moved west on the north side of the Appomattox River but most of Anderson's command, including Pickett's and Bushrod Johnson's divisions and Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry moved on the south side of the river. Before the withdrawal, the Confederates disabled all heavy artillery but took about 200 light artillery pieces with them along with over 1,000 wagons. By 11:00 p.m., Jefferson Davis, most of his cabinet, such records, boxes and baggage as could be carried and all the gold in the Confederate treasury left Richmond on a Richmond & Danville Railroad train headed for Danville, Virginia. Generals Meade and Grant set up temporary headquarters along the Boydton Plank Road at Bank's house just north of the VI Corps breakthrough. Grant wrote to his wife on the night of April 2: In preparation for a final assault on the Confederate lines and presumed capture of the city, Grant ordered a "furious bombardment" to begin at 5:00 a.m. the next day to be followed by an assault at 6:00 a.m. At 3:00 a.m., however, the Union commanders found out that Lee had abandoned his entrenchments, making a further assault on the Richmond and Petersburg lines unnecessary. Grant also wanted Sheridan to push the Fifth Corps and his cavalry north of the Appomattox as quickly as possible on April 3. The Confederate capital of Richmond, now unprotected by Lee's army, fell to Union forces along with Petersburg on April 3, 1865. Between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., General Grant met with President Lincoln at the residence of Thomas Wallace, president of the Petersburg branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia and a former Whig politician who had been acquainted with Lincoln in earlier years. When the meeting concluded about 90 minutes later, Lincoln started his return to City Point and Grant moved west to catch up with his army in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia. The retreat that led to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865 had begun. Footnotes Notes References Beringer, Richard E., Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William N. Still, Jr. Why the South Lost the Civil War. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986. . Bearss, Edwin C., with Bryce A. Suderow. The Petersburg Campaign. Vol. 2, The Western Front Battles, September 1864 – April 1865. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2014. . Bonekemper, Edward H., III. A