ten at night
Such was the alarm of General Grant at the new aspect of affairs , that late at night he withdrew Warren , and ordered him to hurry toward Dinwiddie Court-House , to succor Sheridan in his hour of need . Then if our flanking column could have pushed on -- if Lee had then advanced -- but all this is idle , reader . Providence had decreed otherwise . The flanking column could not advance -- at ten at night it was withdrawn by Lee -- midnight found the two armies resting on their arms , awaiting the morning of the first of April . I have endeavored to present a rapid , but accurate summary of the great events which took place on the lines around Petersburg , from the morning of the 29th of March , when General Grant began his general movement , to the night of the 31st , when he confronted Lee on the White Oak road , ready , after a day of incessant combat , which had decided little , to renew the struggle on the next morning for the possession of the Southside road . This summary has been , of necessity , a brief and general one . For this volume has for its object , rather to narrate the fortunes of a set of individuals , than to record the history of an epoch , crowded with tragic scenes .