Show 01 gr fan OVA A I 1 E D e i 0 11 tw fp wal W AN am 0 aa A r JAV i V 0 al 1 g I 1 va p A IR j L w V R 4 X by ELMO SCOTT WATSON C L was a great event saray YORKTOWN toga was a great event and there J have been great events in our history since the war of the revolution but the greatest was that which occurred on april 9 IM 1865 at the little village of appomattox Appo mattos when general lee met general genera grant and the question of the indissoluble union of these states passed into history never dever to be revived those were the words of a man who anilo was not only an eyewitness eye witness to but an active parti participant cipani in that gr greatest eRtest event he was col charles marshall aide de camp military secretary and assistant general on the stair staff of the confederate commander from 1802 to and the quotation Is from his collected papers which were edited by a distinguished british soldier maj gen sir frederick maurice and published by little brown and company under the title ot of an alde aide de camp of lee the quotation continues perhaps the most impressive feature of that occasion was the fact that there american soldiers met together who nho dealt with each other as american soldiers if the officers of general grants army had been instructed how to act if they had learned their parts it they had been taught by the greatest actors how to play them how to act at a time when one of the loftiest loft iest souls that god ever sent upon earth was humbled how to act so BO as to show their respect and veneration they could not have done better than they did they could not have don better because they were and bell behaved aved av as american soldiers they loved their enemies and they did good to those who hated them such Is the tribute of one who wore the gray to those who wore the blue on that historic april day 70 years ago and it Is a striking bit of evidence of the essential spirit which will be forever associated with the name of appomattox although three years were yet to elapse before bedfor one of the principal actors in its drama should use tase the exact phrasing of let us have leacel peace 1 yet that thought runs like a golden thread through the dark fabric of the days of useless bloodshed and blighted hopes immediately preceding the climax through the letters which passed between lee and grant as the inevitable end drew near since the story of appomattox Appo mattoi properly begins with that correspondence it Is appropriate to take into account those shadowing foreshadowing fore events in telling the story of appomattox by the end of march 1865 it was apparent that the era beracy CY was wag a lost cause indeed slowly but surely the sledgehammer sledge hammer blows of grants over whelmine whelming wh elming forces had beaten down the resistance of mes lees fast dwindling ranks of ragged men in gray the opening week of april found both grant and lee weary of war grant tortured with headaches and heartsick heart sick over the slaughter chehad been forced to bring about lee all hope bope of victory gone weighed down with the responsibility that was hla his for finding some way to save his starving army richmond had been lost the confederate government was in flight mes lees only hope was to escape from the trap that grant and sheridan and meade were closing around him and try to join forces with gen joseph johnston on april 6 eells E ells corps was surrounded at sailors creek and surrendered and after this disaster mes lees army of northern virginia was reduced to two corps under the command of generals longstreet and gordon they retreated through Forn farmville iville closely pursued by grants men in blue on a april 7 grant sent iee tits his ast letter asking the surrender of his bis army still confident of the fighting ability ot of his apen and believing it possible to save the rem rein fiant of his bis army aim y lee wanted to continue the struggle hut but his prevailed upon him to open negotiations the result was a letter to grant asking the terms he would offer on condition of the surrender of lees army to this grant replied generali general your note of last evening in reply to mine of same date asking the condition on aich I 1 will ivill accept the surrender of the army of northern virginia Is just received in reply I 1 would say that peace bel my great desire there Is but one condition I 1 would mould insist upon namely that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms against the government of the united states until prop erly exchanged I 1 will meet you yoo or will designate officers to meet any off officers leers sou may name fur for the same purpose at any point agreeable to you for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the army of northern virginia will be received the next letter from lee read as follows general I 1 received at a late hour your note of today in mine yesterday I 1 did not intend to propose the surrender of the army of northern virginia but to ask the terms of jour proposition to be frank I 1 do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army but as the restoration to of peace should be the sole object of all I 1 desire to know whether your proposals would lead to that end I 1 can not therefore meet you with a view to surrender the army of northern virginia but as far its as your proposal may affect the confederate states forces under tinder my command and tend to the restoration of peace I 1 should be pleased to meet you at ten a m tomorrow on the old stage road to richmond between the pichet lines of the two armies in the meantime lee was pushing on toward towar d appomattox court house where gordon attempting to open the way for retreat had broken through the cavalry forces barring his road only to find himself confronted by a force of infantry so far superior to his wearied earled and starving command that an attack would have been suicide so he sent word to lee that it was impossible e to advance farther and upon receiving this news the commander ln in chief accompanied by colonel marshall his aide de camp started down the lynchburg road the next morning confident that grant would meet him even though h hat had not yet received a reply from the union commander halted by a skirmish of union troops marshall went nent forward under a white flag and was met hy by lieutenant colonel whittier who gave him grants reply to lees letter of the previous day it t read general your tour note of yesterday received I 1 have no authority to treat on the subject of peace the meeting tor for ten a in today would lead to no good I 1 will state however 0 beneral that I 1 am equally anxious for peace with yourself and the whole north entertains the same feeling the terms upon which pee peare can en i be had are well understood by the south laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event save thousands of human lives and hund hundreds redi of millions of property not yet ret destroyed seriously hoping that all oun difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life I 1 subscribe myself etc Us lee then directed marshall to write to the union commander asking for an interview anil to deliver it to whittier which was done sitting on his horse and hastily tearing a leaf from his notebook grant dashed oft off a note telling the southern commander that lie he would push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you yo when colonel babcock of grants stair staff arrived to deliver this note lee fatigued from being in tile saddle all night eight long was lying on some blankets that had been spread by members of 0 his staff for him under an apple tree at the foot of a hill on the other side of which stood appomattox court bouse then occur occurred ked the incident which thrust fae upon an obscure citizen of virginia named wilmer mclean and made his house one of the most famous in american history it Is an incident which also illustrates the strange workings sis of fate as shown by this passage from marshalls marchalls Mar book we started off general lee colonel babcock colonel babcocki Bab cocks orderly one of our orderlies and myself we struck up the hill towards appomattox there was a man named mclean who used to ilie hie on the first battle field of manassas bull run at a house about a mile from manassas junction tie like the war and having seen the first battle of manassas he thought he be would get away where dullere there be any more fighting so he moved down to appomattox court house general lee told me to go forward forgard and find a house where be could meet general grant and of all people whom should I 1 meet but mclean I 1 rode up to him and said can you show me a house where general lee and general grant can meet together ile he took me into a house that was all dilapidated and that had no furniture in it I 1 told him it do then be said maybe my house will do lie ile lived in a iery ery comfortable house and I 1 told him I 1 thought that would suit I 1 had taken the orderly along with me and I 1 sent him back to bring general lee and cab a bb code cock who were coming on behind I 1 went into the house and sat down and after a while general lee and babcock came in so wilmer mclean the man who like the war was an unexpected witness to two of 0 its high spots virtually its beginning and its ending to this virginian was glen given the unsought privilege of seeing the cause of the confederacy gain its first height in tile the victory at bull run and recede to its lowest ebb at appomattox from which no tide ever rose again half an hour later the men in mcleans McL cans parlor heard footsteps at the front door and in walked grant with him came his alter ego bearded gen john A rawlins his aide de camp dusky col A C barker the iroquois indian fighting phil sheridan the stocky little irish cavalry leader and generals horace porter and E it C ord after a brief talk over the terms of the surrender colonel parker grants aldeah alde ae camp brought a little table from the cornet of the room and on it the union commander wrote out the terms of surrender the confederate officers were to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the united states and to sigo sign a like parole for their commands all arms artillery and public property were to be handed over to the union forces but the officers were to retain their sidearms side arms horses and personal baggage the soldiers also were allowed to keep their horses because as grant said they would need them for their spring plowing after grant had written ellis note lie handed it to lee who read it over then directed his aide colonel marshall to draft a reply in which he accepted the terms of surrender in the meantime parker had made a copy of grants letter says marshall then general grant signed his letter and I 1 turned my letter over to general lee and lie he signed it parker handed me general grants letter and I 1 handed him general lees reply and the surrender was accomplished there was no theatrical display about it it was in itself perhaps the greatest tragedy that ever occurred in the history of the world but it was the simplest plainest and most thoroughly devoid of any attempt at effect that you can imagine thus the civil war came to an end and appo mallox became an historic name 0 by western Now Dar union |