The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-07-04

THE CLOSING SCENE OF THE WAR OF THE
REBELLION.
l remember-and il was recalled to me
tonight in conversation when the name OF
General Grant came up in the course OF
conyersation-the wonderful scene that
transDired in that little place in Virginia on
the 9Th Of April, 1865. 1t was lutte in the
afternoon when it became known that Gen.
eral Lee had sent for General Grant to sur
render to him. 1t was between and 8
O'Clock when we met in the little room
in the house where the. surrender
of Lees army took place. know
there is belief that the surrender took
place under an apple-tree, where Grant and
Lee met and exchanged few words. The
surrender took place in the left-hand room
of that old-fashioned double house. The
house had large piazza which ran along
the full length of it. 1t was one Of those
ordinary Virginia houses with a passage
way running through the centre OF it. In
that little room, where the meeting took
place, sat two young men-one a great
grandson of Chief-Justice Marshall, OF the
Supreme Court, reducing to writing the
terms Of the surrender on behalf OF Robert
Z. Lee; the other a man with dllsky counte-
nance, a great-nepbew OF that celebrated
chief Red Jacket, acting under General
Grant. They two were reducing to writing
the terms OF the surrender Of the Army OF
Northern Virginia to the Army of the Poto-
mac. Gathered around the room were sey-
eral officers, of whom was one. "
At some distance apart set two men, one
the most remarkable man OF his day and
generation. The larger and older OF the
two was most striking in his appearance.
His hair was white as the driven snow.
There was not speck upon his coat; not a
spot upon those gauntlets that he wore,
which were rs bright and fair as lady's
glove. That was Robert E. Lee. The
other was Ulysses S. Grant, whose appear
ance contrasted strangely with that OF Lee.
His boots were nearly covered with mud I;
one button of his coat-that is, the button
hole-was not where it should have been
it had clearly gone astray; and he'wore no
sword, while Lee was fully.and fautlessly
equipped. The conversation was not rapid
by any means. Everybody felt the over
powering influence OF the scene. All
present felt they were witnessing the
proceedings between the two Chief actors
in one Of the most remarkable transactions
of this nineteenth century. The words
that passed between GraEt and, Lee were
few. General Grant, endeavofing to apol-
osize for not being fully equipped, and no
ticing the faultiess appearance OF Lee, while
the secretaries were busy, said: "General
Lee, have no sword; have been riding
all night" And Lee, with that GOODNESS OF
manner and all the pride--almost haughti-
ness-wbich, after all, became him wonder
fully we'll. never made any reply, but in a
cold, formal manner, bowed! And Gene
raj Grant, in the endeavor to take away the
awkwardncss OF the scene, said: =" / don't
always wear sword, because. a sword
is q very inconvenient thing" That
was a remarkable thing for him to
say, considering that he was in the
presence OF one who was about to surren-
der his sword. Lee only bowed again.
Another, trying to relieve the awkwardness
of the OCCASION, inquired: General Lee,
what became Of the white horse you rode
in MeXico? He might not be dead yet; he
was not so old" General Lee bowed cold
ly, and replied: "I left him at the White
House, ON the Pamunkey river, and have
not seour him since" There was one mo-
ment when there was whispered conversa-
tion between Grant and Lee, which nobody
in the room heard. ..a.,.,
spondence. The letters were all signed in
uuC lUi Al NY sGuO SulOA bStOl - III lp4N-
sence of each other. Finally, when the
terms OF the surrender had all been ar
ranged and the surrender made, Lee arose,
cold and proud, and bowed to every person
in the room on our side. i remember each
one OF us thought that he had been spe-
cially bowed to. And then he went out
and passed down the little square in
front Of the, house, and bestrode that gray
horse that chrr;ied him all over Virginia |;
and when he had gone away we learned
what that whispered conversation had been
about. General Grant called bis, officers
about him, and said You goto the Twen-
ty-fourth, and you to the Fifth y and so on.
naming the corps, "and ask every man who
has three rations to turn over two, OF them.
Go to the commissaries and 60 to the quar-
etc.; "General Lees army is
on the point of starvation !" y And twenty
five thousand rations were carried to the
Army Of Northern Virginia. From Gene
rat George II. .Sharpe's Decoration Day ,4d-
dress.