Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-01-26

to the room. accompanied by his staff ana
number of Federal officers of rank. anon,
who!1i were General Ord and General Sheri
dan.
General Grant greeted General Lee yer,
civilly. and they engaged for short time il
nvelsation about their former Acquaintance
durn: the Mexican war. Some other FEEDER
al officers took part in tie conversation, whicl
was terminated iiy General Lee saying t.
General Grant that he had come to discus
the terms OF the surrender of his army, as in
dicated in his note of that morning, and h.
suggested to General Grant to reduce his pro
position to writing.
TERMS OF SURRENDER.
General Grant assented, and Colonel Par
ker, of his staff, moved small table from
the opposite side of the room and placed it b,
Neneral Grant, who sat facing General Lee
when General Grant had written his let
lei in pencil he took it to General Lee, who
femained seated. General Lee read the lette,
nd called General Grants attention to tht
act that lie required the surrender of thu
norses OF the cavalry as If they We're public
.orseS. lie told General Grant that Confed
rate cavalry mea owned their horses and
hat they would need them for planting q
oring crop. General Grant at once accented
The suggestion and mterlined the provision
allowing the retention by tile men of the
horses that belonged to them.
1.-THE terms of the letter having been agreed
to, General Grant directed Colonel Parker te
make copy of it in ink, and General Lee
directed me to write his acceptance. Colonel
Parker took the light table upon which Gen.
eral Grant had been writing, to the opposite
corner OF the room and l accompanied him
There was an inkstand in the room, but the
ink was so thick that it was of no use. had
small lockwood inkstand which l ALWAYS
carried, and gave it, with my pen, to Col
onel Parker, who proceeded to copy General
Grants letter.
FOOD FOR STARVING TROOPS
"While Colonel Parker was SO engaged
sat near the end of the sofa on which General
Sheridan was sitting, and we entered into
conversation, in the midst of it General Grant
who sat nearly diagonaliy across the room
and was talking with General Lee, turned tc
General Sheridan and said
General Sheridan, General Lee tells me
that he has some 200 of our people prisoners
who are sharing with his men, and that none
OF them have anything to eat. How many
rations can you spare?'
General Sheridan replied, about %, OOO.'
General Grant turned to General Lee and
said, General, will that be enough?'
General Lee replied, More than enough
'Ihereupon General Grant said to General
Sheridan, Direct your commissary to send
$4,000 rations to General Lees commissary.'
General Sheridan at once sent an officer to
give the necessary orders.
EXCHANGING OFFICIAL LETTERS,
"When Colonel Parker had completed the
copying Of General Grants letter, | sat down
at the same little table and wrote General
Lees answer. [ have yet in my possession
The original draft Of that answer, 1t began
! have the honor to acknowledge General
Lee struck cut those words and made the an
swer read as it now apl ears. His reason was
that tho correspondence ought not to appear
as if he and General Grant were not in I'M
mediate communication. When General
Grant had signed the copy of his letter made
by Colonel Parker, and General Lee had
signed the answer, Colonel Parker handed to
ME General Grants letter and l handed to
him General Lees reply, and the work was
DONE
CONTRASTS IN DRESS,
tSome further conversation of general ma.
ture took place, in the course of which Gener-
al Grant said to General Lee that he had come
to the meeting as he was, and without his
sword. because he did not wish to detain Gen
eral Lee until he could send back to his
wagons, which were several miles away,
'This was the only reference made by any
one to the subject Of dress on that occasion.
General Lee had prepared himself for the
meeting with more than usual care, and was
in full uniform, wearing very handsome
sword and sash. This was doubtless the rea-
son of General Grants reference to himself
MEMORABLE CLOSING SCENES.
cat last General Lee took leave of Geneaal
Grant saying he would return to his head
quarters and designate the officers who were
to act on our side in arranging the details of
the surrender. We mounted our horses, which
the orderly was holding in the yard, and
rode away, a number of federal officers stand
ing on the porch in front Of the house looking
at us.
"When General Lee returned to his lines a
large number of men gathered around him,
to whom he announced what had taken place
and the causes that had rendered the surren-
der necessary. Great emotion was NANTES
ted by officers and men, but love and sympa-
thy for their commander mastered every 9th
Ell feeling.
According to the report of the chief of
ordnance less than eight thousand armed men
surrendered, exclusive OF the cavalry The
others who were present were unarmed, hav-
ing been unable to carry their arms from ex-
haustion and hunger. Many had fallen from
the ranks during the arduous march, and I'M
armed men continued to arrive for several
days after The surrender, swelling the num-
Der OF paroled prisoners greatly beyond the
actual effective force,
LEE s FAREWELL ADDRESS.
General Lees order to the Army of North
ern Virginia at Appomattox Court House was
written the day after the meeting at cLean'a
house, at which the terms of the surrender
were agreed upon. That night the General
sat with several of us at fire in front of bis
tent and after some conversation about the
army and the events of the cay, in which his
feelings toward his men were strongly ex
pressed, he told me to prepare an order to thu
troops.
''The next cay it was raining, and MAJ ,
persons were coming and going, so that wa:
unable to write without interruption until
about 10 O'Clock, when General Lee, finding
that the order had not been prepared, direct
ed me to get into his ambulance, which stood
near his tent, and placed an orderly to prevent
anyone from approaching me.
II sat in the ambulance until had writer
the order, the first draft OF which Gin pencil
contained All entire paragraph that was omit
ted by General Lees direction. He made one
or two verbal changes, and I then made {
copy of the order as corrected, and gave it tt
one Of the clerks in the acknowledgement.
office to write in ink. ! took the copy, whel
made by the clerk, to the General, who sign
ed it. and other copies were then made fo]