the hasty retreat. We were looking for quiet to prepare breakfast. General lee rode up and said the bridges had been fired before his calvary crossed, that part of the command was cut off and lost, and the troops were hurrying to position at Cumberland Church. Cumberland church is on the north side of the appomattox river from farmville. Ught crossing this way to get up to cobbler church. He arrives at 2 00 p. M. And would help general mahon hold off attacks from humphreys second quarter. Mahon established a headquarters at Cumberland Church itself. That is probably where lee had his headquarters. P. M. On april 7, lee would receive his first note from general grant. Grant is proposing late leeender proposing that surrendered the portion of the army known as the army of northern virginia. Lee shows the note to some Staff Officers and general longstreet. Longstreet wrote the note, handed it to late and said, not yet. Lee is going to send his first letter to grant. Basically, asking what terms grant will offer, if and when lee feels that is necessary to surrender. The optionng himself to decide when to do that. He is not going to leave it entirely to grant. They start to retreat from Cumberland Church 11 00 p. M. On april 7. They withdraw toward new store. On the way, Gordons Court would take the lead and longstreets men would bring up the rear. 8, lee0 a. M. Of april receives grants second letter. Letter grant says the only condition i have for surrender is that you, the officers and men shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the government of United States. Sent his second letter to grant. That his conceding army needs to surrender. He now starts talking to grant about terms of peace. Not to surrender of the army, but overall piece in the country itself. Peace. Longstreet is on the march, passes abandon wagons and flames. Reportedry commander the horses too weak to hug on. He was ordered to bury the guns the horses too weak to haul guns. He was ordered to bury the guns and cover the burial places with old leaves and brushwood. Longstreet will issue a general order on april 8. Commanders ofinds the standard marching procedure. Hereafter all marches the troops will march in that manner lay down in the tactics. Each division will mass on the one in front of it, performance line and stack arms. Stragglers will be prevented by the exercise of every exertion. Even on april 8, longstreet is looking toward the discipline and efficiency of his troops. That is why he is making sure everyone is following the standard procedure, even with everything going on. Of april 8, something really extraordinary occurs. Ular general pendleton Brigadier General pendleton, the chief of the army of northern virginia, nader will report he approached longstreet as a messenger, from several highranking confederal officers , with the proposal, our united judgment that the casa become so hopeless, we thought to go on longer to have men killed on not over thatnd there be commanders left to bear the entire trial of the idea or terms with the enemy. Aboutton later wrote longstreet. That he himself should be represented with the rest. Pendleton would make the statement in 1873. Ingstreet does his memoirs 1898. One historian felt pendletons account was the earliest, so his was the most reliable, and not longstreets. The problem is, pendleton tells the story, in a speech he gave at washington lady university, on genuine 19, 1873. Washington and lee university. It was the same talk in which pendleton accuses longstreet of disobeying lees nonattack order at gettysburg, which we know never happened. So if you can disprove that, i have questions about this event, on april 8. I would sooner take longstreets position more than anything else. Longstreet denied the charge and in his version, surprise i turned and asked, if he did not know that the oracles articles of work provided that officers of soldiers who ask Commanding Officers to surrender should be shot. Generally does not know when to surrender until i tell him, he would never know. This younother part of do not often hear about. According to alexander, pendleton came to him, after all of this. According to alexander, pendleton said, but longstreet, being approached, refused. As pembleton told it to me. His crew wasid still able to web four times their numbers and as long as that was so, he should never suggest surrender. That he was there to back up lee, not to pull him down. So longstreet has backing for his account, from ep alexander. What was longstreet talking about . Being shotossibly for what he was suggesting . Regulations come from the regulations of the army of the Confederate States of america. Except for United States and Confederate States, their word for word or what is in the United States army regulations. State, anyen would officer or soldier who shall join incite, cause, or any sedition, and any troop or company in service of the Confederate States or any party, post, detachment or guard, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by courtmartial shall be inflected. Inflected. Inflicted. Article nine. Article 59. Slide] an article 83s conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Back in the civil war, they did have a nice general article. 99, to the pressures of good order and military discipline. After everything else, you throw this in for good measure. Under todays uniform code of military justice, pendleton could have been charged with five offenses, including compared conspiracy, mutiny, subordinate sent render, conduct unbecoming an officer, and a general article. Those articles are still left over from the civil war. 8 at night, lee would have a conference with john brown gordon, longstreet, and fitzhugh lee. It is going to be lays last military conference. Lees last. They discussed breaking out from appomattox courthouse. The decision is made to break out from the encircling union line. Leave leave the only troops in front of him our cavalry. Lee believes. And that they can push them aside and continue with retreat. Grant morning of april 9, would send a third letter to lead at daybreak. Grant pastor talley that since he has no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting lee proposed for april 9 at 10 00, could lead to no good. And grant is going to cancel it. Grant has to tell lee. Now lee knows there is no meeting with grant unless he specifically asks for it. The battle of appomattox courthouse will begin at 5 00 in the morning of april 9. [indiscernible] to clear the lynchburg road. Up byey find it is backed a strong force of federal infantry. The army of the james is approaching and the fifth corps of the army of the potomac under griffin is approaching. One will be stopped and driven back. Is8 00 a. M. , longstreet called to lees headquarters. , he andg to longstreet lee stir the embers of burnt rails. He received breed lee with a graceful salutation aunts boko laws and subsistence. I asked if the sacrifice of his army could help the cause and other quarters . He thought not. There i said your situation speaks for itself. Longstreet being in command of the rearguard, is two miles from appomattox courthouse. Confronting humphrey second core and white six corps from the army of the potomac. Longstreets headquarters have been established near pleasant retreat which stood until 2011. I was involved in a heavy thunderstorm that blew the back wall of the house out. The rest of the house was in the attack. The owners decide not to save it. If you look for pleasant retreat today this is what you will find. The house was demolished. This had been lees headquarters. There would have been a National Drive to save it. But because it was longstreet, nobody cared. That is what you find today. Longstreet is going to report our advanced troops were in action and general humphries was with the second army of the potomac preparing for action against the rearguard. The situation was embarrassing. It was before others could prepare for action. A truth could not prevail me to quiet while the enemy was preparing for a track. For attack. So we continued our work constructing the best line of defense. At the appomattox courthouse, the division was in the rear with the enemy close up. Its organization was perfect. It was not demoralized. Our cape than f stragglers cap watch on stragglers during the trying march from petersburg. Ordered parts of the rear guard forward to support and corrected, general alexander to establish them as part of his batteries, in the best position for support rallying on the lines in case the lines were forced back. As men are flying back through appomattox courthouse, they are going to rally on alexanders line. Lee had written to New Hope Church along lynchburg road. He rode through longstreets line under a flag of truce, because that is where he thought he was going to meet grant. And that is when his staff officer received a grants third letter, and lee responds with his third letter. And lee is going to state, i now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose. Lee now faces no option but to surrender his army of northern virginia. But skirmishers are approaching where lee is erie remember, lee is between the two lines. Lee is waiting for grant to come back and union skirmishers are advancing on him. So that is when he has