Summary:
Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys commanded the Second Army Corps of the Army of the
Potomac which included the 184th Pa. Regiment. Humphreys reports on the pursuit
of the enemy.
April 10, 1865.
The pursuit was resumed at 5.30 a.m. on the 8th, on the road to Lynchburg (by the Cumberland Court-House and Appomattox Court-House stage road). Four pieces of artillery were abandoned by the enemy on the route and fell into our hands. At New Store the enemy's cavalry pickets were come up with. A halt was made of about two hours at sunset, and the march resumed, with the object of coming up with the main force of the enemy; but finding no probability of doing so during the night, and the men being much exhausted form the want of food and from fatigue, the head of the column was halted at midnight. The rear did not get up until morning, and the supply train of two days' rations later. As soon as the rations could be issued the troops moved forward again (at 8 a.m.), and at 11 a.m. came up with the enemy's skirmishers about three miles form Appomattox Court-House, where they remained during the day under the flags of truce. At about 4 p.m. it was announced that the Army of Northern Virginia had capitulated.
The captures of the Second Corps during the campaign were 35 guns, 16 flags, over 4,600 prisoners, and the capture or destruction of over 400 wagons and their contents.
Nothing could be finer than the spirit of the officers and men during all the operations of this campaign.
I beg leave to ask the attention of the commanding general to the services of Brevet Maj.-Gen. Miles, whose division had the good fortune to be most frequently and heavily engaged with the enemy; but it would be an injustice to the other division commanders and their troops not to acknowledge the skill and bravery and fine spirit which they, in common with the First Division and its commander, exhibited throughout all the operations. For the prompt and intelligent manner in which all orders were carried out my thanks are dire to Brevet Maj.-Gen. Miles, Brevet Maj.-Gen. Mott, Brevet Maj. Gen. Barlow, Brig.-Gen. De Trobriand, and Lieut.-Col. Hazard, commanding the Artillery Brigade.
To my staff--and especially to Lieut.-Col. Willian, Lieut.-Col. Whittier, Maj. Livermore, Maj. Bingham (wounded on the 7th instant), and my aides-de-camp--I am under many obligations for the active, zealous, and intelligent assistance they gave me.
Such brilliant successes have not been gained without severe loss, though comparatively small in number. Among those who fell are fell are Brig.-Gen. Smyth, in whom the service has lost a noble, gallant, and experienced soldier, and Maj. Mills, an accomplished, courteous, and gallant staff officer.
Among the wounded are Maj.-Gen. Mott and Brig.-Gen. madill, both severely, and Brig.-Gen. MacDougall, Col. Starbird, Nineteenth Maine, dangerously wounded.
For further details I beg leave to ask you attention to the reports of the division and artillery commanders, which accompany this.
I append hereto a statement of the number killed, wounded, and missing during the campaign.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. A. HUMPRHERYS,
Maj.-Gen., Cmdg.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I., Volume 46. Part I, Reports. , Serial No. 95, Pages 684, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
