The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-24

I
not embrace the side arms of the officers,
/ nor their private horses or baggage. This
! done. each officer and man will be allowed
/ TO return TO his home, not TO be disturbed
| by the United States authorities so long as
! they observe their paroles and the laws in
! specially, u. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant General"
CORRECTIONS MADE.
Lee pushed aside some books and two
brass candlesticks which were on the table,
then took the book and laid it down before
him. while he drew from his pocket pair
of steel-rimmed spectacles and wiped the
glasses carefully with his handkerchief lie
crossed his legs, adjusted the spectacles very
slowly and deliberately saok up the draft
of the terms, and proces.led to read them
attentively They consisted of two pages.
When he reached the top line of the second
page he looked up md said to General
Grant: After the words until properly
S yH,, WORD ,exchangeS' seems to be omitted.
lou uooDtless Intende 10 use that word
Why, yes" said Grant; Il thought / had
put liz the word exchanged +"
presumed it had been omitted inadver-
tentiy, continued Lee, and, with your per-
serted"
certainly" Grant replied
Lee felt in his pocket as if searching for
a pencil, but he did not seem to be able to
ma one Seeing this, handed him my lead
pencil During the rest of the interview he
Kept twirtng this pencil in his fingers and
occasionally tapping the top of the table
with IT. When he handed it back it was
carefully treasured by me a memento of
the occasion When Lee came to the Sen-
tence about the officers side arms private
horses and baggage he showed for the first
time during the reading of the letter slight
change of cOuntenance and was evidently
touched by this act of generosity 1t was
doubtless the condition mentioned to which
he particularly alluded when he looked
Co.. o....1[ l. sE.-s-
ing and said, with some degree OF warmth
IN his manner: This will have q very
happy effect upon my army"
General Grant then said: "Unless YOU
have some suggestions to make in regard to
the form in which 1 have stated the terms,
| VIII have copy OF the letter made in
ink and gign II"
There is one thing should like to men
ton Lee replied after a short pause "The
cavalrymen and eYiilerists own their own
horses in our army Its organization in this
respect differs from that of the United
States. This expression attracted the no.
tice of our officers present as showing how
firmly the conviction was grounded in his
mind that we were two distinct countries
He continued: II should like to understand
whether these men will be permitted to
tain their horses"
You will find that the terms as written
do not allow this" General Grant replied
only the officers are permitted to take their
private property"
LIBERAL CONCESSION.
Lee read over the second page of the let
ter again, and then said mo, 1 see the
terms do not allow it; that is clear" His
face showed plainly that he was quite anx-
icus to have this concession made, and Grant
said very promptly. and without giving Lee
time to make direct request:
well, the subject is quite new to me-
OF course. did not know that any private
soldiers owned their animals; but 1 think
we have fought the last battle of the war
1 sincerely hope so-and that the surrender
Of this army will be followed soon by that
of all the others, and take 1t that most of
the men in the ranks are small farmers, and
the country has been so raided by the
two armies it is doubtful whether they will
be able to put in crop to carry themselves
and their families through the next winter
without the aid of the horses they are now
riding, and / will arrange it in this way: l
will not change the terms as now written
but I will instruct the officers ] shall ap-
point to receive the paroles to let all the
men who claim to own horse or mule take
the animal home with them to work their
little FARMS" (This expression has been
quoted in various forms, and has been the
subject of some dispute. l give the exact
words used.)
Lee now looked greatly relieved, and
though anything but demonstrative man.
he gave every evidence of his appreciation
of this concession, and said: This will have
the best possible effect upon the men. 1t
will be very gratifying, and will do much
toward conciliating our people" He handed
the draft of the terms back to General
Grant, who called Col. T. s. Bowers of the
staff, to him, and directed him to make a
copy in ink. Bowers was a little nervous,
and he turned the mater over to Col mel
Parker, whose handwriting presented bet
ter appearance than that of any one else on
the staff. Parker sat down to write at the
oval table, which lie had moved again to
the rear OF the room. Wilmer McLean's
domestic resources in the way Of ink now
became the subject of a searching investiga-
a 4I1k fl,D 81
the conical-shaped stoneware inkstand, with
"a paper stopper, which he produced, APP
peared to be participating in the general
breaking up, and had disappeared. Colonel
Marshall now came to his rescue, and took
from his pocket small lockwood inkstand
which was put at Parker's service, so that,
after all, we had to fall back upon the re-
sources of the enemy to furnish the stage
properties" for the final scene in the men,
orable military drama.
LEES ACCEPTANCE.
Colonel Marshall then took a seat on the
sofa beside Sheridan and ingalls,. When the
terms had been copied, Lee directed his mil
itary secretary to draw up for his signature
letter of acceptance. Colonel Marshall
wrote out a draft of such a letter, making
it formal beginning with II have the
honor to acknowledge" etc. General Lee
took it, and, after reading it over very care
fully, directed that these formal expressions
be stricken out, ana Inat the letter be Otn-
erwise shortened. He afterward went over
ii again, and seemed to change some words
and then told the colonel to make a final
copy in ink. When it came to providing the
paper, it was found that we had the only
supply of that important ingredient in the
recipe for surrendering an army, so we gave
a few pages to the colonel. The letter.
when concluded, read as follows
Headquarters. Army of Northern Virginia,
April 8. 1855.
General have received your letter of
this date containing the terms of the sur
render of the Army of Northern Virginia
as proposed by you. AS they are substan-
TALLY the same those expressed in your
letter of the Sth inst, they are accepted. l
will proceed to designate the proper officers
TO carry the stipulations into effect Very
respectfully, your obedient servant,
''R. T.. LEE, General.
Lieutenant General u S. Grant, Com
manding Armies of L. S."
While the letters were being copied Gen.
Grant introduced the general officers who
had entered and each member of the staff
to General Lee. The general shook hands
with Gen. Seth Williams, who had been his
adjutant when Lee was superintendent at
West Point, some years before the war, and
gave his hand to some of the other officers
those who were introduced he merely bowed
in a dignfied ana formal manner. He did
not exhibit the slightest change of features
during this ceremony until Colonel Parker,
of our staff, was presented to him. Parker
being q full-blooded Indian. when Lee saw
his swarthy features he looked at him with
evident surprise, and his eyes rested on him
his mind no one knew, but the natural sur
mis- that he first miStOn< Parker