Connecticut western news., 1912-02-15
NEARING THE END
Second Heavies In the Wilds of Appo-
 mattox.
BY K. s. ROBERTS

Comrades: We have inst passed through the village of Farmville and you remember the saucy impudence of those young rebel girls as you were ford ing the small river before entering the village The moon was shining brightly Our bands were playing the national airs, music that I presume had not been heard there in years. The village was 6 very pretty one the approaches to it by rail from either way had been made very difficult, the bridges having been burned to keep us ont and now it keeps them in from the outer world. You marched up through the town and camped for the night, where, in the cool moonlight, we overlooked the town. The people here. that is, women and children, had seen very little Of armies, but for the first in- troduction it was quite severe for all bridges that led the way in or out were destroyed and it would cost the people, left poor by the devastation of war, very heavily.
 There was a la"ge confederate hospital located there. We rested through the night. Called up early April sth and moved out about a mule and drew three days rations, including a ration of whiskey. We passed park of artillery. army wagons, etc, that were partly dis troyed to keep them from us, and these evidences of destruction came so often that we were more and more impressed that the end was near. There were rumors of peace, of flags of truce, of Lees anxiety to quit.
 We broke camp about noon and start ed on after Lee, and marched nearly fif- teen miles. halting near New Store" about 10 o'clock. All along the .rouso were evidences of the disintegraGion of the rebel army. We passed what .Ap- peared to be a newly made burying ground, but close inspection proved that the rebels had buried lots of cannon, etc, to keep them from falling into our hands. We started. out abont four o'clock and soon after we started all kinds of rumors came to us. We knew that some thing was soon to happen. We marched on about two miles. halted and cooked coffee, rested an hour, then started on, oh, so tired. SO worn and foot sore. You thought that if the end didn't come soon it would find us wora out. 3.
 In this manner we trudged along list lessly. The day was smoky. cloudy, cannonading to the front and to the left of us. The route was through dense forest, then halt and we dropped to the ground nearer dead than alive, we thought. After little then up and on again. The, route was strewn with wagons, batteries, caissons, ambulances, shells, cannon balls, muskets etc. This would under ordinary circumstances have excited you, but you were so tired and gone that battle would hardly ex- cite you.
 Conditions were getting serious for rebeldom. On the south and west of Lees army were our cavalry, the Fifth Corps, and part of Ord's command head ing Lee of entirely. Our Corps, the Sixth, was close on his heels on the east, which hedged Lees army in hopslessly. And with the James River in his front, with these conditions surrounding Lee. he was compelled to do something. After much correspondence between General Grant and Lee, the eliminating point had come. While negotiations were go- ip0 np hatuaau Gauaral Grant ar5 Too we were lying hstlessly and limp upon the ground as we dropped when the order ''place rest" was given. We lay quiet till about five p. m. this Sunday, April 9, 1865, when we were aroused by faint cheering, which came nearer and nearer then our general officers rode down through our ranks
 An unconditional surrender of Gen. eral Lees army p This aroused us for sure. "Pandemonium let loose" No one was sick. lame or anything else, but everybody was on his feet, and such yelling, cheering, screaming no one ever heard.
 Boys, you were frantic; you wore wild, Everything that was movable went into the air artillery was opened with blank cartridges. Everybody vied with everybody else in making noise. Knapsacks and guns went up. The scene was indesoribable. You saw the fruits of your more than three years of suffering. You saw Home, the door of peace, the cessation of hostilitiss. All these vividly fitted before your eyes. You had no wish to sleep, for it was tive o'clock a. m., before you tried to; but you lay down to dream of the terrible marches, battles, ,skirmishes that you had been through and that you had seen your last battle that now you could re- turn home.
 But there is an awful sadness that hovers over you. You think of the boys that started out with you for the war,