Editing Edward Ord (section)

==Civil War service==
[[File:Edward Ord - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|Edward Ord]]

At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Ord was serving as Captain of Battery C, 3rd U.S. Artillery, and also as post commander at the U.S. Army's [[Vancouver Barracks|Fort Vancouver]] in Washington Territory. On May 7, 1861, Ord led two companies of the 3rd Artillery from Fort Vancouver to San Francisco. After relocating to the east, Ord's first assignment was as a [[brigade]] commander in the [[Pennsylvania Reserves]]. In this capacity, he figured prominently in the [[Battle of Dranesville]] in the fall of 1861.

On May 3, 1862, Ord was promoted to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]] of volunteers and, after briefly serving in the Department of the Rappahannock, was assigned command of the 2nd Division of the [[Army of the Tennessee]]. Maj. Gen. [[Ulysses S. Grant]] sent Ord with a detachment of two divisions along with Maj. Gen. [[William S. Rosecrans]]'s forces to intercept [[Sterling Price]] at the town of [[Iuka, Mississippi|Iuka]]. Due to a possible [[acoustic shadow]] Ord's forces were never engaged and Rosecrans fought alone.  Ord likewise missed the fighting at [[Second Battle of Corinth|Corinth]] but engaged the Confederate forces in their retreat at the [[Battle of Hatchie's Bridge]]. There he was seriously wounded and had to leave field command only for a short time. When Grant relieved Maj. Gen. [[John A. McClernand]] from his command, Ord was conveniently situated to assume command of the [[XIII Corps (ACW)|XIII Corps]] during the final days of the [[Siege of Vicksburg]].

After the fall of Vicksburg, Ord remained in command of the XIII Corps in the [[Department of the Gulf]]. In 1864, he was transferred back to the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]] to assume command of the [[XVIII Corps (ACW)|XVIII Corps]]. His forces were present during the [[Battle of the Crater]] but did not actively participate in the fighting. In the fall of 1864, he was seriously wounded in the attack on [[Battle of Chaffin's Farm|Fort Harrison]] and did not return to action until January 1865.

In March 1865, during a prisoner exchange in Virginia, Ord spoke with Confederate General [[James Longstreet]].  During their conversation, the subject of peace talks came up.  Ord suggested that a first step might be for Lee and Grant to have a meeting.  General Longstreet carried this idea back to General Lee, who wrote to Grant about the possibility of a "military convention" in the interest of finding what Lee called "a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy difficulties". Grant forwarded Lee's proposal to President [[Abraham Lincoln]], with a request for instructions. In the end, Lincoln directed Grant to decline all such offers unless it was for the explicit purpose of accepting the surrender of Lee's army.<ref>The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress – Ulysses S. Grant to Edwin M. Stanton, March 3, 1865 (Telegram concerning negotiations
with Lee)</ref>

It was at this time, during the spring of 1865, that Ord's career peaked. He was assigned command of the [[Army of the James]] during the [[Appomattox Campaign]]. Maj. Gen. [[John Gibbon]]'s corps of Ord's army played a significant role in the [[Battle of Petersburg III|breakthrough at Petersburg]]. On April 9, he led a forced march to [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]] to relieve Maj. Gen. [[Philip H. Sheridan]]'s [[cavalry]] and force Lee's surrender. General Sherman said that he "had always understood that [Ord's] skillful, hard march the night before was one of the chief causes of Lee's surrender."

Ord was present at the McLean house when Lee surrendered, and is often pictured in paintings of this event. When the surrender ceremony was complete, Ord purchased as a souvenir, for $40, the marble-topped table at which Lee had sat. It now resides in the Chicago Historical Society's Civil War Room.

After the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]] on April 14, 1865, many in the North, including [[Ulysses S. Grant]], wanted strong retribution to be visited upon the Southern states. Grant called upon Ord to find out if the assassination conspiracy extended beyond [[Washington, D.C.]] Ord's investigation determined the Confederate government was not involved with the assassination plot. This helped greatly to quench the call for revenge on the former Confederate states and people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Catton|first=Bruce|title=Grant Takes Command|url=https://archive.org/details/granttakescomman00catt|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/granttakescomman00catt/page/475 475–480]|year=1969|publisher=Boston, Little, Brown }}</ref>