Cut off in the rear of Lee's retreating army at Sailor's Creek in Prince Edward County, Virginia, General Richard S. Ewell's inflicted heavy casualties on the Second and Sixth Union corps but was forced in the end to surrender.  Around six thousand men became prisoners, including Ewell, along with four of his division and brigade commanders.  (By John Osborne)   

Blocked at Jetersville, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia turned west seeking to escape. Sheridan's Union cavalry was harrassing them all the way and at Sailor's Creek, managed to cut off General R.S. Ewell's corps and hold them until the Union's Second and Sixth corps arrived.  Ewell's men, almost a quarter of Lee's remaining strength, resisted and inflicted heavy casualties but ultimately 6000 men, incuding Ewell, were forced to surrender.  This was the final large scale engagement of the war in Virginia.  (By John Osborne)   

The 149 ton Harriet DeFord was bound for Baltimore when thirty Virginia cavalrymen led by Captain Thaddeus FitzHugh boarded and seized her.  The passengers and the white crew members were put off in boats and the hijackers sailed the vessel into the Rappahannock River in Virginia, then unloaded and burned her two days later.  The black crewmen they had retained were sold at slave auction soon after.  (By John Osborne)   

William Henry Seward, the Secretary of State, was injured when he was thrown from his carriage when its horses were startled near Vermont Street in the capital.  He suffered a broken arm and severe bruising to his face and neck.  He was still confined to his bed at his home when Lewis Powell attempted to assassinate him nine days later.  He survived that attack, too, but with further injuries.  (By John Osborne) 

Major General Philip Sheridan, with his cavalry and elements of the Union Army's  Fifth Corps had entrenched himself at Jetersville, Virginia in an effort to block the Army of Northern Virginia attempt to rally on Danville, Virginia, after the fall of Richmond and Petersburg.  Lee's feared assault was delayed and the two other main pursuing columns, under Generals George Meade and Edward Ord, quickly consolidated on Sheridan and Lee's path to Danville was blocked. He was then forced to attempt a turn towards Lynchburg. (By John Osborne) 

Major General Philip Sheridan, with his cavalry and elements of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac was one of the Union columns in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia, which was attempting to rally on Danville, Virginia, after the fall of Richmond and Petersburg.  Sheridan reached Jetersville, Virginia in Amelia County, forty miles west of Petersburg, and found himself ahead of Lee's force, which had been slowed by a lack of supplies.  He immediately entrenched as a blocking force and called for reinforcements.  (By John Osborne) 

President Abraham Lincoln visited the newly occupied former Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, walking the streets with his son Tad and touring in a carriage.  He also visited the former official residence of Jefferson Davis as well as the Libby Prison, notorious in the North for its holding of Union officer prisoners. He was cheered everywhere by Union troops and especially by the African-American population of the city.  He visited again two days later before returning to Washington.  (By John Osborne) 

Union General Gottfried Weitzel had entered Richmond before dawn and received its surrender. General George Foster Shepley, soon to be named governor of the city, gave permission to his 19-year old aide Lieutenant Johnston De Peyster and an artillery captain named Langdon to go to the roof of the former Confederate Capitol and unfurl a large Stars and Stripes.  The same flag had flown over the New Orleans Mint when Shepley had been military governor there earlier in the war. (By John Osborne) 

 

With overwhelming Union action battering his army, Confederate General Robert E. Lee telegraphed his government in Richmond that the city must be immediately abandoned. During the day, hasty preparations ended with the 11 p.m. departure of President Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet by train for Danville, Virginia. Behind them, Richmond was in chaos. Mobs roamed the streets and flames from fired stores spread, eventually gutting more than seven hundred buildings in the business district.  (By John Osborne)