The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-01-17
The Breaking Up of the Rebel Army.


General ]. T.. Chamberlain. of Maine.
the officer who was designated by Gem |
eral Grant to receive the surrender of |
Lees army, recently described the
scene in a lecture in Memorial Hall,
Bowdoin College. The Brunswick 7eLe-
ordp furnishes brief report of his ad-
dress. as follows: 80 n.
ON the evening before the great question
was to b1 tried we prepared TO break camp be-
fore the dawn The enemy was I'm hopeless
conditiOn-their right smas ned. their Uentor
pierced, their strong works in front lost, their
Prin' ipsl line of communication ont, PeteF-
burg in our possession, the fall OF theircaptai
inevItahl'. The c impaign lasted twelve daYs
only. The Skirmish ny all day and the fnarch-
the racing and pursuit greatly wearfed our
men, The only hope OF the enemy was to push
westerly by a pathway that led them along the
souih of the Appomattox River. That path
WHY W: crussed by many streams, and as they
rushed along it was onlyto tini at every cross
OF the pursuit Sheridan, who was irst a little
way ahcad, hn sent back word that he VAS
at any moment. and asked us to make about
eight miles more than the hard days maroh
was blackest midni ght when.s with fiished
faces and aching limbs. we ached the goalp
Down we lay there IN our blankets, supperiess;
by the dews Il the Virginia spring. Scarcely
had the first broken dream begun when a
mounted officer splashed down the road, bear
ing ia his hand a note from Sneridan: "If
you can possibly push your infantry to-
night we will have great results in the morn
Almost before the lingering echoes of the
dreamer hears the bugle note. The horses are
hurried up. The men form in short ranks. In
three hours We have reached Appomattox Sta
ton. Already we can hear the shSrp ring of
the hoarse artillery. drowned by the surly roar
OF the rebel guns There is no mistake. Sheri-
dan IL square across the rebel retreat. and
with that glorious cavalry alone, in y hich our
First Maine was In tho very front he was
holding at bay all that was left of the proudest
from Sheridan appears and delivers this mes
sage: Sir: General Sheridan wishes you TO
The rebel infantry Is pressing him hard. and
likely to drive him from the field" Such
chanced to be my own order.
n3reaking from the woods we soon catch sight
OF Sheridans banner. Beneath II sat that
calm, YET headlong man mounted on the fiery
steed that had turned the battle of the ShenaIl-
doah. In full view OF US our cavalry was gal
lantly stemming the tire of the Stonewall
Every arm of the service was in fun play ON
one side the line rolled back; on the other
shape we became the extreme right of a semi
circle enveloping Lee. Meantime the other
corp, , ot OF iniantTy We're coming up and forming
rear are the second sixth aud ninth corps of
our army, and unless they can break through
rebel batteries are drawn on from the crest
and they take their ground near the court
We press forward on the south side. The die
is cast. We hear the rattle of our light artil-
lery coming up behind. and we catch glimpses
of Sheridan closing ON the foe. We dash on
over swamp and stream All IS excitement
Soon two horsemen come eallo2ing out from
the rebel line, one of them waving a flag of
truce. 81.
The aide makes his graceful salutation and
desires a cessation OF hostilities until he can
hear from General Lee as 10 a proposal of sur
render wv Maesntime, can't & Of course =; we Re- SIN sd- @
ing slackeus on both sides In a moment
comes the order to cease firing and % halt. A
truce l. agreed upon till four o'clock in the
afternoon. Four o'clock comes. No word
from Lee and Grant IS heard; so what have
we to do after this bur to resume hostilities?
| The order came: Prepare to make or re-
| ceive an attack in ten minutes" We push
| forward our skirmish lines; but Lee and
Grant hal come. The final answer is not long
coming now. Tho surrender is made by Lee.
made OF bronze that it was not rent asuniier
by the uproar OF shouting and cheering that
continued late into the night
We were in camp nll the next day while
| Generals Grant and Lee were arranging the
/ details of the surrender- But on the next
| night, about midnight, was ordered to have
my command out at five o'clock the next
morning TO receive the colors of the rebe
morning. but you may safely guess we were
| on time. We formed into line of battle
from the bank of the stream to the court
hous -three-quarters of a mile in extent
facing no tn We were not ashamed to face
| that way now. Old Massachusetts to the righ
of the hne-all that was LEFT of her-1sth
| ed I'D and tho 4lst Maine willing TO follow
proud fra fragments f" Of the 20 % sth snd snd fns is
| sharpshooters, Michigan, never behind wheI
bold blow was @ to be struck, when the shad
10th; then Pennsylvania on the left with al
that remained 20 be seen of her t6th, SD
| 9lst, llSth and l55th- In the rear of us Greg
ory's New York brigade of new troops, bu
worthy. opposite, our own gallant little Is
In that surrender General Grant showed .
magnanimity that we were disposed to crit
vate property should be respected wherevec
II might be, all that belonged TO secession
the rebel army, officers and men, must marcl
and colors in the presence of some portion O
our troops. As we stand there in the morn
ing mist, we see the rebel army hreakinl
camp, and then slowly and reluctantly form
ing ranks for the last time. And now thel
move-the great mass brelking into col
umn of march; General Gorion. with III,
Stonewal Jackson corps, then LouHstreetI
corps, then h ailrs corp Commanded by
stTrs. The head OF the rehei column come
come to the carry arms. = Tn The re6el cos,mand Hn
er, Genera Gordon, at the head of the column
point OF his sword aud gives the comman,
| TO Garry" Not n sound from the trumpet
nor roll o. drum, Iut in stiffness as II. in
moved. Then they stacked arms and took OF
their cartridge boxes and lad them on tn
pile. Lastly. painfully, they furled their bat
tle-fngs and laid them in the dust: some kneel
ing down over them ana kissing them witt
burning tears And then the sfnr-sDanglet
banner waved alone upon the field. Thus a.
day long, div sion after division comes, goc
through the ceremony, ami passes on Hay
ing been stripped of citizenship. ard givn
their honor never to raise arms again. the
can go where they will Mainline. all day
no taunt, no cheer, nor whi sper in vain gior
escapes a single man of ours. There wa
something like hnlf-fraiernal feeli g towar
these men. We were fellow-soldiers at last
The tremendous battles were wrought by u
together. Whoever had made the war, we ha
ended it
On tho morrow, along the hillsides, what
contrast, indeed! Singly, or in groups, o
foot. on horse, are those men making thei
way, every one for h s far-away home, and W
are left alone and Lonesome, When we too
up our weary m irch homeward. it was dull {
plod on without skirm shers ahead. II wa
tame. too. that wnere the road end ID no p.ct
cts were placed, and our peace not TO b. d
| turbed by tie leaden songstsrS. IL seemed
waste of Opportun t. that upon the marct