Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1865-11-12

- did not seem 90 nm suci ~ ., je,ttii@ - -
D.. entertaining such Propos4l- L On IN
Is morning of the eigRth 1iant iSlieme ,nS,. =
n his solicitations. Lee did not decline
4, but debated the matter, calling councl
:. ~ y,-or I'm the evening. No determine
tion was arrived at on the eighth, and a
y midnight the usual dTeary retreat wa
, resumed. The springsOf energy and viii
u uustr1Ing by long want Of food, had rul
=, down in the men like the machinery Q
4 a broken clock. Hitherto theretreat hal
+ been covered by Longstreet and GordOl
e alternately, but now the Federal fore
l. which had got ahead Of Lee, and was oh
D 1 structing his retreat, had become so con
y siderable that Gordon was thrown on
e with two thousand men in front Will
r the cold bull dog, Longstreet, who's
t. pluck neither hunger, nor fatigue, no
e depression could ahate or subdue, stu
2 covered the rear.
] At daybreak on the ninth, courie
! from Gordon announced 30 Lee that I
/ large body of-Federal cavalry lin othe
] words, Sheridan's army was across TIN
road at AppOmattOX Court House. n
- the same moment a heavy force Of in
p family under Grant was pushing Long
street vigorously in the rear. BetWeeT
Longstreet and Gordon were the remain
r ing wagons, and clinging to them thou
sandsof unarmed and famished stTaggleTs
too weak to carry their muskets. Lee
sent orders 10 Gordon to cut his way
F through, cO3gC quill cOutc. Presently
came another courier from Gordon an
nOmcing that the enemy was driving
him back. Lee had at this moment les
than thirty thousand men with musBets
i'm their hands. The fatal moment had
indisputably come. Hastily douning his
best uniform, and buckling on his sword,
which it was never his fashion 20 wear,
Gen. Lee turned sadly 20 the rear 20 seek
the final interview with Gen. Grant
There is no passage of history i'm this
heart-bTeaking war which viii, for years
to come, be more hOnurably mentioned
/ and gratefully remembered than the de
meanor on the ninth of April, eighteen
hundred and sixty-fve, of Gen. Grant
toward Gen. Lee. ! do not so much al
/ lude to the facility with which honorable
/ terms were afforded to the COntederates;
. rs 30 the bearing of Gen. Grant and Of
the officers about him toward Gen. Lee.
| The interview was brief Three commits
/ sioners upon either sidewere Immediately
/ appointed. The agreement 10 which these
six commissioners Gcceded Is known.
In the meantime, Immediately THAI
/ Gen. Lee was seen riding to the rear,
/ dressed more gaily than usual and begirt
I with his sword, the rumor Of immediate
I surrender flew like wildfire through the
/ Confederate lines. It might be imag
ined that an army, which had drawn its
/ last regular rations on the first of April,
and, harrassed incessantly by night and
T day, had been marching and fighting
until the morning Of the ninth, would
/ have welcomed anything like a termina-
/ ton of its sufiarings, let it come in what
I form il might. Let those who idly i'm
agine that the finer feelings are the pre-
T0gative of what are called the upper
classes learn from this, and similar
scenes, to appreciate common men,
As the great Confederate captain rode
back from his interview with Gen. Grant,
the news Of the surrender acquired shape
and consistency, and could nOtany longer
be denied. The effect on the worn and
battered trOOps-sOme Of whom had
fought since April, eighteen hundred and
siXty-One, and sparse survivors Of heta-
combs Of fallen cOmrades) had passed
unscathed through such hurricanes Of
shot as within four years no other men
had ever experienced passes mortal
description.
Whole lines Of battles rushed up to
their beloved old chief, and choking with
emotion, broke ranks and struggled with
each other to wiring him once more by
the hand. Men who had fought through
out the war, and knew what the agony
and humiliation of that moment must be
to hinl, strOye with a refinement of un-
sclfiShness and tenderness which he alone
can fully appreciate, 10 tighten his bur-
den and mitigate his pain. With tears
pouridg down both checks, Gen. Lee al
length commanded voice enough to say,
"Meu. we have fought through the war
together. 1 have done the best that ]
could for YOU Not an eye that looked
on that scene was dry. Nor was this the I.
emotion Of sickIy scntimcntalistS, but Of
rough and rugged men, familiar with .
hardship, danger and death iH "a thousand .
shapes, mastered by sympathy and feel .
ing for another, which they never eXpe- +
rienced on their own account. / know .
Of no other passage of military history .
so touching, unless, in spite of the melo= 4
dramatic uOloriug which French histO- .
riaus have loved to shed over the scene, +
it can be found in the Aaicilr de fygtGif- +
bcqtL
1t remains for me briefly to notice the .
last parade of an army whereof the eN- I
pIoits viii De read with pride 50 long as /
the English tongue Is spoken. In pursu- ]
anceOf an arrangement Of the six commits /
sioners, the Confederate army marched 4
by divisions, on the morning Of April T.
the twelfth, to a spot on the AppOmatt0X
Court Hugse rOad, WEErl taay stacked T.
arms and deposited acknowledgements. Upon I
this solemn occasion Maj. Gen Gibbon T.
reBresented the United States authorities, /.
with the same exalted and conspicuous /
delicScy which Gen. Grant had eXhib- /
tied Throughout the-h closing scenes. /
zen. Grant was not again visible after
his final interview with Gen. Lee. About I
seven thousand eight hundred C0nfede-
rates marched with their muskets in I
their hands, and they were followed by
about eighteen thousand unarmed strag- !
glers, who claimed to be included in the
caDitulatiou. Each Confederate soldier
was furnished with 2 printed form Of pa
role, which was fllad up for him by his
own officers, and "a duplicate handed to
the designated Federal officer. BY the
evening of the twelfth the paroles were
generally distributed, and the disbanded
men began to scatter through the coun-
try. Hardly one Of them had p faTthiag
Of money. some Of them had from tii-
teen hundred to two thousand miles 70
travel, overa country of which the scanty
railroads were entirely annlniiaJed. Many
an interesting dairy Of the adventures OF
these individuals, as they joUrneyed from
Eastern Virginia TO Western TeNasi or
possihiy to Mexico, may Well have teen
written Il is to be hoped that one or two
such viii yet be given to the world.
Shortly after noon on the twelfth, Gen.
Lee. escorted bv a gllari Of honor OF Fed
eral cavalry, mounted his horse for the
last time and started for the city Of Rich
mond On the road he arrived about
evening at the headquarters of his "old
war horse, 4" IOngsueet, and the last and
saddest of their many interviews took
place. There are scenes which are too
sacred and affecting for description, even
though the pen werG guided by a Macau-
I Law or a Hoffman. If ever there were
two genuine, simple-minded men upon
earth to whom anything melO-dramatic
OF theatrical is utterly abhOuent. they
are the men of whom / am now writing.
close this brief chronicle with the re-
mark that in proportion 10 the readers
estimate of the sustained herOisn with
which Lee and LOngstreet for four years
borc up and stood erect under such bur
den as never yet was laid upon man,
will be his appreciation of the ciTcum-
stances and emotions under which their
parting interview took place.
FRANCIS LAWLEY
ETThe Artesian well at Chicago is
represented to be the finest i'm the world.
In December, eighteen hundred and
siNty-three, the hole was commenced with
a diamater of five inches. In January
following, when at the depth of sixty
five feet, the tools got fast and the well
was abandoned. Another was started in
a few weeks, and when at the depth Of