Omaha daily bee., 1888-08-21
Sheridan and Gordon.

Sheridan and Gordon.
PHILADELPHIA Call: General Gordon,
now governor of Georgia, tells this
story of Sheridan at Appomattox:
GA cavalry officer came to me from
Sheridan with flag of truce. He was
a handsome fellow and very polite. Sa-
luting, he said:
"'Is this General Gordon? 1 am the
bearer of General Sheridan's compli-
ments, and he demands your uncondi-
tional surrender
"Well, colonel Tor whatever 1 saw
his rank was), I answered, you will
please return my compliments TO Cen
eral Sheridan and say that shall not
surrender
"Then, he said, you will be annihi-
lated in half an hour. We have you
completely surrounded
Every we'll, SIR 1 replied, 4 am
probably as weIl aware of my situation
as you are. bat that is my answer
"'You don't mean that! he eX-
claimed.
Eyes, ] do, SIR l said, the only
thing | propose to say is what | have al
ready said through my staff officer
that a flag OF truce is in existence be-
tween General Lee and General Grant.
/ was not going to surrender, because |
knew it was coming. l was not going
| to let Sheridan. capture me in that way
"'Then yolrwill be annihilated,' he
said, and rode away.
while | had been sitting there wait
ing, the firing had almost ceased. The
| infantry on my tlanks had not changed
| their positions much, as they had been
moving up very slowly. l was firing
artillery at the time, so as to check
| them. In few minutes Sheridan him
| calf uifh htS tat IIn Wv @
| riding an immense black horse. l will
never forget how he looked with his
| short legs sticking out on either side.
| We had very much the same sort of
| parley as had occurred between the
| other officer and myself. Indeed, the
| anguage was almost literal repeti-.
tion. Finally, / said to him: General, /
think that it is hardly worth
while for US TO parley. ! have made up
my mind not to surrender, and | shall
accept any consequences which may fol-
low this determination. / wish simply
| to give you this information, which
was sent me by General Lee. All |
know is that there is flag OF truce in
existence, and | only know the bare
fact
'Did you say that you had letter
from General Lee?' he asked.
81 handed him the letter.
"He looked it over and said: 81 sup
pose, then, that the only thing we can
do is to cease tiring.'
81 think so,' | replied.
''He then turned to me: If you will
withdraw your forces to a certain place,
| will withdraw mlne, and wait to see
what happens
1--WE got down Off our horses and TAX
ing seat on the grass talked there for
some time. In the meantime had for
| gotten that early in the morning / had
detached force to go back and over on
the brow Of a hill to prevent the cav
airy from coming around between Long
street and myself. While we were sit
ting on the grass heard a roll of mus
kerry, and looking over to where the
force had been placed saw it firing into
some cavalry that had ridden down in
that direction.
"'Sir, what does this mean?' cried
Sheridan.
81 am very sorry about it., replied
as / explained the circumstances, and
| he and | each sent an officer over the
| hill to stop the firing.
Il saved Sheridan's life that morning
beyond question. One of my sharp
shooters was sour sort OF fellow, and
his only idea was that when he saw a
bluecoat it was his duty to shoot it.
had the sharpshooters around me when
Sheridan came up with the Nag of truce
| and | saw this fellow draw his gun.
| What do you mean?' cried, this is
flag of truce He did not pay the
| slightest attention to me, and was Just
| about firing when | knocked up his gun
and it went off, over Sheridan's head.
Let him stay on his own side, general,
he remarked. All
General Sheridan and l sat on the
ground, close tothe brick house where
Lee and Grant, net, in the orchard.
had passed the house in the morning
We chatfed each other little in the
course of tho conversation, Sheridan
saying: Il beficse have had the pleas,
ure OF meeting you before replied
| that we had some little acquain tance in
the valley of Virginia. He turned the
thread of the conversation to some guns
he had received in the valley. Sheri
dan had captured nearly all OF Early
artillery and some more had been sem
to him from Richmond. Some wag had
written with chalk on one of these guns
Respectfully consigned to Major Gen
eral Sheridan through General Early.
Sheridan had heard of this and he was
very much amused at it; but whether
he ever saw such words upon gun / d,
not know. When he was through will
his story suggested that also had tw,
guns which could consign to him, ant
with the more grace because they hat
come from him that very morning.
SHERIDAN came with a full staff an(
remained with me about an hour and
half My recollection is that we stage,
at that place until We received informa
tion .hat General Lee and General Gran
had agreed"