And yet the closing scenes of that great tragical drama that por-
trayed the individual heroism of the Confederate soldiers was to come at
last. It came in the Bast, where the first blood was shed and where the
flag of the Confederacy was first unfurled. It came to give a deathless
renown to the Southern soldiers, and was the grandest of all their most
glorious and immortal history. It was an end worthy of the sufferings
and self-sacrifice of the grandest body of men that a common cause had
ever drawn together. The six days' retreat from Petersburg to Appo-
mattox with all its scenes of privation, devotion and death are unparalleled
in all the annals of unhallowed war. Surrounded by an army ten times
their number, suffering the pangs of semi-starvation, without sleep, food
or clothing, "preferring death in any of its forms to the bitter pang of
surrender," the skeleton of the Confederate army still fought on and
fought on, hoping against hope, and to the last for one more victory that
would save them unconauered on the field. The fateful moment came at
last; a column of Confederate infantry, less than 3,000 strong, under the
command of Gordon, moved against the enemy in a last effort to open
the way of retreat beyond the Appomattox Court House. It was their
last resort to escape the surrounding host, and to save a wrecked and
ruined army from surrender to the foe.
