e loss was severe, especially in officers. This
affair caused Lee to lose precious time, he being led to believe
from the obstinacy of the fight that a large Union force was in
his front.

The Sixth Corps, after Sailor's Creek, was ordered to pursue Lee's
army directly. Its flanking work was done; its mission was to
assail Lee's rear, delay him, and if possible bring him to battle.

Sheridan, with Merritt's cavalry division, followed by Ord and the
Fifth Corps, continued westward, with orders not to stop for bad
roads, nor wait for subsistence or for daylight. They were not to
halt until planted across Lee's front.

Humphreys, who also had orders to press Lee's rear, succeeded with
his corps and a cavalry division under Crook in crossing the
Appomattox close on Mahone's rear. Wright, the morning of the 7th,
followed Longstreet to Farmville, where the latter had passed to
the north of the river.

Grant and his staff, with a small escort, rode by us about noon.
The roads were muddy from recent rains and much cut up by the
Confederate Army. Grant was dressed, to all appearance, in a
tarpaulin suit, and he was, even to his whiskers, so bespattered
with mud, fresh and dried, as to almost prevent recognition. He
then, as always, was quiet, modest, and undemonstrative. A close
look showed an expression of deep anxiety on his countenance.

Farmville is in a narrow, short valley on the south bank of the
Appomattox, surrounded on the south by high bluffs. As the Sixth
arrived on the heights above the town I was riding with General
Wright. All were anxious to ascertain the exact whereabouts of
the enemy, when, to our amazement, apparently the whole Confederate
Army came into view on the high plain north of the river. It was
drawn up in battle array and seemingly about to envelop and destroy
Crook's cavalry, that was furiously assailing it to delay it. From
the heights it seemed to us Crook's command would speedily be
annihilated. Wright was an unimpassioned man, little given to
excitement, but this scene threw him into a vehement state. His
corps was too far off the render assistance; the Appomattox, deep
through narrow, lay between, and pontoons were not up. He ordered
his corps hastened forward, and plunged down the bluffs into
Farmville, looking for a crossing. He soon came in front of a
Virginia tavern with the usual "stoops" or low porches in front,
above, and below. Grant was seated on the upper "stoop