A Stillness at Appomattox (92 page)

When
light
came
on
June
18
it
brought
only
more
confusion.
The
Federals
now
were
posted
on
a
long
ridge,
with the
Hare
and
Shand
house
hills
in
their
possession,
and Beauregard's
last
line
was
on
an
opposite
ridge,
and
the
different
Federal
commanders
seem
to
have
felt
that
they
ought to
explore
this
new
position
with
some
care
before
they
attacked.
Up
near
the
river
Baldy
Smith's
troops
seized
a
Confederate
skirmish
line,
took
a
number
of
prisoners,
and
then halted.
Birney
found
himself
unable
to
get
his
men
moving until
nearly
noon,
when
he
attacked
with
one
division
and was
quickly
repulsed.
Burnside
managed
to
edge
some
men forward
and
consolidated
the
position
he
had
won
the
evening
before
on
the
far
side
of
the
railroad
cut,
but
he
waited for
Warren
to
go
into
action
on
his
left
and
this
wait
turned out
to
be
rather
long.

Warren
began
to
move
at
dawn,
as
ordered,
with
all
four of
his
divisions
abreast,
and
he
had
the
power
to
go
sweeping through
to
the
Jerusalem
Road,
wheel
toward
the
north,
and break
things
up
once
and
for
all.
But
he
ran
into
skirmish fire,
found
the
ground
unfamiliar,
and
at
six
o'clock
halted his
men
and
told
them
to
dig
in
while
patrols
examined
the ground
in
their
front.

In
the
rear
Meade
was
in
a
foul
temper,
which
kept
growing
worse,
and
he
emitted
a
furious
stream
of
orders
in
a
completely
futile
attempt
to
bring
about
the
united
attack
which had
been
designed.
Hours
passed,
and
the
breakdown
in
the command
system
became
complete,
and
by
early
afternoon Meade
was
wiring
to
his
corps
commanders:
"I
find
it
useless to
appoint
an
hour
to
effect
co-operation
.
.
.
what
additional
orders
to
attack
you
require
I
cannot
imagine.
.
.
. Finding
it
impossible
to
effect
co-operation
by
appointing
an hour
for
attack,
I
have
sent
an
order
to
each
corps
commander
to
attack
at
all
hazards
and
without
reference
to
each other."
²³

Late
in
the
afternoon,
the
attacks
were
finally
made.
It
was too
late,
by
now,
for
Lee's
veterans
were
in
the
trenches
at last
and
the
eight-to-one
odds
had
vanished
forever;
this
was Cold
Harbor
all
over
again,
with
its
cruel
demonstration
that trench
lines
properly
manned
could
not
be
taken
by
storm. The
chance
had
gone,
and
an
attack
now
could
result
in
nothing
but
destruction
for
the
attackers.

The
soldiers
knew
this
even
if
their
generals
did
not.
In mid-afternoon
Birney
massed
his
troops
for
a
final
attack.
His principal
column
was
formed
in
four
lines,
with
veteran troops
in
the
first
two
lines
and
oversized
heavy
artillery
regiments,
untried
but
full
of
enthusiasm,
in
the
last
two.

The
men
were
lying
down
when
the
order
to
charge
the Rebel
works
came
in,
and
as
the
officers
shouted
and
waved their
swords
the
inexperienced
artillerists
sprang
to
their
feet while
the
veterans
ahead
of
them
continued
to
lie
prone.
The veterans
looked
back,
saw
the
rookies
preparing
to
charge, and
called
out:
"Lie
down,
you
damn
fools,
you
cant
take them
forts!"

One
of
the
artillery
regiments,
1st
Massachusetts
heavies, accepted
this
advice,
lay
down
again,
and
made
no
charge. The
other
one,
1st
Maine,
valiantly
stayed
on
its
feet,
ran
forward
through
the
rows
of
prostrate
men,
and
made
for
the Confederate
line.
It
was
a
hopeless
try.
The
Confederate
gun pits
had
been
built
low
and
the
black
muzzles
of
the
guns that
peered
evilly
out
of
the
embrasures
were
no
more
than a
foot
or
two
above
the
ground,
and
when
they
fired
the canister
came
in
just
off
the
grass
so
that
nobody
could
escape. The
whole
slope
was
burned
with
fire,
and
in
a
few
minutes more
than
600
of
the
900
men
in
the
regiment
had
been
shot down,
the
ground
was
covered
with
mangled
bodies,
and
the survivors
were
running
for
the
rear.
²⁴

In
another
part
of
the
II
Corps
front,
what
remained
of
the veteran
Excelsior
Brigade
of
New
York
troops
was
moving
up to
the
attack.
The
men
passed
through
a
line
of
artillery,
and a
gunner
called
out
to
ask
if
they
were
going
to
make
a charge.
A
soldier
answered
him:
"No,
we
are
not
going
to charge.
We
are
going
to
run
toward
the
Confederate
earthworks
and
then
we
are
going
to
run
back.
We
have
had enough
of
assaulting
earthworks."