(CIVIL WAR) Tidball John C Letter describing the fall of Ric

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(CIVIL WAR.) Tidball, John C. Letter describing the fall of Richmond and his role at Fort Stedman. Autograph Letter Signed as Major General to Sally Satterlee of New York City. 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one folding sheet; minimal wear. Artillery Brigade, 9th Corps [Richmond, VA], 3 April 1865

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John Caldwell Tidball (1825-1906) had served much of the war as colonel of the 4th New York Artillery, and had been promoted to Major General just the day before, on the same day as the evacuation of Richmond he describes here: "Yesterday morning, at 4 o'clock a general assault was made along the whole line, and we broke through and drove the enemy at many points. Last night they evacuated both Petersburg and Richmond and have gone in the direction of Lynchburg. . . . The great object for which we have been fighting so hard for the last four years has now been gained."
Tidball also describes the 25 March Battle of Fort Stedman, which in his telling he won almost single-handedly: "Things looked pretty squally the other morning when the enemy captured Fort Steadman, but soon I got about thirty pieces of artillery to concentrate upon them and presently made it so hot that they could not hold it, and our infantry reoccupied it [Fort Stedman] without opposition."