hed
out of the fort, Sunday afternoon, the 14th inst., with colors
flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private
property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.
ROBERT ANDERSON, Major First Artillery, commanding.
CHAPTER XXIV.
END OF THE WAR--FROM GOLDSBORO' TO RALEIGH AND WASHINGTON.
APRIL AND MAY, 1865.
As before described, the armies commanded respectively by Generals
J. M. Schofield, A. H. Terry, and myself, effected a junction in
and about Goldsboro', North Carolina, during the 22d and 23d of
March, 1865, but it required a few days for all the troops and
trains of wagons to reach their respective camps. In person I
reached Goldsboro' on the 23d, and met General Schofield, who
described fully his operations in North Carolina up to that date;
and I also found Lieutenant Dunn, aide-de-camp to General Grant,
with a letter from him of March 16th, giving a general description
of the state of facts about City Point. The next day I received
another letter, more full, dated the 22d, which I give herewith.
Nevertheless, I deemed it of great importance that I should have a
personal interview with the general, and determined to go in person
to City Point as soon as the repairs of the railroad, then in
progress under the personal direction of Colonel W. W. Wright,
would permit:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES
CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 22, 1865
Major-General SHERMAN, Commanding Military Division of the
Mississippi.
GENERAL: Although the Richmond papers do not communicate the fact,
yet I saw enough in them to satisfy me that you occupied Goldsboro'
on the 19th inst. I congratulate you and the army on what may be
regarded as the successful termination of the third campaign since
leaving the Tennessee River, less than one year ago.
Since Sheridan's very successful raid north of the James, the enemy
are left dependent on the Southside and Danville roads for all
their supplies. These I hope to cut next week. Sheridan is at
White House, "shoeing up" and resting his cavalry. I expect him to
finish by Friday night and to start the following morning, raid
Long Bridge, Newmarket, Bermuda Hundred, and the extreme left of
the army around Petersburg. He will make no halt with the armies
operating here, but will be joined by a division of cavalry, five
thousand five hundred strong, from the Army of the Potomac, and
will proceed directly to the Southside and Danville road
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