The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-02-24

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
PARIS, June II, 1874.
DEAR SIR: have duly received your
letter from New York, dated the 23d ult.
At the epoch you speak of great events
were 30 crowded together that it is i'm
possible for me, at this length of time,
to recall the details of many of them.
But we'll recollect the arrival ofsthe
deputa,ion of the three citizens from the
municipal government of the city of
Lynchburg at Appomattox Court House,
and the object of their visit to Gen. Glib
bon, then in command of the Union
forces. I shall never forget the pleasant
Interview I had with those gentlemen,
and the interest took in their narEation
of events and the state of things at
Lynchburg. After hearing their state.
ments kno1i was in full sympathy
with the purposes they had in view, and
30 expressed myself. But / was there
simply as private individual, and had
no authority to advise or scarcely to sug.
gest. Perhaps my opinions may have
had some weight, but I would not claim
even that; and I fear that the generous
citizens of Lynchburg have given ME
credit for what really belongs to others.
1 can only attest my feelings of gratifi-
cation at the success which attended the
efforts Of the Lynchburg delegation on
that occasion, and the pleasure We felt
(. at the time at their having successfully
accomplished their mission. Knowing
Gen. Grant as I did, and knowing him
to be as Just and magnanimous as he was
brave, I had no hesitation in saying to
the delegation land to the others) that I
had no doubt were he present he would
at once accede to their request.
Your letter and your illusions to Gen.
Gordon revive many recollections Of those
eyentful days. arrived at Appomatto1
Court House on Tuesday, the 1lth of
April, 1866. Gen. Grant, after receiving
the surrender of Gen. Lee on Sunday,
the 9th, he left the next day with his
staff officers en- route for Washington. I
met him the next evening at Prospect
Station. Desiring to see the two armies,
the next morning the General gave me q
company Of cavalry as an escort to APP
pomattox. Though the surrender had
been made on Sunday, yet the details as
to the parole and many other matters
had to be agreed upon, and the laying
down of arms was to take place at flu
ture day and as soon as the preliminaries
could be arranged. Three Commission
ers were appointed on either side for that
purpose, Gen. Gordon, Gen. Pendleton, I
think, and another gentlemen whose
name I do not now recall, on the side of
the Confederates, and Gen. Gibbon, Gen.
Merritt, and third, perhaps Gen. Mac
kenzie, on the side of the Union forces.
When arrived at the Court House ne
gotiations were going on between the
Commissioners at Gen. Gibbons head
quarters, at the house of Mr.. Mclean,
and I then saw many of the general Off
Gers on both sides. From what one saw
there it could hardly have been conceiv-
ed that these men had been in arms
against each other through more than
four years of deadly>strife. The terror
Of the breach, the fury of the charge,
and the fatigue of the march seem 70
have been forgotten, and these bravo men
come together more as friends than enc
mics. In all of their talks there Was
never suggestion nor 8 word from ell
ther side that could have wounded the
tenderest susceptibility. Many of these
officers on both sides had served together
in the old army ,and it vas touching andin-
teresting to witness the sympathy between
them which had survived those long
years of conflict and carnage. General
Cadmus Wilcox told with emotion how
his old classmate, Gibbon, accused him
Of having nothing but Confederate mon
ey, and taking from his pocket new
and crisp $50 greenback, thrust it upon
him. There Was one sentiment among
all of these men, which seemed to crop
out in spite of themselves and that was,
that after all the bloody struggle of the
past, they were still all Americans. The
only punishment saw inflicted was that
on some large jugs of brandy which had
found their way to the Union headquar-
ters, and under the peculiar circumstan-
ces that was not taken and deemed as q
"cruel and unusual punishment within
the meaning OF the Constitution.
I met on that occasion two gentlemen
in the Confederate service with whom 1
had served in Congress, Hon. Alexander
r. Boteler, of Virginia, and Hon. Lucius
@. G. Lamar, Of Mississippi. Lamar was
a member of the Committee on Com
merce in the Thirty-sixth Congress, of
which was Chairman, and though we
differed on all political matters as widely
as two men could we'll differ, our person.
81 relations had always been pleasant and
agreeable. Though I had not much
money with me, I proposed to divide
with him, but he declined, saying he
could see his way clear to get to Balti-
more, and when once where Winter Da-
Wis was he should be all right. I knew
what that meant, for the intimacy and
friendship that existed between those two
brilliant and gifted men, so utterly op:.
posed to each other on all of the political
questions of the day, was well known in
Washington circles. They were united
by tie which binds together scholars,
persons of similar tastes, and men OF
genius and eloquence, and which even
the storms of war could not sunder. Had
these men lived in France during the
great revolution, Lamar would have ri
vailed Mirabea1 in the tribune of the Ma
tional Assembly, and Winter Davis
would have been the peer of Vergniaud,
the echoes of whose graceful but indig-
nant eloquence rasounded through all
France long after his head had rolled in
to the basket of the guillotine and his
blood ran in the cutters of the Place de
la Revolution.
After remaining two days at Appomat-
to1, was ready to start with my escort
on my return toward Burksville and
Richmond. Gen. Gordon, having heard
of the sickness of his family at Peters
burg, was extremely anxious to get away
as soon as his mission in connection with