Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-09-18

was held Lees last council of war. There
were present Gen. Lee, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, as
head Of the cavalry, and Pendleton, as chief
of artillery, and myself Gen. Longstreet
was, I think, too busily engaged to attend.
Gen. Lee then exhibited to us the correspond.
ence he had had with Gen. Grant that day,
and asked our opinion Of the situation. 1t
seemed that surrender was inevitable. The
only chance of escape was that could cut
way for the army through the lines in front
of me. Gen. Lee asked me if l could do
this. I replied that did not know what
forces were in front of me; that if Gen. Ord
had not arrived as we, thought then he had
not-with his heavy masses Of infantry, |
could cut through. l guaranteed that my
men would cut way through all the cavalry
that could be massed in front Of them. The
council finally dissolved with the understand.
ing that the army should be surrendered it 1
discovered, the next morning, after feeling
the enemy's line, that the infantry had ar
rived in such force that I could not cut my
way through.
My men were drawn up in the little town
of Appomattox that night. still had about
1000 men under me, as the army had been di-
vided into two commands, and given to Gen.
Longstreet and myself. Early on the morn
ing Of the 9th, prepared for the assault upon
the enemy's line and began the last fighting
done in Virginia. My men rushed forward
gamely and broke the line of the enemy and
captured two pieces of artillery. | was still
unable to tell what / was fighting. did not
know whether was striking infantry or dis
mounted cavalry. I only knew that my men
were driving them back, and were getting fur.
ther and further through. just then / had
message from Gen. Lee, telling me flag Of
truce was in existence, leaving to my discre-
ton as to what course to pursue. My men
were still pushing their way on. ] sent at
once to hear from Gen. Longstreet, feeling that
if he were marching toward me, we might
still cut through and carry the army forward.
l learned that he was about two miles of, with
his men faced just opposite from mine, fight
ing for his life. I thus sawthe case was hope
less. The further each ofus drove the enemy
the further we drifted apart, and the more ex-
posed we left our wagon trains and artillery,
which were parked between us. Every time
either Of us broke, it only opened the gap the /,
wider. I saw plainly that the Federals would
soon rush between us, and then there would
have been no army. !, therefore, determined
to send flag of truce. I called Major Hun.
ter, of my staff, to me, and told him that
wanted him Il, carry flag Of truce forward.
He replied: f@
"'General, have nc. flag of truce.
II told him to get one" He replied
General, we have no flag of truce-in our
command 80, a.., ~
"Then said I: rThen get your handkerchief,
put it on stick and go forward.
".I have no handkerchief, General
"'Then borrow one and go forward with it
"He tried, and reported to me that there
was no handkerchief in my staff
"'Tben, Major, use your shirt r
"'You see, General, that We all have flannel
shirts
cat last we found man who had white
shirt. He gave it to us and I tore off the
back and tail, and, rigging this to stick,
Hunter went out toward the enemys lines.
4 instructed him to simply say to Gen. Sheri-
dan that Gen. Lee had written me that q. 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
Sheridan's staff. This officer said !: !.
"'Gen. Sheridan requested ME to present
his compliments to you and to demand the
unconditional surrender of your army.
"'Msjor, you will please return my eompli.
ments to Gen. Sheridan, and say that / will
not surrender
"'But General, he will annihilate you
"sI am perfectly well aware of my situa-
ton. I simply gave Gen. Sheridan some in.
formation on which he may or may not desire
to act
ssHe went back to his lines and in q short
time Gen. Sheridan came galloping forward
on an immense horse and attended by "a very
large staff. just here; an incident occurred
that came near having serious ending. AS
Gen. Sheridan was approaching, / noticed one
of my sharpshooters drawing his rife down
upon him. at once called to him: Put down
your gun, sir; this is flag Of truce = But he
never raised it. He simply settled it to his
shoulder and was drawing bead on Sheridan,
when leaned forward and jerked his gun.
He struggled with me, but finally raised it.
I then loosed it and he started to aim again.
I caught it again, when he turned his stern,
white face, all broken with grief, and stream
ing with tears, up to me and said: We'll,
General, then let him keep on his own side!
The fighting had continued up to this point.
Indeed, after the flag Of truce, regiment OF
my men, who had been fighting their way
through toward where we were, and who did
not know Of flag of truce, fired into some OF
Sheridan's cavalry. This was speedily stopped,
however. I showed Gen. Sheridan Gen. Lees
note, and he determined to await events. He
,%oJ fho
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
had rather have died than have surrendered.
At one word from me they would have hurled
themselves on the enemy and cut their way
through or have fallen to man with their
guns in their hands. But could not permit
it. The grand drama had been played to its
end. But men are seldom permitted to look
upon such scene as the one presented there.
That these men should have wept at surren-
dering so unequal fight at being taken out
of this constant carnage and storm at being
sent back to their families that they should
have wept at having their starved and wasted
forms lifted out of the jaws Of death, and
placed once more before their hearthstOnes,
was an exhibition of fortitude and patriotism
that might set an example for all time.
''Ah sir, every ragged soldier that surren-
dered that day, from the highest to the lowest,
from the old veteran to the beardless boy,
every one of them, sir, carried heart of gold
in his breast. 1t made my heart bleed for
them, and sent the tears streaming down my
face, as saw them surrender the poor, rid
died, battle-stained flags that they had follow
ed SO often, and that had been made sacred
with the blood of their comrades The poor
fellows would step forward, give up the scan