Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-12-04

Lees Surrender to Grant.

tween the North and the South, and
he was an eyewitness of the closing
scenes. He was present when the sur
render of Lee took place, and it was
he who handed Gen. Lee the pencil with
which the Confederate leader corrected
the rough draft Of the terms Of the sur
render handed to him for his inspection
by Gen. Grant
In order to give the children Of a
Brooklyn IN. " school, before whom
he spoke few years ago, a most real
istic picture Of the surrender, Gen.
Porter arranged the platform to CORE
spond with the room in which the ca
pttulation took place, says the New
York Times. In the center was a table
wrote the terms In one corner was a
smaller table to show where Lee sat,
booted and spurred, and with his dia-
mond-studded sword hanging by his
side. Three chairs were placed togeth-
er to represent the old-fashioned sofa
at one side Of the room, and the posi-
lions Of the fireplace and Of the win
dows and doors were all marked.
To all intents and purposes Gen. Por-
ter stood once more, after the lapse Of
SO many years, In that small room of
the brick house at Appomattox where
the closing chapter Of the war was writ
ten by the two chief actors, and as he
described, without any show Of oratory,
but in an easy conversational style, the
surrender, to its minutest details, in
Guiding the small items of the personal
appearance, the by-talk and the man
ners of those who took part in the sur
render, it's dramatic features were pic
tured before the eagerly listening chill
dren in a very effective and realistic
style.
The general held up in sight Of his
audience, one after another, a piece Of
the flag of truce sent by Gen. Lee to
Gen Grant, a slice Of the famous apple
tree and the identical pencil with which
Lee corrected the draft of the surren-
der. He exhibited photographs of the
two tables used by the generals.
1.-The pencil" said Gen. Porter, "has
not been rewarded properly for the part
it has played. 1t should have been
brevetted into a pen"
The flag of truce, Gen. Porter told
the children, was an impromptu affair,
and was, in actual point Of fact, the
cleaner Of two towels which a Con
federate officer had shortly before
bought for $40 in Confederate money
That officer" said Gen. Porter, was
evidently bound to keep clean at any
cost" There were other sallies Of hui
NOR through the lecture.
II will begin my story Gen. Porter
said, two days before the final surren-
der, when Gen. Grant reached the vii
lage of Farmville, on the Appomattox
river. 1t was there the correspondence
opened between Grant and Lee.
cat noon on April Gen. Grant and
his staff took possession Of the comfort
able piazza Of the only hotel in Farm
Vile An old army surgeon soon
brought us word from the Confederates
of conversation in which Lee had said
that his retreat had become a rout,
l1lut IL WOuIO NC W1ShSu LUZ jlI11 W cuCu
the blood of his men any longer, and
that he felt he ought to surrender.
'~That afternoon a long, lean, lank
Confederate came up to the porch of
the hotel.
"'Who are you? we asked.
"I'm a Confederate he said, and l
reckon l am the only portion of my
regiment that has succeeded in holding
together. l own this hotel, and I stop
ped off to see how things were getting
along
"He probably had never had so many
guests beforehand at such reduced
rates."
Gen. Porter described the memorable
scene that night, when the Union sol
diers On their way to fight Lee across
the river marched past Grant, carrying
torches and singing John Browns
Body
Gen. Grant slept that night in the
bed Lee had occupied the night before
At midnight the answer was received
from Lee to Grants letter advising him
to surrender. Lee wanted to learn the
proposed terms.
Grant answered the next morning."
said Gen. Porter, making the terms lib
eral Grant moved forward that night,
the night of April 8, in order to get
closer to Lee. At midnight, while in
great pain from loss of sleep and anx-
iety, another letter was received from
Lee. He sat up on the lounge in the
farm house and read it by the light of
a candle. Lee said he had not yet de-
termined to surrender, but would like
to meet Grant at 10 a. m. the next day
and discuss general terms of peace.
Grant was a military officer and
could not do as Lee suggested. So,
after reading over Lees letter slowly,
he said: General Lee still wants to
fight. Tomorrow he shall have all he
wants"
The school children broke out into