“....It would be an unsafe and dangerous rule to hold the commander of an army in battle to a technical adherence to any rule of conduct for managing his command.  He is responsible for results, and holds the lives and reputations of every officer and soldier under his orders as subordinate to the great end—­victory.  The most important events are usually compressed into an hour, a minute, and he cannot stop to analyze his reasons.  He must act on the impulse, the conviction, of the instant, and should be sustained in his conclusions, if not manifestly unjust.  The power to command men, and give vehement impulse to their joint action, is something which cannot be defined by words, but it is plain and manifest in battles, and whoever commands an army in chief must choose his subordinates by reason of qualities which can alone be tested in actual conflict.

“No one has questioned the patriotism, integrity, and great intelligence of General Warren.  These are attested by a long record of most excellent service, but in the clash of arms at and near Five Forks, March 31 and April 1, 1865, his personal activity fell short of the standard fixed by General Sheridan, on whom alone rested the great responsibility for that and succeeding days.

“My conclusion is that General Sheridan was perfectly justified in his action in this case, and he must be fully and entirely sustained if the United States expects great victories by her arms in the future.”

CHAPTER VII.

Result of the battle of five forks—­retreat of Lee—­an intercepted
despatch—­at Amelia court house—­battle of Sailor’s creek—­the
confederates’ stubborn resistance—­A complete victory—­importance of
the battle.

When the news of the battle at Five Forks reached General Grant, he realized that the decisive character of our victory would necessitate the immediate abandonment of Richmond and Petersburg by the enemy; and fearing that Lee would escape without further injury, he issued orders, the propriety of which must be settled by history, to assault next morning the whole intrenched line.  But Lee could not retreat at once.  He had not anticipated dissster at Five Forks, and hence was unprepared to withdraw on the moment; and the necessity of getting off his trains and munitions of war, as well as being obliged to cover the flight of the Confederate Government, compelled him to hold on to Richmond and Petersburg till the afternoon of the 2d, though before that Parke, Ord, and Wright had carried his outer intrenchments at several points, thus materially shortening the line of investment.

The night of the 1st of April, General Humphreys’s corps—­the Second —­had extended its left toward the White Oak road, and early next morning, under instructions from General Grant, Miles’s division of that corps reported to me, and supporting him with Ayres’s and Crawford’s divisions of the Fifth Corps, I then directed him to advance toward Petersburg and attack the enemy’s works at the intersection of the Claiborne and White Oak roads.