derate commander has been already stated, but
an important condition upon which he depended for success has not been
mentioned. This was a supply of food for his army. The troops, during
the whole winter, had lived, from day to day, on quarter-rations,
doled out to them with a sparing hand; and, in moving now from
Petersburg, Lee saw that he must look to supplies somewhere upon his
line of retreat. These he had directed to be brought from the south
and deposited at Amelia Court-House; and the expectation of finding at
that point full subsistence for his men, had doubtless a great effect
in buoying up his spirits. An evil chance, however, reversed all the
hopes based on this anticipation. From fault or misapprehension, the
train loaded with supplies proceeded to Richmond without depositing
the rations at Amelia Court-House; there was no time to obtain other
subsistence, and when, after unforeseen delay, in consequence of
high water in the Appomattox, Lee, at the head of his half-starved
soldiers, reached Amelia Court-House, it was only to find that there
was nothing there for the support of his army, and to realize that a
successful retreat, under the circumstances, was wellnigh hopeless.

Those who accompanied the Southern army on this arduous march will
recall the dismayed expression of the emaciated faces at this
unlooked-for calamity; and no face wore a heavier shadow than that of
General Lee. The failure of the supply of rations completely paralyzed
him. He had intended, and was confident of his ability, to cut his way
through the enemy; but an army cannot march and fight without food.
It was now necessary to halt and send out foraging parties into the
impoverished region around. Meanwhile General Grant, with his great
force, was rapidly moving to bar his adversary's further advance;
the want of a few thousand pounds of bread and meat had virtually
terminated the war.

An anxious and haggard expression came to General Lee's face when he
was informed of this great misfortune; and, at once abandoning his
design of cutting his way through to North Carolina, he turned
westward, and shaped his march toward Lynchburg. This movement began
on the night of the 5th of April, and it would seem that General Grant
had had it in his power to arrest it by an attack on Lee at Amelia
Court-House. General Sheridan was in the immediate vicinity, with a
force of about eighteen thousand well-mounted cavalry, and, although
it was not p