Wichita eagle., 1886-09-19
LEES SURRENDER.
THE IMPRESSION THE NEWS PRO-
DUCED ON HIS SOLDIERS.

CONSERVATION and Anazcment Which
Spread Through tho Ranks Like . Con-
Gagration-The Blow Felt Most Kecnly.
Talk Of tho Men.
We had reached Christiansburg late in the
evening Of the 10th Of April. The command
had halted for the night and the troops were
about to go into camp, but tho column was
still closing up and the larger part Of it was
still on tie road I remember that Gen.
Echols and were dismounted and standing
upon the turnpike, surrounded by the sol
diers. We were talking about some ordinary
matter to which had called his attention.
Just then Lieut. Clay salloped up and asked
where he could find tho general. Gen. Ech-
OILS indicated his presence, and Clay sp-
preached and silently handed him . dispatch
Gen. Echols opened and read it. I instantly
perceived that it contained momentous and
disastrous news. His face became intensely
flushed, and then grew deadly pale. He
quietly requested me to follow him out Of the
throng. did so, and when we were . few
PAGES away he read me the dispatch, which
was from Gen. Lomax, and in these words:
"Gen Lee surrendered this morning 1t or
near Appomattox court house. I am trying
with my own division and the remnants Of
Fitz Lees and Rosser's divisions to arrange
to make junction with YOU"
Although prepared to hear Of disaster, /
had not expected anything SO dreadful as
this, and tho announcement almost stunned
me- can never forget the feeling Of utter
dismay and despair with which heard it, or
the impression it produced upon the troops
when the information reached them
Ea, Ecbo1S EoH intended tn in)ynodi-
ately divulge it. After brief conference we
agreed that the news should be concealed, if
possible, from the men until the next day,
and communicated that night only to the
brigade and regimental commanders. We
hoped that some plan might be devised which
would enable us to hold the troops together
until we could learn what policy would be
pursued by Mr. Davis, and whether it would
be our duty to endeavor to join Gen. John
ston But to conceal such fact when even
one man was aware of it was impossible. Be-
fore we had concluded our brief conversation
we knew from the hum and stir in the anxious,
dark-browed crowds nearest to us, the rest
less oscillation Of the long column as whis-
per few along it, the excitement which soon
grew almost to tumult, that the terrible It'd
ings had gotten abroad. That night no man
slept Strangely rs the declaration may now
sound there was not one Of the 5000 or 200
then gathered at Christiansburg who had en-
tertained the slightest thought that such an
event could happen, and, doubtless, that feel
ing pervaded the ranks Of the Confederacy.
RICHMOND HAD FALLEN.
We knew that Richmond had fallen. We
knew that the heroic army which had SO
long defended Richmond was in retreat We
knew that it would be nomadic That its
operations could no longer be conducted
upon the methods which support regular
warfare, and that everything necessary to
maintain its efficiency was lost We could
hazard no mcclure as to what would be
done; yet, that the army of northern Vir-
ginia, with Lee at its head, would ever sur
render had never entered our minds. There
fore, the indeScribable CONSERVATION and
a,nazement which spread like confagration
through the ranks when the thing ives told
can scarcely be imagined by one who has not
had similar experience
For four years the people of the southern
states had lived under a separate government
of their own, and had looked upon themselves
as constituting distinct nationality The
very fact that those four years hsd been wears
of struggle danger and sacrifice only the
more intensified their aspirations for political
separation and independent governmental
existence.
What at first may have been with the mass
of the population mere prejudice. Gs some
have claimed or at best but an ideal love of
the freedom which, in its widest sense, means
the right of the people of every sovereign
community to control, without interference
or restriction, their own affairs, had grown
into NJ, ,,,3a,,t wish for the maintenance Of
the Confederacy, and devotion to their
southern land which was imitless. Previous
attachment to their native soil, ell the ideas