William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac

Late in the afternoon of the 5th, General Meade, with the Second and Sixth corps of the Army of the Potomac, joined Sheridan at Jetersville, where, expecting attack, he had held his force intrenched since the previous day. Lee was still at Amelia Courthouse. Meanwhile, Sheridan had been operating with his cavalry well to his left, to watch if Lee should make any attempt to escape by that flank. On the morning of the 5th, Brigadier-General Davies, with a mounted force, advanced to Paine's Cross-roads, where he struck a train of a hundred and eighty wagons, escorted by a body of Confederate cavalry, which he defeated, destroying the wagons and capturing five pieces of artillery and a number of prisoners. Gregg's and Smith's brigades of the Second Cavalry Division were sent out to support Davies, and some heavy fighting ensued—the Confederates having sent a considerable force of infantry to cut off the latter; but the attempt was thwarted.

The night of the 5th, Lee moved from Amelia. His only hope now was to make a race to Farmville (west thirty-five miles), there cross the Appomattox once more, and, by destroying the bridges after him, escape into the mountains beyond Lynchburg. When, therefore, on the morning of the 6th, the whole Army of the Potomac, which, the night previous, had been concentrated at Jetersville, moved northward towards Amelia to give battle to the Confederates, it was found that Lee had slipped past. The direction of the corps was then changed: the Sixth Corps moved from the right to the left; the Second Corps was ordered to move by Deatonsville; and the Fifth and Sixth corps to move in parallel directions on the right and left. As Lee was retreating by the Deatonsville route, this disposition of the pursuing forces placed one column in his rear on the same road by which he was moving, a second column by a parallel route to the south, and a third column by a parallel route to the north. Meanwhile, the Army of the James, which had been pushing its