, 1879-08-01

5000 intfcnchcd met, In The face of volcano
ot artillery, with sing!o linc Of battle. NJ
Illlnl Coros. Tic Fifth Corps the sixth Corps.
tie second Corps, ono, division Of tic Twelfth,
nIul Tho pcnnsSI Ivania Reserves. AZ they hroke
!!ns after Ifns, t!lcY encountered new ones, and
erals contend that the bulk Of Lees army Was
y! the charge, md Pvt nlc ss'cneth Of Tie At
lacking II 5> Selunn At 4son men, when Il was only
my % VIII u 81 seix sesG kxsd out Of
slooe. I do not think the tecorls Of the Wsr
Gnu show anything 10 approach this works.
"Dh1 rou ngree with Lee ss ~ !he necessity
Of tic surrender at AppomAtto1lh
II did. For sotnc l,no / bad felt That Ne
waro fighting against hope ] kept nv lips
closed, 4t,d fought ahead In s!lence. Fur the
weak preceding the surrender ! fought almost
stt.out ceas!!le. was covering Ten. Lees r.
front. l Ind Fields division. ali lint was left
Tho Fcdcrats pressed upon ua re1entlcsBly nml
VIC fell back, fighting night at.l day. Inch BIZ
qs our @ s nsssf % 'Sr
dIson1erod. hiy men fought with tho t1pcat
regularity a,,d hcrolstn. Wherever | ptnxed q
brigade, thcrc 1t would stand until ordered Il
Il,at I knew little u tic general situation.
EArly in tile morning Gen. Lee sent fer me, and
at ones went to him. lilo wss tn deep con.
certi. He stated to me That hls relfoat had
boon cut oil and u was impossible for him
to escape from the circle that had been drawn
abuut tiim. III thut IL the case, General re-
piled, you should surrender tl,e army II ca-
cape is imposathle, not another ]tfe should he
sacrinccd.' Gou, Leo then began to talk about
the distress and trouble that surrender would
lIriug upon his country and his people. THAT
caunot be put against tho usctess shedding. Of
thess brave meu'a blood. II yuu arc satisfied
umt you cannot ssye the army, 1t should bc
surrendered. The people will El.ow that yon
have done atl thut man can do.' He then
told me t.lat ho had discovered that there
we're heavy masses Of infantry in front, md
that he could not hope to cut through.
Having founhs for years With high and lofty
purposes, hsyLng won victory after victory
aud Inade record for hts army not equaled
II out history. 4 was l,.rd i. ths1 l1 L. le
how my hcnrt went to him. l left Gen. Lee.
atn1 went back To my men. ordered ar!nE
atuppCd. stood quietly awaiting events. The
ops 1 t ss IL s s'5 sf:' se ss
tins condition, and were liushnd with victory.
We had thrown back the Fctlcrals day after day
a. they pressed Oh us,-pnpishtng them When
They charged us seriously. Euyc,oped for sl1
or eight days III the continual smoke Of battle,
We had little Idea Of what was gotnE on rlsc-
whcrc. and When VIC surrendered !, ,030 b9yonets
10 Ten. Grant ne surrendered also 800 Federal
during our retreat. Still, we al had tic most
perfect confidence IN Gen. Leefs ability und
rrDfst!l. ai.l W. knew that ht had donu all NOR
tul man could uo.'
- Dix, ron say tn Gen. Lee when parting with
him That YOU regretted you had ,ne into the
Wurln
''So, sir; ! sa!ti that before drow MT sword
again would be sure tslst It was necessary. i
did not bolleve, md ! do not now belteyo, that
the War IVES Justified on either Side. II Is a
tcsriblc thing, md should bc resortcd q only
IN absolute sclf-feieusc, just as killing ln pri-
vute llIa. Besides, ! had fought all tho ttipa
knowing TINT out plans were wrong md bc1ev-
Ing that we could not succeed. Still did not,
and do not, regret my services. 1 fought for
my people. fought steadily, uncomplalnLngly,
Us best know how. urI thero never was IN
huur tilut wou1d not have gladly laid my life
down to huyo secured the Bucetss or our cause,
The War was q grfcv0us error,-an error OF both
srctions. ard for which both sections have deep
" atoued.t