Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-07-03
Hasa-
Lees Surrender.
THE SCENE UNDER THE APPLE TREE
| THE ACCOUNT OF AN EYEWITNESS.
TO the Editor of the Philadelphfa Times:

THE SCENE UNDER THE APPLE TREE
THE ACCOUNT OF AN EYEWITNESS.
To the Editor of the Philadelphia Times:
The Weekly Times of the 10th instant
contains q short article copied from the
New York World, entitled sLee's Sur
render" Having been an eyewitness
Of the few incidents mentioned, I can
testify that the statements of "V.9D."
in the World are acknowledgement.
Very few persons were in the immedi-
ate eneighbOrhood at the time some of
Gen. Lees military household, mem-
beIs of Gen. Gordon's staff, and few
Of the eengineer corps to which was at
tached are all l can now recall. The,
remnant of the once victorious Army Of
Northern Virginia, at this time reduced,
BY struggling and desertion, to about
eleven thousand men Of all arms, hav-
ing been drawn up in line and stacked
arms, were quietly awaiting develop.
nents at some distance. ,.t.;.,
Gen. Lee wore, for the first time in
public,sI was told, the splendid new uni
form and magnificent sword purchased
in England and presented to him by
the State of Virginia. l. Like funeral
trappings they served Oily to enhance
the general gloom He had been seat
ed f0r'ag long time, with ciossed arms
and bowed head, immovable as stone,
on broken rail under an old apple tree,
whose scanty foliage, and feeble bloom
were in general Keeping with the gen.
eral dilapidation of the homestead in its
rear, which / learned was the birth
place of Sweeney, the famous banjo
player. The staff stood somewhat be-
hind him, and the engineers were seat
ed or lying on the ground directly in
front. No one spoke word ormade
move, and the painful silence was only
broken by the rapid approach of Fed
eral officer with his aid on horseback. r
At the first sound Of hisappreach Lee
stood erect and waited his arrival. The
officer dismOunted atsome distances, and,
leaving his horse in charge of the aid,
advanced toward Lee with head uncov-
cred, and stopping every few PAGES,
bowed repeatedly low to the ground.-
Having arrived within speaking dis
tance salutes were exchanged, a few
words, inaudible to the nearest by
stander, were spoken on either side, and
then Lee, mounting his horse, which
was in readiness near by, rode off, ac-
,cOmpanied by the two officers, in the
direction of Appomattox Courthouse.
During the interval of. of.suspensewhich
occurred before the arrival Of the Feder-
al General made hasty sketch of the
scene, which, am sorry to say, with
the exception of the chief actor, Lee,
presented not single point;of interest
to the artist. A more forlorn or less
picturesque situation could hardly have
been selected as the scene of.any remark
able event-a wretched Virginia farm
of the lowest class, long before given up
to ruin and decay, whose nakedness
even nature had neglected to clothe with
graceful drapery. Later in the day I
returned to the same spot to find the
principal points of the scene literally
obliterated. Trees, rails, and buildings
were gone, and few devoted treasure
seekers were grubbing out the roots of
the former. Isecured only a few apple
blossoms and twigs and splinter Of
rail, which, together with the sketch, I
enclose forgyOur inspection.
Yours truly, J. w. HALLAM,
Lit. of Engineers, Army N. Va.
PHILADELPHIA, June 19, 1877.