The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-13

Ion the population Of the South. What his hand
found to do. tdid, and no more in peace as we'll
{, as war;
| The corroboration of all this lie tie fact that
the idea Of allowing the officers to- retain their
| side-arms and personal effects was suggested
to him as he wrote. He no
sword, having been summoned hastily
| from his own headquarters two days
before to distant portion of the field. with no
opportunity of returning afterward. Lee, how
ever. had dressed himself with for the ce-e-
mony. His headquarters train had been burned
by Sheridan in the pursuit and Lee and his Off
GERS able to save only single suit of clothes had
secured the finest. In this way Lee was hand
somely clad; he wore embroidered gauntlets and
the sword presented him by the ladies of Vir-
ginia. The conqueror, batue-stained, in a
common soldiers coat, looked up at his
foe, deliberately arrayed, and the glitter
him to spare the conquered the humiliation of
surrendering it. Then he wrote the line permit
ting officers to retain their side-arms, horses and
personal effects. This statement has been ques-
toned, but give it on General Grants authority.
He saw and corrected the account OF the inter
view in my history of his campaigns
/ stood near him as Lee left the room, and
thus happened to be the first to congratulate him
upon the result. I said something about the
event being one that would live forever in
history. / am sure the idea had not
occurred to him until | uttered it.
The effect upon mis- fame, upon history, was not
what he was considering. He was thinking OF
the captured soldiery returning home without
their weapons. to work their little FARMS OF
destitute country, ravaged by war, but now to
be restored
talked with him that night when the others.
tired with the marches and battles of the week,
provided. / had been used to sit up
with him late into the night, to write
his letters Or to keep him company for he
could not sleep early. Then he always talked
with greater freedom than at any other time.
This night we had spoke of the terms he had
granted Lee. There were some of his officers
who dsliked the idea of the paroles, and thought
at least the highest Of the rebels should have
been differently dealt withheld for trial This
was not my feeling, and spoke of the OBJECT his
magnanimity was sure to have upon the country
and the world. He was not averse to listen, and
declared that he meant to maintain the compact,
no matter who opposed. But Lincoln, he said,
was certain to be on his side.
The next day he met Lee again at the picket
lines between the armies and the two generals
sat on their horses and discussed the condition
of the South for hours in sight of their soldiers.
Lee assured Grant of the profound impression
the stipulations of the surrender had made upon
his army, and declared that the entire South
would respond TO tha clemency he had dis
played. Scores. Of the captured officers had
already visited Grant, many of them his com
rades at West Point, in the Mexican war, or on
the Indian frontier, and thanked him for their
civil prosecution which he had secured them.
Later on. the same day he set out for Wash
ington. General Ord accompanied him as far as
City Point, and then was directed to take COM
mand in the captured capital. Ord shared the
feeling l had expressed in regard to the treat
ment Of the fallen enemy, and, learning my
views, he asked that l might be ordered to &C
company him to represent the general in-chief
directly In Richmond, and to report familiarly
and confidentially what could hardly be the cub
ject of official letters. Grant was accustomed
to employ his staff officers on such errands
and he complied at once with Ord's request He
| informed me In private conversation or the
purpose of my orders. Ords task, he said, was
to foster a submissive spirit among the con-
auered population and soldiers, and to carry out
| the lenient policy which the terms at Appomat
| tox had foreshadowed. and was to assist him in
| every way | was to be given duties that would
| lead me into contact with Southerners of inn
| portance, and, among other tasks, that of dis
tributing food to the destitute was committed to
me. In Richmond. at that time everyone was
destitute and I fed General Lee himself tor
| DAYS.
| When was returning to Washington Lee re-
+! Quested me to ask of Grant whether the soldiers
captured at Sailors Creek, four days before the
! final battle, might not be released on the terms
granted to their fellows at Appomattox There
were seven thousand of them still held as pris
oners, among these Gen. GUSTS Lee a son of the
Southern commander But Grant considered
that men taken in battle with arms in their
hands were not as yet entitled to the same treat
ment with those who had surrendered in the
open 6eld for, it must DO remembered, he held
| that he had been fighting rebels. Accordingly,
| the men were not paroled at that time.
| Nevertheless. the terms which he refused to
| extend in one instance he was prompt to temper
| to changed conditions in another. In the sum-
| mer of 1866 daughter of General Lee fell dan
| gerously Ill in North Carolina Lee was then
! living at Lexington, in Virginia, and supposed
that his parole did not allow him to leave his
~csA Al. t..l lano al th6.
| fact and reported it to Grant, who at once di-
rected me to inclose formal extension of his