Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-06-21
LEE IN TEARS.
The Closing Scenes in the Com
tederate Army at APpOmattOx.
From Captain McDonald's Paper read before
the Southern Historical SOciety.1

When it was known that we had
surrendered, there was at first some
dissatisfaction, but sympathy for Lee
soon did away with all individual
sense of humiliation. When Harris
Mississippi brigade of Mahone's divis-
ion were informed of the surrender,
and ordered to cease firing, most of
the officers and men refused to obey,
declaring that they would never sur
render. Malone went and expostu-
lated with them, but they would not
listen to him. Finally Lee came aud
made a personal appeal. For some
time even his authority was disre-
garded. Many of the officers and men
gathered around him and implored
him not to put upon them such dis
grace. With tears they begged him
to trust himself to their care, swearing
that they could and would carry him
through safely, and telling him that
once in the mountains he could raise
another army.
But Lee told them with broken ac-
cents and with many tears that he
could not break his word; hal his
honor was involved. Finally he asked
themif they who had followed him so
long and stood by him so faithfully
were ashamed to share his fate. This
appeal they could not resist, though
with heart-breaking sobs they yielded.
There is hardly a doubt that this
brigade would have carried Lee out
safely had he let them try it. Ma
hone called them the ."Invincibles."
They were often selected for quick
and desperate werk. [ will state a
single instance of their valor. At
Farmville, when the federals made a
determined effort to break our lines,
in the midst of the battle a courier
rode up and told Malone that a part
of the Stonewall division had given
way, and that the enemy at this point
had penetrated half a mile beyond our
right flank. Malone at n c sped
away like an arrow down the line. In
less than twenty minutes he returned
with Harris brigage, and charging
the enemy in flank with the bayonet
killed or captured nearly every one
AS soon as the firing ceased many
of the federals came into our lines
and began to fraternize with the men.
In order to carry home some relic
OF the surrender, they snapped knives
or anything they had for the old plum
der of the Confederates. Some Of the
latter, alive to the situation, having
exhausted their stock-in-trade, went
about seeking to ~replenish it, and
hence there arose quite a brisk de-
mand for old papers, combs, etc..
The federals seemed everjoyed at
the issue, and their hearts we're run
ming oyer with kindly feeling. One
man, a colonel, made a speech to a
large crowd of C~onfederates. He was
a big-hearted soldier. and, with many
compliments to Lee and his men,
seemed to be trying to take away the
sting OF defeat from the cr~estfallen
foes. Among other things he said
the north loved the south, and the
next president of the United States
would be General Lee. Finally, he
said: I'VE are all a band of brothers
now" and seemed to pause for a reply.
Agrim, battle SCARED veteran respond
ed in audible tones and with an oath:
IF | had you out in the woods by
myself I'd brother you"
| have only to add, in conclusion,
that this retreat, which in the eyes of
some reflects somewhat upon the fame
of Lee, may yet 90 down into history
as the triumphant masterpiece of his
/! genius.
The wonder is, not that his army
was captured at Appomattox, but
that it was not captured long before
it reached hal point. To success
fully conduct a beaten army, after the
stunning defeats at Petersburg and
Five Forks, almost as he was sur
rounded by overwhelming numbers,
for eight days, without food and with
little ammunition, is a feat almost
without a parallel in military annals.
And when he at last resolved TO cease
the struggle, it was not with a cor
poral's guard around him, but a gall
liant army Of 1900 men. If he saw
fit to forget his own glory and to con-
suit only the interests Of our COM
mon country, let us endeavor to ap-
preciate his magnanimity and give
him that praise which posterity will
certainly accord him.
1t is impossible TO estimate the
heroism Of his army on this retreat,
unless we consider the sufferings they
were subjected to, and above all the
sufferings from hunger. l know of no
r%ations that we're issued after the 9th,
except that Of parched corn. This
was to Mahone's men while hating in
the road under arms. They were not
allowed to stop to eat it, but appeased
their hunger as they marched, not
irregularly, but by fours, every man
in his place ready for action.
During the whole terrible retreat
Malone maintained the strictest dis
cipline, though fighting d battle nearly
every day. How the other divisions
Of Lees army behaved in those closing
days Of the struggle | am not able to
speak, but the conduct of Mahone's