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Show LITTLE LEFT OF OLD APPOMATTOX SOLDIERS of 1S65 who revisit the town of Appomattox find that the half-century which has done so much for their country has done nothing for the hamlet made famous by the great event of Lee's surrender. Indeed, the place has gone backward back-ward in fifty years. Its houses have fallen into decay or have disappeared, and its fields have grown up to pine. The village of Appomattox Courthouse Court-house was never a considerable settlement. set-tlement. Like many another county seat in the South, It had its origin In a courthouse, a jail, a tavern, a house or two and a blacksmith shop a center cen-ter to which the Inhabitants of a rural district could come at intervals to transact legal business. A visitor to Appomattox Courthouse today or "old Appomattox," as It is now called In that neighborhood must be disappointed, unless he has the faculty of visualizing the momentous events that took place there, and near there, in April, 1G. The court building had then stood jere half a century. About 1 S'jO It was burned. Today the square In whlrh the old courthouse stood is covered with the debris of the fire, but out of the wreckage tres have grown up as companions to those that shaded the old courthouse before the fire. : The village that clustered around the courthouse baa nearly disappeared. Four old frame structures have survived sur-vived fire, storm and neglect, but these are sagging and out of Joint and seem Boon to paaa away. One or two of these houses are tenantless. The tavern, tav-ern, once the Appomattox hotel, Is the home of a farmer and the overseer of about 1.500 acres of adjacent land now owned by Col. George A. Armes, a retired officer of the United States army, who lives In Washington. Another An-other house Is occupied by a Brnall farmer who has not dwelt long In that part of the state. The Surrender house, the McLean house. In which General Grant and his sla!T met I:e and his military secretary. sec-retary. Is not there. It was a broad- fronted brick house with a covered porch across the front, with the entrance en-trance In the middle and a hallway through the center. The house was torn down In 1R92. It was proposed to reconstruct It at the World s Fair In Chicago, but after the demolition of the house the plan was carried no further, presumably for lack of funds. The plies of brick and lumber that had been the house are rotting In the garden. There has been some talk of a patriotic society building the house on Its old site. An Interesting personal story goes with the hlntory of the Surrender house. It was the home of YYlWImn Mrl,ean, who had moved to Appornnt-lox Appornnt-lox from the vicinity of Hull Hun, to avoid the scenes of war that destroyed the peace and safety of his fnmlly In 1 HOI. McLenn was a farmer, then living In a frame house near Manassas on the road lending to Jllarkbnrns Kurd, on Hull Hun. July IS the first fighting between the troops of (ln Irwin Mo iKiwell and fl"ii (J. T. Ilenurcgard, took place at that ford, and General lleaure gard took up Mt headquarters In the .McLean house. A shell from a I'nlon battery tru k the house. After the battle of Hull Hun. July 21, It'll, M'In mid his family moved lo Ipper I'au'iuler county, lie n'il moved I,') Lunenburg county. War followed Mm Than, df larlng that be would take his family so far from the fighting grounds that war would not further trouble them, he rented a house In the hamlet of Arpomattox. Fate made this house the Surrender house. The McLean house near Manassas long ago was a ruin, but another house near It, which Heauregsrd also used as headquarters. Is often erroneously pointed out as the McLean house. McLean s son J. WUaier McLean Is a business man in Manassas a hamlet ham-let that since the war hss grown Into a thriving town. The table In the McLean house at Appomattox on which the articles of surrender were written Is In the National Na-tional museum at Washington. The flag of truce under which the negotiations negotia-tions between Grant and Lee were conducted con-ducted is also there, having been loaned to that Institution by the widow wid-ow of George A. Custer. Colonel Whlttaker of Grant's staff, who can-led the Tag, lives In Washington Wash-ington and Is expected to take part In the celebration at Appomattox. MaJ. George C. Hounds of Manassas, a Civil war veteran, resident since the war at Manassas, who promoted the lilue and Gray reunion on the field of Bull Run, has promoted the coming fraternal celebration at Appomattox. Major Rounds has been urjlmg upon the war department and congress for years the desirability of converting the battlefields of Hull Hun Into a national na-tional park. He also takes a keen Interest In-terest In the future of Appomattox Courthouse. On the surrender ground Is now a dense pine growth. In which Is the only Important monument at Appomattox. Appomat-tox. It was orcctcd by North Carolina. Caro-lina. April 9. 19;5. Though the Appomattox Courthouse village of the Civil war period has practically disappeared, there Is a now and thriving town called Appomattox, which Is now the county seat of Appomattox Appo-mattox county. It Is three miles from old Appomattox and Is on tho Norfolk Nor-folk & Western railroad. During the Civil war there was a siding on this railroad called Appomattox Appomat-tox station. It wns here that Custer with his cavalry division got In front of Lee. Tho plnce has grown to bo the town which today Is called Appomattox. Ap-pomattox. When the old court building was destroyed de-stroyed by fire, tho courthouse was rebuilt re-built at Appomattox station. |