The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-16
The Last Days OF the Rebellion.

When the terms were settled, each army
agreed to remain in statu quo until the
arrival of General Grant, whom Colonel
Newhall, my adjutant-general,h had gone
for. Generals Gordon and Wilcox then
returned to see General Lee, and prom.
ised to come back in about thirty min
utes and during that time General Ord
joined me at the courthouse. At the end
of thirty or forty minutes General Cor
don returned, in company with General
Longstreet. The latter, who commanded
Lees rear guard back on the Farmville
road, seemed somewhat alarmed lest Cen
eral Meade, who was following up from
Farmville, might attack, not knowing the
condition of affairs at the front. To pre-
vent this, proposed to send my chief of
staff, General j. w. Forsyth, accompanied
by confederate officer, back through the
confederate army and inform General
Meade of the existing state of affairs.
He at once started, accompanied by Colo
mel Fairfax of General Longstreet's staff,
met the advance of the Army of the Po-
tomac, and communicated the conditions.
In the meantime General Lee came over
to McLean's house in the village of Apo.
mattox Court House. l am not certain
whether General Babcock of General
Grants staff, who had arrived in advance
of the general, had gone over to see him
or not. We had waited some hours, and,
l think, about twelve or one O'Clock Cen
eral Grant arrived. General Ord, myself,
and many officers were in the main road
leading through the town, at point
where Lees army was visible. General
Grant rode up, and greeted me with,
Sheridan, how are you ?" l replied
Il am very well, thank you" He then
said " Where is Lee?" replied /; q" There
is his army down in that valley. He is
is over in that house (pointing out
McLean's), waiting to surrender to you"
General Grant, still without dismounting,
said "Come; let US 60 over" He then
made the same request to General Ord,
and we all went to McLean's house. Those
who entered with General Grant were, as
Seth Williams, Ingalls,, Babcock, Parker
and myself, the staff officers, or those
who accompanied, remaining outside
on the porch steps and in the yard.
On entering the parlor we found Cen
eral Lee standing in company with Col
onel Marshal, his aide.de-camp. The first
greeting was to General Seth Williams,
who had been Lees adjutsnt when he was
superintendent of the military academy.
General Lee was then presented to Cen
eral Grant, and all present were intro
duced. General Lee was dressed in
new gray uniform, evidently put on for
| the occasion, and wore a handsome
sword. He had on his face the express
sion of relief from heavy burden. Gen.
eral Grants uniform was soiled with
mud and service, and he wore no sword.
After few words had been spoken by
those who knew General Lee, all the Of
ficers retired, except, perhaps, 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 surren-
der has taken place. You can come in
again." When we re-entered, General
Grant was writing on little wooden,
elliptical-shaped table purchased by me
from Mr.. MCLEAN and presented to Mrs.
G. A. Custer) the conditions of the sur
render. General Lee was sisting, his
hands resting on the hilt of his sword, to
the left of General Grant, with his back
to small handicapped table, on which
many books were piled. While Cen
eral Grant was writing, friendly CONVEX
sation was engaged in by General Lee
and his aid with the officers present, and
he took from his breastpocket two dis
patches, 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 entered into
by Withdrawing. l had not had time to
make copies when they were sent, and had
made request to have them returned.
He handed them to me, with the remark (:
al am sorry. 1t is possible my cavalry
at that point of the line did not fully I'M
derstood the agreement About one
hour was occupied in drawing up and
signing the terms, when General Lee re-
tired from the house with 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 to his army. On his ar.
rival 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
soldier.-General p. II. Sheridan, in
North American Reriew.