Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-08

, struction of these $50 wagons by Fitz
hugh Lee.
The reader will have gathered tina
when Gen. Lee found his depots along
the Dsnville road destroyed by Sheridan
he had no alternative but TO make fol
Lynchburg. He still hoped to get ra
tlons aud return suddenly upon Grant
whose army was dispersed into MANY
columns. The fatigue Of the pursuit
though unaggravated by famine, al
beginning 20 tell upon the pursuers
But in pressing for Lynehburg, Lee
found himself ia a dangerous predica.
ment. He was on q strip of land
not more than seven or eight miles
broad, between the James and Apo.
mattox rivers. On the afternoon Of the
4 7th, Lees situation seemed so un-
promising that Grant, for the first time,
sent 20 propose surrender. Lee at once
replied that his circumstances did not
seem to him such as TO justify his enter
tanning such a proposal. On the
morning of the Sth Grant renewed his
solicitations. Lee did not decline, but
debated the matter, calling council Of
| war in the evening. No determination
was arrived at on the Sth, and at mid
night the usual dreary retreat was re-
sumed. The springs Of energy and will,
! unstrung by long want of food, had run
down in the men like the machinery of
a broken clock. Hitherto the retreat
! had been covered by Longstreet and
/ Gordon alternately, but now the federal
force which had got ahead Of Lee, and
/ was Obstrueting his retreat, had become
so considerable that Gordon was thrown
out with two thousand men in front,
while the 4" old bull dog" Longsrreet,
whose pluck neithe. hunger, nor fatigue,
nor depression could abate or subdue, still
| covered the rear.
At daybreak on the 9th courier from
| Gordon announced to Lee that a large
/ body of federal cavalry in other words,
! Sheridan's army was across the road at
| AppOnlattoX courthouse. At the same
moment heavy force of infantry Under
| Grant was pushing LOngstreet vigOr-
ously in the rear. Between LOngstreet
| and Gordon were the remaining wagons,
and clinging to them thousands of un-
armed and famishsd stragglers too weak
/ to carry their muskets. Lee sent orders
to Gordon to cut his way through, cOllte
| qu'a cOutC. Presently came another
| courier from Gordon announcing that
| the enemy was driving him back. Lee
| had at this moment less than $4,000
men with musket5 in their hands. The
| fatal moment hai indisputably come.
| Hastily donning his best uniform, and
buckling on his sword, which it was
never his fashion to wear, Gen. Lee
turned sadly to the rear to seek the final
! interview with Gen. Grant
There is 40 passage Of history in this
heart-breaking war which will, for years
to come, be more hOnorably mentioned
and gratefully remembered than The de-
meanor on the 9th Of April, 1865, Of Gen.
Grant toward Gen. Lee. l do not so
much allude to the facility with which
honorable terms were accorded to the
Confederates, as 10 the bearing of Gen.
Grant and of the officers about him to-
ward Gen. Lee. The interview was
brief. Three commissioners upon either
side were Immediately appointed. The
agreement to which these six commits
missioners accedsd is known.
In the meantime, Immediately that
Gen. Lee was seen riding to the rear,
dressed more gaily than usual and begtrt
with his sword, the rumOr Of immediate
surrender flew like wildfire through the
Confederates. 1t might be imagined
that an army, which had drawn its last
regular rations on the lst Of April, and,
harrassed necessarily by night and day,
had been marching and fighting until
the morning Of the eth, would have well
coined anything like termination of its
sufferings, let il come in what form 1t
might. Let these who idly imagine that
the finer feelings are the prerogstive of
what are called the upper classes
learn from tbs 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 no longer he de-
MED. The effect on the worn and tat
tered troops-sume Of whom haC. fought
since April, 1851, and (sparse survivors
of hetac0mbs of fallen cOmFadesi had
passed unscathed through such hurrI-
canes of shot as within four years no
other men had ever experienced.-passes
mortal description.
Whole lines Of battle 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 whe had fought through
out the war, and knew what the agony
and humiliation of that moment it mast
be to him, strove with 3 refinement Of
unselfisbness and tenderness, which he
alone could fully appreciate, to tighten
his burden and mitigate bis pain. With
tears pouring down both cheeks, Gen.
Lee at length commanded voice enough
to say, Men, we have fought through
the war GEetler. l have done the best
that ce,1Q for youn Not an eve that
lookedS1n that scene was dry. Nor WAS
this the emotion of sickly sentimental
lists, but of rough and rugged men, IA
miliar with hardship, danger and death
in a thousand shapes, mastered by sym
pathy and feeling for another, which
they never experienced on their own ac-
count. I know of no other passage Of
military history so touching, unless, in
spite Of the melO-dramatiG colOring
which French historians have loved to
shed over the scene, it can be found in
the ACljelGr de FontdiR6ledU. -
1t remains fer me briefly to notice the |
last parade of an army whereof the eX-
ploits will be read with pride 50 long as
the English tongue is spoken. In puT- /
suance of an arrangement of the six |
commissioners, the Confederate army /
marched in divisions, on the morning of /
April the 18th, to a spot on the Appo- /
mattox court house, where they stacked /
arms and deposited accOutrements. (
Upon this solemn occasion Maj. Gen. |
GibbOR represented the United States 1
authorities. With the same exalted and |
conspicuous delicacy which be had eX-
hibited throughout these closing scenes, /
Gen. Grant was not again visible |
after his fual interview with Gen. !
Lee. Ablut 1890 Confederates I
marched with their muskets in their /
hands, and they were followed by about /
Is, 900 unarnled strsgglers, who claimed 4
to be included 10 the capitulatiOn. Each /
Confederate soldier was furnished with |
printed forrl Of parole, which was filled 4
up for him by his own officers, and du- |
piicate handed to a designated federal |
OHicer. BY the evening OF the 18th the 4
paroles we're generally IistTibAteai 2pd I
the disban3ed men began To scatter /
through the country. Hardly one OF /
them had a farthing Of money. Some OF |
them had from 1900 TO 1000 miles to |
travel, over a country of which the scanty !
railroads EeGe utterly 2nnlhii3teq. Many /
an interesting diary OF the adventures oi
individuals, as they jouineyed from 1
Eastern Virginia to Western Texas, or |
possibly to Mexico, may well have been
-vritten. 1t is to be hoped that one or |
two siicn wlli yes ps siys;nl 2, the world
Shortly alter nOQn an tne 4sJh, EFen. /
lee. escorted by guard Of honor Of /
federal cavalry, moun,cS i..5 is horse Ior /
the last time, and started fol the city OF |
Richmond. On the road he arrived /
about evening at the headquarters of his /
q" old war hOrse,n Gen. L0ngstreet, and |
the last and saddest of their many inter
views took place. They are scenes |
which are too sacred and affecting for 4
even though the pen were /
guided by Macaulay or Hoffman. II /
ever there were two genuine, simple /
minded men upon earth to whom any !
thing melo-dramatic or theatrical is ut /
terry ahhoTrent, they are the men Of who 4
/ ana now writing. ! close this brief /
chronicle with the remark that in pro-
portion 10 the readers estimate Of the |
sustained heToism with which Lee and /
I.ongstreet, for four years bore up and /
stood erect under such a burden as never /
vet was laid upon man, will be his ap- |
ptecistion of the circumstances and /
emotions under which their parting in /
teryiew took place.
Our Indian relations were again fully |
in the house yesterday. 1t Is |
to the country that the red |
men have been permitted 10 be the prey /
of SO much rapaGity and cruelty as have |
stained our intercourse with the abo- |
TigiDes. Men who get wonderfully ex- /
cited over IN occasional outrage upon the /
negro, and whose rhetoric for years has /
been exhausted in dealing with his |
wrongs, hear with comparative inditfer-
ence Of the cheating, the plunderlng, /