Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-19
APPoMATTox INKSTAND.
Used by Grant and Lee and Belonged
to Sheridan.

From the Denver Post.
One Of the most priced relics of the civil
war In possession of the state of Colorado
is the inkstand used at Appomattox, Va,
on April 0, 1865. on the occasion Of Lees
surrender to Grant.
In fact, 1t is claimed to be the identical
inkwell from which the ink was taken by
the pen that signed the articles Of sur
render. Though the article has been IN
this state for more than twenty-five years
it appears that the fact has only recently
been discovered by civil war relic hunters
Many efforts have been made to get pos
session of it, and one offer of $1,000 was
made by Philadelphia man to Cecil A.
Deane, curator of the war museum at the
capitol If he would use his influence to
have the state part with the inkstand.
Col. Deane, however, refuses to listen to
any propositions looking to its removed
from the capitol. The inkstand was pre-
scented to Col. Deane in 1874 by John L.
Sheridan, receiver of the land Office at
Fairplay. Col. Sheridan was brother of
the late Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who
brought it from Mclean house to his home,
at Somerset, Ohio, just after the close Of
the war. Mclean house, at Appomattox,
is where the articles of capitulation were
drawn up and signed. This old southern
mansion is still standing.
In the War Relic Museum there IS an oil
painting of the Mclean homestead. 1t was
made in 1895 by Miss Maggie Edelin, of
Culpeper, Va, and presented to the state
museum last year. In 1886 in an effort to
establish the identity of the inkstand with
out a doubt Col. Deane wrote to Gen.
Sheridan in regard to the matter, and re-
ceived the following reply:
In answer to your letter of March "a,
in regard to an inkstand now in your pos
session, have to say that l took the ink
stand used by Gems. Grant and Lee when
the articles of surrender were signed at
Appomattox from Mclean house and car
ried 1t with me to my own ahome in Ohio.
where I left it. Whether the nkstand
you refer to is the one taken by me from
Mclean house / am unable to say
The inkstand is made Of gutta percha,
is two inches in diameter and one and a
half inches high. On it's side is a large
lump or blister, and it was this mark by
which Gen. Sheridan identified it the
original from Mclean house. Gen. Sheri-
dan came to Denver year after he wrote
to Col. Deane to select the site for Fort
Logan. While here he was shown the ink
stand, and in the presence of Col Deane
and Col. George Ady he pronounced 1t the
same one he had used while he was a
cadet at West Point and during his subse-
quent military career to the close Of the
civil war.
When Gems. Grant and Lee asked for
ink April 0, 1865, Gen. Sheridan drew
forth this same inkwell. and the heads of
the Union and confederate forces dipped
their pens into it and then attached their
signatures to the document that ended the
great strife between north and south.
''That is the identical inkstand from which
Grant and Lee got their ink April o.
1861 Gen. Sheridan exclaimed to Gems
Deane and Ady. II tell you row
know it is the one" he continued.
Pointing to the blister or barnacle on the
side of the inkstand, Gen. Sheridan told
his auditors that one evening while he was
stationed at Vancouver barracks. in 1857
he was writing a letter on an improvised
table made of cracker box. lie had his
gutta percha ink we'll near by, and a tai
low candle was used for light The candle
was standing close to the inkstand and the
gutta percha was scorched, causing the
formation of blister, which has remained
there to this day.