Our troops took possession of Jetersville and in the telegraph office,
they found a dispatch from Lee, ordering two hundred thousand rations
from Danville. The dispatch had not been sent, but Sheridan sent a
special messenger with it to Burkesville and had it forwarded from
there. In the meantime, however, dispatches from other sources had
reached Danville, and they knew there that our army was on the line of
the road; so that they sent no further supplies from that quarter.
At this time Merritt and Mackenzie, with the cavalry, were off between
the road which the Army of the Potomac was marching on and the
Appomattox River, and were attacking the enemy in flank. They picked up
a great many prisoners and forced the abandonment of some property.
Lee intrenched himself at Amelia Court House, and also his advance north
of Jetersville, and sent his troops out to collect forage. The country
was very poor and afforded but very little. His foragers scattered a
great deal; many of them were picked up by our men, and many others
never returned to the Army of Northern Virginia.
Griffin's corps was intrenched across the railroad south of Jetersville,
and Sheridan notified me of the situation. I again ordered Meade up
with all dispatch, Sheridan having but the one corps of infantry with a
little cavalry confronting Lee's entire army.
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