When Birney’s Second Division of the Twenty-Fifth Corps closed in on Lee, Gen. Ord held them in check, perhaps averting capture or death of the leading Confederate at the hands of Negroes, an outcome that undoubtedly would have been anathema to Southerners. And when Birney argued the order to hold back, Ord relieved him of command then and there on the battlefield, ordering him to inactive status in a rear staging area at City Point. Only providence prevented Ord’s interference with Birney and show of mercy toward Lee on 8April from backfiring and allowing the war and carnage to continue. Lee was really not ready to quit and in fact launched a final attack and breakout attempt the following morning. Lee had sent a tentative response to Grant’s 7 April demand for surrender, agreeing to a parley. But he had agreed when Gen. James Longstreet made a judgment about surrendering. “Not yet,” Longstreet drawled, a famous two word conclusion about a momentous decision to which “Marse Robert” readily assented.4

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