Sold – The Commander’s Original Report on Breaching the Rebel Defenses at Petersburg

A 5 page 4to Autograph Manuscript Signed by Union Bvt. Brig. Gen. J. Warren Keifer, Burkville, Va., April 16, 1865, to the Asst. Adjutant General reporting on the activities of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 6th Corps which he commanded in fighting 3 weeks earlier.

“I have the honor to transmit the following report on the part taken by this brigade on the 25th of March, 1865 on the charge upon & capture of the enemy’s entrenched picket line near Forts Fisher & Welch in front of Petersburg…The enemy’s picket line was strongly entrenched & manned by an unusually large number of men. About 1 P.M. of the 25th ult. I received an order from Brig. Genl. T. Seymour Commanding Division to send two regiments to support our picket line in an attack upon the picket line of the enemy. I accordingly ordered the 110th & 122nd Ohio regiments commanded respectively by Bvt. Col. O.H. Brinkley & Lt. Col. C.M. Cornyn to move outside the works for the purpose ordered…The attack was made …Both regiments met with considerable loss & orders were then received by me to take charge of the troops & make the desired capture. I at once moved out the 65th Pa. Regt. one batallion, 9th N.Y. and portions of the 6th Md. & 126th Ohio Regiments, and under a severe fire from the enemy pushed them forward to our entrenched line, preparatory to making the charge.

"About 3 P.M. at a given signal the troops charged & without halting to fire passed over the enemy’s line, capturing over two hundred prisoners. In the last charge the pickets from the 10th Vt. went forward in good style…Notwithstanding a heavy artillery fire from the enemy’s guns concentrated upon the troops, the captured line was held. It subsequently proved to be of great benefit to the corps by enabling troops to be formed behind it for an assault upon the enemy’s main works…”

Fine, in bold pencil. The Army of the Potomac had beseiged Petersburg and Richmond for 9 months, but the Army of Northern Virginia proved a match for them. However, the battles of March 25 were Union successes, and the loss of these forts and others made the rebel position untenable. They evacuated Petersburg and Richmond on April 2nd; the end of the war was a week away.