Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-06-28

a small brigade of South Carolina cav
airy, and ask him to discontinue tbs fir
ing. Lieutenant Allen dashed off with
the message, but, on delivering it to
Geary, was taken prisoner, with
the remark from that officer that he did
not care for white flags; that South
never surrendered.
MERRITT's LAST CHARGE.
1t Was about this time that Merritt,
getting impatient at the supposed
firing, ordered a charge of a
portion of bis command. While Gener-
als Gordon and Wilcox were engaged in
wit me, cloud Of dust, q
wild hurrah, q flashing of sabres, indica-
ted a charge. and the CALCULATIONS of my
staff officers were heard, Look Merritt
has ordered q sharger The flight OF
Greary's brigade followed; Lieutenant
Allen was thus released. The last gun
had been fired, and the last charge made
in the Virginia campaign.
While the scenes thus related were
taking place, the conversation l now
speak of was occurring between General
Gordon and myself. After the first sal
utatioA, General Gordon remarked:
General Lee asks for a suspension Of
hostilities pending the negotiations
which he has been having for the last
day and night with General Grant" l
rejoined: IL have been constantly in
formed of the progress of the negOiia-
tions, and think it singular that, while
such negotiations are going on, General
Lee should have continued his march
and attempted to break through my
lines this morning with the view of
escaping. l can entertain no terms ex
cept the condition that General Lee will
surrender to General Grant on his arri
val here. ! have sent for him. II these
terms are not accepted We will renew
hostilities." General Gordon replied:
General Lees army is exhausted. There
is no doubt of bis surrender to General
Grant on his arrival"
General Wilcox, whom l knew quite
well, he having been captain of the COM
pany to which l was attached as = cadet
at the military academy, then stepped
to his horse, and, taking hold of the sad
dle-bags, said in a joculxr way: Here,
take these saddle-bags; they
have one sOiled shirt and a pair of
drawers. You have burned everything
else l had in the world, and l think you
are entitled to these also. He was allu-
ding of course, to the destruction of the
baggage trains which had been going on
for some days.
THE ARRIVAL OF GENERAL GRANT.
When the terms above referred to
were settled, each army agreed to re-
main in statu quo until the arrival of
General Grant. We had waited some
hours, and l think, about II or o'clock
General Grant arrived. General Ord,
myself, and many officers were in the
main road leading through the town, at
a point where Lees army was visible
General Grant rode up and greeted me
with, Sheridan. how are your" l re
piled, II am very well, thank you" He
then said: where is Lee?" / replied:
There is his army down the vallsy; he
is over in that house (pointing out Nc
Lean's), waiting to surrender to you"
Geueral Grant, still without dismount-
ing, said: "Come, let Us 60 over" He
then made the same request to General
Ord, and we all went to McLean's
house. Those whe entered with General
Grant were, as nearly as can recollect.
Ord, Rawlins, Seth Williams, Ingalls,.
Parker, and myself; the staff
those who accompanied, remain
ing outside on the porch steps and in the
yard. On entering the parlor we found
General Lee standing in company with
Colonel Marshall his aid-de-camp. The
irst greeting was to General Seth Viii
Iiams, who had been Lees adjutant
,,ho, h fnta ~
itary academy. General Lee was then
presented to General Grant, and all
present were introduced. General Lee
was dressed in q new gray uniform, ev-
identity put on for the occasion, and
wore a handsome sword. He had on
his face the expression of relief from a
heavy burden. General Grants uniform
was seiled with mud and service, and he
wore ne sword. After few words had
been spoken by those who knew General
Lee, all the officers retired, except, per-
haps, one staff officer of General Grants,
and the one who was with General Lee,
We had not been absent from the room
longer than about five minutes, when
General Babcock came to the door and
said: "The surrender has taken place
you can come in again"
HOW 1T ENDED.
When we re-entered, General Grant
was writing on a littlc wooden, elliptical
shaped table purchased by me from
Mr.. Mclean, and presented to Mrs. G.
A. CUSTER the conditions of the surren-
der. General Lee was sitting, his hands
resting on the hilt of his sword, to the
left Of General Grant, with his back to
a small handicapped table, OH whi, b
many books were piled. While General
Grant was writing, friendly converse
sion was engaged in by General Lee ard
his aid with the officers present, and he
took from his breast pocket two de-
spatches, which had been sent to him by
me during the forenoon, notifying him
that some of his cavalry, in front of
Crook, were violating the agreement
eLte ed into by Withdrawing. l had not
had lime to make copies wyen they were
sent, and had made a request to have
them returned. He handed them to me
with the remark, 81 am sorry. 1t is
possible my cavalry at that point Of The
line did not fully understand the agree
ment."
About one hour was occupied in
drawing up and signing the terms, when
General Lee retired from the house with
a cordial shake of the hand with General
Grant, mounted his chunky gray horse,
and, lifting his hat, passed through the
gate, and rode over the crest of the hill
10 his army. On his arrival there we
heard wild cheering, which seemed to be
taken up progressively by his troops
either for him, or because of satisfaction
with his last official act as a soldier.
Ehnica Eyfr,otS