Amelia Court House  "Not A Pound Of Subsistence"  April 4 - 5, 1865

"The Army of Northern Virginia arrived here today, expecting to find plenty of provisions. But to my surprise and regret, I find not a pound of subsistence for man or horse." So Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee addressed the citizens of Amelia County, VA, on April 4, 1865, in a plea to them to contribute food for his army. In spite of hunger and exhaustion, his ragged soldiers had marched the 35 miles to Amelia Court House in two days. After 10 months of trench warfare, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac had finally broken the thin Rebel line before petersburg and had forced Lee to abandon Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Lee's army raced west along five different routes, many of the soldiers sleeping as they walked. At every halt men would drop to the ground and sleep until the march resumed. The one compelling thought that kept them going was the prospect of eating their fill when they arrived at Amelia Court House, for Lee had ordered the Commissary Department to deliver 350,000 rations there. After feeding his men, Lee planned to push south down the railroad to North Carolina and join forces with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army, but as no food could be found at Amelia, Lee could only send out forage wagons to try to supply his army's needs.

The Virginia farms had already been picked over for supplies to feed the armies, and the forage wagons returned empty. Having lost his jump on the pursuing Union army while waiting for the foragers to return, Lee had no choice but to march his famished army even harder. On April 4, his cavalry informed him that Union cavalry and infantry had securely blocked the railroad to North Carolina. His route south was no longer possible. Lee set his army out on April 5 on a swing to the northwest, to try to get around his pursuers and find an open route south.

Fascinating Fact:  Horse feed was issued as rations to some of Lee's soldiers at Amelia Court House. Parched in campfires, the corn was so hard, said a soldier, that "it made the jaws ache and the gums and teeth so sore as to cause almost unendurable pain."


Back to index page