February 23, 1865
Federal expedition from Yorktown aboard the gunboat, USS Mystic, to West Point, VA, where the Yankees are unsuccessful in their attempt to capture Col. Richardson of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s staff who was home on 60 days leave; he was warned by a spy. The Yankees also missed breaking up a wedding where a band of Rebels were supposed to attend; they got the wrong date, as it is scheduled for March 2nd. The Yankees proceed to burn Richardson’s home, and other barns, with thousands of pounds of bacon and about 25,000 bushels of corn and grain, before returning to Yorktown, VA. 2/23-24/1865.
Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant asks Secretary of War Stanton to consider issuing orders to retain colonels in command of brigades in the service past their regiments’ muster out dates to prevent a lack of suitable brigade commanders in the Union armies surrounding Petersburg and Richmond.
The 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry is ordered to report to City Point, to be sent to Major General Schofield’s army assembling on the coast of North Carolina.
Union Fifth Corps commander General Gouverneur Warren returns to the Siege of Petersburg from a leave of absence, arriving at City Point in the morning.
Note: All “Today In The Petersburg Campaign” blog entries are used with permission from Ronald A. Mosocco’s Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Order the book HERE.
Copyright © 1993, 1994 by Ronald A. Mosocco