Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-11-21
HOW LEE ENDED WAR
Would Not Keep Up Guerrilla
Struggle After Appomattox.
1T WAS A MoMENT0Us DECISION

- -
aI1eI Between Situation In South
Africa and the Closing Days OF the
Confederacy Paper Read Before
American Antiquarian Society.
Charles Francis Adams in an address
before the American Antiquarian So
"ciety at Springfield, Mass, reviewed
the history of Lees surrender and com
pared the struggle of the south with
the present wal in South Africa. What
he said was new and included a hither-
to unpublished chapter of American
history. He said in part:
The present seems to me a sufficient
ly proper occasion, and this a good
place, to call attention to a matter not
otherwise than gernane to the purpose
of this society. Historical in it's charac-
ter, it conveys a lesson of grave i'm
port. One of the most unhappy and,
to those concerned in it, disastrous
wars Of the century is that now in
South Africa dragging itself out to a
conclusion apparently still remote and,
in every way, unsatisfactory. There is
good reason to think that the conflict
was unnecessary in it's inception; that
by tudicious action it might long since
have been brought to a close, and,
finally, that it is now continued simply
because the parties to it cannot be
brought together to discuss and arrive
at a sensible basis of adjustments
basis upon which both are in reality
ready to agree. Nevertheless, as the
cable dispatches daily show, the con-
test drags YEARLY along to the proba-
BILE destruction of one of the combat
ants, to the great loss Of the other
and, so far as can be seen, in utter dis
regard Of the best interests Of both.
My purpose, however, is to draw at
tention to the hairbreadth escape we
ourselves had from a similar expert
n now t~hirty-five years ago and to
assign to whom it belongs the credit
of that escape. In one word, in the
strong light Of passing events 1 think
it now opportune to set forth the debt
of gratitude this reunited country Of
ours-Union and Confederate, north
and south-owes to Robert e. Lee.
The decision rested in the hands Of
one mantle commander of the Army
of Northern Virginia. Fairly reliable
and very graphic accounts of what
took place at General Lees headQuar-
tiers in the early morning hours of that
day have either appeared in print or
been told in conversation, and to two
of these accounts | propose to call at
tention. Apparently the second Of the
interviews described followed close on
the first, not more than a couple of
hours Intervening between them. OF
the first [ find this account in a book
recently published by job Sargent
Wise, entitled 9Th End Of an Era"
John Sargent Wise is he son of Hen
ry A. Wise, once prominent in our ma
tional politics. Governor of Virginia
in the later ffties, he vas subse-
quently a brigadier general in the Con-
federate service. Though in 1865 but
a youth Of nineteen, John S.. Wise was
a hot Confederate and "a already
been wOunded in battle. At the time
now in question he CHANGED to hay
been sent by Jefferson Davis, then or
his way to Richmond, to Danyille with
dispatches to Lee, and, while seeking
Lees headquarters, he came in the
early morning of April 8 across his
father, Governor and General Wise, in
bivouac with his brigade. The father
was then nearly sixty years Of age,
but the son found him lying on h
ground asleep among his men. A typical
southern fire eater Of the extreme
type, Henry A. Wise was an out and
put secessionist and Confederate.
Aroused by his sen from his uneasy
slumber, almost the first wish he eX-
pressed was to see General Lee, and
he inquired impetuously Of his where
abouts. The two started to go to Cen
eral Lees headquarters.
eve found General Lee on a rear
portico of the house he occupied" says
Mr.. Wise. He had washed his face
in a tin basin and stood drying his
beard with a coarse towel as we ap-
preached. General Lee,' exclaimed my
father, my poor, brave men are lying
on yonder hill more dead than alive.
For more than a week they have been
fighting day and night without food,
and, sir, they shall not move another
step until somebody gives them some
thing to a t
"'Come in, general said General
Lee soothingly. They deserve some
thing to eat and shall have it, and
meanwhile you shall share my break
fast He disarmed everything like de
fance by his frankness.
"1t was u a few moments, how
ever, before my father launched forth
in a fresh denunciation Of the conduct
II General Bushrod johnson in h en-
.gagement Of the 9Th. I am satisfied
that General Lee felt as he did, but
assuming an air Of mock severity, hi
said, General, are you aware that yoI
are liable to court martial and execu
ton for insubordination and disrespec
toward your commanding oficerY
my father looked at him with liftet
eyebrow and flashing Eyes and ex
claimed: Shot! You can't afford t