Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1889-03-27
TIE LAST CHARGE.
shcsAaan's ova story a. thc T:nd Of tho
Var at Appropriations.

Shea Adan's Gy-a Siory Qf fhc Ind Of tho
NEar at -1pp0snattox.
Beyond Us. III d low valley (nenr Appo
mattox court house. after nay flank move
ment1 lay Lee and the aemnant Of his
army. There did not appear 20 be muck
organization. except IN the advanced
troops under Cen. Gordon, whom we had
been fighting. and rear guard under
Gen. Longstreet, still further Up the val.
lev Formations were Immediately begun
to make boldand sweeping charge down
the grassy slope. wken 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 up" Orders
were given 10 complete tho formation but
not to charge.
Looking to the LEFT, to Appomattox
courthouse, largo 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 tho 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 gono far before 4
heavy fire was opened on us from q skirt
Of timber to the right. and distant not
much over 500 yards. / halted for mo-
mcnt, and, taking off my hat. called out
that the flag was being violated, but could
not stop the firing. which now caused us
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 .
gentle ascent had to be made. was In
advance. followed by sergeant carrying
my battle flag. Within 100 to 100 yards
! he fn1s
| 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. I 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
sRber to cut the man down. A WORT
from me caused him to return his saber
and take the flag back to the staff officers,
who were some little distance behind.
remained stationary moment after these
events. then, calling 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. b. 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. | remarked to him, 'Gen. Gordon,
! your men fired on me as / was coming
| over here, and undoubtedly they have
done the same to Merritt's and Clusters
commands. We might just as we'll let
them fight 1t out" To this proposition
Gen. Gordon did not accede. / then asked,
"Why not send staff officer and have
your people cease fring2 They are vic
lating the hagl" He said, Il have no
staff officer to send" replied, Il will
let you have one Of mine, . and calling for
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 tho firing. Lieut..
Allen dashed off with the message, but.
Oh delivering IL to Gen. Geary, was taken
prisoner, with the remark from that off,
Ger that he did not care for white fiags.
that South Carolinians nc-er surrendered
1t was about this tire that Merritt
getting impatient at the supposed treach-
6rOuS nrlD9, Oroereu y cnArge OI portion
j of his command. While Gems Gordon
and Wilcox were engaged in converse
ton with me cloud Of dust, a wild bur-
rah, a flashing Of sabers, indicated
charge and the calculations of my staff
officers were heard, Look Merritt has
ordered.n charge The fight Of Geary's
| brigade followed Lieut.. Allen was thus
released. The last gun had been fred
and the last charge made In the Virgiuia
| campaign. - North American Review.