Semmes disembarked his men at Richmond, then put the torch to the gunboats and set them adrift. The naval detachment, seeking transportation westward out of the evacuated Confederate capital, was forced to provide its own.
The sailors found and fired up a locomotive, assembled and attached a number of railroad cars, and proceeded to Danville, arriving on the 4th. Semmes was then commissioned a brigadier general and placed in command of the defenses that had been thrown up around Danville.
these defenses were manned by sailors who had been organized into an artillery brigade and by two battalions of infantry. The command was retained by Semmes until Lee's surrender at Appomattoc five days later.
--Old B-R'er
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