Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-30

ceive an attack in 10 minutes We pushed
 forward skirmish lines but Lee and
 Grant had come. The final answer is not long coming now. The surrender Is made by Lee. What word for us That sky must have been bronze that it was not rent asunder
 by the uproRr of shouting and cheering that
 continued late into the night.
 | 'We were in camp all the next day while i Gems. Grant and Lee were arranging the de- tails of the surrender. But on the next night, about midnight, ordered to have my command out at o'clock the next morning to receive the colors of the rebel army of northern Virginia. It was chilly that morn ing, but you may safely guess we were on time. We formed in line of battle, stretch ing along the south street of the town from the bank of the stream to the court house three quarters of mile ill extent-facing north. We were not ashamed to face that way now. Old Massachusetts to the right of the l1ne-all that was left of her Eighteenth, Twenty second, Thirty and the Forty first Maine willing to follow where she was worthy 10 lead, and the proud fragments of the Twentieth and First sharpshooters Mich igan, never behind when a bold blow was to be struck, with the shadowy fragments of her once glorious First, Fourth, Sixteenth; then Pennsylvania on the left with all that mained to be seen of her Sixty sixth, Eighty third, Ninety first One Hundred and Eight eenth and One Hundred and Fifty fifth. In the rear of us, Gregorys New York brigade
 
 own gallant little First brigade.
 "In that surrender, Gen Grant showed a magnanlmlty that we were disposed to criti- else. He insisted, however, that while pri- vate property should be respected wherever l 1t might be, all that belonged to the seces- | slon-the rebel army, officers and men, must march out ln due ceremony and lay down their arms and colors in the presence of some portion of our troops As we stand there in the morning mist we see the rebel army breaking luc- tantly forming ranks for the last time. And, now they move-the great mass breaking in- | to column of march; Gen. Gordon, with the Stonewall Jackson corps, then Long, streets corps then Hills corps, commanded by Heath On they came, the rebellion bat tie flags with the diagonal cross and the 8 stars. The head of the rebel column comes opposite our right, and at the bugle signal we come to the carry arms The rebel commander, Gen. Gordon, at the head of the column, observes this little courtesy, and drops the point of his sword and gives the command to carry Not sound from the trumpet nor roll of drum, but in stiffness as if indeed the dead were passing there-thus they moved. Then they stacked arms and took off their cartridge. boxes and laid them on the pile. Lastly, painfully, they furled their battle flags and laid them in the dust some kneellng down over them and kissing them with burning tears. And then the Star spangled Banner waved alone upon the field. Thus, all day long,, division after division comes, goes through the ceremony, l and passes Having been stripped of | citizenship, and giving their honor never to ! raise arms again, they can go where they will. | Meantime, all day, no taunt, no cheer, nor | whisper of vainglory escapes a single man of 1 ours There was something like half fra ternal feeling toward these men. We were i fellow soldiers at last The tremendous bat ties were wrought by us together. Whoever had made the war, we had ended it.
 thn oTN k1,Ah hy 1nyI 1~oAl a contrast indeed! Singly, or in groups on foot, on horse are those men making their way, every one for his far-away home and we are left alone and lonesome. When we took up our weary march homeward it was dull to plod on without skirmishers ahead. It was tame, too that where the road ended no pickets were placed, and our peace not to be disturbed by the leaden songsters. It seemed waste of opportunity that upon the march, when we entered a valley no battery belched upon us from the heights deyond.
 "But all is over now and fast vanishing with the years. I see new generation standing before and around. But though sometimes the heart will yearn for those stirring duties and those high companionships of the field, still, when I think of all the noble spirits that have passed in battle and | the storm, and how those little Virginia | rivers are flowing on to night, just they | did while yet those earnest young eyes were | wont to gaze across their silent waters of | how many hearts are still to night that then l beat stronger than their tide, I thank God 1 and heaven that no bug1e on to morrow's dawn shall wake us to reveille. Let us not forget, dear friends, the last martyr the last? l should not say so; for are they not dying day by day, and hour by hour, the he- roes who fought the war to the glorious end But the great martyr, who, in the supreme moment of his victory, with malice toward mono, with charity for all, following the right as God gave him to see the right, went to join his 300, OOO-that army of the unsurren dered, undischarged, who still forever keep watch and guard about see them, mar shalled in that pale yet glorious array on the battlement heights that forever shall keep this Nation as one, and that commanding form, that homely, true face, I see among them, and hear at times sentiment which moves about from place to place. and whis pers through the world of space in the deep night, that all IS well.' ''