Day 40. April 9, 1862.
40
Is Lee over there? asked General Grant, pointing….
April Wensday 9 1862
Looks very much like winter this morning as the snow and mud was frozen some last night and it sleeted some little. Capt Huyett field officer Lieut Weaver camp officer. They have a very hard day of it. It was raining and sleeting nearly all day. At 5oclock in the evening it commenced to snow very fast and there is no telling but we might have a very deep snow to. There is some fears of the fruit being hurt in this section of the country. I am now with Lieut Hamilton in his markee and I don’t know of anything new. No mail today and no pay master* either
*Pay was often late as pay masters were, for one, trying to catch up to wherever armies had marched. Union Privates made $13 a month; Captains $115.50; a Lieutenant General made $748. As staff, I believe Ephraim was an Officer, which made him $78 (in that, was included allowances not afforded others such as extra rations, forage, etc.). “Colored” troops made $10, & had $3 deducted for uniforms, & this pathetic differential was in effect until September, 1864.
Note: Zoomable map of Appomattox Court House, showing positions of the armies at the time of Lee’s surrender: www.loc.gov/item/99439220 and on April 8 & 9: https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00190/
Civil War Weather in Virginia Robert K. Krick P. 52
“Citizens of Front Royal awoke on the morning of April 9 to find “snow eight or ten inches deep on the ground,” and a scene of dazzling beauty as the sun glinted off ice haloes around peach blossoms and violets. More bright sun on the 10th produced another fairy-tale scene.”
P. 54
“7a.m. 32; 2p.m. 37; 9p.m. 35. Snowed last night 2.00.”
Make Me a Map of the Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson’s Topographer Jedediah Hotchkiss P. 19
“Wednesday, April 9th, another rainy day occupied in drawing map as usual. Very bad weather; hard on the army.”
Bloody Engagements: John R. Kelso’s Civil War John R. Kelso Edited by Christopher Grasso P. xxix
“Gen. Robert E. Lee did not surrender at Appomattox Court House until April 9, 1865, and even after he did, there were still over ninety thousand Confederate soldiers in the field.”
Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command Volume 1 Douglas Southall Freeman Scribner, 1942 P. 767
“General Lee reported: “On the morning of the 9th. . . there were 7892 organized infantry with arms, with an average of seventy-five rounds of ammunition perman. The artillery, though reduced to sixty-three pieces, with ninety-three rounds of ammunition, was sufficient. . . I have no accurate report of the cavalry, but believe it did not exceed 2100 effective men.” On these figures, the fairest, most manly comment was that of Meade: “We had at least 50,000 around [Lee], so that nothing but madness would have justified further resistance.” Meade might have added that the Union troops within easy marching distance were equally numerous. Lee had no support and many stragglers.
Concerning those not in the ranks Gordon testified later: “There were present three times [as] many enrolled Confederates; but two-third of them were so enfeebled by hunger, so wasted by sickness, and so footsore from constant marching that it was difficult for them to keep up with the army.” Some of these were past all effort. They followed the column or the wagon train in the hope that they might find food. Others insisted on marching even if they were too feeble to carry weapons. Tradition has it that when Gordon formed his last line of battle, one man took his place in the ranks with both arms so wounded that he could not carry a gun. “What are you doing here?” an officer demanded. “You can’t fight.” The soldier answered: “I know I can’t but I can still yell.’”
Lincoln Day by Day: A Chronology 1809-1865 Volume III: 1861-1865 C. Percy Powell P. 327
“April 9, 1865: En route and Washington. “That whole day [steaming up Potomac] the conversation turned on literary subjects. Mr. Lincoln read aloud to us for several hours. Most of the passages he selected were from Shakespeare.” President returns in excellent health. “River Queen” arrives at 6P.M., bringing President, Mrs. Lincoln, Tad, Atty. Gen. Speed, Asst. Sec. Otto, Sen. Sumner (Mass.), Sen. Harlan (Iowa), Mrs. Harlan and daughter Mary, and Marquis de Chambrun. Presidential party arrives about sundown. Streets alive with people. Bonfires everywhere. Gen. R.E. Lee has surrendered.”
Note: 1846, first known photo of Mr. Lincoln.
To the right image (above):
“This ambrotype was taken Aug. 26, 1858 by T.P. Pearson in Macomb, Illinois. Prior to the image being taken, Lincoln was given a mirror and was asked if he would like ” to fix up.” He declined stating it would not be much of an image if he fixed up any. His old friends and neighbors in Illinois upon seeing this photo felt that this was the best likeness ever taken of him.” Image & context courtesy of frontrank2 on Civil War Talk. Note: I love this picture. Looks like he’s thinking “Yeah? Catch me outside.”
Last image is possibly 1857:
“Originally, this image was believed to have originated as early as 1853 and many felt it happened in 1859. But now, most Lincoln historians are convinced it was taken on May 27, 1857 by Amon T. Joslin who owned a gallery located on the second floor of a building adjoining the Woodbury Drug Store, in Danville, IL. This was one of Lincoln’s favorite stopping places in Vermilion County, Illinois, while he was a traveling lawyer. Joslin photographed Abraham Lincoln twice at this sitting. Lincoln kept one copy and gave the other to his friend, Thomas J. Hilyard, deputy sheriff of Vermilion County. Today, one original resides in the Illinois State Historical Library.” Image & context courtesy of frontrank2 on Civil War Talk.
In Their Own Words: Civil War Commanders Collected and Edited by T.J. Stiles P. 322-323
From Five Forks to Lee’s Surrender
By General U.S. Grant
LEE’S SURRENDER
“Lee’s army was rapidly crumbling. Many of his soldiers had enlisted from that part of the State where they now were, and were continually dropping out of the ranks and going to their homes…. Although Sheridan had been marching all day, his troops moved with alacrity and without any straggling. They began to see the end of what they had been fighting four years for. Nothing seemed to fatigue them. They were ready to move without rations and travel without rest until the end. Straggling had entirely ceased, and every man was now a rival for the front. The infantry marched about as rapidly as the cavalry could.
Sheridan sent Custer with his division to move south of Appomattox Station, which is about five miles southwest of the Court House, to get west of the trains and destroy the roads to the rear. They got there the night of the eighth, and succeeded partially; but some of the train men had just discovered the movement of our troops and succeeded in running off three of the trains. The other four were held by Custer.
The head of Lee’s column came marching up there on the morning of the ninth, not dreaming, I suppose, that there were any Union soldiers near. The Confederates were surprised to find our cavalry in possession of the trains. However, they were desperate and at once assaulted, hoping to recover them. In the melee that ensued they succeeded in burning one of the trains, but not in getting anything from it. Custer then ordered the other trains run back on the road towards Farmville, and the fight continued.
So far, only our cavalry and the advance of Lee’s army were engaged. Soon, however, Lee’s men were brought up from the rear, no doubt expecting they had nothing to meet but our cavalry. But our infantry had pushed forward so rapidly that by the time the enemy got up they found Griffin’s corps and the Army of the James confronting them. A sharp engagement ensued, but Lee quickly set up a white flag.
On the eighth I had followed the Army of the Potomac in rear of Lee. I was suffering severely with a sick headache, and stopped at a farmhouse on the road some distance in rear of the main body of the army. I spent the night in bathing my feet in hot water and mustard, and putting mustard plasters on my wrists and the back part of my neck, hoping to be cured by morning. During the night I received Lee’s answer to my letter of the eighth, inviting an interview between the lines on the following morning. But it was for a different purpose from that of surrendering his army…. [Grant then sent a note in reply.]
Lee, therefore, sent an escort with the officer bearing through his lines to me.”
Note: The following note was delivered to Lee by Colonel Charles Whittier via “The Old Stage Road” under a white flag. Whittier was told to wait for a note back to Grant. Also note: The Civil War: The Final Year Told By Those Who Lived It, Edited by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, P. 704: “On 9th April, ’65, Lee had 7,892 “effective infantry.’”
“April 9, 1865.
To Gen. R.R. Lee, commanding C.S.A.:
GENERAL: Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for 10 A.M. To-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself; and the whole North entertain the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can 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 hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed.
Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc.,
VERY RESPECTFULLY,
YOUR OBEDIENT SERVANT,
U.S. GRANT,
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY.”
Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 1137-1138
THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE.
Horace Porter, Brevet Brigadier-General, U.S.A.
“It was proposed to him to ride during the day in a covered ambulance which was at hand, instead of on horseback, so as to avoid the intense heat of the sun, but this he declined to do, and soon after mounted “Cincinnati” and struck off toward New Store. From that point he went by way of a cross-road to the south side of the Appomattox with the intention of moving around to Sheridan’s front. While riding along the wagon road that runs from Farmville to Appomattox Court House, at a point eight or nine miles east of the latter place, Lieutenant Charles E. Pease of Meade’s staff overtook him with a dispatch. It was found to be a reply from Lee, which had been sent in to our lines on Humphrey’s front. It read as follows:
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
APRIL 9, 1865
GENERAL: I received your note of this morning on the picket line whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose.
R.E. LEE
GENERAL
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U.S. GRANT
COMMANDING U.S. ARMIES”
“Pease also brought a note from Meade, saying that at Lee’s request, he had read the communication addressed to General Grant and in consequence of it had granted a short truce.
The general, as soon as he had read these letters, dismounted, sat down on the grassy bank by the roadside, and wrote the following reply to Lee:
APRIL 9TH, 1865.
GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C.S. Army:
Your note of this date is but this moment (11:50 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing about four miles west of Walker’s Church, and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.”
Note: I found these next two letters here: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/T-07967.pdf
“9th April 1865
General,
I ask a suspension of hostilities pending the discussion of the Terms of surrender of this army in the interview which I requested in my former communication of Today
Lt Gen U S Grant Very respectfully
Commanding U.S. Armies Your obt servt.
R E Lee
Genl”
[endorsement written upside down below Lee’s message]
“April 9th 11.55 am
The
Within read –
acted on – my troops
and Genl Sheridans
being south &
west of Appomattox
covering Exits that
way. and men
at rest – firing
stopped –
EOC Ord
Mjr Genl – ”
Note: AND WE HAVE A WINNER. American Eagle over and out.
Lee on Traveller (this isn’t today):
Note: Gen. Ord’s Army of the James, 35k men, including 5,000 “colored troops,” marched over 30 miles in less than 20 hours in order to get at the front of Lee’s army in the town of Appomattox Court House.
Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command Volume 1 Douglas Southall Freeman Scribner, 1942 P. 739-741
“It had been 12:30, approximately, when Lee left the apple tree and rode forward under flag of truce. Three long hours passed, and more. Then there was a mutter along the road that led to the Confederate lines from Appomattox Court House. the men at a distance heard the beginning of a cheer, but it was stifled. A commotion on the road was discernible. Those inquisitive soldiers who still had strength enough for the exertion ran to the highway. They saw a sight that started some and made others blanch, and halted still others as if by a sudden, shouted command. General Lee was riding along the road. Behind him were a Lieutenant Colonel and a Sergeant. Lee was flawlessly dressed. Traveller was perfectly caparisoned. On any other day, even a glimpse of him on a battlefield in that martial garb would have sent the rebel yell running through the ranks as it had at the Chancellor House that May noon in 1863. Now. . . it was different. Dignity and loftiness remained on his countenance but anguish was deeply cut in the angles of his mouth. He, supreme master of his emotions, was battling with tears. Late-comers caught the end of a disjointed answer to pleading inquiries from the men– “will all be paroled and go to your homes till exchanged.”
Each soldier seemed to have the same question in his throat: “General, are we surrendered, are we surrendered?” His face gave the answer but they followed him and thronged him and tried to touch him. The man at his side wept unabashed; starving soldiers seemed to feel more acutely his distress than their own; sensitive boys choked as they sought to comfort him; the defiant shouted that if he said the word they would “go after ’em again.”
They pressed about him till he reached the apple tree; they ringed the little orchard as closely as the guarding engineers permitted. Later, when he and his staff rode from the apple tree to his headquarters about a mile in rear, many of the men still clung to the little cavalcade. At his tent in the woods, all who could do so grasped his hand and made their soldierly avowals and then slowly went away to rage, to ponder, to weep or to lie feebly down and to pray for food and rest. “Blow, Gabriel, blow,” shouted one agonzied North Carolinian, as he threw his musket from him. “My God, let him blow, I am ready to die!” Another cried: “Is it ture, is it true that General Lee has surrendered?” When his officer had to admit it, he broke out: “My God, that I should have lived to see this? Caldwell, I did not think I should live till this day. I hoped I should die before this day!” On the Charlottesville road, when a cavalryman heard the news, he lifted his clenched fist above his head: “If General Lee has had to surrender his Army, there is not a just God in Heaven.”
These were the extremes. Most of the surrendered troops were bewildered. “A feeling of collapse, mental and physical, succeeded for some hours. Very little was said by men of officers. They sat, or lay on the ground in reflective mood, overcome by a flood of sad recollections. Few were to be seen away from their camps, and no life was there; in fact. . . there were more Union troops to be seen on the road and in the fields within our line than Confederates.” When the dazed men recovered sufficiently to talk, there was questioning, wonder, complaint, regret and lament, but almost all the soldiers tried “to console themselves with the thought that they had discharged their duty, and therefore that they bore no share of the national disgrace.”
P. 742
There was initial uncertainty concerning the men to be embraced in the surrender of the Army. Gordon, in something of a speech, said the Federals had been so generous that he felt he must give the most liberal interpretation to the question. Longstreet then suggested that the surrender cover all troops within twenty miles of Appomattox. This was adopted immediately and unanimously as a reasonable basis. In the end, the surrender was made applicable to all forces operating with the Army when negotiations began on the 8th. The only exceptions were artillery units more than twenty miles from Appomattox on the 9th and those cavalrymen who “actually made their escape previous to the surrender.’”
Note: Lee went in & sat down, waited 30 minutes before Grant even got there. According to the National Park Service, “Entering the house, Grant greeted Lee in the center of the room.” The whole thing took 90 minutes, 1:30-3:00. Apparently, roughly 18 men were in the room at some point, with many walking out onto the porch or milling about in the yard. Just hours before, close-by, the Battle of Appomattox Court House happened. Losses: Union 260; Confederate 440. [It’s a death row pardon, two minutes too late. And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think.]
Note: From the Intelligencer, Anderson, SC, July 26, 1883. Last shot at Appomattox told by Spann 1883:
Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 1138-1140
THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE.
Horace Porter, Brevet Brigadier-General, U.S.A.
“Lee was so closely pressed that he was anxious to communicate with Grant by the most direct means, and as he could not tell with which column Grant was moving he sent in one copy of his letter on Meade’s front and one on Sheridan’s. Colonel Newhall joined our party, and after a few minutes’ halt to read the letter we continued our ride toward Appomattox. On the march I had asked the general several times how he felt. To the same question now he said, “The pain in my head seemed to leave me the moment I got Lee’s letter.” The road was filled with men, animals, and wagons, and to avoid these and shorten the distance we turned slightly to the right and began to “cut across lots”; but before going far we spied men conspicuous in gray, and it was seen that we were moving toward the enemy’s left flank, and that a short ride farther would take us into his lines. It looked for a moment as if a very awkward condition of things might possibly arise, and Grant become a prisoner in Lee’s lines instead of Lee in his. Such a circumstance would have given rise to an important cross-entry in the system of campaign bookkeeping. There was only one remedy—to retrace our steps and strike the right road, which was done without serious discussion. About 1 o’clock the little village of Appomattox Court House, with its half dozen houses, came in sight, and soon we were entering its single street. It is situated on some rising ground, and beyond the country slopes down into a broad valley. The enemy was seen with his columns and wagon trains covering the low ground. Our cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and part of Ord’s command were occupying the high ground to the south and west of the enemy, heading him off completely. Generals Sheridan and Ord, with a group of officers around them, were seen in the road, and as our party came up General Grant said: “How are you, Sheridan?” “First-rate, thank you; how are you?” cried Sheridan, with a voice and look that seemed to indicate that on his part he was having things all his own way. “Is Lee over there?” asked General Grant, pointing up the street, having heard a rumor that Lee was in that vicinity. “Yes, he is in that brick house,” answered Sheridan. “Well, then, we’ll go over,” said Grant.
The general-in-chief now rode on, accompanied by Sheridan, Ord, and some others, and soon Colonel Babcock’s orderly was seen sitting on his horse in the street in front of a two-story brick house, better in appearance than the rest of the houses. He said General Lee and Colonel Babcock had gone into this house a short time before, and he was ordered to post himself in the street and keep a lookout for General Grant, so as to let him know where General Lee was. Babcock told me afterward that in carrying General Grant’s last letter he passed through the enemy’s lines and found General Lee a little more than half a mile beyond Appomattox Court House. He was lying down by the roadside on a blanket which had been spread over a few fence rails on the ground under an apple-tree, which was part of an orchard. This circumstance furnished the only ground for the widespread report that the surrender occurred under an apple-tree. Babcock dismounted upon coming near, and as he approached on front, Lee sat up, with his feet hanging over the roadside embankment. The wheels of the wagons in passing along the road had cut away the earth of this embankment and left the roots of the tree projecting. Lee’s feet were partly resting on these roots. One of his staff-officers came forward, took the dispatch which Babcock handed him and gave it to General Lee. After reading it, the general rose and said he would ride forward on the road on which Babcock had come, but was apprehensive that hostilities might begin in the meantime, upon the termination of the temporary truce, and asked Babcock to write a line to Meade informing him of the situation. Babcock wrote accordingly, requesting Meade to maintain the truce until positive orders from General Grant could be received. To save time it was arranged that a Union officer, accompanied by one of Lee’s officers, should carry this letter through the enemy’s lines. This route made the distance to Meade nearly ten miles shorter than by the roundabout way of the Union lines. Lee now mounted his horse and directed Colonel Charles Marshall, his military secretary, to accompany him. They started for Appomattox Court House in company with Babcock and followed by a mounted orderly. When the party reached the village they met one of its residents, named Wilber McLean, who was told that General Lee wanted to occupy a convenient room in some house in the town. McLean ushered them into the sitting-room of one of the first houses he came to, but upon looking about and finding it quite small and meagerly furnished, Lee proposed finding something more commodious and better fitted for the occasion. McLean then conducted the party to his own house, about the best one in the town, where they awaited General Grant’s arrival.
The house had a comfortable wooden porch with seven steps leading up to it. A hall ran through the middle from front to back, and on each side was a room having two windows, one in front and one in rear. Each room had two doors opening into the hall. The building stood a little distance back from the street, with a yard in front, and to the left was a gate for carriages and a roadway running to a stable in rear. We entered the grounds by this gate and dismounted. In the yard were seen a fine large gray horse, which proved to be General Lee’s, and a good-looking mare belonging to Colonel Marshall. An orderly in gray was in charge of them, and had taken off their bridles to let them nibble the grass.
General Grant mounted the steps and entered the house. As he stepped into the hall Colonel Babcock, who had seen his approach from the window, opened the door of the room on the left, in which he had been sitting with General Lee and Colonel Marshall awaiting General Grant’s arrival. The general passed in, while the members of the staff, Generals Sheridan and Ord, and some general officers who had gathered in the front yard, remained outside, feeling that he would probably want his first interview with General Lee to be, in a measure, private. In a few minutes Colonel Babcock came to the front door and, making a motion with his hat toward the sitting-room, said: “The general says, come in.” It was then about half-past one of Sunday, the 9th of April. We entered, and found General Grant sitting at a marble-topped table in the center of the room, and Lee sitting beside a small oval table near the front window, in the corner opposite to the door by which we entered, and facing General Grant. Colonel Marshall, his military secretary, was standing at his left. We walked in softly and ranged ourselves quietly about the sides of the room, very much as people enter a sick-chamber when they expect to find the patient dangerously ill. Some found seats on the sofa and the few chairs which constituted the furniture, but most of the party stood.
P. 1148-1150
At a little before 4 o’clock General Lee shook hands with General Grant, bowed to the other officers, and with Colonel Marshall left the room. One after another we followed, and passed out to the porch. Lee signaled to his orderly to bring up his horse, and while the animal was being bridled the general stood on the lowest step and gazed sadly in the direction of the valley beyond where his army lay—now an army of prisoners. He smote his hands together a number of times in an absent sort of way; seemed not to see a group of Union officers in the yard who rose respectfully at his approach, and appeared unconscious of everything about him. All appreciated the sadness that overwhelmed him, and he had the personal sympathy of everyone who beheld him at this supreme moment of trial. The approach of his horse seemed to recall him from his reverie, and he at once mounted. General Grant now stepped down from the porch, and, moving toward him, saluted him by raising his hat. He was followed in this act of courtesy by all our officers present. Lee raised his hat respectfully, and rode off to break the sad news to the brave fellows whom he had so long commanded.
General Grant and his staff then mounted and started for the headquarters camp, which, in the meantime, had been pitched near by. The news of the surrender had reached the Union lines, and the firing of salutes began at several points, but the general sent orders at once to have them stopped, and used these words in referring to the occurrence: “The war is over, the rebels are our countrymen again, and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field.”
Mr. McLean had been charging about in a manner which indicated that the excitement was shaking his system to its nervous center, but his real trials did not begin until the departure of the chief actors in the surrender. Then the relic-hunters charged down upon the manor-house and made various attempts to jump Mr. McLean’s claims to his own furniture. Sheridan set a good example, however, by paying the proprietor twenty dollars in gold for the table at which Lee sat, for the purpose of presenting it to Mrs. Custer, and handed it over to her dashing husband, who started off for camp bearing it upon his shoulder. Ord paid forty dollars for the table at which Grant sat, and afterward presented it to Mrs. Grant, who modestly declined it, and insisted that Mrs. Ord should become its possessor. Bargains were at once struck for all the articles in the room, and it is even said that some mementos were carried off for which no coin of the realm was ever exchanged.
Before General Grant had proceeded far toward camp he was reminded that he had not yet announced the important event to the Government. He dismounted by the roadside, sat down on a large stone, and called for pencil and paper. Colonel (afterward General) Badeau handed his order-book to the general, who wrote on one of the leaves the following message, a copy of which was sent to the nearest telegraph station. It was dated 4:30 P.M.:
“HON. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington: General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully. U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.”
Upon reaching camp he seated himself in front of his tent, and we all gathered around him, curious to hear what his first comments would be upon the crowning event of his life. But our expectations were doomed to disappointment, for he appeared to have already dismissed the whole subject from his mind, and turning to General Rufus Ingalls, his first words were: “Ingalls, do you remember when that old white mule that so-and-so used to ride when we were in the city of Mexico?” “Why, perfectly,” said Ingalls, who was just then in a mood to remember the exact number of hairs in the mule’s tail if it would have helped to make matters agreeable. And then the general-in-chief went on to recall the antics played by that animal during an excursion to Popocatapetl [sic]. It was not until after supper that he said much about the surrender, when he talked freely of his entire belief that the rest of the rebel commanders would follow Lee’s example, and that we would have but little more fighting, even of a partisan nature. He then surprised us by announcing his intention of starting to Washington early the next morning.”
The Passing of the Armies; An Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Based Upon Personal Reminiscences of the Fifth Army Corps Joshua Chamberlain P. 237-238
“It was hilly, broken ground, in effect a vast amphitheater, stretching a mile perhaps from crest to crest. On the several confronting slopes before us dusky masses of infantry suddenly resting in place; blocks of artillery, standing fast in column or mechanically swung in to park; clouds of cavalry small and great, slowly moving, in simple restlessness;—all without apparent attempt at offense or defense, or even military order.
In the hollow is the Appomattox,—which we had made the dead-line for our baffled foe, for its whole length, a hundred miles; here but a rivulet that might almost be stepped over dry-shod, and at the road crossing not thought worth while to bridge. Around its edges, now trodden to mire, swarms an indescribable crowd: worn-out soldier struggling to the front; demoralized citizen and denizen, white, black, and all shades between,—following Lee’s army, or flying before these suddenly confronted terrible Yankees pictured to them as demon-shaped and bent; animals, too, of all forms and grades; vehicles of every description and nondescription,—public and domestic, four-wheeled, or two, or one,—heading and moving in every direction, a swarming mass of chaotic confusion.
All this within sight of every eye on our bristling crest. Had one the heart to strike at beings so helpless, the Appomattox would quickly become a surpassing Red Sea horror. But the very spectacle brings every foot to an instinctive halt. We seem the possession of a dream.”
Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 1136
THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE.
Horace Porter , Brevet Brigadier-General, U.S.A.
“General Grant had been able to get but very little sleep. He now sat up and read the letter, and after making a few comments upon it to General Rawlins lay down again on the sofa.
About 4 o’clock on the morning of the 9th I rose and crossed the hall as to ascertain how the general was feeling. I found his room empty, and upon going out of the front door saw him pacing up and down in the yard holding both hands to his head. Upon inquiring how he felt, he replied that he had had very little sleep, and was still suffering the most excruciating pain.”
In Their Own Words: Civil War Commanders Collected and Edited by T.J. Stiles P. 323-326
From Five Forks to Lee’s Surrender
By General U.S. Grant
LEE’S SURRENDER
“When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache; but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured….
I was conducted at once to where Sheridan was located with his troops drawn up in line of battle facing the Confederate army nearby. They were very much excited, and expressed their view that this was all a ruse employed to enable the Confederates to get away…. But I had no doubt about the good faith of Lee, and pretty soon was conducted to where he was. I found him at the house of a Mr. McLean, at Appomattox Court House, with Colonel Marshall, one of his staff officers, awaiting my arrival….
I had known General Lee in the old army, and had served with him in the Mexican War; but did not suppose, owing to the difference in our age and rank, that he would remember me; while I would more naturally remember him distinctly, because he was the chief of staff of General Scott in the Mexican War.
When I had left camp that morning I had not expected so soon the result that was then taking place, and consequently was in rough garb. I was without sword, as I usually was when on horseback in the field, and wore a soldier’s blouse for a coat, with the shoulder straps of my rank to indicate to the army who I was. When I went into the house I found General Lee. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats. I had my staff with me, a good portion of whom were in the room during the whole of the interview.
What General Lee’s feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassable face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to me.
General Lee was dressed in a full uniform which was entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value, very likely the sword which had been presented by the State of Virginia; at all events, it was an entirely different sword from the one that would ordinarily be worn in the field. In my rough traveling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high and of faultless form. But this was not a matter that I thought of until afterwards.
We soon fell into conversation about old army times. He remarked that he remembered me very well in the old army; and I told him that as a matter of course I remembered him perfectly, but from the difference in our rank and years (there being about sixteen years’ difference in our ages), I thought it very likely that I had not attracted his attention sufficiently to be remembered by him after such a long interval. Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood the letter.
Then we gradually fell off again into conversation about matters foreign to the subject which had brought us together. This continued for some little time, when General Lee again interrupted the course of the conversation by suggesting that the terms I proposed to give his army ought to be written out. I called to General Parker, secretary on my staff, for writing materials….
When I put pen to the paper I did not know the first word that I should make use of in writing the terms. I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly, so that there could be no mistaking it. As I wrote on, the thought occurred to me that the officers had their own private horses and effects, which were important to them, but of no value to us; also that it would be unnecessary humiliation to call upon them to deliver their sidearms.
No conversation, not one word, passed between General Lee and myself, either about private property, sidearms, or kindred subjects. He appeared to have no objections to the terms first proposed; or if he had a point to make against them he wished to wait until they were in writing to make it. When he read over that part of the terms about sidearms, horses, and private property of the officers, he remarked, with some feeling, I thought, that this would have a happy effect upon his army.
Then, after a little further conversation, General Lee remarked to me again that their army was organized a little differently from the army of the United States (still maintaining by implication that we were two countries); that in their army the cavalrymen and artillerists owned their own horses; and he asked if he was to understand that the men who so owned their horses were to be permitted to retain them. I told him that as the terms were written they would not; that only the officers were permitted to take their private property. He then, after reading over the terms a second time, remarked that that was clear.
I then said to him that I thought this would be about the last battle of the war – I sincerely hoped so; and I said further I took it most of the men in the ranks were small farmers. The whole country had been so raided by the two armies that it was doubtful whether they would be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter without the aid of the horses they were riding. The United States did not want them and I would, therefore, instruct the officers I left behind to receive the paroles of his troops to let every man of the Confederate army who claimed to own his own horse or mule take the animal to his home. Lee remarked again that this would have a happy effect….
General Lee, after all was completed and before taking his leave, remarked that his army was in a very bad condition for want of food, and that they were without forage; that his men had been living for some days on parched corn exclusively, and that he would have to ask me for rations and forage. I told him “certainly,” and asked for how many men he wanted rations. His answer was “about twenty-five thousand”: and I authorized him to send his commissary and quartermaster to Appomattox Station, two or three miles away, where he could have, out of the trains we had stopped, all the provisions wanted….
General Gibbon, Griffin, and Merritt were designated by me to carry into effect the paroling of Lee’s troops before they should start for their homes– General Lee leaving Generals Longstreet, Gordon, and Pendleton for them to confer with in order to facilitate this work. Lee and I then separated as cordially as we had met, he returning to his own lines, and all went into bivouac for the night at Appomattox….
When news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced firing a salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped. The Confederates were now our prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.”
Note: Here it is! https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/surrender-robert-e-lee-1865
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era James McPherson P. 850-851
“The news of Lee’s surrender traveled through a North barely recovered from boisterous celebrations of Richmond’s capture. The fall of the rebel capital had merited a nine-hundred gun salute* in Washington; the surrender of Lee produced another five hundred. “From one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other,” wrote a reporter, “the air seemed to burn with the bright hues of the flag…. Almost by magic the streets were crowded with hosts of people, talking, laughing, hurrahing and shouting in the fullness of their joy. Men embraced one another, ‘treated’ one another, made up old quarrels, renewed old friendships, marched arm-in-arm singing.” The scene was the same on Wall Street in New York, where “men embraced and hugged each other, kissed each other, retreated into doorways to dry their eyes and came out again to flourish their hats and hurrah,” according to an eyewitness. “They sand ‘Old Hundred,’ the Doxology, ‘John Brown,’ and ‘The Star Spangled Banner’… over and over, with a massive roar from the crowd and a unanimous wave of hats at the end of each repetition.” “My only experience of a people stirred up to like intensity of feeling,” wrote a diarist, “was the great Union meeting at Union Square in April 1861.” But this time the feeling was even more intense because “founded on memories of years of failure, all but hopeless, and the consciousness that national victory was at last secured.’”
“General R.E. Lee,
Commanding C.S. Army:
GENERAL: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you on the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate –one copy to be given to an officer designed by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate; the officers to give their individual paroles to not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked,*** and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.
Very respectfully,
U.S. Grant”
“Agreement entered unto this day in regard to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to the United States authorities.
1st. The troops shall march by brigades and detachments to a designated point, stack their arms, deposit their flag, sabers, pistols, &c., and from thence march to their homes under the charge of their officers, superintended by their respective division and corps commanders, officers retaining their side arms and their respective horses.
2nd. All public horses and public property of all kinds to be turned over to staff officers designated by the United States authorities.
3rd. Such a transportation as may be agreed upon as necessary for the transportation of the private baggage of officers will be allowed to accompany the officers, to be turned over at the end of the trip to the nearest U.S. quartermasters, receipts being taken for the same.
4th. Couriers and mounted men of the artillery and cavalry, whose horses are their own private property, will be allowed to retain them.
5th. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia shall be constructed to include all the forces operating with that army on the 8th instant, the date of commencement of negotiation for surrender, except such bodies of cavalry as actually made their escape previous to the surrender, and except also such pieces of artillery as were more than twenty-miles from Appomattox Court-House at the time of the surrender on the 9th instant.
John Gibbon,
Major-General of Volunteers.
Chas. Griffin,
Brevet Major-General, U.S. Volunteers.
W. Merritt,
Brevet Major-General
J. Longstreet,
Lieutenant-General
J.B. Gordon,
Major-General
W.N. Pendleton,
Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery”
Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War Edited by Harold Holzer P. 1055 (1865)
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA AND THE CAROLINAS.
Daniel Oakey, Captain, 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers
“The main column was now arriving, and as the troops filed off to the right and left of the road, and the field-guns galloped into battery, we moved forward to the attack. The enemy gave us a hot reception, which we returned with a storm of lead. It was a wretched place for a fight. At some points we had to support our wounded until they could be carried off, to prevent their falling into the swamp water, in which we stood ankle-deep. Here and there a clump of thick growth in the black mud broke the line as we advanced. No ordinary troops were in our front. They would not give way until a division of Davis’s corps was thrown upon their right, while we pressed them closely. As we passed over their dead and wounded, I came upon the body of a very young officer, whose handsome, refined face attracted my attention. While the line of battle swept past me I knelt at his side for a moment. His buttons bore the arms of South Carolina. Evidently we were fighting the Charleston chivalry. Sunset found us in bivouac on the Goldsboro’ road, and Hardee in retreat.
As we trudged on toward Bentonville, distant sounds told plainly that the head of the column was engaged. We hurried to the front and went into action, connecting with Davis’s corps. Little opposition having been expected, the distance between our wing and the right wing had been allowed to increase beyond supporting distance in the endeavor to find easier roads for marching as well as for transporting the wounded. The scope of this paper precludes a description of the battle of Bentonville, which was a combination of mistakes, miscarriages, and hard fighting on both sides. It ended in Johnston’s retreat, leaving open the road to Goldsboro’, where we arrived ragged and almost barefoot. While we were receiving letters from home, getting new clothes, and taking our regular doses of quinine, Lee and Johnston surrendered, and the great conflict came to an end.”
Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (book) Edited by Harold Holzer P. 1168-1169
“Last Days of the Confederacy” by Basil W. Duke, Brigadier-General, C.S.A.
(Excerpts, remember, these are excerpts from the report)
“The command had halted for the night; General Echols and I were dismounted and standing upon the turnpike surrounded by the soldiers. Just then Lieutenant James B. Clay, who had been sent ahead three days before to gain information, galloped up and handed General Echols a dispatch. The latter’s face flushed, and then grew deadly pale. The dispatch was from General Lomax, and in these words: “’General Lee surrendered this morning at or near Appomattox Court House. I am trying with my own division and the remnants of Fitz Lee’s and Rosser’s divisions to arrange to make a junction with you.’”
After a brief conference we agreed that the news should be concealed from the men until the next day, if possible, and communicated that night only to the brigade and regimental commanders. We hoped that some plan might be devised which would enable us to hold the troops together until we could learn what policy would be pursued by Mr. Davis, and whether it would be our duty to endeavor to join General Johnston. But to conceal such a fact when even one man was aware of it was impossible. Before we had concluded our brief conversation, we knew from the hum and stir in the anxious, dark-browed crowds nearest us, from excitement which soon grew almost to tumult, that the terrible tidings had gotten abroad. That night no man slept. Strange as the declaration may sound now, there was not one of the six or seven thousand men gathered at Christianburg who had entertained the slightest thought that such an event could happen, and doubtless that feeling pervaded the ranks of the Confederacy. We knew that the heroic army which had so long defended Richmond was in retreat. We knew that its operations could no longer be conducted upon the methods which support regular warfare, and that everything necessary to maintain its efficiency was lost. We could hazard no conjecture as to what would be done; yet, that the Army of Northern Virginia, with Lee at its head, would ever surrender had never entered our minds. Therefore, the indescribable consternation and amazement which spread like a conflagration through the ranks when the thing was told can only be imagined by one who has had a similar experience.
P. 1171
I had obtained credible information that the Federal cavalry under Stoneman were now certainly very near, and also marching in the direction of Lincolnton. I was very anxious to get there first, for I feared that if the enemy anticipated me the horses and guard would either be captured or driven so far away as to be entirely out of my reach. Early in the afternoon I discovered unmistakable indications that the enemy was close at hand, and found that he was moving upon another main road to Lincolnton, nearly parallel with that which I was pursuing, and some three miles distant. My scouts began fighting with his upon every by-road which connected our respective routes; and I learned, to my great chagrin and discomfort, that my men were not meeting with the success in that sort of combat to which they were accustomed, and which an unusual amount of experience in it might entitle them to expect. They were constantly driven in upon the column, and showed a reluctance to fight amounting almost to demoralization. Every man whom I questioned laid the blame in the most emphatic manner on his “d—d mule.” All that declared these animals were prejudiced against advancing or standing in any decent fashion.
P. 1174-1175
After we had each given, at his request, a statement of the equipment and condition of our respective commands, Mr. Davis proceeded to declare his conviction that the cause was not lost any more than hope of American liberty was gone amid the sorest trials and most disheartening reverses of the Revolutionary struggle; but that energy, courage, and constancy might yet save all. “Even,” he said, “if the troops now with me be all that I can for the present rely on, three thousand brave men are enough for a nucleus around which the whole people will rally when the panic which now afflicts them has passed away.” He then asked that we should make suggestions in regard to the future conduct of the war.
We looked at each other in amazement and with a feeling a little akin to trepidation, for we hardly knew how we should give expression to views diametrically opposed to those he had uttered. Our respect for Mr. Davis approached veneration, and notwithstanding the total dissent we felt, and were obliged to announce, to the programme he had indicated, that respect was rather increased than diminished by what he had said.
He declared, abruptly, that he would listen to no suggestion which regarded only his own safety. He appealed eloquently to every sentiment and reminiscence that might be supposed to move a Southern soldier, and urged us to accept his views. We remained silent, for our convictions were unshaken; we felt responsible for the future welfare of the men who had so heroically followed us; and the painful point had been reached, when to speak again in opposition to all that he urged would have approached altercation. For some minutes not a word was spoken. Then Mr. Davis rose and ejaculated bitterly that all was indeed lost. He had become very pallid, and we walked so feebly as he proceeded to leave the room that General Breckenridge stepped hastily up and offered his arm.
P. 1176-1178
At the Savannah River, Mr. Davis ordered that the silver coin, amounting to one hundred and eight or ten thousand dollars, be paid to the troops in partial discharge of the arrears of pay due them. The quartermasters of the several brigades were engaged during the entire night in counting out the money, and until early dawn a throng of soldiers surrounded the little cabin where they were dividing “the pile” into their respective quotas. The sight of so much money seemed to banish sleep. My brigade received thirty-two dollars per capita, officers and men sharing alike. General Breckinridge was paid that sum, and, for the purpose, was borne on the roll of the brigade. On the next day, at Washington, Georgia, I turned over the residue of the treasure to Mr. M.H. Clarke, acting Treasurer of the Confederate States, and experienced a feeling of great relief.
Mr. Davis, having apparently yielded to the advice pressed upon him, that he should endeavor to escape, started off with a select party of twenty, commanded by Captain Given Campbell, of Kentucky, one of the most gallant and intelligent officers in the service. I knew nearly all of these twenty personally. Among them were Lieutenants Lee Hathaway and Winder Monroe of my brigade. Escort and commander had been picked as men who could be relied on in any emergency, and there is no doubt in my mind that, if Mr. Davis had really attempted to get away or reach the trans-Mississippi, this escort would have exhausted every expedient their experience could have suggested, and, if necessary, fought to the death to accomplish his purpose. I have never believed, however, that Mr. Davis really meant or desired to escape after he became convinced that all was lost. I think that, wearied by the importunity with which the request was urged, he seemingly consented, intending to put himself in the way of being captured. I am convinced that he quitted the main body of the troops that they might have an opportunity to surrender before it was too late for surrender upon terms, and that he was resolved that the small escort sent with him should encounter no risk in his behalf. I can account for his conduct upon no other hypothesis. He well knew—and he was urgently advised—that his only chance of escape was in rapid and continuous movement. He and his party were admirably mounted, and could easily have outridden the pursuit of any party they were not strong enough to fight. Therefore, when he deliberately procrastinated as he did, when the fact of his presence in that vicinity was so public, and in the face of the effort that would certainly be made by the Federal forces to secure his person, I can only believe that he had resolved not to escape.
Immediately after Mr. Davis’s departure the greater portion of the troops were notified that their services would be no longer needed, and were given a formal discharge. Their officers made arrangements for their prompt surrender. General Breckinridge requested Colonel W.C.P. Breckinridge and myself to hold a body of our men together for two or three days, and, marching in a direction different from that Mr. Davis had taken, divert attention as much as possible from his movements. We accordingly marched with 350 men of our respective brigades toward Woodstock, or Woodville,—I do not certainly remember the name. I moved upon one road; Colonel Breckinridge, with whom the general was, upon another. We were to meet at the point I have mentioned. I arrived first, and halted to await the others. I found that a considerable force of Federal cavalry was just to the west of the place, and not more than three miles distant. The officer in command notified me in very courteous terms that he would not attack unless I proceeded toward the west, in which event he said he would, very much to his regret, be compelled “to use violence.” He said that he hoped I would think proper to surrender, as further bloodshed was useless and wrong; but that he would not undertake to hasten the matter. I responded that I appreciated his sentiments and situation, and that I would give the matter of surrender immediate and careful consideration. That evening Colonel Breckinridge arrived. He had encountered a body of Federals, who had made to him almost the identical statement the officer in my front had addressed to me. He had parleyed with them long enough to enable General Breckinridge, with one or two officers who were to accompany him in his effort to escape, to get far enough away to elude pursuit, and then, telling them where he wished to go, was allowed to march by upon the same road occupied by the Federal column. The men of the previously hostile hosts cheered each other as they passed, and the “Yanks” shouted, “You rebs better go home and stop this nonsense; we don’t want to hurt each other!” The colonel brought an earnest injunction from General Breckinridge that we should both surrender without delay. We communicated his message to our comrades, and for us the long agony was over.”
Note: Below, Lincoln at the White House, calling out the window for a or the band to play Dixie.
Chairs at The Smithsonian. https://www.civilwar.si.edu/appomattox_furniture.html#
Note: At the bottom of page 1176 this note: “The treasure brought from Richmond included about $275,000 belonging to some Richmond banks. –Editors”
Note: There are a few left: “witness trees,” oak trees that Confederates would have walked past near where the eastern theatre of war ends at Appomattox Court House. A marker is there as well, attached to the fence at the front of the McLean house. It reads:
“At midday on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee rode into this yard, dismounted, and disappeared into the McLean House. Grant, surrounded by generals and staff officers, soon followed. Dozens of officers, horses, and onlookers waited outside. After 90 minutes, Lee and Grant emerged. To the silent salutes of Union officers, Lee rode back through the village – to his defeated army. The home that hosted the surrender meeting was one of the best in Appomattox. Built in 1848, it had since 1862 been owned by businessman Wilmer McLean. The house became a sensation after the surrender. Union officers took some mementos; and in 1893 it was dismantled for display in Washington, D.C. But that display never happened, and the National Park Service reconstructed the building on its original site in the 1940s.”
But the house; it became about lifting things off the ground instead of putting them in the ground, never to be seen again. Taking what that house was away bit by bit, and no one accountable to the removal. Little known fact: The McLean House (the actual surrender site was the McLean house, not Appomattox Court House, which was the town name) got torn down in 1893 in order to be rebuilt then displayed either at the Chicago Exposition or in D.C. Neither ever happened. Instead, the house sat in piles, and bit by bit looters carried it off down to its very bricks, some of which someone, somehow, at some point, had the foresight to place in a secure location. In 1940, someone (history of the disposition of the McLean house over time remains vague) started building a replica, but WWI interfered. Then on April 16, 1950, Ulysses S. Grant III and R.E. Lee IV cut the ribbon at the house opening. The truth is the house is gone; it was likely used in local construction or as firewood, since none of it ever showed up for sale. When I asked Appomattox Court House how much of the building was constructed with original materials, their answer: “Good question. Less than 10% of the original materials could be salvaged but we did have blueprints, photos and parts of the foundation to go off of. As far as reconstructed buildings go, it’s very close. On original site and almost exact specs.”
A comment on TripAdvisor: “being in the same room as general lee and general grant when they singed the surrender was amazing, a truly amazing feeling to stand in a place where history was made.”
*There are no surviving copies; McClellan claims to have copied his letters after the war. Where the originals went, no one knows. Unless original copies are found, any letters are of limited historical value.
Note: They got the lighters up and somebody started squealing FREEEBIRDDDD so Grant said hold my beer, but also hold the shots fired in the sky because sad occasion lost war for this Lee and this section of our great landmass but thereafter civility shall ensue for a good five minutes until Lee and Traveller trot off headed due whichever direction the sun would set either in front of him or at his back or elsewhere before he in malignant rage blames numbers & resources for that giant L. Both time forward & time in reverse come to a standstill right here, right now before the Lost Cause lyses, & there is a moment that continues that is neither of this world or of any other. It’s less than 24 hours, this moment stretches. Tomorrow comes, the day Lee sets the tone, addresses his army about the numbers, resources. Just a game. Exculpatory.
5’10 and a half, 160ish lbs. That’s it. Lee. I tried to place a pic of his sword here but it won’t compress for some reason. Must be a reason for that.
Note: The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, Jeff Guinn, P. 457
“The Guyanese wanted badly to prosecute someone for the tragedies, if only to demonstrate to the world that theirs was a law-abiding nation, not a haven for religious zealots and murderers.”
Note: The 110th is present today at the surrender. They will move to nearby Burkesville (nee Burkeville) until May 2 when they walk to D.C. They will remain in D.C., marching in the Grand Review May 23. They will muster out officially on June 28th.
Note: 75 days after Appomattox, Oklahoma: General Stand Watie (Cherokee, First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi) in Oklahoma is the last Confederate General in the field in the continental United States to surrender.
Note: After the war, Grant gets offered 10k to sell his horse Cincinnati. He turns it down.
Note: The McLean house: https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/wilmer-mclean-beginning-and-end And Wilbur McLean’s parlor: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McLean_House_Parlor.jpg Snazzy rug. According to Appomattox Court House, Timothy O’Sullivan, in late summer 1865 (months after surrender), took the sole photos of Appomattox Court House, several images of the McLean House and the Federals standing out front. So Alfred Waud’s sketches are the only likeness of the actual real-time event. He drew Lee on his horse. To his back is the house. He looks like he has two shadows shifting off him down to the ground, his & an equestrian’s. A final backward look at him. There is one more thing. Let the record show the trees have barren sticks for branches, basically null & void, all the indicia of what’s to come. If you look at the image it’s dead simple. He drew him with an extra-square jaw as if his pencil slipped. Here & now something took hold that had nothing to do with what the last 4 years were about: www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a13494/
Posted MLK Day, 2025: https://mississippitoday.org/2025/01/20/robert-e-lee-day-mlk-day/
Last, & I can’t resist: Were #Appomattox, across the space-time continuum, the mid-1980s instead, it’d have a Miami Vice VHS-rip feel to it, Lee in the peach pastel oversized blazer, & Grant in dark yet light-reflective Gucci, white powder stuck on his upper lip. He’d roll up in a Lamborghini, car door swinging up, & won’t shut it. Lee’d glare at him like a dying sunset from the porch top step & toss a machine gun down in the grass.
.
.
they have a very hard day of it….
And then there were two.
The Village of Appomattox Court House is where the surrender took place, at the McLean house, then a private residence.
The roll & slap of a white sun. Tiny space particulates & the sun’s scorching heat. Dust motes waiting in the room where they’d sign… For now, a white linen dishcloth tied to a stick, Lee & his aide approaching. The providence of this moment extraordinary, really. But where else was there for them to go?
It was a day much like today. Sun came up the same. The thing will go down the same. The light lifts toward, up, until that same light falls on the tilt of the house, & the world gets still a moment.
Wood porch with the seven steps leading up. One Mississippi, two Mississippi. Only that moment, never not that moment, 0 degrees, 00 minutes. Slack tide: when the tide’s neither coming in or going out, but the water’s perfectly still. After four fucking years of kicking the can down the road this is it, the famous final scene. The seat of the free world temporarily moored here in Wilmer McLean’s Parlor.
Lee. He’s tooled up & ready to hand the sword over. A stricken sickly animal but dressed to the nines, a regaliaed-out uniform that borders on the burlesque, and there’s not a word; the instant carries itself (this was a silence surpassing all sound). He knew before he had finished crossing that parlor he’d be keeping that sword. Above all else, there is this fact: it wasn’t offered. Something in the room makes it forbidden. The fifteen officials in leaned poses against a back wall staring a hole into his starched & pressed getup until Lee does a grand plié into a chair at last, at last.
There are weapons, but they’re not drawn. He’s outnumbered, for one. Like presenting a single hoof. There’s bayonets stuck in the ground just outside. Pinioned. There will be one quill pen driving in the last stake. Grant doesn’t even know what to put down. Moves one word to the right at a time. The deuce is still wild & they all know it.
In the dead space between them their only alibi is each other, the surrender terms listed, the simple declarative statements on thin paper, as if it already knew what’d get written on it. As if any of it could get contained on a piece of paper at all.
And there will remain a joker in the field that stays between the lines.
A man whose eyes are making a decision. Something passes unspoken at the back of something else. You know they only give you one phone call, right? Stage-whispered, or forever hold your peace.
He puts words on his face. The edges of that paper are bright white & razor sharp. Waiting. Grant leans over, touches Lee’s arm, “You’re shaking.”
Just a signature left to get, Lee’s, but he hesitates as if making practice signatures on Motel 6 stationary. As if it can become right with one man’s signature. Just get the thing signed, get his men food. To walk out of here. Like he can start the world back over. Get on the horse. Ride away.
But words on a page cannot describe the background to the terms given. And there is that joker in the field between the lines. The edges of that paper stay bright & sharp. But it’s too far past closing time to matter.
It’s two wounded animals for a while chittering about where they’d been when they last crossed the hunting ground with their skins still on but now? It comes down to the hunt’s now at their hollow so there’s no pretending they’ll cross unseen again. One was the meal.
What do we have? We know Lee crossed his legs. Removed reading glasses from a jacket pocket. He made a show of taking his time. Unhurried, looking at everything, missing nothing. Playing the game out until the end. One-onethousand, two-onethousand.
Okay. Enough.
“You in?”
“Fold.”
Once he signs his name in the color of blood right before it leaves a body, he gets off his mark fast. He does it straight-backed as he stands. Git up & git! Without anyone having to ask, everyone in the room stands; something intangible then shifts to another part of the room, a ghost walks out from under them, vanishes in final tiny wisps of dissociating, necrosed smoke cast & curling out over the lawn from the final battle just hours earlier. Those men who died that day a final blood prize.
Lee in a fever dream, the face missing behind the face walking out the room & onto the porch, down the last steps of this forever house. He’s leaving now, out the small entrance turned large exit, as if he himself is a bullet seared completely through, his grief size of all the stars added back onto the American flag. That never really left anyway.
He makes it to the door, bleeding from his eyes, the skull-crossbones of treason still sitting atop the hat when he takes it off & tips it to Grant (the remains of an ancient offering of some kind), & it was like watching a conjurer as he hit fist into palm, Die Yankeh Scum. Everything’s forced, the layers of his pageantry. And in a never before seen phenomenon in all of American history, his image has already begun to eclipse him. The movie will later show– in a cinematic and carefully orchestrated detail- the progression of Lee as the most real and believable character. The main character.
Light angles different by now. Already the shadow of the house has begun crossing the yard, McLean’s forever house now at his back when he walks out, stands at Traveller. So he looks like he has two shadows cast off him down to the ground ticking down time (the horse will outlive him by a few months). He mounts, reins in one hand, & commands the horse backward while staring Grant full in the face. Oh, that gelding prance back as if he still didn’t want to turn his back, not yet. As if not wanting to be followed out.
A final backward glance. His shadow enters the field after him to touch down next in Charlottesville, shrouded then unshrouded. Wherever he appears on Earth, Lee in his gelding prance, Lee in his faultless posture, Lee the early Elvis, we wander too in the horizon found on that day, looking to just that one face & the hundred reflective-vest-wearing State police circling him armed with rifles in a kind of time travel trick of the eye though it’s much, much later than it ever was, even then.
The camera will dolly-in, pan, then tilt up the crane for a static shot; they’re checking to see how he’s attached to the pedestal, Lee held there motionless in a way the Earth keeps for itself deep in its hollow. Lee inclined low in the saddle of a later blue-tarped horse riding through a live CNN-kleig-lit night, 3am., & whoever’s up around the world watching his take down. Richmond officials toss an extra tarp over Traveller. Don’t let any marble show. Yet Lee will remain atop that horse with just a slicker on, like it’s only a light shower coming. After the crews, the Staties, the spectators, the protesters, the helicopters, the drones all leave, there’s a soft neighing, a front hoof tentatively scuffing up the pedestal. You know it, I know it, and most of all, he knows it. God bless America, and good night.
That is not the end of it, you might say, that the joker in the fields just past a town with the five streets that threw a surrender party two centuries back has yet to surrender. That there is a joker in the fields just beyond that town in that house there, you could say that there is a room there that is still burning. And it’s going to stay there. It’s still there.
“Pour one the fuck out,” Grant says to the air. Hoop-skirt-Davis on the run, googling extradition treaties deep into the night, all the white devils chameleoning like a mistaken identity plot device. Wilkes Booth lurking in a barn, the car chase solution about the lull in the script, butternut color blending in with the hay. Everything takes on a green screen hue if you look just under what you see. Lee as if he’s the human figure of God. Northern newspapers’ calling for HANG LEE to where even Lee thought he was hung. But the moment is gone like something risen fresh out a makeshift grave. Johnston wires Lee it’s all over, he won’t have to worry, I promise you no treason charges.
Another toast? Another toast. More margaritas & another round of the Macarena starting in 1877 when the North goes north that last time.
For now, guns stack one atop the other upright at an angle like stilled wings folded in a tiny Virginia village when the final credits roll (though some men smashed ’em on nearby rocks rather’n give ’em over). But why stop there? Here’s to 16 more months of fighting that continues like the long end of a tail swishing through several States post-surrender, a snake in slow motion coming for you one end to the other: Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma not quite getting the memo. This will surprise no one. Wasn’t until August 1866 Johnson formally declared the end. Don’t Tread On Me.
One knee on the ground, the statues coming down, brought as low as they can get brought, stumps even, & the sky falling with them. The old world order dissolving into scattered stratus clouds, an ether, & there’s nothing theoretical about any of this anymore, especially since there never was. Mississippi Gotdam.
1965, today, there.
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