APRIL 3-6TH, 1865: General Lee, in his hardpressed and hurried evacuation from Richmond, neglected to apprise Commodore John R. Tucker, commanding the Confederate Naval Brigade at Drewry's Bluff on the James River, of the projected evacuation of the capital.
Tucker maintained his station until the 3rd when he saw the smoke from the burning ironclads and learned that Confederate troops were streaming out of Richmond.
Tucker then joined the Naval Brigade to major general Custis Lee's division of Lt. general Richard S. Ewell's corps. The brigade participated in Ewell's rear guard stand at Sailor's Creek on April 6 which was intended to cover the westward retreat.
The Naval brigade was captured along with Ewell's entire corps but was the last to surrender. Tucket tendered his sword to Lt. General J. Warren Keifer. Some years after the war, when Keifer had become a prominent member of Congress, he returned the sword to the ex-Confederate naval officer.
--Old B-R'er
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