The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-03-10

ton at all, but very quietly answered
there could not have been any such
language used, and you will see at once
why General Grant could not have said
that. Will you tell me the details of
the surrender?' well, General Grant,
soon after he entered the room, began
to write with pencil. While he wrote,
Generals Ord, Badeau, and finally Sher-
idan, came in. He wrote on little Ia
BILE which was set apart for the purpose.
He wrote slowly aud carefully. AT
length he handed what he had written
to General Lee, who looked it over and
at once said: General, this seems to
include the horses which belong to my
officers. | wish to explain that as these
horses are the private property OF these
men, they should retain them" Colonel
Marshall paused here for a moment,
and then continued: General Lee ex-
planned that some of the horses, such as
the artillery horses and horses used for
transportation, belonged to the confed-
eracy and would be surrendered with
out objection, but as the greater portion
of the horses were the private property
of those who had them in use, he
thought it but equitable that they should
DG pcTlllIlSu W lCldlh tlClh' anu
what did General Grant reply?' can
not at this time venture to say exactly
what he said, if anything. But / sup
pose he answered in kind and manly
fashion, either by word or look or action
of some sort; for the kindly feeling
was not for moment disturbed. And,
as / said at first this morning, nothing
was done by any one on the federal side
to make us feel at all Inundated or OPP
pressed What was done with the
paper which General Grant had drawn
up in pencil, Colonel Marshall?' well,
General Lee handed it back to General
Grant while making his protest and eX
PLANTATION about the horses And
what did General Grant do with it
then?' Why, he simply sat at the Ia
BILE, as before, and wrote to the effect
that the officers should retain their pri-
vate horses, as well as all sidearms and
baggage And do you know where |
could find this paper?' q suppose you
can find it in the archives of the civil
war at Washington. 1t was the work
and property of General Grant, and
was, of course, handed back to him
after he had copied it off in ink. But
wherever that paper is it will be found
that the item about the private horses
belonging to the officers of Lees army
was interlined and written in after the
terms of surrender were first submitted
to General Lee by General Grant. And
it was done-and cheerfully done, l
gladly admit-at the instance and sug
gestion of General Lee Colonel
Marshall, you speak of the stipulation
being copied in ink; when was that
done?' AT once. Colonel Babcock
copied the stipulation as coming from
General Grant, so | copied out General
Lees answer-a very short one, SIM
ply accepting the terms of surrender as
proposed by General Grant. These
papers were then signed and exchanged,
and the war was over. / remember
we had some trouble about finding ink
in the house to write with. Colonel
Babcock could not get along with the
ink which we found in the hotel in the
parlor, and so l finally gave him my
little pocket inkstand.' Some remarks
were then made by Captain Goddard,
my companion, to the effect that blood
and swords were more plentiful there
than ink and pens that day, and we arose
to take our leave. The great lawyer
came with us almost to the door, and
then, as if more than suspecting that l
would try to set down what he had
said, he replied: Bear in mind, the
war is over. They treated us we'll
nobly, sir If the federal officers had
been trained for the occasion, they
could not have behaved in a manner
better calculated to spare our feelings
and spare us pain, sir. ,"