Hill's Death From Freeman's "R.E. Lee"

Lee heard the first incomplete report of Five Forks stoically on the afternoon of April 1, and, as was his habit when making his first adjustments to a new situation, in his deep voice he asked abstractedly of the cavalry officer who brought him the news, "Well, Captain, what shall we do?"

The best he could do was little enough, and it entailed new risks: he must reinforce the cavalry with other infantry in place of Pickett's. At 5:45, Bushrod Johnson was ordered, through Anderson, to proceed at once to Church Crossing, near Ford's, and to support the cavalry. Forty-five minutes later Johnson moved with three brigades — Wise's, Moody's, and Hunton's. This meant the virtual abandonment of that part of the line within the bend of Hatcher's Run.

It meant even more, for as the few remaining units were spread out, they were so thinned as almost to be helpless. From Battery Gregg to Hatcher's Run the men were from ten to twenty feet apart, and at some points still farther. A single regiment of Scales's brigade and the sharpshooters of another, McRae's, were all that could be put in the position that Wise's and Hunton's brigades had occupied. Lee's only chance of remanning the endangered, the all-but-abandoned works on the right was to bring Field's division of 4600 men from the north side of the James. He now ordered this, most urgently, and directed that Longstreet come with Field's men. In the last struggle he wanted near him that lieutenant, who, for all his stubborn self-opinion, was the best corps commander he had left. Lee must have put the extremity of his plight into that order, the text of which has been lost, for as it was transmitted through channels, it had an ominous ring. "It is important beyond measure," Longstreet's adjutant general wrote Field, "that no time be lost." As Field's departure would leave only one division of infantry, a single brigade of cavalry, and some heavy artillery north of the James, the tocsin was sounded in the capital and all the local defense troops, together with the state cadets, were ordered out to man the works below Richmond. Ewell reassumed actively his general command on the northside.

Had Lee known early in the evening the full magnitude of the disaster that had befallen Pickett he might have ordered the evacuation of the Petersburg line before daylight. Even as it was, with the enemy on his right flank and the river behind him, he must have ridden back to the Turnbull house in full knowledge that what little hope remained to him hung on the arrival of Longstreet before Grant assaulted.

As compared with the state of affairs on March 27, here was the situation, in terms of the density of infantry, after Field started to move and the local defense troops took position:

South of the James River, on nearly 20 miles of line, Lee now had scarcely 16,000 infantry in position and none in reserve. From the Appomattox to Hatcher's Run, he had only 11,000. From Lieutenant's Run, where the works began to be less formidable, to the very end of his fortified position, where the Claiborne road crossed the western stretch of Hatcher's Run, he had no more than 12,500 infantry. These included the forces in the highly important position of Burgess's Mill. If Grant were held off one day longer, as he had been held off for nine months, there was still a chance of a safe withdrawal and a reconcentration. But if Grant turned the right, or discovered how thin was the line of infantry behind the works . . . then . . . but Lee could only tell General Grimes, who reported the weakness of his position, that he must do the best he could.

His orders given, Lee went to his quarters and partly disrobed, but he slept little, if at all. He was exhausted, though not actually ill. He may have heard the shelling that began at 9 P.M. on Wilcox's front, the nearest point of which was only a little more than two miles from his headquarters. He probably knew nothing of a minor shift of part of McRae's force to the east of Hatcher's Run, next McComb, where danger seemed to be threatened. Perhaps he caught the sound of the picket firing that broke out at 1:45 on the morning of the fateful 2d of April. Soon A. P. Hill, who had been apprehensive because of the heaviness of the artillery fire, came out from his quarters, which were a mile and a half nearer Petersburg than Lee's. About o'clock Longstreet arrived in advance of Field's division, which was moving toward the city as rapidly as the creaking wheels of the decrepit railroad could turn. Lee was in bed, still feeling very unwell, but received Longstreet at once and reviewed for him the condition on the right. He directed Longstreet to take his troops, the instant they detrained, and to march for Hatcher's Run.

Suddenly, while Lee was explaining the route of the division, Colonel Venable broke excitedly into the room. Wagons and teamsters, he said, were driving wildly down Cox's road toward Petersburg. An infantry officer had told him that Federal skirmishers had driven him from Harris's quarters, less than half a mile from Edge Hill.

From Harris's quarters? Why, the huts of the Mississippians were a mile and a half in the rear of the main line! If the enemy were there, then the Federals had broken the line — broken it at a point that would put them in rear of the whole of the Confederate right!

Instantly the General sprang from his bed and hurried to the front door of the Turnbull house with Longstreet. It was an usually dark morning. Distant objects were vague. But long lines of men, like those of skirmishers, were visible, moving slowly toward Edge Hill from the southwest. Were they retreating Confederates or advancing Union troops? Quick, Colonel Venable, mount and reconnoitre, and General Hill — but Hill was already running toward his horse. There must have been something desperate in the manner of Hill, for as the two hurried off, Lee called to Venable to caution Hill not to expose himself. Away they galloped. Other officers leaped into their saddles and sped after them. Couriers lashed their lean and frantic horses as they dashed away with orders.

Then, for a few moments, the line that stretched far across the gray fields halted as if in doubt. Anxiously Lee concentrated his gaze on it. Soon, in the growing light, the color of the men's uniforms was visible — blue. They were Federals. Could Longstreet use Field's division to stop them? No, "Old Pete" had to answer: Word had not yet come that any of Field's regiments had detrained, much less that they had arrived on the ground. If that were so, the best that could be done for the moment was to rally the Confederate forces on Fort Gregg and Fort Baldwin, south of the Turnbull house and perpendicular to the main east-and-west line. And as Fort Baldwin was a mile and a quarter from the Appomattox, it was necessary for the troops south of Fort Baldwin and Fort Gregg to withdraw more to the east and to occupy the "inner line."

Going back to his private quarters, Lee dressed quickly and prepared to leave the Turnbull house, which was directly in the line of the Federal advance. When he reappeared, he was in full uniform and had on his sword. Quickly he mounted his horse and rode down to the gate of Edge Hill and across the road, whence he had a good sweep of the country. He had not been there long, intent with orders for meeting the surprise, when a number of staff officers came up. Some of them were of Hill's entourage, and with them was Hill's dapple-gray horse. But the commander of the Third Corps was not astride the animal. Instead, Sergeant G. W. Tucker rode him — Tucker, who was known throughout the army as Hill's daredevil courier, the man who had asked permission in the Wilderness campaign to go out to the skirmish line and kill a Federal cavalryman in order that he might get a horse to take the place of his own, which was dead. Tucker had no jest in him now: with heavy heart he told how Hill and himself had ridden on, after Colonel Venable had left them, and how they had encountered two Federals who had answered their call for "Surrender" with rifle shots. Hill had been hit and had toppled out of his saddle. Tucker had seen him on the ground, motionless, had caught his horse and had changed to it because the gray was fresher than his own mount. Lee listened intently. Grief showed itself in a sharp change of expression. Tears came to his eyes: "He is at rest now," he murmured, "and we who are left are the ones who suffer." Then he turned to Tucker and directed him to go with Colonel Palmer, Hill's adjutant general, so that Mrs. Hill might know the facts. "Colonel," he said to Palmer, "break the news to her as gently as possible." To Major General Heth, Hill's senior division commander, Lee dispatched the grim announcement, with orders to report at once in person. As it happened, Heth was far down on the right, near Burgess's Mill, and found the enemy between him and the headquarters when he attempted to get to the Turnbull house. As he failed to appear, Lee put the Third Corps under Longstreet.

About the Author of this Work

Douglas South Freeman was born in 1886 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was a Virginia newspaper editor and noted author of American biography. His 1935 four-volume biography of General Robert E. Lee won the Pulitzer Prize. Freeman also won a second Pulitzer posthumously for a seven volume biography of George Washington that his assistants completed after his death in 1953.