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the little battalion turned and followed in the footsteps of the infantry. Thus
commenced the retreat that ended in the surrender of the Army of Northern
Virginia. The roads were muddy and wretchedly cut up by the passage of the
artillery and heavy wagons, and the army, though in constant motion, made slow
progress. By the next afternoon (Monday, April 3.) Amelia Court House was
reached, when the enemy made a slight demonstration, but did not seriously attack.
Early on the morning of the 4th Colonel Dorsey, ascertaining the whereabouts of
General Fitz Lee, joined his division, in pursuance of his original order, and was
assigned to Payne's Brigade.

Before this the small supply of provisions and forage brought from Peters-
burg had been exhausted, and as none had been issued, men and horses were
almost starving.

The enemy's cavalry now became exceedingly active, and Payne's Brigade
was daily engaged from daylight to dark, and often the struggle lasted all night.
Grant's immense cavalry force enabled him to make simultaneous attacks at several
points, and thus he succeeded in destroying a large portion of General Lee's wagon
train, as it was impossible for the small force of Confederate cavalry to guard all
points. The only thing to be done was to attack the enemy wherever he struck the
train, and most vigorously was this plan followed.

In all these affairs, without exception, the Confederate cavalry was successful;
and in one. when General Robert E. Lee was personally present and observing,
repulsed a sudden and determined charge of Gregg's Division with great loss, and
captured General Gregg himself.

Fate seemed to have determined that the Confederate sun should set in halo
worthy of its noonday splendor, and gave a series of unbroken successes to the
cavalry, and crowned all by the magnificent charge of Gordon's corps of infantry
on the very morning of the surrender, when that gallant General swept away the
enemy's lines and captured his batteries in a style that showed that nothing of
his old vigor was lost.

There was a serious embarrassment, however, attending the cavalry victories—
the capture of so many prisoners, which toward the last became nearly as numerous
as General Lee's whole army, and presented a difficult question both as to feeding
and guarding. No rations having been issued. men and horses had been subsisting
from the 4th of April on a scanty supply of hard corn, which the troops had not
even time to parch, and ate raw from the cob as they marched. On one occasion
someone of the battalion got hold of a raw ham. and generously divided it as far as
it would go. Raw ham, and raw corn from the cob may not be very palatable to
one unfasted, but to Colonel Dorsey and his men it seemed a luxury.

At Amelia Springs there was a severe cavalry fight, in which the enemy was
defeated and pursued some miles. Here a small portion of flour was issued to