Johnson opened the Southern ports to commerce as of old, and on the 29th a proclamation of general amnesty was issued,—and all this within two short months.
The battle of Five Forks may be regarded as the decisive battle that ended the war, as its result compelled the retreat, and led to the capture of Lee and his gallant army, that had so long defended Virginia against the Northern forces. For four years Lee had prevented the capture of Richmond; for four years he had repeatedly driven back the Union army whenever it sought to advance, and on two occasions he had crossed the Potomac and endeavored to carry the war into the Northern States. Since his defeat at Gettysburg many a battle had been fought and many a noble life expended in the effort to capture or defend the capital of the Confederacy. But the end was approaching.
The Northern press and public clamored for the capture of Richmond, and down to near the close of the war that rebellious city was the goal which the commanders of the Army of the Potomac struggled to reach. Seven in all had made the attempt, McDowell, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and last of all Grant. After the fall of Vicksburg, he had been summoned to Washington, and placed in command of the Army of the Potomac, under fewer restrictions than had been given to the commanders who preceded him. All his predecessors had been overruled and hampered in their movements by orders from Washington; Grant declined the command unless he could have it without interference, and, doubtless with great reluctance, his demand was conceded by the Washington authorities.
Between Gettysburg and Five Forks great progress had been made towards the suppression of the rebellion. Savannah, Wilmington, and Charleston successively fell into Union hands, Mobile was securely blockaded, and the Confederates were without a port of consequence along their entire coast line of ocean and gulf. After the
