The Army of the Potomac has every reason to be proud of its four years’ record in the suppression of the rebellion.  The army it had to fight was the protection to the capital of a people which was attempting to found a nation upon the territory of the United States.  Its loss would be the loss of the cause.  Every energy, therefore, was put forth by the Confederacy to protect and maintain their capital.  Everything else would go if it went.  Lee’s army had to be strengthened to enable it to maintain its position, no matter what territory was wrested from the South in another quarter.

I never expected any such bickering as I have indicated, between the soldiers of the two sections; and, fortunately, there has been none between the politicians.  Possibly I am the only one who thought of the liability of such a state of things in advance.

When our conversation was at an end Mr. Lincoln mounted his horse and started on his return to City Point, while I and my staff started to join the army, now a good many miles in advance.  Up to this time I had not received the report of the capture of Richmond.

Soon after I left President Lincoln I received a dispatch from General Weitzel which notified me that he had taken possession of Richmond at about 8.15 o’clock in the morning of that day, the 3d, and that he had found the city on fire in two places.  The city was in the most utter confusion.  The authorities had taken the precaution to empty all the liquor into the gutter, and to throw out the provisions which the Confederate government had left, for the people to gather up.  The city had been deserted by the authorities, civil and military, without any notice whatever that they were about to leave.  In fact, up to the very hour of the evacuation the people had been led to believe that Lee had gained an important victory somewhere around Petersburg.

Weitzel’s command found evidence of great demoralization in Lee’s army, there being still a great many men and even officers in the town.  The city was on fire.  Our troops were directed to extinguish the flames, which they finally succeeded in doing.  The fire had been started by some one connected with the retreating army.  All authorities deny that it was authorized, and I presume it was the work of excited men who were leaving what they regarded as their capital and may have felt that it was better to destroy it than have it fall into the hands of their enemy.  Be that as it may, the National troops found the city in flames, and used every effort to extinguish them.

The troops that had formed Lee’s right, a great many of them, were cut off from getting back into Petersburg, and were pursued by our cavalry so hotly and closely that they threw away caissons, ammunition, clothing, and almost everything to lighten their loads, and pushed along up the Appomattox River until finally they took water and crossed over.