The Somerset reporter., 1905-04-13
Flag Of Truce at Appomatto1

Last Sunday, the g b instant, WAS the
fortieth Anniversary Of the surrender Of
Lee at Appomatto1. Naturally incidents
OF that important historic event are sub-
iects u discussion aud accounts thereof
appear In the newspapers.
W. 90 not remember 10 have heard be.
fore particulars Of the 4 * Of iruee used
upon The morning Of April Oh by COZ
fedefates 10 secure suspenslo1 Of hn.tlli
ties pending negotiations between Grauf
and 1t for the lAtter's surrender Mis-
A K. Sims, daughter Of Col. SIM Of the
Confederate army has accused Gen. T.
NJ. Whitaker. now Of Warrington. u
having stolen the towel psed a. this hlg
Of truce, and to this Gen. Whitaker has
recently made statement that appears
10 the Washington Post, from which VIZ
make the following extract:
~ recollect that April morning az
though it were yesterday" be said. re-.
scently. 81 can still see the ten thou
sand calvalry sabres flashing In the sun.
Gen. Custer whose chief Of staff was.
was looking for an opening for charge.
when Captain Sims came out from the
enemy to meet the head Of our command
with large white towel for truce in
his hand. Gen Lee requests suspeu-
sion OF hostllties, he said TO Gen. Custer.
The latter turned to me and said Whit.
aker, take this truce and 70 with this
officer and say TO Gen. Lee that I car
not stop this charge unless he announces
an unconditional surrender, ne | am not
the commander OF the field Col Sims
and | rode side by side. Ga our reach
ing Generals Longstreet and Gordon We
found that Lee had gone TO the rear.
They both assured me that the request
for suspension OF h0stiites was Il sur
render in good faith, that Lee was now
convinced, as they had been for several
days, that 1t was the only course To take.
] was entreated by them to take the
same nag OF truce and stay the infantry
tide OF battle, which at that moment was
getting TOO close for comfort, and SEEM
ed TO be reserying fire for the more effec-
tive short range. | consented to do so
on condition that Col. Sims would 90
with me. An officer named Brown went
with me, to whom Sims said, DO not let
the Yankee have the towel At any
rate, stopped the line and assured Cen
erals Ord and Chamberlain Of the sur
render, with that truce in my hand and a
Confederate officer by my aide.
my duty to report the situation to
Gen. Custer took me back on a gallon to
where | left him, all the time swinging
the same towel from my hand as a truce.
put ii In the breast of my coat, and
when trophies and relics were discussed
! said to Gen. Custer that the old towel
was the best relic, and that he should
| possess it, as he WAS at the head OF the
column when the flag appeared. He in
turn gave 1t to Mrs. Custer, who still has
it. and has made provision in her will
that half Of it shall go to West Point on
her death and half of it to me.
IL had no orderly with me. | was Or
dered by Gen. Custer to take the lag
and go back to Gen. Lee with his mes
sage. 1t then, thought, properly be-
came the property Of Gen. Custer, and
gave it to him. or the piece that | have
| have given very small portions to
friends. | wonder il, with the return of
the battle-fllgs as a precedent, should
gather all those pieces together and my
| small piece of that towel and turn them
| over to their original owner