Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-02-16
THE SURRENDER OF LEE.
4 Graphic Description Of the Brea IA .
upOf the Rebel Mob.

:
Up Ofthe. Rebel Mob.
Gen. j. +. Chamberlain of Maine, the off,
Ger who was designated by Gen. Grant TO re-
ccive the surrender of Lees army, recently
described the scene in lecture in Memorial
hall, BDwdon college. The Brunswick TEL
graph furnishes brief report of his address,
us follows.
On the evening before the great que stion
was to be tried we prepared t. break camp
before the dawn. The enemy was in ahopc-
less condition, their right smashed, their cen.
ire pierced, their strong works in frout lost,
their principal line OF communication Cut,
Petersburg in our possession, the fail of their
cap tOl inevitable The campaign lasted
twelve days only. Til. skirmlshiug all day
and the marching all night, and then on the
last three days tn. racing and pursuit greatly
wcaricd our men, The only h1pc of the en-
emy was push Yves crly by II pathway that
led them along the south OF the AppOmattox
river. That pathway was crossed by many
streams, and AS they rushed along it was only
10 find at every crossing some hot vanguard.
1t was the last night Of the pursuit. Sheri-
dan, who was just little way ahead, had
sent back word that he was close upon the
enemy and likely to strike hi II at any mo-
mcnt and asked us to make about eight miles
more than the hard days march, that we
might keep up with his cavalry. 1t was
blacklist midnight when, with flushed faces
aud aching limbs, We reached the goal.
Down we lay there in our blankets supper
less fcvcrcd by the heat of The march, then
chilled by the dews OF the Virginia Spring,
Scarcely has the first brokensleep begunwhen
a mounted officer splashed down the rond,
bearing in his hand a note from Sheridan
"lf you can possibly push out your infantry
tonight we will have great results in the
morning
Almost before the lingering echoes of the
"hllt' have died away, the tired b!an of
tie dreamer hears the buglc note, The
horses are hurried up. The men folm in
short ranks. In three hours we have reach
ed AppJmattox station. Already we can
hear the sharp ring of the hoarse artillery
drowned by the surly roar Of the rebel guns
There is no mistake. Sheridan is square
across the rebel retreat, and with that glofi-
Gus cavalry alone, in which our first Maine
was in the very front, he was holding at bay
all that was left of the prOud, st army Of the
cJnfederacy. Suddenly an officer from
Sheridan appears and delivers this message
"sir. Gen. Sheridan wishes you to diaw of
two columns and come TO his support. The
rebel infantry is pressing him hard, and like
" to drive him from the field Such chanc-
ed to be my own order.
Breaking fiom the woods we soon catch
sight of Shelidan's banner. Beneath it sat
that calm yet headstrong man, mounted on the
fiery stced that had TURNED the Battle of the
Shenandoah In full view of US our cavalry
was calamity scmming the fire of the Stone
wall jackson corps. We wheel into line of
battle. Every arm of the service was in full
play. On one side the line rolled back on
the other pressed irresstbly on. As tie bat
tie took shape we became the extreme right
of a scmi-ciclc cnvcloping Lee. Meantime
the other corps of infantry were coming up
and forming a SOFT of semi-circlc. Coming
up on the rebel rear are the Second, Sixth
and Ninth corps of our army, and unless
they can break through us within half hour
all is lost bv them. The rebel batteries are
drawn off from the crest, and they take their
ground near the court house of the little ham
let called AppomatoX. We press forward on
the souih side. The die is cast We hear
the rattlr Of our light artillery comm. up be
hind, AMI we catch glimpScs II Sheridan
closing ON the foe. We dash on over swamp
and stream All is excitement Slon two
horsemen come galloping out from the rebel
line, one of them waving flag of truce.
The aide makes his graceful saluta,ion and
delivers his message, Gen Longstrcct de-
sires Ct station of hostilitics until he can
hear from Gen. Lee as to a proposal of sur
render" Meanwhile, of course, we still adj
vance. We have no orders to halt, but the
firing s,ackcns on both sides. In a moment
comes the order to cease thing and to hat.
A trace is agreed upon till o'clock in the al
tcrnOon. Four o'clock comes. No word from
Lee and Grant is heard 81 what have we TODD
alter this bu to resume hlstilllics: The order
came: "Prcparc to make or receive an at
tack in ten minutes" We push forward our
skirmish lines but Lee and Grant had come.
The final answct i. not long coming now.
The surrender is made by Lee. What a
word for us. The sky must have ueen
made of bronze that it was not rent asunicr
by the uproar of shoutin. and cheering that
continued far into the night.
We were in camp all 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 O'Clock the next morn
ing to receive the cOlorS Of the re bel army Of
Northern Virginia. 1t was chilly thai morn
ing, but you may safely guess We were on
time. We formed in line Of battle, stretch
ing along the south street OF tn town from
the bank of the stream to the court house
three. quarters Of a mile in eXtcnt-tacing
north. We were not ashamed to lace That
way now. Old Massachusetts to the right OF
the linc-all that was left of er-elshtcenth,
twenty second, thirtv-sec md and tue forty
first Maine, willing to follow where she was
worthy to lead, and the proud fragments of
the twentieth and first sharpshootcrs Michi-
gan, never behind when bold blow was TO
be struck, then the shadowy fragments OF her
once glorious first, fourth, sixteenth; then
PENNSYLVANIA on the left with all that re-
NAMED to be seen Of her sixty-siNth, eighty
third, nincly-irst, one hundred and eight
oenth and one hundred and iifty-iitth. In
the rear of US Grcgory's New York brigade
of new troops. but worthy. Opposite, our
own gallant little first brigade
In that surrender Gen. Grant showed
magnauimity that we were disposed to criti-
ciZe He insisted. however, that while pri
vate property should be respected where
ever il might be, all that belonged to seces-
son-thc rebel army, officers aud men. must
march out in 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 camp, aud then slowly and rcuc-
family forming ranks for the last time. And
nIw they movc-thc great mass breaking
into a column of march Gen. Gordon, with
the Stoncwail Jackson corps, then Long
streets corps, then Hills corps, command
ed by Heath On they came, the rebel
lion battle flags with the diagonal cross
and the thi.teen stars. The head of
the rebel column comes opposite our
right, and at the buglc signal we come to
the Garry arms" The rebel commander,
Gen. Gordon, at the head Of the column, OBJ
serves this little courtesy, and drops the poln,
of his sword and gives the command to ''car-
ry." Not sound from the trumpet, nor roll
OF drum. but in stiffness MS 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 knecl-