run on the north side, leaving the Lynchburg and
Petersburg Railroad well to the left.

Lee, in pushing out from Amelia Court House, availed himself of all the
roads between the Danville Road and Appomattox River to move upon, and
never permitted the head of his columns to stop because of any fighting
that might be going on in his rear. In this way he came very near
succeeding in getting to his provision trains and eluding us with at
least part of his army.

As expected, Lee's troops had moved during the night before, and our
army in moving upon Amelia Court House soon encountered them. There was
a good deal of fighting before Sailor's Creek was reached. Our cavalry
charged in upon a body of theirs which was escorting a wagon train in
order to get it past our left. A severe engagement ensued, in which we
captured many prisoners, and many men also were killed and wounded.
There was as much gallantry displayed by some of the Confederates in
these little engagements as was displayed at any time during the war,
notwithstanding the sad defeats of the past week.

The armies finally met on Sailor's Creek, when a heavy engagement took
place, in which infantry, artillery and cavalry were all brought into
action. Our men on the right, as they were brought in against the
enemy, came in on higher ground, and upon his flank, giving us every
advantage to be derived from the lay of the country. Our firing was
also very much more rapid, because the enemy commenced his retreat
westward and in firing as he retreated had to turn around every time he
fired. The enemy's loss was very heavy, as well in killed and wounded
as in captures. Some six general officers fell into our hands in this
engagement, and seven thousand men were made prisoners. This engagement
was commenced in the middle of the afternoon of the 6th, and the retreat
and pursuit were continued until nightfall, when the armies bivouacked
upon the ground where the night had overtaken them.

When the move towards Amelia Court House had commenced that morning, I
ordered Wright's corps, which was on the extreme right, to be moved to
the left past the whole army, to take the place of Griffin's, and
ordered the latter at the same time to move by and place itself on the
right. The object of this movement was to get the 6th corps, Wright's,
next to the cavalry, with which they had formerly served so harmoniously
and so efficiently in the valley of Virginia.

The 6th cor