OCR Text |
Show Armistice Day, 1865 and 1918 f ; :.i l h ! I :i l hi ! :, l.i'h'-i-s. iiih-Ii-- and Kfv.il ii i , i l : s o;' liie A. I-:. I-', ii-ii. Hid I lios,- . 1 1 ; i :--1--i I !:-i I I here i- a ii-niher ii-niher diile I, .--ill.- N'oM-mlii-i- 1 1 that- I ; blT-riil on Hie calendars of uiir. Il's .Snmlny, April '.I, I Mm, the :i nil i '-i--:i ry ut tin- siiri-einler of ; i - j . Knherl I-;. I , 'ollllll.- lliler of I lie ( 'ill I federate A rnii'-s. What v.a-i Unit "ai-iuiM ice day," or futlier that iim-niidil ii I surrender liny, fifty six years au'o like'.' What. happened there at Appo M" I'oiirt House. Va., when the Cray gave ill to tlie HlneV The khaki would like to knmv. I. el John M. Surface, one time eighteen-yea i"-olil private in the Seventh Sev-enth Indiana volunteer infantry, and entitled to u wound chevron for a hullet hole Ihroiigh Hie right shoulder, shoul-der, received in the Katllc of the Wilderness, Wil-derness, lell ahout it. "It was Sunday, April '.), 1 Mm. and Ii line day," .Mr. Surface said. "Just one week before we'd captured Richmond, Rich-mond, tlie capital of Hie Confederacy. I'l-oui there, we'd fought a rearguard action with Hie retreating Confederal Confeder-al cm 70 miles west, to Appomat tox Court House. We were In a .sparsely settled, rolling country, tobacco plant and not much else sprouting in Its red-black noil. We camped near the little town and .slacked arms. It was an out-of-the-way place, but great things happen hap-pen at HI He places." "Sure, Senlis was that kind of a Joint agreed the youngster from the A. K. V. "We were encamped along an old washed out road, all of the regiment that hadn't been left at the Wilderness Wilder-ness and other placed," the older veteran vet-eran continued. "Across a ravine through the timber, we could see the old McLean house. We had seen generals gen-erals and their staffs entering It and coining out all day and we believed we'd seen flags of truce." "Bet the camp was chuck full of rumors," the A. E. F. ventured. "It was," admitted the former private priv-ate of the Seventh Indiana. "But finally we saw a group of horsemen trotting up. I recognized the old forage for-age cap and the hook nose of Gen. 5eorge Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac. We hollered 'Hoy, general, have they surrendered?' surren-dered?' " "What ! All you buck privates hollered, hol-lered, 'Hey, general?'" "Certainly, we were old campaigners campaign-ers together," replied the old-time The McLean House, Where the Surrender Sur-render of General Lee Took Place. Vank. "The general hollered back, 'Tlie whole army of Northern Virginia lias surrendered. You get to go home, boys !' "Then we started to celebrate. There were from sixty thousand to one hundred hun-dred thousand Union soldiers around about. Every flag in the army was unsheathed. We wrapped our officers in the colors, put them on stumps and made them make speeches. All the din and noise was terrific." "We were quiet afier 11 o'clock," offered the A. E. F., "but some of us got Into Paris later." "But most all were wild to go home," the old Yank said, while (lie young one nodded vigorously ami sympathetically, sympa-thetically, "That was April. After the grand review in Washington I was discharged in July." "Some speed," commented the A. E. F., enviously. "Say, that's the way to end a war." Kansas City Star. |