Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-04-18
THE STORY OF APPOMATTOX.
GEN. LEES OWN ACCOUNT OF
THE SURRENDER.
Incidents Of the OccasiOn-NO His.
tOric ApPIc-Tree Oh the Ground
den. Lees Sword Rot Sur.
rendered and Therefore
Not Rcturned--EtC., Etc.


rendered and Therefore
Not Returned--Etc., Etc.
April 9, 1873.
''The situation at Appomattox on
the 9th of April, 1865, when General
Lee sent flag of truce to ask an in
terview with General GRAFT, was
simply this: There were only $500
faded, famished Confederates with
arms in their hands, nearly sur
rounded by eighty MOuso1ad Federal
soldiers already in position. with rein
forcements constantly arriving. Cor
don fell back through the village and
moved 70 meet an attack of Sheridan
on the flank, while General Chamber
layne led the advance corps of the
army of the James into the Court
house. A battery of the Richmond
Howitzers. which had been engaged at
Big Bethel i'll 1861, stationed i'll the
yard Of Mr.. Peers, in the extreme
northern end of the village, fired the
last gun, and withdrew as the blue
waves were encircling it. The Federal
picket line was advanced beyond the
village, and that little band of heroic
spirits seemed about to be inundated,
when suddenly the white flag was dis
played and the firing ceased. There
have been so many sensational reports
of the meeting between the two COM
manders that [ am glad to be able to
refute them by giving
GENERAL LEES OWN ACCOUNT OF WHAT
OCCURRED,
as he gave it to some friends at his
house, in Lexington, but a few days
before his last illness. He said that
he had for duty that morning not eight
| thousand men, and that when he learn
| ed from Gordon that there was heavy
infantry force in his front, he decided
| to see General Grant and ascertain the
| terms upon which he could end the
contest. But before going to meet
| him he left orders with Longstreet and
Gordon to hold their commands in
| readiness, determined, as he was, to
| cut his way through or perish in the
attempt, If such terms were not grant
ed as he thought his army entitled to
| demand. He met General Grant be-
| tween the picket lines. In the open
| field, about two hundred yards below
! Appomattox Court House.
THE HISTORIC APPLE TREE.
You met under an apple tree did
| you not, General?" asked gentleman
present. s. No sir, was the reply, I'VE
did not meet under an apple tree, and
[ saw no tree near. 1t was in an open
! field, not far from the main road. :"
! This explodes the historic apple tree,
/ alb ut which so much has been said.
/ A gentleman who was within n few feet
of the two generals when they met,
/ pointed out to me the exact spot. The
apple tree, which was cut to pieces,
and even the roots of which were dug
up and carried off by relic hunters,
was fully a quarter of a mile from the
place of meeting, and the only historic
/ interest that could be attached to it
was that General Lee rested under it's
! shade Il few minutes while waiting for
/ the return ~ his flag of truce. The
/ only tree anywhere hear the place of
meeting was q small locust-thorn, which
. is still standing about twenty var s
from the spot,
/ THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN LEE AND GRANT.
General Lee said that when he met
Genera! Grant they exchanged polite
saiutatuES, and he stated TO him at
once that he desired IL conference in
reference to the subject matter of their
, correspondence. General Grant re-
turned Won Your sword, did he not,
, Gene III , one of the company asked.
/ The old hero, STRENGTHENING himself
! up, rcptIed III most eEDhatic tones ::
ono, sir ! he did not. He had no op-
portl,llty of doing so. | was determ-
lned that the side-arms of officers
should be excepted by the terms of sur
render, and of course l did not offer
him lni:IH. All that was said about
swords WAS that General Grant apollo
glzed t. lne for not wearing his own
swor , saving that it had gone off in
his baggage. and he had been unable
to get it III time" This sDoils a great
deal Of Rhetoric about Grants mag
nanlmjtv III returning Lees sword"
and c-IierS is absurd as it is false the
attic .i,t OF Northern artists to put the
scei.'' 'dl canvass or into statllarv.
/ Eve. Grants connivance at this So
call, Historic scene will not save If
wheH The world knows that r. E. Lee
SAID Cha: noHiayuf the sort occt,lred.
General Lee stated III this conversa-
ton that lie was accompanied when he
met Grant only by Colonel Charles
Marshall, of his personal staff. who
went with one Of General Grants staff
to find II suitable room in which TO
hold tn" conference; that thew were
first shown To Il vacant house, ana de
clining to use that were conducted by
Major Mclean to his house and shown
into his parlor. General Grant was
accompanied by several of his staff
officers, and several of his generals
(among them Sheridan and Ord) en-
tered the room and participated in the
slight general conversation that occur
red. The two generals went aside and
sat at n table to confer together. when
General Lee opened the conversation
by saying: General, | deem it due
to proper candor and trankness to say
at the very beginning of this interview
that L am not willing even to discuss
any terms of surrender inconsistent
with
THE HONOR OF MY ARMY,
which am determined to maintain to
the last" Grant replied: 4 have no
idea of proposing aishonorable terms,
General, but l would be glad if YOU |
would state what you consider honor |
able terms. General Lee then briefly |
stated the terms upon which he would |
be willing to surrender. Grant ey-
pressed himself as satisfied with them. |
and Lee requested that he would for
maly reduce the propositions to
writing. Grant at once did SO with a
common lead-pencil, and handed the
paper to Lee, who read it carefully
and without comment except to say
that most of the horses were the pri-
vate property of the men riding them.
Gen. Grant replied that such horses
would be exempt from surrender, and
the paper was then handed Colonel
Badeau Grants secretary and copies
in ink made by him and Colonel Mar
shall While this vac hein~ done
there We're inquiries after The health of
mutual acquaiiltances, hut nothing
bearing on the surrender, except that
General Lee said that he had on his
hands some two or three thousand
prisoners for whom he had no ratiOns.
Sheridan at.onGe aai:l 81 have rations