General Wheaton's First Division Assault

General Wheaton's First Division Assault. . During the early evening hours of April 6, 1865, General Frank Wheaton's First Division of the Union VI Corps (Army of the Potomac) quickly formed into lines of battle. Making up the left flank of the Federal's assault on General Richard Ewell's Confederates, who were defending the high ground on the southern ridge of the Sailor's Creek valley, one of Wheaton's brigade commanders received a rather stern rebuke from a visibly agitated General Philip Sheridan: "The enemy are there", said a fuming Sheridan. "I want you to form your brigade in one line, cross the creek, and carry the heights ... never mind your flanks. Go through them. They are as demoralized as hell.", However, the command to attack was not going to be as easy an assignment as Sheridan ordered. The roads were mud bogs rutted with rain filled wagon tracks often frozen rock hard; low-lying fields saturated with standing water, and creeks and streams either swollen or flooding their banks., Near this exact spot, with their lines extending from the road's edge to the right all the way to the left for several hundred yards, Wheaton's Division soon realized the severity of the task before them. Sailor's Creek lay just ahead and should have been a simple obstacle to traverse, but this small tributary of the Appomattox River was deceiving in its appearance. Heavy rains caused the creek to breach its banks and flood the marshland with swift moving muddy water and debris. Soldiers bracing themselves for a cold soaking of their boots and brogans were rudely met with shock and disorder. One by one, each man sunk like a stone up to their chests, desperately raising their muskets and cartridge boxes high over their heads, while simultaneously trying to reach safety on the opposite bank., Once across, and having collected themselves from the deceptive ambush of the creek itself, the Division reformed their lines and looked ahead to their objective. The command of General Joseph Kershaw, whose veteran troops protected General's Ewell's right flank, lowered their muskets and took aim at the oncombing wave of Union blue., "So near the end yet men must die." - Colonel Elisha Hunt Rhodes, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry