r precisely this. On March 29th Sheridan
worked around into the rear of the Confederate right. Lee descried the
movement, and extended his lines that way to obviate it. A force was
sent, which drove Sheridan back in some confusion. Re-enforced, he
again advanced and beat the forces opposed to him rearward to Five
Forks. Here, April 1st, he made a successful charge, before which the
foe broke and ran, leaving 4,500 prisoners.

Fearing an attack on Sheridan in force which might let Lee out, Grant
sent re-enforcements, at the same time keeping up a roaring cannonade
along the whole line all night. At five on the morning of the 2d, a
grand assault was made against the Confederate left, which had been
weakened to extend the right. The outer, intrenchments, with two forts
farther in, were taken. Lee at once telegraphed to President Davis that
Petersburg and Richmond must be immediately abandoned.

[Illustration: Map.]
Grant's Pursuit of Lee; April, 1865.

It was Sunday, and the message reached Mr. Davis in church. He hastened
out with pallid lips and unsteady tread. A panic-stricken throng was
soon streaming from the doomed city. Vehicles let for one hundred
dollars an hour in gold. The state-prison guards fled and the criminals
escaped. A drunken mob surged through the streets, smashing windows and
plundering shops. General Ewell blew up the iron-clads in the river and
burned bridges and storehouses. The fire spread till one-third of
Richmond was in flames. The air was filled with a "hideous mingling of
the discordant sounds of human voices--the crying of children, the
lamentations of women, the yells of drunken men--with the roar of the
tempest of flame, the explosion of magazines, the bursting of shells."
Early on the morning of the 3d was heard the cry, "The Yankees are
coming!" Soon a column of blue-coated troops poured into the city,
headed by a regiment of colored cavalry, and the Stars and Stripes
presently floated over the Confederate capital.

The Confederacy was tottering to its fall. Lee had begun his retreat on
the night of the 2d, and was straining every nerve to reach a point on
the railroad fifty miles to the west, whence he could move south and
join Johnston. Grant was too quick for him. Sending Sheridan in advance
to head him off, he himself hurried after with the main army. Gray and
blue kept up the race for several days, moving on nearly parallel lines.
Sheridan struck the Confederate column