The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-09-20
Lees Surrender.


Virginia, on the 9Th of April, 1855. 1t
was late in the afternoon when it became
known that General Lee had sent for
General Grant to surrender to him. 1t
was between and o'clock when we
met in the little room in the house where
the surrender of Lees army took place.
I know there is belief that the surren-
der took place under an apple tree,
where Grant and Lee met and exchanged
a few words. The surrender took place
in the left-hand room of that old-fash-
Toned double house. The house had a
large piazza which ran along the full
length OF it. It was one of those ordin
airy Virginia houses with passage-way
running through the centre of it. In
that little room where the meeting took
place sat two young men-one great
grandson of Chief Justice Marshall, of
the Supreme Court, reducing to writing
the terms of the surrender On behalf of
Robert E. Lee; the other a man with
dusky countenance-a great nephew 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 Vir-
ginia to the army of the Potomac.
Gathered around the room were several
officers, of whom was one.
At some distance apart sat two men;
one the most remarkable man of his day
and generation. The larger and older of
the two was the most striking in his ap-
pearance. His hair was as white as
the driven snow. There was not speck
upon his coat; not spot upon those
gauntlets that he wore, which were as
bright and fair as lady's glove. That
was Robert E. Lee. The other was
Ulysses S. Grant, whose appearance con-
trasted. strangely with that of Lee; his
boots were nearly covered with mud, 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
faultlessly equipped. The conversation
was not rapid by any means. Everybody
felt the overpowering influence of the
scene. Every one present felt that they
were witnessing the proceedings between
the two chief actors in one of the most
remarkable transactions of this nine
tcenth century. The words that passed
between Grant and Lee were few. Gen
cral Grant - endeavoring to apologize
for not being fully equipped-and MOTTO
ing the faultless appearance OF Lee
while the secretaries were busy, said:
General Lee, have no sword; l have
been riding all night" And Lee, with
that GOODNESS of manner and all the pride
almost haughtiness-which, after all,
became him wonderfully we'll, never
made any reply, but in a cold, formal
manner, bowed! And General Grant, in
the endeavor to take away the awkward
ness of the scene, said ~ don't always
wear a sword, because a sword is very
inconvenient thing" That was a re-
markable thing for him to say, consider
ing that he was in the presence of one
who was about to surrender his sword.
Lee only bowed again. Another, trying
to relieve the awkwardnes of the occasion,
inquired: General Lee, what became of
the white horse you rode in Msxico2 He
might not be dead yet; he was not so
DID," General Lee bowed coldly, and
replied: III left him at the white house
on the Pamunkey River, and have not
seen him since" There was one moment
when there was whispered conversation
between Grant and Lee which nobody in
the room heard.
The surrender took the form of cor
respondence; the letters were all signed
in due form by the chief actors, in the
presence of each other. Finally, when
the terms Of the surrender had all been
arranged, and the surrender made, Lee
arose cold and proud, and bowed to
every person in the room on our side.
remember each one of us thought he had
been specially bowed to. And then he
went out and passed down the little
square in front of the house, and be-
strobe that gray horse that carried him
all over Virginia; and when he had gone
away, We learned what that whispered
conversation had been about General
Grant called his officers about him, and
said: "You 60 to the Twenty fourth, and
you to the Fifth" and so on, naming the
corps, land ask every man who has three
rations to turn over two of them. Go to
the commissaries and 60 to the quarter
masters" ETC.. General Lees army is on
the point of starvation" And twenty
five thousand ratiops were carried to the
army of Northern Virginia.-From Gen.
George II. Sharpe's Decoration Day Ad-
dress.