The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-24
STORY OF APPOMATTOX
WILDLY TOLD ny GEN. HORACE
PORTER, WHO WAS PRESENT.
An Account of the Famous Surrender
which VIII BE Taken as Authentic
Grant and Lee In Contrast.

IGEGQ the mousse As ne StGPPSA AAtNS ~N~
hall, Colonel Babcock. who had seen his
approach from the window, opened the
door of the room on the left, in which he
had been sitting with General Lee and Col.
Marshall. awaiting General Grants arrival.
The general passed in. and as Lee arose
and stepped forward, Grant extended his
hand saying, General Lee" and the two
shook hands cordially. The members of
the staff, Generals Sheridan and Ord, and
come other general officers who had gath
cred in the front yard, remained outside,
feeling that General Grant would probably
prefer his first interview with General Lee
to be- in a measure. private. In a few min
utes Colonel Babcock came to the front
door, and, making a motion with his hat
toward the sitting room, said THE gen.
eral says come in" 1t was then about
half past / on Sunday. the 9th of April We
entered, and found General Grant seated
in an old office arm chair in the center
OF the room, and Lee sitting in plain
arm chair, with a cane seat, beside
square, handicapped table near the front
window, in the corner opposite the door by
which we entered. and facing General
Grant Colonel Marshall was standing at
his left, with his right elbow resting upon
the mantelpiece. We walked in softly
and ranged ourselves quietly about the
sides of the room, very much as people
enter sick chamber when they expect to
find the patient dangerously ill. Some
found seats on the sofa standing against
the wall between the two doors and on the
few plain chairs which constituted the fur
1iture, but most of the party stood.
The contrast between the two command
ers was singularly striking. and could not
sat- six or eight feet apart. facing each
other. General Grant. then nearly forty
three years of age, was five feet eight
inches in height with shoulders slightly
stopped. His hair and full beard were nut
brown, without trace of gray in them
He had on his single-breasted blouse of
dark-blue flannel, unputtoned in front and
showing waistcoat underneath He wore
an ordinary pair of top boots, with his
trousers inside, and was without spurs.
The boots and portions of his clothes were
spattered with mud. He had worn a pair
of thread gloves of dark yellow color,
which he had taken off on entering the
room. His felt sugar loaf" stiff-brimmed
hat was resting on his lap. He had no
sword or sash, and a pair of shoulder
ignate his rank. In fact aside from these,
his uniform was that of a private soldier
LEES APPEARANCE.
Lee, on the other hand, was six feet and
one inch in height, and erect for one of his
age, for he was Grants senior by sixteen
years. His hair and full beard We're sill
yer gray, and thick, except that the hair
had become a little thin in front. He wore
a new uniform of Confederate gray, but
toned to the throat, and handsome sword
and sash. The sword was of exceedingly
fine workmanship and the hilt was stud
ded with jewels. 1t had been presented to
him by some ladies in England who SYM
pathized with the cause he represented.
His top boots were comparatively new,
and had on them near the top some orna-
mental stitching of red silk. Like his uni
FORM they We're cieah' On the n1ots WEI" ere
hat, " hich In color matched pretty closely
that of his uniform, and a pair Of long
gray buckskin gauntlets lay beside him on
the table. We endeavored afterward to
learn how 1t was that he wore such nne
clothes, and looked so much as If he had
turned out to go to church that Sunday
afternoon, while with us our outward garb
scarcely rose to the dignity even or the
shabby genteel:" One explanation was
that when his headquarters wagons had
been pressed so closely by our cavalry a
few days before it was found that his Off
GERS would have to destroy all their bag
gage except the clothes they carried on
their backs, and each one naturally select
ed the newest suit he had, and sought TO
propitiate the god of destruction by a sac
Arifice of his second best. Another reason
Kiven was that, in Difference to General
N@rant, General Lee had dressed himself
with special care for the purpose of the
meeting.
Grant began the conversation by saying:
81 met you once before General Lee, while
we were serving in Mexico, when you came
over from General Scott's headquarters TO
visit Garlands brigade, to which then be-
appearance and 1 think 1 should have rec
Ognized you anywhere. Yes, replied
General Lee "and l know met you on
OF it, and tried to recollect how you looked,
but have never been able to recall a sim
gle feature" After some further mention
OF Mexico, General Lee said: Il suppose
General Grant, that the object Of our pres
ent meeting is fully understood. / asked
TO see you to ascertain upon what terms
you would receive the surrender of my
army" General Grant replied: THE terms
propose are those stated substantially in
my letter of yesterday that is. the officers
and men surrendered TO be paroled and dis
qualified from taking up arms again until
properly exchanged, and all arms. ammu-
milton and supplies to be delivered up as
captured property" Lee nodded an assent
and said Those are about the conditions
which l expected would be proposed"
General Grant then continued: Yes;
think our correspondence indicated pretty
clearly the action that would be taken at
general suspension of hostilities. and be
the means of preventing any further loss
LEE IN A HURRY.
Lee inclined his head as indicating his
accord with this wish, and General Grant
then went on to talk at some length in a
very pleasant vein about the prospects of
peace. Lee was evidently anxious to pro-
coed to the formal work of the surrender
and he brought the subject up again by
saying:
IT presume, General Grant, we have both
carefully considered the proper steps to be
taken. and / would suggest that you COM
NIT to writing the terms you have pro-
posed, so that they may be formally acted
upon"
Very WELL" replied Grant; st will write
them out" And calling for his manifold
order book he opened it, laid it on a small
brought to him from the rear of the room,
and proceeded to write the terms. The
leaves had been so prepared that three i'm
pressions of the writing were made. He
wrote very rapidly, and did not pause until
he had finished the sentence ending with
.'ofil GERS appointed by me to receive them"
Then he looked toward Lee, and his eyes
seemed TO be resting on the handsome
sword that hung at that officers side He
said afterward that this set him TO think
ing that it would be an unnecessary HUI
initiation to require the officers to surren-
der their swords and great hardship TO
deprive them of their personal baggage and
horses, and after a short pause he wrote
the sentence: This will not embrace the
side arms of the officers, nor their private
horses or baggage"
When he had finished the letter he called
Colonel Parker to his side and looked ii
over with him, and directed aim as they
went along, TO interline six or seven words
and TO strike out the word their" which
had been repeated When this had been
IN his right hand extended his arm toward
Lee, and started TO rise from his chair to