Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-08-02
He HER A Id.
Lees. surrender
n O. Il. sharpe's Decoration Day Address,

From q. II. Sharpe's Decoration Day Address,
ID. remember-and it. was recalled
TO me to,nightin CONVERSATION when
the name of General Grant came up
ia The course Of conversation-the
wonderful scene that. transpired
in that little place in Virginia on
the 9th day of April 1865. IL was
late in the afternoon when it became
known that General Lee had sent
for General Grant to surrender to
him. 1t was between 2 and 3 o'clock
when we met in the little room in
the house where the surrender of
Lees army took place. | know
there is belief shat the surrender
took place under an apple tree.
where Grant and Lee met and ex-
changed a few words. The surren-
der took place in the left hand room
of that old fashioned double house.
The house had large piazza which
ran along the whole length of it. 1t
was Que of those ordinary Virginia
houses with a passage way running
through the center of it. In that
little room where the meeting took
place sat two young men-one q
great-grand-son of Chief Justice
Marshall, of the Supreme Court, re-
ducing TO writing the terms OF the
surrender on behalf of Robert Il.
Lee. the other man with dusky
countenance-a gtest-nephew of that
celebrated Chief Red Undertaking
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 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 lar
ger 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
spot upon those gauntlets that ne
wore, " hich were as bright and fair
as q lady's gIoyc. That was Robert
II Lee. The other was Ulysses s.
Grant, whose appearance contrasts
ed strangely with that OF Lee. His
boots were nearly covered with mud;
one button off big coat-that is the
button hole was not where it should
have been-it had clearly gone astray
and be wore 90 sword, while Lee
was fully and faultlessly equipped.
The conversation was not rapid by
any means. Everybody felt the
overpowering influence of the scene.
All present felt they were Witness
ing the proceedings between the two
chief actors in one of the most re-
markable transa etions of the nine-
teenth century. The words that
parsed between Grant aud Lee were
lew. General Grant, endeavoring to
apologize for not being fully equipped
and noticing the faultless appearance
OF Lee, while the secretaries were
busy, said: General Lee, | have no
sword; 1 have been riding all night "
And Lee, with that GOODNESS of man.
neT and all the pride-almost Taught
iness-which, after all, became him
wonderfully well, never made any
reply. but in cold formal manner,
bOwedI Ard General Grant, in the
endeavOr 10 take away the awkward
ness OF the scene, said: 81 don't a.
ways wear sword, because sword
il very inconveni.nt thing" That
WAS remarkable thing for him to
ray, considering that he was in the
presence of one who was about to
surrender his sword. Lee only bow
ed again. Another, trying to relieve
the awkwardness of the occasion. in
CURED: General Lee. what became
of the white horse you rode in Mex
leo? He might not be dead yet: he
was not SO DID," General Lee bowed
eoldly, and he replied: al left him
at the white house or the Pamunkey
river, and | have not seen him
since" There was one moment
when there was whispered CONVERSE
ton between Grant and Lee which
nobody in the room heard.
The surrender took the form of
c0rrespo ndence; the letters were all
signed in due form by the chief ac-
tors, in the presence of each other
Finally, when the terms of the sur
render had all been arranged, and
the surrender made, Lee arose, cold
and proud, and bowed to every per-
son in the room on our side. l re-
member each one of us thought that
be had been specially bowed to. And
then he went out and passed down
the little square in front of the house
and bestrode taat gray horse that
carried him all over Virginia and
when be bad gone away, we learned
what that whispered conversation
had boon about. General Grant
called his officers about him, snd
said: "You go to the Twenty fourth
and you to the Fifth" and 80 on,
naming the corps, "and ask every
man who has three rations to turn
over two of them. Go to the COM
mIssaries aud go to the quar- er mas
ters," etc.; General Lees army is
on the point of starvation" And
25, 900 ratiops were carried to the