Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-11-22
THE.lAST CHARGE.
Eheridan's Own Story OF the End q ths
War at Appomattox.


Beyond US, in low valley (near Apo
mattox court house, after my flank move
ment), lay Lee and the remnant of his
army. There did not appear to be much
organization, except in the advanced
troops under Gen. Gordon, whom we had
been fighting, and rear guard under
Gen. Longstreet, still further up the val
ley. Formations were Immediately begun
to make bold and sweeping charge down
the grassy slope, when an aide-de-camp
from Custer, filed with excitement, hat In
hand, dashed up to me with the message
from his chief: Lee has surrendered Do
not charge; the white flag is upl" Orders
were given to complete the formation but
not to charge.
Looking to the left, to Appomattox
courthouse, large group was seen near
by the lines of Confederate troops that
had fallen back to that point. Gen Gus
ter had not come back, and supposing that
he was with the group at the court house,
moved on a gallop down the narrow
ridge, followed by my staff. The court
house was perhaps three -fourths Of a mile
distant. We had not gone far before
heavy fire was opened on US from a skirt
Of timber to the right, and distant not
much over 800 yards. halted for mo-
ment, and, taking off my hat, called out
that the flag was being violated, but could
not stop the firing, which now caused u
all to take shelter In ravine running par
allel to the bridge we were on. and down
which we then travelled.
As we approached the court house o
gentle ascent had to be made. was IN
advance, followed by sergeant carrying
my battle flag. Within 100 to $50 yards
from the court house and Confederate
lines, some of the men in their ranks
brought down their guns to an aim on US,
and great effort was made by their officers
to keep them from firing. halted, and
hearing some noise behind turned in the
saddle, and saw Confederate soldier at
tempting to take the battle flag from the
color bearer. This the sergeant had no
idea of submitting to and had drawn his
saber to cut the man down. A word
from me caused him to return his sabcr
and take the flag back to the staff officers,
who were some little distance behind
remained stationary q moment after these
events, then, calling a staff officer,
directed him to 60 over to the group Of
Confederate officers and demand what
such conduct meant. Kind apologies
were made and we advanced. The supe-
rior officers met were Gen. j. 3. Gordon
and Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox, the latter
an old army officer.
AS soon as the first greeting was over,
furious firing began in front of our own
cavalry from whom we had only few
minutes before separated. Gen. Gordon
seemed to be somewhat disconnected by
it. l remarked to him, Gen. Gordon,
your men fired on me as | Was coming
over here, and undoubtedly they have
6opa tho coma fo Marr;ft, e ond C11ctar'o
commands. We might just as well let
them fight it out" To this proposition
Gen. Gordon did not accede 1 then asked.
"Why not send staff officer and have
your people cease firing? They are vio-
lating the fag!" He said, 81 have no
staff officer to send" I replied, II win
let you have one Of mine" and calling TO,
Lieut.. Vanderbilt Allen, directed him to
report to Gen. Gordon and carry his
orders. The orders were to go to Gen.
Geary, who was in command of a small
brigade Of South Carolina calvary, and
ask him to discontinue the firing. Lieut..
Allen dashed off with the message, but.
on delivering it to Gen. Geary, was taken
prisoner, with the remark from that off,
Ger that he did not care for white flags,
that South Carolinians never surrendered
1t was about this time that Merritt,
getting impatient at the supposed treach-
erous firing, ordered charge of portion
of his command. While Gems. Gordon
and Wilcox were engaged in converse
tion with me cloud of dust, wild hur-
rah. a flashing Of sabers, indicated q
charge and the CALCULATIONS of my staff
officers were heard, "Lookl Merritt has
ordered charge" The flight of Geary's
brigade followed; Lieut.. Allen was thus
released. The last gun had been fired
and the last charge made in the Virginia
campaign North American Review.