were to be forwarded from Lynchburg to meet the retreating army
at Appomattox Station, Pamplin’s Station or Farmville Station.
The Appomattox River must be crossed two or three times at its
bends. Various creeks and swamps must be bridged, and the bridges
destroyed after crossing. The wagons must move on separate
roads so as to be covered by the columns during marches and combats
and the infantry were to follow the artillery on the roads. Longstreet,
Gordon and Mahone’s division from Richmond all crossed
the Appomattox at Goode’s Bridge. Ewell from Richmond crossed
the Appomattox by the Danville railroad bridge north of Goode’s
Bridge Anderson commanded the flank guard which moved south
of the Appomattox with Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry. Lee gained a
day’s start by moving at 8 p.m., for Grant was making preparations
to attack the entrenchments next day (April 3), but the start
was lost in waiting for President Davis and the government to
escape from Richmond. Sheridan’s cavalry got in touch with Lee’s
flank guard early on the 3rd of April near Namozine Creek, and at
nightfall the Federal advance-guard was at Deep Creek. On the
4th of April Sheridan reached the Danville railroad at Jetersville,
and on the 5th of April, when Lee had halted at Amelia Court-House
on the railroad to get supplies, the Federals had three corps (II., V.,
VI.) in support of Sheridan 8 m. nearer than Lee to Sailor’s Creek,
the point where he must again cross the Appomattox.
Interception was now a fait accompli, though neither side suspected it. Lee was unaware of the enemy’s proximity, and Grant believed that Lee would remain at Amelia Court-House, but Lee moved west, crossing Flat Creek at sunset on the 5th of April, to the Lynchburg railroad (Longstreet, marching all night, reached Rice’s Station at sunrise on the 6th of April). while the Federals moved northwards on the same day to attack Lee at Amelia Court-House, and on discovering Lee’s evasion the three Federal corps effected a wheel to the left and advanced on Deatonsville after bridging Flat Creek. Meanwhile the Federal cavalry under H. E Davies had located a convoy at Painesville, dispersed its escort (Gary’s cavalry) and burned the wagons, but had in turn been attacked by Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry at Amelia Springs and driven back on the main body at Flat Creek. Fitzhugh Lee had then marched to Join Longstreet at Rice’s Station. The rearguard of Lee’s army was Gordon’s command, which was at Amelia Springs after Ewell’s command had passed through at 8 a m on the 6th of April. Lee’s army stretched out for 15 m., and when its advance-guard was at Rice’s Station its rearguard was still at Amelia Court-House. Rice’s Station is 62 m. from Lynchburg. Here Longstreet waited all day for Anderson, Ewell and Gordon to close up, and then at night he moved 8 m. to Farmville Station (68 m. south-west of Richmond), where 80,000 rations had been railed from Lynchburg; then Longstreet crossed the Appomattox, and on the 7th of April moved forward towards Lynchburg, covered by Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry. Meanwhile the remainder of Lee s army had been practically destroyed within a few miles of the point where Longstreet had halted. Sheridan’s cavalry and two corps (II, VI) had caught the commands of Anderson, Ewell and Gordon, entangled with the trains of the army attempting the passage of Sailor’s Creek; and General Ord would even have attacked Longstreet whom he had located late at night) had his march been delayed.
Complete disorganization and demoralization seem to have taken hold of the Confederates on this fatal day, and General Lee was once more in eclipse. The Federal cavalry headed the column, the infantry attacked it, and Ewell became the victim of tactical envelopment after Anderson had been defeated and Gordon had failed to save the trains of the army. Surrender or massacre being the alternatives, Ewell surrendered, and here in fact the career of the army of Northern Virginia ended, as Grant plainly saw, for at 5 30 p m he addressed a demand to Lee for his capitulation. But Lee clung to his diminished forces for another 48 hours. Longstreet in crossing at Farmville had burnt the bridges and thus delayed Ord in pursuit; but Gordon and Mahone, who had crossed at High Bridge (the railroad bridge), failed to check Humphreys' corps (II), and so were compelled to take up a position of defence on the north bank until darkness enabled them to slip away. General Lee was with this remnant of the army. Meanwhile Sheridan with the cavalry and two corps (V., XXIV.) had hastened along the South Side railroad, seizing the supplies waiting for Lee at Pamplin’s Station, and then moving on another 12 m. to Appomattox Station. At nightfall he found that he was astride the enemy’s line of operation, which was also his line of supply, and so General Lee would be compelled to give battle or capitulate on the morrow.
General Lee, quitting Farmville heights on the night of the 7th of April changed the order of march during the next day, so that Gordon (8000) was in the van and Longstreet (15,000) furnished the rearguard. Ewell’s corps was now represented by 300 effectives. The cavalry still numbered some 1600 sabres. Lee’s column was pursued along the Lynchburg Road by two Federal Corps (II., VI), which marched 26 m. in 1812 hours, and at midnight halted within 3 m. of Longstreet, who had entrenched near Appomattox Court-House, facing east and covering the road on which Gordon’s corps and the cavalry was to press forward to Lynchburg at daylight. But Gordon on the morning of the 9th of April found Sheridan’s cavalry in his front, and in accordance with plans made overnight he commenced an attack, driving the Federals back until he encountered at 10 a.m. two corps of infantry (V., XXIV) under General Ord, who had marched 29 m. in order to support Sheridan at the crisis; and when at the same moment Longstreet was threatened by Humphreys and Wright (II., VI) the situation had arisen which General Lee considered would justify surrender, an event which had been anticipated on both sides as the result of the fighting about Farmville on the 6th and 7th of April.
The closing operations from the 29th of March to the 9th of April were all in favour of the Federals, but, nevertheless, the historian counts their losses during this period as nearly 10,000 in the five corps and cavalry which constituted General Grant’s field army. On the 9th of April, at the Appomattox Court-House, the two leaders exchanged formal documents by which 2862 officers and 25,494 enlisted men were paroled, all that remained in the field of some 55,000 Confederates who were drawing rations on the 20th of February as the army of Northern Virginia. (G. W. R.)
PETERSFIELD, a market town in the Petersfield parliamentary division of Hampshire, England, 55 m. S.W. from London by the London & South Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 3265. The church of St Peter retains some ornate Norman work. The picturesque market-place contains an equestrian statue of William III.
Ecclesiastically a chapelry of Buriton, Petersfield (Peterfelde) owes its origin as a borough to the charter granted by William, earl of Gloucester, in the reign of Henry II. and confirmed later by his widow, Hawise. Petersfield is not mentioned in Domesday, but it was probably then included in the manor of Mapledurham. It was a mesne borough possessing by its first charter the liberties and customs of Winchester together with a merchant gild. These grants were confirmed by John in 1198 and in 1415 Henry V. in addition freed the burgesses from all tolls. No charter of incorporation has been found. Gradually privileges and rights other than those of a mesne borough were usurped by the mayor and burgesses, but were recovered by a suit brought against them by Thomas Hanbury, owner of the borough, in 1611. A mayor continued to be elected until 1885. Petersfield was represented in parliament in 1307. No return was then made until 1552–1553, from which date two members were regularly returned. In 1832 the number was reduced to one, and in 1885 the representation was merged in that of the county. Three-day fairs at the feasts of St Peter and St Andrew were granted in 1255. In 1892 the summer fair then held on the 10th of July was abolished. The autumn fair now held on the 6th of October is for both business and pleasure. The market, which dates from before 1373, formerly held on Saturday, is now held on alternate Wednesdays. In the 16th century Petersfield had important cloth and leather manufactures.
PETER’S PENCE, Rome Scot, or Rom-feoh, a tax of a penny on every hearth, formerly paid annually to the popes, now represented by a voluntary contribution made by the devout in Roman Catholic churches Its date of origin is doubtful. The first written evidence of it is contained in a letter of Canute (1031) sent from Rome to the English clergy. At this time it appears to have been levied on all families possessed of land worth thirty pence yearly rental, out of which they paid one penny. Matthew Paris says the tax was instituted by Offa, king of Mercia (757–796) for the upkeep of the English school and hostel at Rome. Layamon, however, declares that Ina, king of Wessex (688–725), was the originator of the idea. At the Norman Conquest it appears to have fallen into arrears for a time, for William the Conqueror promised the pope in 1076 that it should be regularly paid. By a bull of Pope Adrian IV. the tax was extended to Ireland. In 1213 Innocent III. complained that the bishops kept 1000 marks of it, only forwarding 300 to Rome. In 1306 Clement V. exacted a penny from each household instead of the £201, 9s. at which the tax appears to have been then fixed. The threat of withholding Peter’s pence proved more than once a useful weapon against recalcitrant popes in the hands of English kings. Thus in 1366 and for some years after it was refused on the ground of the pope’s obstinacy in withholding his consent to the statute of praemunire During the 10th century the custom of Peter’s pence was introduced into Poland, Prussia and Scandinavia, and in the 11th century Gregory VII. attempted to exact it from France and
