29 March 1865: “I would respectfully request that you direct one or two gunboats to lay in the Appomattox…”

Item Description: Letter from Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. Army, to Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, U.S. Navy, asking that gunboats be positioned in both the Appomattox and James Rivers.

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Item Citation: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series 1, Volume 12.  Washington : Government Printing Office, 1901. C970.75 U58no Ser.I, vol.12, p.88, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Item Transcription:

Headquarters Armies of the United States,

City Point, Va., March 29, 1865.

ADMIRAL: In view of the possibility of the enemy attempting to come to City Point, or by crossing the Appomattox at Broadway Landing, getting to Bermuda Hundred during the absence of the greater part of the army, I would respectfully request that you direct one or two gunboats to lay in the Appomattox, near the pontoon bridge, and two in the James River, near the mouth of Bailey’s Creek, the first stream below City Point emptying into the James.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U.S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.

Admiral D.D. Porter, Commanding North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

 

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