What was the most significant event on April 5 during the U.S. Civil War?

Delays in mail. North and South are very interested in what is happening at Fort Sumter and in nearby Charleston, SC. NY Times publishes "South Carolina a Sublime Mystery" which was dated April 1 and included a little April Fools pranks as well as new of the town and the beleaguered fort.
Reports from spies continues in 1864. Espionage was very important during the civil war. Spies were used by both sides to provide intelligence on behind the lines activity. Reconnaissance and pickets were used to ascertain local movements. Fog of war sometimes prevented otherwise brilliant leaders from understanding what was going on nearby and threatening their forces.
1864: A southern newspaper article revealed a complete disregard for the suffering of wounded black troops, after the Battle of Olustee, Florida : A correspondent of the Savannah New, who was at the battle of Olustee, Florida, says of the spot held by a negro regiment that the dead negroes were strewed about in little companies of seven or eight together. He says: Here one sat erect against a tree, his eyes staring, and his legs and arms stiffened out before him. Here a negro had crawled into some brush to die; his back was bowed up like a hoop, his face to the ground, and he resting entirely on the points of his extended fingers and toes. … The Northern negroes, at first, spoke as to their equals, but soon found it would not do. Said one of a group to a Confederate soldier standing by, “I say, my friend, just let me put my arm around your neck, and raise me up a little.” Confederate soldier–”Don’t call me your friend, d — n you. I’d just as soon blow your brains out as not, and I would’nt touch you with a ten foot pole.”
1864: Telegraph functions for north and south as long as the lines were maintained and not cut by enemy forces.
Since RallyPoint truncates survey selection text I am posting events that were not included and then the full text of each survey choice below:
A. 1862: Siege of Yorktown, VA, begins. Union general-in-chief Gen. George B. McClellan is unable to lure Gen. John B. Magruder and his Rebels out of the Yorktown, VA fortifications. He cancels the planned march up the Peninsula toward Richmond and begins siege operations against Yorktown, and begins shelling the town.
Meanwhile, Gen. Keyes, in command of one of the Union corps, reports that the "back door" into Yorktown is also closed and heavily fortified. Magruder and his 13,000 Rebels march hither and yon, in a showy game of intimidation, which works: McClellan is convinced that Magruder has many more troops than he has.
B. 1862: Clash at Shiloh, TN after Union pickets captured. BG W.T. Sherman orders out a larger force, which clashes with a substantial force of Southern infantry supported by artillery. He infers there is a considerable Confederate force at Pea Ridge. Union camp named after a small log church--Shiloh Methodist Church.
C. 1864: Robert E. Lee continued to receive reports of reinforcements for the Army of the Potomac from his scouts and spies beyond the Union lines and realized that Ulysses S. Grant intended to make his main attack in Virginia. Lee request from Jefferson Davis that Longstreet's corps be sent east to rejoin the Army of Northern, Virginia.
D. 1865: running cavalry Battle vicinity of Amelia Springs, VA. Confederate courier captured with message indicating that Lee’s retreating Army is at Amelia Court House and short of provisions. Confederate cavalry under (CSA) Major General Fitzhugh Lee and (CSA) Major General Rosser assaulted Union cavalry under Major General George Crook as they returned from burning Confederate wagons at Painesville. This running fight started north of Amelia Springs and pushed through and beyond Jettersville, VA.
1. Monday, April 5, 1861: DOCUMENT #27: Orders from the Navy Department to Captain Samuel Mercer, U.S. Navy, April 5, 1861. SIR: The U.S. Steamers Powhatan, Pawnee, Pocahontas, and Harriet Lane will compose a naval force, under your command, to be sent to the vicinity of Charleston, S.C., for the purpose of carrying out the objects of an expedition of which the War Department has charge.
The primary object of the expedition is to provision Fort Sumter, for which purpose the War Department will furnish the necessary transports. Should the authorities at Charleston permit the fort, to be supplied, no further particular service will be required of the force under your command, and after being satisfied that supplies have been received at the fort [your force] will return to New York and ... to Washington.
Should the authorities at Charleston, however, refuse to permit or attempt to prevent the vessels having supplies on board from entering the harbor or from peaceably proceeding to Fort Sumter, you will protect, the transports or boats of the expedition in the object of their mission . . . and repelling by force, if necessary, all obstructions toward provisioning the fort and reinforcing it; for in case of resistance to the peaceable primary object of the expedition on a reinforcement of the garrison will also be attempted . . . .
You will leave New York with the Powhatan in time to be off Charleston bar, 1O miles distant from and due east of the light-house, on the morning of the llth instant, there to await the arrival of the transport or transports with troops and stores....
I am, respectfully, your obedient, servant, GIDEON WELLES, Sec'y.
http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu/lessons/view_lesson.php?id=13
2. April 5, 1861: "South Carolina a Sublime Mystery"
The correspondent in Charleston for the New York Times struggled to make sense of South Carolina's behavior.
OUR CHARLESTON CORRESPONDENCE.; SOUTH CAROLINA A SUBLIME MYSTERY THE MERCURY PLAYING AN APRIL FOOL! A FICTITIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE MORRIS ISLAND BATTERIES A VERY ANCIENT NEGRO CUPID THE PEOPLE PRAY FOR SOMETHING TO TURN UP THE CONVENTION HAVE A GRAND JUNKETING. NATIONAL AFFAIRS.
CHARLESTON, C.S.A., Monday, April 1, 1861.
The more I see of the men of Charleston, the more convinced I am that very many of them act, talk, and behave like perfect children. They started the secession ball, not because they had their niggers stolen from them, but because they wanted absolute free trade, and some of them a free-and-easy slave trade. They are now about to ratify the Provisional Constitution, which puts in force, with slight modifications, the old United States Tariff of 1857, which they kicked overboard so unceremoniously on the 20th of December, 1860. They hate and detest the Stars and Stripes of the old Union, yet they unanimously indorse a close imitation of that flag. They denounce ANDERSON in the bitterest terms "for his act of war," in removing from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter; yet they, with spasmodic intervals, supply him with all the luxuries of the market, and allow him and his men to "live-like fighting-cocks." They denounce the North theoretically, and practically endeavor to live on the best terms with her people. They even assail your correspondent as being the representative of, what they are pleased to call, "a vile Black Republican sheet;" they threaten him with the surveillance of the dreadful Vigilance Committee, and insinuate that he will shortly have notice to quit; yet the same people will go out of their way to give him exclusive information, and socially open to him their hearts, their homes, and even their purses. In fact, South Carolina in general and Charleston in particular is a sublime mystery, and cannot be estimated or measured by any of the common-sense rules that govern one in their intercourse with ordinary people. It is to be hoped that one of these days some acute physiologist will give us a proper analysis of them, so that when another crisis comes, we shall be better prepared to meet it than we have this late revolutionary one.
What do you think of a sheet like the Mercury, that arrogates for itself absolute perfection in journalism, publishing the following leading editorial on this 1st of April, under the caption, "Floating Battery?"
"The flag of the Confederate States will be flung to the breeze from the Floating Battery at 10 o'clock this morning. The proportions of the flag are 20 by 12 feet, and it will be raised at a height of sixty feet. An oration suitable to the occasion will be delivered. Refreshments have been generously provided."
Over one thousand persons hastened to the Custom-house which Uncle Sam commenced to build a long time ago. They waited in vain for the flag -- in vain for Col. DURYEA, the Governor's Aid, the orator, and in vain for the $15 brandy, champagne, &c., that were to be poured out lavishly on the occasion. They finally went home, a crowd of men, crinoline and soldiers, feeling that they were the silly victims of an April-fool that the leading paper in Charleston (next to the Courier) had perpetrated. This is another proof of childishness.
I observe that the Herald has at last discovered that Charleston correspondence is somewhat necessary, and has sent down someone to examine the fortifications in the harbor. If the gentleman had ever seen big guns before he would not have made so many gross errors. He mixed up columbiads and howitzers in the most heterogeneous manner, and has magnified largely the real strength of the Morris Island works. When he comes across a short range shooting-iron, howitzer, which will send perhaps a half mile, and calls it a columbiad, which will send from two to three miles, the supposition is that he was out of his reckoning altogether, as the sailors say. A copy of the letter was sent to Gen. BEAUREGARD by an officer I am well acquainted with. The General carefully read it, and remarked very quietly "That it would do to send North, but he was not aware before that they had so many guns."
I visited, yesterday afternoon, an ancient negro, who has reached the ripe period of one hundred and twenty-five years. His history is a very curious one, and he is indirectly connected with that horrible catastrophe, the burning of the Pulaski, the Echo negroes, who were in Fort Sumpter in 1858, and with ALBERT SUMNER, of Boston, who had an interest in him once. The old fellow now looks more like an ape than a human being: he is bent with the weight of years, and is enabled to totter along with the aid of a stick that reaches above his head; his language is a perfect gibberish, but his eyes have a remarkable animal brightness. He lives and thrives in a place where white men cannot stay overnight with impunity after the first of June. Mr. MISSROON, his owner, allows him to do as he pleases, clothes and feeds him, and gives him a comfortable cottage to live in. CUPID, as he is called, may have sprung from a black Venus in his native Africa, but he is a perfect parody on the name now. CUPID and NED, a youth of ninety, belonged to the Mr. BALL who was burnt up in the Pulaski. Mrs. BALL was a Miss PELL, of Boston. For years the suit of PELL vs. BALL, agitated all South Carolina. The most eminent counsel could not determine whether the husband or wife was burnt up first, and this very important point brought down Mr. SUMNER, from Boston, who was nearly related, to Miss PELL. Finally, it was settled in 1842, and Mr. BENNETT became the master of the two darkies. When BENNETT died, his two hundred negroes were sold, and Mr. GADSDEN, from pure motives of humanity, took the old men at $1 a-piece! Human beings sold for only $1. Then GADSDEN died, yet CUPID and NED clung to life, and Mr. MISSROON, one of the agents of the Charleston and New-York line of steamers, bought the old sables, who had clung to one another so long, for $25 the pair. At his pretty farm on the Ashley river I saw them both yesterday. When Dr. RAINEY was the Government Agent in 1858 of the Echo slaves, he wished to know where the blacks came from, and whether there were any negroes here who could converse with them. CUPID and NED were sent for, and they both showed perfect paroxysms of delight when they met what proved to be fellow countrymen. They seemed instinctively to know one another. From present appearances CUPID and NED bid fair to reach the year 2000. Master after master dies, yet they "still live." What a history could be written of early wrongs in Africa, of the horrors of the slave ship, of all sorts of vicissitudes under so many owners in America, -- wives sold -- children sold -- they themselves sold over and over again; yet life lasts through it all. Ah! their brains, small at the best, are full of cobwebs now. May they die in peace, without any more changes.
People begin to think that Col. LAMON had better hurry up. Everything is in a state of suspense. Business very dull -- people very dull; cotton low -- rice lower. As to any real news, we have none. The breath of the sirocco seems to hang over the people, who pray for something to turn up. The Convention had their grand junketing Saturday. They had a $1,000 lunch aboard TOM LOCKWOOD'S steamer, the famous Carolina, and they had a sort of pyrotechnic show in the way of mortars -and shells, which cost another $1,000. They themselves cost the State $500 a day, which makes $2,500, not to mention incidentals. That's the way the money goes. Who'll pay the piper?
JASPER.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1861
3. Saturday, April 5, 1862 --- At Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Alexander G. Downing of the 11th Iowa Infantry, records a hard day’s drill in his journal: We had company drill this morning as usual. Lieutenant Compton took the company out on the drill ground this afternoon for company drill, and he said: "Now, boys, we drill in earnest for an hour, then return to our quarters, put away our rifles, and then to the branch for bathing." It was warm, but the men all went into it and after a hard drill we had a good wash-off in the branch.
(This was the last time that Lieutenant Compton ever drilled our company, for the poor fellow was killed in the battle on the next day, Sunday, a little after noon. He was a fine drillmaster, and kind to his men, especially to those who tried to do their duty. — A. G. D.)
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1862
4. Saturday, April 5, 1863: April 5th: Several Confederate ships were detained in Liverpool docks, as it was believed that they were blockade-runners.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-american-civil-war/american-civil-war-april-1863/
5. Saturday, April 5, 1863 --- As Gen. Quinby and his troops re-board their transports and head back up north on the Yazoo, it seems that, at last, Fort Pemberton and the “back door” approach to Vicksburg is safe and that the Yankees have given up on that option. But Grant is pursuing another option that looks more promising, and so he cancels Quinby’s moves.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-5-1863.html
6. Saturday, April 5, 1863 --- Corporal James Kendall Hosmer once again takes his pen to describe the luxuriant beauty of the Louisiana bayou country through which his regiment is passing, partly by rail: The road was a level, broad-gauge track, over which the engine drew us rapidly. We had the best opportunity we have had of seeing a wild Louisiana morass. For a long distance, we went through a dense cypress-swamp, — such an one as we have not seen before,—a dense growth of cypresses, with a very heavy undergrowth between the tall trunks, and, beneath that, a thick mat of water-plants lying upon the surface of the fen. It was like a wall of vegetation, almost, on each side; through which, occasionally, we could see deep, dark bayous flowing, and black pools. Alligators several feet long lay on logs, or in the water, with their backs just rising above; and, on floating timbers and little islands of earth, snakes, single or in coils, lay basking in the sun. Later in the season, I suppose, we should have seen even larger numbers of this agreeable population. Huge vines, coiled into knots, bound the cypress-trunks and other growths into one mass of vegetation. We saw, too, numbers of palms; which here grow short, by stumps and pools, spreading abroad their wide-divided leaves, as if they were showing hands at cards.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-5-1863.html
7. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- Red River Campaign: Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor, CSA, is in command of the Confederate ground forces opposing Banks’ expedition. But so far, Taylor has not had enough troops to cause the Yankees very much trouble. Taylor is gathering his troops 39 miles south of Shreveport at Mansfield, Louisiana: two under-strength divisions of infantry and a small division of cavalry, amounting to no more than 9,000 men. Gen. Banks approaches with (according to reports0 as much as 30,000 Federals. In Shreveport, Gen Edmund Kirby-Smith, Taylor’s department commander, gathers two more brigades from Gen. Sterling Price’s army, but keeps them back from Taylor, placing them under the command of Gen. Thomas Churchill and posting them at Keachi, halfway between Shreveport and Mansfield. Taylor knows that Banks will have to select the road that goes through Mansfield to find the best route to Shreveport, and so he waits, and hopes that enough reinforcements reach him before Banks and his 30,000 Federals do.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
8. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- Welsh-born Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of the 6th Battery, Wisconsin Artillery, writes in his journal of the first time he has received official military punishment: Huntsville, Tuesday, April 5. Did not rain to-day but we had but little sunshine. Watched in the hospital from midnight till 4 A. M. with Andy Herron, suffering from severe attack of erysipelas in the face and head. Changed wet cloths on his face every fifteen minutes. While drilling in company in front of officers’ tents, under the order of Sergeant, I and David Evans were taken out of the ranks and Corporal Malish put over us to drill us in front of tents for two hours by order of Captain. He was sitting in front of his tent and said we laughed in the ranks. It being the first time I ever was punished, I was much hurt in feelings, much more so as it was for a crime that I am not aware that I ever committed, and was not observed by any except Captain who was eight or ten rods off. He was out of humor at the company drill and (it being very muddy) as is customary, he must visit his wrath upon somebody. After two hours’ marching as culprits before the whole camp, we were dismissed, but I felt no guilt, as my conduct was not improper.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
9. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- A letter from a Savannah newspaper is re-printed in the Richmond Daily Dispatch, and reveals a stunning disregard for the suffering of wounded black troops, after the Battle of Olustee:
The negroes at the Olustee battle
A correspondent of the Savannah New, who was at the battle of Olustee, Florida, says of the spot held by a negro regiment that the dead negroes were strewed about in little companies of seven or eight together. He says: Here one sat erect against a tree, his eyes staring, and his legs and arms stiffened out before him. Here a negro had crawled into some brush to die; his back was bowed up like a hoop, his face to the ground, and he resting entirely on the points of his extended fingers and toes. The eyes of all were wide open, and the whites of those of “Cuffee,”as well as his teeth, were displayed with a peculiar grimace. The wounded negroes were all very humble — the slaves dejected in the extreme. The Northern negroes, at first, spoke as to their equals, but soon found it would not do. Said one of a group to a Confederate soldier standing by, “I say, my friend, just let me put my arm around your neck, and raise me up a little.” Confederate soldier–”Don’t call me your friend, d — n you. I’d just as soon blow your brains out as not, and I would’nt touch you with a ten foot pole.”
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
10. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- George Michael Neese continues his trip home for his furlough: I took stage-coach in Staunton this morning at six o’clock and arrived in New Market at six this evening. It snowed very fast until noon to-day, and the snow is about four inches deep here at New Market.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
11. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- On this date, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan is given command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
12. Tuesday, April 5, 1864 --- Leverett Bradley, of the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, writes in his journal of the visit in the city of Washington to see a play: Went to the theatre on Monday, where Edwin Forrest was playing Macbeth. It was the first time I ever saw him. It was splendid. I must say there is a charm in tragedy that captivates me.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1864
A. Saturday, April 5, 1862: Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, begins - Casualties: 320
The Peninsula Campaign, fought during the spring and summer of 1862, was an attempt by Union general-in-chief George B. McClellan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond from the southeast during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Pressured by United States president Abraham Lincoln to mount an offensive—Union forces had been dormant since the previous July—McClellan steamed his Army of the Potomac down the Chesapeake Bay, landed it at Fort Monroe, and marched it up the Peninsula between the James and York rivers. He was confronted at Yorktown by Confederates under John B. Magruder, who convinced McClellan that Confederate forces were stronger than they actually were. Consequently, on April 5 McClellan began a siege rather than attacking, providing time for Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Northern Virginia to arrive. Union and Confederate forces next fought each other at Williamsburg on May 5. Then Johnston took advantage of the fact that McClellan's army was caught on both sides of a rain-swollen Chickahominy River, attacking him at the Battle of Seven Pines–Fair Oaks on May 31. Johnston was wounded in the two-day battle, and Robert E. Lee took command of Confederate forces, attacking McClellan three weeks later and, in the Seven Days' Campaign, driving him off the Peninsula and saving Richmond.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/peninsula_campaign
A+ Saturday, April 5, 1862: At Yorktown, Virginia, Gen. McClellan, unable to lure Gen. Magruder and his Rebels out of the fortifications, cancels the planned march up the Peninsula toward Richmond begins, on this date, siege operations against Yorktown, and begins shelling the town. Meanwhile, Gen. Keyes, in command of one of the Union corps, reports that the "back door" into Yorktown is also closed and heavily fortified. Meanwhile, Magruder and his 13,000 Rebels march hither and yon, in a showy game of intimidation, which works: McClellan is convinced that Magruder has many more troops than he has.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1862
A+ Saturday, April 5, 1862 --- Surgeon Alfred L. Castleman, there at Yorktown with Union army, records: A day of cooling rain, and warming excitement. Marched three miles, and found the enemy strongly entrenched behind a line of fortifications, on a narrow neck of land between the York and the James Rivers. Artillery duel at long range began about 12 o’clock, in which we had quite a number killed and wounded.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1862
B. Saturday, April 5, 1862 --- Western Theater, Tennessee Valley Campaign: Gen. Sherman, commanding one of Grant’s divisions, reports to Gen. Grant that his line of pickets ran into Rebel troops and were captured, early in the morning. Sherman orders out a larger force, which clashes with a substantial force of Southern infantry, perhaps as much as two regiments, supported by artillery.
http://civilwarsesquicentdaily-wolfshield.blogspot.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1862
B+ On April 5, 1862, troops under the command of Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman encountered Confederate troops near a Union camp named after a small log church--Shiloh Methodist Church.
HEADQUARTERS FIFTH DIVISION CAMP SHILOH, April 5, 1862.
Captain J. A. RAWLINS, Assistant Adjutant-General, District of Western Tennessee.
SIR: I have the honor to report that yesterday, about 3 p.m., the lieutenant commanding and seven men of the advance pickets imprudently advanced from their posts and were captured. I ordered Major Ricker, of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, to proceed rapidly to the picket-station, ascertain the truth, and act according to circumstances. He reached the station, found the pickets had been captured as reported, and that a company of infantry sent by the brigade commander had gone forward in pursuit of some cavalry. He rapidly advanced some two miles, and found them engaged, charged the enemy, and drove them along the Ridge road, till he met and received three discharges of artillery, when he very properly wheeled under cover, and returned till he met me.
As soon as I heard artillery, I advanced with two regiments of infantry, and took position, and remained until the scattered companies of infantry and cavalry had returned. This was after night.
I infer that the enemy is in some considerable force at Pea Ridge, that yesterday morning they crossed a brigade of two regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, and one battery of field-artillery, to the ridge on which the Corinth road lies. They halted the infantry and artillery at a point about five miles in my front, sent a detachment to the lane of General Meeks, on the north of Owl Creek, and the cavalry down toward our camp. This cavalry captured a part of our advance pickets, and afterward engaged the two companies of Colonel Buckland's regiment, as described by him in his report herewith inclosed. Our cavalry drove them back upon their artillery and Infantry, killing many, and bringing off ten prisoners, all of the First Alabama Cavalry, whom I send to you.
We lost of the pickets one first-lieutenant and seven men of the Ohio Seventieth Infantry; one major, one lieutenant, and one private of the Seventy-second Ohio, taken prisoners; eight privates wounded.
We took ten prisoners, and left two rebels wounded and many killed on the field.
I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, Brigadier-General, commanding Division.
Sherman reported the incident, but apparently attached little significance to it. There were Confederates in the woods outside Sherman's camp, but he didn't seem to regard them as a serious threat.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1862
C Tuesday, April 5, 1864: "[T]he great effort of the enemy in this campaign will be made in Virginia."
As Robert E. Lee continued to receive reports of reinforcements for the Army of the Potomac from his scouts and spies beyond the Union lines, he realized that Ulysses S. Grant intended to make his main attack in Virginia. On this day 150 years ago, Robert E. Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis to explain his growing concern.
HEADQUARTERS, April 5, 1864. His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President Confederate States:
MR. PRESIDENT; All the information I received tends to show that the great effort of the enemy in this campaign will be made in Virginia. Nothing as yet has been discovered to develop their plan.
Re-enforcements are certainly daily arriving to the Army of the Potomac. I cannot ascertain whence they come. Information was received on the 2nd from two scouts, derived from citizens along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, that the troops on the cars said they belonged to Grant's Army of the Tennessee. A resident of Culpeper stated that the Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps had returned there. I telegraphed to Generals Johnston and Longstreet to know if they were still in the West. I enclose their answers. Both seem to think they are in their front, but preparing to leave. The tone of the Northern papers, as well as the impression prevailing in their armies, go to show that Grant with a large force is to move against Richmond. One of their correspondents at Harrisburg states, upon the occasion of the visit of Generals Burnside and Hancock, that it was certain that the former would go to North Carolina. They cannot collect the large force they mention for their operations against Richmond without reducing their other armies. This ought to be discovered and taken advantage of by our respective commanders. I infer from the information I receive that Longstreet's corps is in the vicinity of Abingdon and Bristol. It is therefore in position to be thrown west or east. Unless it is certain that it can be advantageously employed west for a speedy blow, I would recommend that it be returned to this army. The movements and reports of the enemy may be intended to misled us, and should therefore be carefully observed. But all the information that reaches me goes to strengthen the belief that General Grant is preparing to move against Richmond.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/2014/04/april-5-1864-great-effort-of-enemy-in.html
D. Wednesday, April 5, 1865: running cavalry Battle - Amelia Springs, Virginia. Confederate cavalry under (CSA) Major General Fitzhugh Lee and (CSA) Major General Rosser assaulted Union cavalry under Major General George Crook as they returned from burning Confederate wagons at Painesville. This running fight started north of Amelia Springs and pushed through and beyond Jettersville, Virginia.
Result(s): Inconclusive; Estimated Casualties: 250 total
http://www.americancivilwar.com/statepic/va/va091.html
D+ Wednesday, April 5, 1865: The Road to Sailor's Creek
From the beginning it was apparent that Lee, in his retreat, was making for Amelia Court House, where his columns north and south of the Appomattox River could join, and where, no doubt, he expected to meet supplies, so Crook was ordered to march early on April 4 to strike the Danville railroad, between Jettersville and Burkeville, and then move south along the railroad toward Jettersville, Merritt to move toward Amelia Court House, and the Fifth Corps to Jettersville itself.
The Fifth Corps got to Jettersville about 5 in the afternoon, and I immediately intrenched it across the Burkeville road with the determination to stay there till the main army could come up, for I hoped we could force Lee to surrender at Amelia Court House, since a firm hold on Jettersville would cut him off from his line of retreat toward Burkeville.
Accompanied only by my escort—the First United States Cavalry, about two hundred strong—I reached Jettersville some little time before the Fifth Corps, and having nothing else at hand I at once deployed this handful of men to cover the crossroads till the arrival of the corps.
Just as the troopers were deploying, a man on a mule, heading for Burkeville, rode into my pickets. He was arrested, of course, and being searched there was found in his boots this telegram in duplicate, signed by Lee's Commissary General. "The army is at Amelia Court House, short of provisions. Send 300,000 rations quickly to Burkeville Junction."
One copy was addressed to the supply department at Danville, and the other to that at Lynchburg. I surmised that the telegraph lines north of Burkeville had been broken by Crook after the despatches were written, which would account for their being transmitted by messenger. There was thus revealed not only the important fact that Lee was concentrating at Amelia Court House, but also a trustworthy basis for estimating his troops, so I sent word to Crook to strike up the railroad toward me, and to Merritt—who, as I have said, had followed on the heels of the enemy—to leave Mackenzie there and himself close in on Jettersville. Staff-officers were also despatched to hurry up Griffin with the Fifth Corps, and his tired men redoubled their strides.
My troops too were hard up for rations, for in the pursuit we could not wait for our trains, so I concluded to secure if possible these provisions intended for Lee. To this end I directed Young to send four of his best scouts to Burkeville Junction. There they were to separate, two taking the railroad toward Lynchburg and two toward Danville, and as soon as a telegraph station was reached the telegram was to be transmitted as it had been written and the provisions thus hurried forward.
Although the Fifth Corps arrived at Jettersville the evening of April 4, as did also Crook's and Merritt's cavalry, yet none of the army of the Potomac came up till about 3 o'clock the afternoon of the 5th, the Second Corps, followed by the Sixth, joining us then. General Meade arrived at Jettersville an hour earlier, but being ill, requested me to put his troops in position. The Fifth Corps being already intrenched across the Amelia Court House road facing north, I placed the Sixth on its right and the Second on its left as they reached the ground.
As the enemy had been feeling us ever since morning—to learn what he was up to I directed Crook to send Davies's brigade on a reconnoissance to Paine's crossroads. Davies soon found out that Lee was trying to escape by that flank, for at the crossroads he found the Confederate trains and artillery moving rapidly westward. Having driven away the escort, Davies succeeded in burning nearly two hundred wagons, and brought off five pieces of artillery. Among these wagons were some belonging to General, Lee's and to General Fitzhugh Lee's headquarters. This work through, Davies withdrew and rejoined Crook, who, with Smith and Gregg, was established near Flat Creek.
It being plain that Lee would attempt to escape as soon as his trains were out of the way, I was most anxious to attack him when the Second Corps began to arrive, for I felt certain that unless we did so he would succeed in passing by our left flank, and would thus again make our pursuit a stern-chase; but General Meade, whose plan of attack was to advance his right flank on Amelia Court House, objected to assailing before all his troops were up.
I then sent despatches to General Grant, explaining what Davies had done, and telling him that the Second Corps was arriving, and that I wished he himself was present. I assured him of my confidence in our capturing Lee if we properly exerted ourselves, and informed him, finally, that I would put all my cavalry, except Mackenzie, on my left, and that, with such a disposition of my forces, I could see no escape for Lee. I also inclosed him this letter, which had just been captured:
"AMELIA C. H., April 5, 1865.
"DEAR MAMMA: "Our army is ruined, I fear. We are all safe as yet. Shyron left us sick. John Taylor is well—saw him yesterday. We are in line of battle this morning. General Robert Lee is in the field near us. My trust is still in the justice of our cause, and that of God. General Hill is killed. I saw Murray a few minutes since. Bernard, Terry said, was taken prisoner, but may yet get out. I send this by a negro I see passing up the railroad to Mechlenburg. Love to all.
"Your devoted son, "Wm. B. TAYLOR, Colonel."
General Grant, who on the 5th was accompanying General Ord's column toward Burkeville Junction, did not receive this intelligence till nearly nightfall, when within about ten miles of the Junction. He set out for Jettersville immediately, but did not reach us till near midnight, too late of course to do anything that night. Taking me with him, we went over to see Meade, whom he then directed to advance early in the morning on Amelia Court House. In this interview Grant also stated that the orders Meade had already issued would permit Lee's escape, and therefore must be changed, for it was not the aim only to follow the enemy, but to get ahead of him, remarking during the conversation that, "he had no doubt Lee was moving right then." On this same occasion Meade expressed a desire to have in the proposed attack all the troops of the Army of the Potomac under his own command, and asked for the return of the Fifth Corps. I made no objections, and it was ordered to report, to him.
http://www.civilwar-online.com/search?q=April+5%2C+1865
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) CSM Charles Hayden SFC William Swartz Jr SGM Steve Wettstein SP6 Clifford Ward PO1 John Miller PO2 William Allen Crowder SGT Randal Groover SrA Christopher Wright SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC Corbin Sayi SSgt (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx SPC (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) CW5 (Join to see) 1stSgt Eugene Harless

Thank you for sharing

LTC Stephen F. I had to go with Amelia Springs. It happened near the end of the war. Any battle that occurs near the end of a war has magnified impact. At the time it is fought, it is just another battle (if there is such a thing as just another battle), but the capture of a courier with a memo saying here is where Lee is, and by the way he is short on provisions is the big player. It would be like finding an ISIL fighter with a phone book containing names and cell phone numbers for all of the upper leadership, and finding out that they are waiting resupply.

The history stories you provide are great. Thank you.