Civil War Today

Longstreet’s portion of Lee’s army stumbled into Farmville from Rice’s Depot looking for something to eat. There they were met by a train load of rations. After distributing the rations Lee’s men crossed to the north side of the Appomattox River and destroyed the two bridges in the town. The trains moved to Appomattox Station to wait for Lee. Meanwhile Lee had ordered the rear guard to destroy High Bridge after they crossed which would strand the Union on the south side of the river. The banks of the river in Farmville are steep and there is no place to ford the river.

It was a good plan. Lee’s men were exhausted, even more than food they needed sleep and rest. I doubt that they got very much benefit from the rations they received because they were so tired that they would have trouble digesting them. In extreme cases food become poison because the body has no energy left to use it.

Lee moved north up to Cumberland Church while Grant moved into Farmville. It would take a day or so to rebuild the bridges and longer for the massive army to cross. With High Bridge destroyed Sheridan would have to double back to Farmville to cross the river and would become entangled with the infantry trying to cross the same bridge. Lee would have several days at least to put some distance between himself and Sheridan and get lost up in the hills around New Store. After a couple of days rest Lee would have descended on Appomattox Station lean and mean.

It was a good plan, except that the Union putout the fire on High Bridge.