Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-11-18

the ominous white signal, waving
to and fro, with stupid wonder.
They were in position to fight,
with cannons already in battery,
1.-THE guns muzzles pointing, and
there was to be no more fight
ling! Gen. Lee was going to
surrender!
I try to give a true idea of
the scene as / witnessed it, and
the feelings of the Confederates.
1t certainly was at first a feel
ling Of utter astonishment, then
1of anger and misery. OF this
l will give two examples. The
officers of the army fell into a
rage at the idea Of the surren-
der, and especially an uncondi-
ticnal surrender, which was said
to be General Grants way on
such occasions. / was in the
midst of a group of officers and
[ must say we had all very near
I Iy lost our heads. One, with a
violent oath, swore that he would
be consigned to a nameless place
if ne would surrender uncondi-
tionally for General Lee or any
one. The alternative of form
ing a column ofmounted officers
and cutting through the Federal
line was nearly adopted but Civ
en- up. 1t was seen to be hope
less even by these men, whose
heads were nearly turned with
anger. The feeling of the men
in the ranks l do not SO we'll
know. I can only speak Of one
of them, a ragged infantryman,
who came up to me and men
tloning his command asked me
if I could tell him where he
could find it.
"Never mind," / said to him,
"there is no use looking for it.
The army has surrendered"
| shall never forget the i'm
preston Of his face or the tone
of his voice when he replied 10
me.
"Surrenderedv' he exclaimed,
looking at me with a sudden
haggard expression in his eyes.
General Lee surrendered! Mis-
ter, don't be joking with a poor
fellowl"
He burs: out crying as he
said this, and wandered away
looking about him as he did SO
as if he had lost something and
was searching for it. 1t GER
tainly was a time when there
was temptation to "shed hot
tears" or grind teeth together.
The surrender was SO unexpect-
ed that it came upon all but a
few persons with the force of a
sudden blow. The men flocked
round General Lee when he
came back from his interview
with General Grant, and met I
him with shouts and tears. His
reply was:
eve have fought through the
war together. / have done the
best / could for you. My heart
is too full to say more"
it is said that the
troops on both sides fraternized
and interchanged visits, laugh
ing over cold times," and the
armies of thePotomac andNorth-
ern Virginia had had a good
manyr"old times with each 9TH
er. | did not chance to observe
this. The only fraternizlng
noticed was that between Gen
eral Lee and General Meade
Lee in his brown felt hat and
gray riding-cape, and Meade in
his small cap and blue uniform,
riding beride each other with
the gray and blue staff officers,
mingled harmoniously. A few
days aflerward Appomattox
Courthouse, which had sudden
ly emerged from obscurity, and
became connected with a great
event of history, sunk to silence
again, and was completely de-
serted.
The men of the Southern ar
my went quietly home through |
the wasted fields, not crying o.
yer what was irremediable, or
having the least intention of
living disorderly lives, becom-
ing outlaws, or keeping up a |
hopeless conflict. The issue of
Secession had been tried by
arms; and arms had decided it,
and the worsted side ought to
submit.
Dress Coat Misery.