The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-04
my division commanders did not sleep over
| as all the rest of us did
FORCED LEES SURRENDER.

dS tie rest VI dS diQ-
FORCED LEES SURRENDER.
1.-The First Division was quickly put in
position in the rear of sheridan's cavalry
long before the other divisions came up,
the cavalry was attacked by Lees infantry
and driven in, leaving Fosters forces to
Withstand an attack by all that remained of
Lees army.
THE most that Fosters forces could do
was to hold the enemy in check. which
was splendidly done. until the remaining
divisions of the Army of the James has
tened to his support. but in holding the
ground his men had been roughly handled.
When the long line of infantry was shown
/ in the daylight Lee was astonished and saw
! at once that the end had come.
with Sheridan and the Army of the
James in his front, and the Army of the
Potomac in his rear and right flank, there
was no other alternative but to surrender
| flag of truce was displayed, and in the
gray dawn of that beautiful Sabbath morn
| ing April 9, 1865, a score of shots from a
battery with Fosters division proclaimed
Glory 10 God: peace on earth good will to-
ward men, The death knell of the South
ern Confederacy and of the rebellion had
come.
1.-The great problem will never be an
swered as TO what might have been the re-
suit had Foster slept and reported to Sher-
been driven in. In all probability the sur
render of Lee might not have been made
| at Appomattox and the date might not
| have been April 8, 1866.
| 1T is a significant fact that during Cen
eral Fosters army service he never lost a
battle or skirmish and was successful in
all his expeditions in front of Richmond
and elsewhere. 1t seemed that he had a
| charmed life
"At the close of the war. General Foster
| was ordered TO Washington on duty as a
member Of the military commission con-
vened for the trial of the conspirators and
assassins of President Lincoln. He re-
| signed September 1865, and returned to his
former home in Indianapolis. Soon after
his return he was appointed lieutenant
colonel of the Twenty-seventh Regiment
| United States Infantry. regular army, but
| declined the honor preferring civil life to
that OF military.
ORGANIZED G. A. r.
"As an important fact in the history of
the organization of the Grand Army of the
Republic. General Foster must go on
record as the original organizer and the
first to give the great order a permanent
existence, although Major 3. F. Steyhen-
son, of Springfield, ILL.,. was the author of
the ritual and patriotic mover in the or der.
General Foster was the first to put the
theories into practical shape, which was
done after first receiving the initiation and
full instructions from the author of the
| organization. Foster was, in fact, the first
TO perform the duties of commander-in-
chief. He the first department Gem
mander of Indiana and the first depart
ment commander of the Grand Army of
the Republic.
During the summer of 1866 and immedi-
ately after the close of the war and the
mastering out of the vast army of volun-
teer soldiers of the Union army. a number
of army comrades met in the city of In
dianapolis to devise ways and means for
organizing the ex-sodiers of the Union
army residing in Indiana into society or
union for mutual protection, and to give
aid and assistance TO their comrades who
of nt1ra =
tention. They had been in correspondence
with parties in Illinois regarding an or
ganization intended for the benefit of ex-
soldiers of the late war which was strongly
recommended to them by prominent sol
diers of that State. General Foster was
selected to go TO Springfield TO investigate
and report upon the character and sup
posed efficiency of the soldier organization
being formed. He went to Springfield in
B. F. Stephenson, who had been surgeon
in an Illinois regiment He found i'm Major
Stephenson an enthusiastic friend of the SOL
Giers, who had devised form of organiza-
tion which. while simple, had enough about
il of the mysterious and ritualistic to make
it attractive. He was extremely in earnest
i'm his description of his favorite plan for
organizing all the ex-soldiers of the Union
army into one grand brotherhood for mu-
tual protection and benefit. He communi-
details and administered TO him the obli-
cation taken by all who enter the Grand
Army and General Foster became full
| a veritable member at large, without de-
partment AMI without post. Major Steph-
| enSon gave General Foster copies of all the
forms of ritual, blanks, etc. that he had
had printed or written, with full authority
to organize the order at any place he
thought proper.
FIRST INDIANA POST.
General Foster returned to Indiana and
Immediately organized a post of the Grand
Army in Indianapolis. designated as Post
4 No. /. and at the same time he organized
the department of Indiana, of which he
had the honor of being department COM
mander. He sent inspectors throughout
the State to organize posts and to mus
ter in ali union soldiers who had an honor
able discharge and who expressed a desire
TO join the organization. Former soldiers
set UP the type and printed all the liter
allure, blanks, etc. Patriotic friends fur
nished ample funds for the work of or
ganization, and within ninety days there
were more than $4,000 members in the
Grand Army of the Republic In addition
the department mustered former soldiers of
Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York and
issued to them charters authorizing the
mastering of different posts in three States
because there was no other department
TO apply TO but Indiana for charter.
THE first National Encampment of the
g. "A. r. was held in Indianapolis
in November 1866, at which General John
Nj. Palmer, of Illinois, presided At this
encampment Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, of
Illinois, was chosen national commander
and General Foster was selected as junior
vice commander"