The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
OFTRIALR
GRANT CELEBRATION LEADS TO RE-
ELECTIONS WEIR THE WAR.
The Last Hours at AppomattOx-The
by a Confederate Private.


pie the GROWING glory Of A~ppomattox than
any similar event since the close of the
war. On April 8, thirty-two years ago, the
country awakened from the horrible incu-
bus of four years war to exhiIaration of
permanent peace. and not only throughout
the North was this relief from trial and
tribulation felt with the keen appreciation
which the contrast between war and peace
would naturally bring, but among the boys
in blue it was an experience that only hope
long deferred and at last realized could
develop. There was a glow in the hearts
and faces of the men who were in camp
and bivouac, a glow of supreme satisfac-
ton, and the sequence of this in the quiet
development of generous thoughts toward
everybody, old friends and old foes alike.
A feeling which would have assured such
a typical patriot as President Lincoln a re-
ception by the army that only a man who
possessed the love and unbounded conf
dence of it individually and en- masse could
get, and which, had Robert e. Lee gone
among them, would nave secured for him
the silent ovation of curiosity to see the
leader who had fought so c~0ura@eously and
ably for what he regarded as the right,
with, mayhap, more of a tendency to sym
pathize with a beaten foe whose fight had
been fair and firm than to in any manner
deride him.
The citizen who was mot there" cannot
comprehend this feeling except he is of
that mold of man which, once his contest
with an enemy is over and his opponent
confesses to defeat, has that within him
which says: I'VE have been energetic en-
emies; shake hands and let us try the other
tack, and see if it doesn't work as well to
be energetic friends"
In evidence of the feeling which prevailed
III ana around ADDOmatIOX immediately
upon. the surrender, when the last Skin
mishing had barely ceased, l take the fol-
of the Richmond HoWitzers, entitled Sol
der Life in the Army of Northern Vir-
During the day a line of men came sim
gle file over the hill near the camp, each
bearing on his shoulder a box of hard
tack, or crackers. Behind these came a
beef, driven by soldiers. The crackers and
beef were a present from the Federal
troops near. who, knowing the condition Of
days rations for its relief. All honor to
them. 1t was a soldierly act which was
mediately shot and butchered. and before
the animal heat had left the meat it was
impaled In little strips on sticks, bayonets,
swords and pocket knives, and roasted over
the fire. Though numbers of the enemy
visited the camps and piled the men with
all sorts of questions, seeming very curious
ana lnqulSltiVe, not an unkind word was
said on either side that day
FEELING OF THE DEFEATED.
1t will be interesting to readers on the
Federal side of that notable historical eli
max, now described in concentrated En-
glish by the one word, Appomattox, to
know how the men in gray and butternut
felt anent the surrender. The boy in blue
and his father at home, too old for military
service, might, by putting themselves in
the place of the defeated, form an idea of
that feeling, but surely it would be mad
equate, for it takes an exceptionally well
developed, sympathetic nature to fancy in
all it's shades in ones mind and person the
ills of another. The same authority quoted
in the foregoing follows Immediately that
description with the following:
when the skirmishers > = + entered
the camp OF the battalion their enthusiastic
descriptions of driving the enemy and being
driven in turn failed to produce any effect.
Many OF the men were sobb1ng and crying,
like children recovering from commissions of
grief after a severe whipping. They were
sorely grieved, mortified and Inundated.
= = = Other men fairly raved with indig-
nation, and declared their desire to either
escape or die in the attempt; but not a man
was heard to blame General Lee. On the
contrary. all expressed the greatest sympa-
thy for him, and declared their Willingness
to submit at once or fight to the last man,
little remnant of the army was massed in
a field. General Gordon spoke to them most
eloquently, and babe them farewell. Gen.
Walker addressed his division. & = = In
the course of his remarks he denounced
fiercely the men who had thrown down
their arms on the march, and called upon
the true men before him to go home and
tell their wives, mothers, sisters and sweet
hearts how shamefully these towards had
behaved. = = 3 There were many heaving
bosoms and tear-stained faces during the
speaking. A tall, manly fellow, with his
colors pressed TO his side. stood near Gen.
Gordon. convulsed with grief
The paroles of the Confederates were dis
tributed on Monday. April II, 1865, and set
go to his home and there remain undis-
turbed." &'hese were signed by company
officers, land were as much respected by
of y. S. Grant,
IDENTIFY aimed as an author. to give the i'm
pressions of the soldier in the various
stance, he tells early in his writings as to
the generally accepted belief down South
that ''one Southern. man was equal to at
least five Yankees that "the newspaper
men delighted in telling the soldiers that
the Yankees were a diminutive race, of
feeble constitution, timid as hares,' etc.
marching through Richmond after the sur
render Of Lee and Johnston, seemed to be
composed of a race of giants, well fed and
we'll clad"
Yet that army had gone through hard
ships probably unequaled by any other
army of modern times. Their march from
Savannah to the close of the campaign was
made through q swamp country, amid a
continuous rain, compelling them to lay
@SE 1880 ,
sinking in the ooZe, would require new lay
ers of corduroy. and so on, until the founda-
ton would be firm enough for wagon trains
and artillery. And in the fighting the men
were not unseldom up to the armpits in
water. with cartridge boxes strapped on
the head, and in this shape they drove the
defenders of narrow cauSeWayS. This was
continuous draft on soldiery capacity. For
an illustration of the dash of the Federals
one may take the affair at Solemn Grove,
N. c.. March 9. Fitzpatrick was asleep in
a house, and one brigade only available,
when Buffers Confederate division charged
the camp a little before daybreak. 1t was
a complete SURPRISE: the house in which
Fitzpatrick was sleeping was surrounded. a
battery near headquarters was captured,
and the brigade was routed and fled to the
swamp. Fitzpatrick managed to escape
from the house lin his shirt tail" aud after
a little organizing under protection of the
train guard and volunteer skirmishers. he.
barebacned and bare in other notable re-
spects. charged back on the enemy. retook
the cannon, which they fired upon their adj
versaries, and turned the rout into a vic
tory.
THE SOUTH NOT A UNIT.
The impression dn=ing the war, and for
thirty odd years since it's close, was that
the people OF the South We're in a higher
degree zone" as TO the conduct of the I'M
happy conflict; that the rush to arms was
more suggestive of unanimity i'm that sec
ton than in the North, and that depriva-
ton was suffered in better spirit. This i'm
preston came probably either because
Southerners understand the Importance of
not telling tales out of school, or possess
the faculty of remaining silent where sill
ence is golden or else the paucity of
newspapers and their circulation has been