The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-10-02
A "Reminiscences by General (Sena.
tori Gordon Of the Battle
OF the AppOmattOx.


81 had a message from General Lee,
telling me flag Of truce was in exist
ence, leaving it to my discretion as to
still pushing their way on. sent at
once to hear from General Longstreet,
feeling that if he was marching towards
me we might still cut through and carry
the army forward. l learned that he
was about two miles off with his men
faced just opposite from mine, fighting
for his life. thus saw that the case
was hopeless. The further each of us
drove the enemy the further we drifted
apart and the more exposed we left our
wagon trains and artillery, which was
parked between us. Every time either
of us broke only opened the gap wider.
l saw plainly that the Federals would
soon rush in between us and then there
would have been no army. therefore
determined to send a flag of truce. l
called Major Hunter, of my staff. to me
and told him that wanted him to carry
a flag of truce forward. He replied:
General, have no flag of truce
81 told him to get one. He replied:
". General, we have no flag of truce
in our command
"Then, said J, get your handker-
chief, put it on stick and 60 forward ;
al have no handkerchief, General
"sThen borrow one and 60 forward
with it.
"He tried and reported to me that
there was no handkerchief in my staff.
"sThen, Major, use your shirt
"s You see, General, that we all have
on flannel shirts ...
"At last, I believe, we found a man
who had white shirt. He gave it to
US, and tore off the back and tail, and
rigging this to a stick Major Hunter
went out towards the enemy's lines.
instructed him to simply say to General
Sheridan that General Lee had written
me that a flag of truce had been sent
from his and Grants headquarters and
that he could act as he thought best on
this information. In a few moments
he came back with Major, of Sher-
idan's staff. This officer said:
"'General Sheridan requested me to
present his compliments to you and to
demand the unconditional surrender of
your army t.
Major, you will please return my
compliments to General Sheridan and
say l will not surrender
':But, General, he will annihilate
you.'
"'I am perfectly aware of my situa-
ton. 1 simply gave General Sheridan
some Information on which he may or
may not desire to act
.tHe went back to his lines and in a
short time General Sheridan came gal
Looping forward on an immense horse
and attended by a very large staff.
Just here an incident occurred that
came near having a serious ending. As
General Sheridan was approaching /
noticed one of my sharpshooters draw
ing his rifle down upon him. at once
called to him, Put down your gun, sir;
this is flag of trucer' But he never
raised it. He simply settled it to his
shoulder and was drawing a bead on
Sheridan when 1 leaned forward and
jerked his gun. He struggled with me,
but finally raised it. I then loosed it
and he started to aim again. caught
it again, when he turned his stern white
face, all broken with grief and stream
ing with tears, up to me and said:
well, General, then let him keep on
his own sider The fighting had con-
tinued up to this point. Indeed, after
the flag of truce, q regiment of my
men, who had been fighting their way
through towards where we were and
who did not know of flag of truce,
fired into some of Sheridan's cavalry.
This was speedily stopped, however. 1
showed General Sheridan General Lees
note and he determined to aw ait events.
He dismonuted and 1 did the same.
Then, for the first time, the men seemed
to understand what it all meant. And
then the poor fellows broke down. The
men cried like children. Worn, starved
and bleeding as they were. they would
rather have died than have surrendered
At one word from me they would have
hurled themselves on the enemy and
have cut their way through or have
fallen to a man with their guns in their
hands. But could not permit it. The
great drama had been played to its
end. Philadelphia Times.