The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-11
LEES SURRENDER.
THE IMPRESSION THE NEWS PRO-
DUCEO ON HIS SOLDIERS.

CONSERVATION and Amazement Which
Spread Through the Ranks Like Con-
aagration-The Blow Felt Most keenly.
Talk of the 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 the column was
still closing up and the larger part of it was
still on the road. 1 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 galloped up and asked
where he could find the general Gen Ech-
OILS indicated his presence, and Clay ap-
preached and silently handed him dispatch.
Gen. Echols opened and read it. l 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:
Seen Lee surrendered this morning at or
near Appomattox court house. / am trying
with my own division and the remnants of
Fitz Lees and Rossers divisions to arrange
to make junction with YOU"
Although prepared to hear Of disaster,
had not expected anything SO dreadful as
this, and the announcement almost stunned
me. can never forget the feeling Of utter
disInay and despair with which heard it, or
the impression it produced upon the troops
when tho information reached them
Gen Echols had not intended to immedi-
ately divulge it. After u brief conference we
agreed that the news should be concealed, if
possible, from the Inen until the next day,
and communicated that night only to the
brigade and regimcntal commanders. We
hoped that some plan might be devised which
would enable to hold the troops together
until we could learn what policy would be
pursued by Mr. Davis, and whether il would
be our duty to endeavor to join Gen. John
ston. But to conceal such n fact when even
one man aNara of it was impossible. Be
fore we had concluded our brief conversation
we knew from the hum and stir I'm the anxious
dark -browed crowds nearest to u.s. the rest
Less oscillation of the long column as whis-
per flew along il, the excitement which soon
grew almost to tumut. that the terrible It'd
ings had gotten abroad. That night man
slept Strangely az the declaration may now
sound, there was no: one Of the 5000 or 1900
then gathered at Ch,istiansburg who had en-
tertained the slightcit thought that such an
event could happen, and, doubtless, that feel
ing pervaded the ranks of the Confederacy.
RICHMOND HAD FALLEN.
We knew that RI. -hmond had fallen. We
knew that the heroic army which had so
long defended Ri. hmond was In retreat We
knew that it wpIld he 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 conjecture 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
amazement which spread liLc confagration
through the ranks when thu thing told
can scarcely be imagined by one who has not
bad q similar experience.
For four years the people of the southern
states had lived under n separate government
If their own and had looked upon themselves
as constituting distinct nationality. The
very fact that those four years had been years
OF struggle, danger and sacrifice only the
more intensified their aspirations for political
separation and independent governmental
existence.
What ut first may have been with the mass
Of the population mere prejudice, as some
have claimed, or ut 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 an ardent wish for the maintenance of
the Confederacy, and a devotion to their
southern land which was limitless Previous
attachment to their native soil, all the ideas
and traditions they had been reared to believe
and cherish. all that contributes to make up
what Is wise and good, well as what, in ex-
cess, may be wrong in patriotism, was con-
necteti in their minds with tho contest in
which they were engaged and the efforts they
were making. They were almost ready To
believe that all future hope, and life itself, de-
pended upon success.
FELT THE BLOW KEENLY
To oil who read this, save those who shared
tho sentiment, it may seem incredible that the
southern people and soldiery can have really
felt the blow so keenly. l will ask such skep-
tics to imagine the impression that would be
produced upon them by the conviction that
this country had been suddenly subjugated by
some foreign power, and was about to be
overrun and permanently occupied by its
armies and governed by its agents. The south
expected In defeat 10 be reduced to Just such
a condition. Gen. Lee and his army had been
so identified in our minds with the Confed-
crate cause that to lose them like taking
the heart from the body.
During all that night officers and men were
congregntsl III groups ana CROWDS discussing
tho news, and il was curious TO observe how
the training and discipline OF veteran soldiers
were manifested even amid all this deep feel
ing and wild excitement. There was not one
act OF violence, not a harsh or insulting word
spoken; the officers were treated with the
same respect which they had previously re-
ceived, and although many of the infantry
men who lived in that part of Virginia went
OF that night without leave and returned To
their homes, none who remained were in
subordinate or failed to obey orders with
alacrity.
Great fires, larger and more numerous than
ordinary camp fires, were lighted and kept
!. burning. Every group had its orators, who,
succeeding each other, spoke continuously.
! The men rushed from one crowd to another,
hundreds sometimes collecting about pecul