Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-09-08
GENERALS LEE AND PARKER.
No Truth in tho Philadelphia Teie-
graphs "Incidents."
To the Editor Of the Dl

two incidents" regarding General Park
err and General Lee at the surrender,
either Of which Is true. II we can believe
! General Grant Both OF these incidents
| you expressed doubt about In your issue
OF last Tuesday. in which they were
copied and commented upon.
The first was. that 1T was said" (by
whom 1t Is not stated, and feel sure
no one living will own the authorship Of
| the rumor and slander), that when the
Confederate general entered the room
where the conference took place he drew
back Indignantly at the sight OF Parker.
| imagining that a colored Union officer
was to be present as witness OF his
| humiliation"
This room, where the terms OF sur
| render were written. agreed upon, and
signed, was. OF course, in the NcI.ane
house which was at the time OF this
conference between the lines Of General
Grant and General Lee
General Lee had sent a communication
TO General Grant asking this interview
with view Of surrendering his army.
Inc interview was belated in conse-
Guence OF General Grants having moved
TO another part OF his line. lie could
not be found for a couple Of hours. When
ne did arrive at the McLane house he
/ found General Lee and Colonel Marshall
| waiting for him. They had been there
some time General Grant says. when
went into the house, | found General
| Lee So 10 Is established beyond dis-
pute that General Lee did not enter tho
| room In which General Parker was. but
that General Parker entered the room,
/ where General. Lee was seated. So much
I for that.
| The Telegraph's at was said" has IL
that General Lee was indignant at the
sight OF General Parker, and after ac-
| pertaining who General Parker was. ex-
pressed his regrets for the mlsapprehen-
sion. II General Grant can be relied
upon, the whole Of this statement Is un-
true. In fact, when IL is proved that
General Lee was seated In the room
where the terms OF surrender were writ
ten and accepted. when General Grant
reached there. and did not leave the
room until the terms were completed
and signed. II is shown that the whole
story Is the Wild imagination Of a pre-
JUDGED brain.
GENERAL LEES DEMEANOR.
But what says General Grant OF the
feelings and demeanor Of General Lee
on this memorable occasion? He SAYS:
when j went Into the house I found
General Lee. We created each other. and
after shaking hands took our seats. I
had my staff with me. a good portion
OF whom were in the room during the
whole of the interview. What General
Lees feelings were ] do not know. As
he was a man OF much dignity, with an
impassive face, IL was impossible TO say
whether no felt inwardly glad that the
end had finally come CT felt sad
10
show II. Whatever his feelings they
were entirely concealed from my obser-
yation."
Here we have II from General Grants
own pen that so far from General Lee
becoming indignant and then regrettlng
II, that he was 80 manly ana dignifled
that IL he had any feelings OF JOY or
sadness they were entirely concealed
from any observation. In fact the con-
versat!on the two great generals entered
into was 50 pleasing and interesting to
General Grant that General Lee had 10
twice call his attention TO the object of
the meeting before the real work that
brought them together was entered upon.
The other incident at the surrender
| mentioned by the Telegraph Is that Cen
eral Parker drew up the terms OF sur
render OF Lee at Appomattox." This
is another mistake.
FINALLY AGREED UPON,
After the meeting OF the two cammand-
ers and their pleasant conversation had
ended by General Lees calling General
Grants attention 10 the matter In hand,
the terms OF surrender were talked over
and finally agreed upon. General Grant
appeared then TO want 10 resume the
pleasant conversation, and the two finally
got away from the terms OF surrender
and became absorbed In their old army
life. This continued" says General
Grant. "for eome little time, when Cen
eral Lee again interrupted the course OF
the conversation by suggesting that the
terms ! proposed to give his army ought
TO be written out i called 10 General
Parker, secretary OF my STAFF. for writing
materials and commenced writing out the
following terms" Again he says: when
I put my pen to the paper 1 did not
know the first word that | should make
use OF In writing the terms. j only knew
what was in my mind, and / wished 10
express IL clearly, SO that there could. be
no MISLEADING II. As L wrote on the
thought occurred to ME that the officers
had their own private horses and effects,
which were important TO them, but OF no
value TO U.S." so the clause allowing them
10 retain them was inserted. So we see
from General Grants own pen that the
terms Of surrender were written by him
self without the aid OF General Parker
or any one else. And we also find from
General Grants testimony that General
Lee bore himself like a true soldier and
Christian, and displayed such dignity and
true heroic composure on that occasion
that h.s victorious opponent could not
discover whether inwardly he was reJoic-
ing or sorrowing.
8. j. QUINN.