offered an opportunity which we could not afford to neglect, and the destruction of his command would fill the measure of General Grant’s expectations as well as meet my own desires.  The occasion was not an ordinary one, and as I thought that Warren had not risen to its demand in the battle, I deemed it injudicious and unsafe under the critical conditions existing to retain him longer.  That I was justified in this is plain to all who are disposed to be fair-minded, so with the following extract from General Sherman’s review of the proceedings of the Warren Court, and with which I am convinced the judgment of history will accord, I leave the subject: 

“....It would be an unsafe and dangerous rule to hold the commander of an army in battle to a technical adherence to any rule of conduct for managing his command.  He is responsible for results, and holds the lives and reputations of every officer and soldier under his orders as subordinate to the great end—­victory.  The most important events are usually compressed into an hour, a minute, and he cannot stop to analyze his reasons.  He must act on the impulse, the conviction, of the instant, and should be sustained in his conclusions, if not manifestly unjust.  The power to command men, and give vehement impulse to their joint action, is something which cannot be defined by words, but it is plain and manifest in battles, and whoever commands an army in chief must choose his subordinates by reason of qualities which can alone be tested in actual conflict.

“No one has questioned the patriotism, integrity, and great intelligence of General Warren.  These are attested by a long record of most excellent service, but in the clash of arms at and near Five Forks, March 31 and April 1, 1865, his personal activity fell short of the standard fixed by General Sheridan, on whom alone rested the great responsibility for that and succeeding days.

“My conclusion is that General Sheridan was perfectly justified in his action in this case, and he must be fully and entirely sustained if the United States expects great victories by her arms in the future.”

CHAPTER VII.

Result of the battle of five forks—­retreat of Lee—­an intercepted
despatch—­at Amelia court house—­battle of Sailor’s creek—­the
confederates’ stubborn resistance—­A complete victory—­importance of
the battle.