of Northern Virginia will be received.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

Lee's army was rapidly crumbling. Many of his soldiers had enlisted
from that part of the State where they now were, and were continually
dropping out of the ranks and going to their homes. I know that I
occupied a hotel almost destitute of furniture at Farmville, which had
probably been used as a Confederate hospital. The next morning when I
came out I found a Confederate colonel there, who reported to me and
said that he was the proprietor of that house, and that he was a colonel
of a regiment that had been raised in that neighborhood. He said that
when he came along past home, he found that he was the only man of the
regiment remaining with Lee's army, so he just dropped out, and now
wanted to surrender himself. I told him to stay there and he would not
be molested. That was one regiment which had been eliminated from Lee's
force by this crumbling process.

Although Sheridan had been marching all day, his troops moved with
alacrity and without any straggling. They began to see the end of what
they had been fighting four years for. Nothing seemed to fatigue them.
They were ready to move without rations and travel without rest until
the end. Straggling had entirely ceased, and every man was now a rival
for the front. The infantry marched about as rapidly as the cavalry
could.

Sheridan sent Custer with his division to move south of Appomattox
Station, which is about five miles south-west of the Court House, to get
west of the trains and destroy the roads to the rear. They got there
the night of the 8th, and succeeded partially; but some of the train men
had just discovered the movement of our troops and succeeded in running
off three of the trains. The other four were held by Custer.

The head of Lee's column came marching up there on the morning of the
9th, not dreaming, I suppose, that there were any Union soldiers near.
The Confederates were surprised to find our cavalry had possession of
the trains. However, they were desperate and at once assaulted, hoping
to recover them. In the melee that ensued they succeeded in burning one
of the trains, but not in getting anything from it. Custer then ordered
the other trains run back on the road towards Farmville, and the fight
continued.

So far, only our cavalry and the advance of Lee's army were engaged.
Soon, however, Lee's men were brought up from the rear, no doubt
expecting