March 4, 1865
Col. S. H. Roberts and his Third Brigade, Third Division, 24th Corps, Army of the James, accompanied by the 1st New York Mounted Rifles and the gunboats Chamberlain, Mosswood, and Jessup, depart from Deep Bottom, headed for Fort Monroe and an expedition up the Rappahannock River to capture Fredericksburg, Virginia and break up Confederate trade in the area.
Ulysses S. Grant replies to General Robert E. Lee on the subject of discussing terms for peace. Grant makes clear he has no authority to discuss peace terms, that right being held by President Lincoln alone.
Special Orders 44 offers much to Confederates willing to desert to Union lines, including free transportation and food on their way home, if their home is behind Union lines, employment in the Quartermaster Department, and/or payment for weapons and horses brought into Union lines.
Major General Edward O. C. Ord, commanding the Army of the James, departs for Fort Monroe, leaving Major General John Gibbon temporarily in command.
Generals Lee and Longstreet await a reply from Ulysses S. Grant on the subject of a military convention to be held on the topic of an honorable peace for both sides.
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
Mentions of This Date at The Siege of Petersburg Online:
- ITINERARY: 48th North Carolina
- LT: March 4, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- NP: March 17, 1865 The Roman Citizen (Rome, NY): 15th NY Eng Letter, March 4, 1865
- OR XLVI P1 #4: Itineraries of the Army of the Potomac, Sheridan’s Cavalry Command, and the Army of the James, January-April 1865
- OR XLVI P1 #176: Reports of Bvt. Major Peter S. Michie, Chief Engineer, Army of the James, Feb 4-Mar 18, 1865