The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-11

tured the trains laden with provisions by
which Lee hoped to feed his starving
! men. whose chief subsistence for sew
/ eral days had been parched corn.
! Behind Sheridan. like a wall Of steel.
was the battle line Of the Fifth and
Twenty-fourth, Corps, under Gen. e. o.:
c. Ord. troops that had marched all
Lees path at dawn. Behind Lee was
Gen. Meade. with the Second and Sixth
| Corps Of the Army Of the Potomac.
As foriorn hope Lee ordered his lead
| ing corps. under Gordon, to make su-
preme effort at dawn to break through
the cavalry y his front. Gordon's guns
opened. and his weary, famished men
advanced. fighting calamity. only to ind
the wall Of infantry behind the cavalry.
! could fight no more without REINFORCE
ments. These Lee did not have to send
\ As he received Gordon's message he said
I to the officer who bore It:
Then there is nothing left for me but
to go to Gen. Grant. and 1 would rather
| die thousand Deaths"
| The officers who heard these words
knew their last hope was gone. but one
said: "Oh. general. what will history
say Of the surrender Of the army in the
feld?'
| To this Lee rer'ied:
| "Yes, I know they will say hard things
Of US; they will not understand how We
were overwhelmed by numbers. But
| that is not the question. colonel: the
; question is. Is 1t light to surrender this
, army? II it is right, then l will take all
! the responsibility.
! He emphasized "I'' and "all."
Orders were given to send a flag Of
/ truce to the Federals. asking a suspen-
Lett 1T naU0flQfi0nG
+, for surrender. The earlier correspond
ence between the generals had paved the
| way to the request for an interview.
! which Gen. Lee now wrote and sent by
an aid through the Federal lines at APP
| pomattox Courthouse.
Gen. Grant had not then come UP. The
| letter found him on the road. and at
| 20 he replied to il. saying he would
push forward to the front for the pur-
| pose Of meeting Gen. Lee, who could
send him on the road notice Of where Re
wished the meeting to take place.
| Grant and Lee Meet.
History has often represented that
Grants meeting with Lee took place
under an apple tree. and in the years
souvenirs Of the supposed spot were sold
to represent a very large orchard.
It appears that, after sending his let
| ter to Gen. Grant. Gen. Lee lay down on
a blanket stretched upon some fence
rails placed for him by an oncer under
an apple tree. about half q mile from
the village.
Here Col. Babcock. bringing Grants
reply found Gen. Lee. Gen. Lee now
mounted his horse and. accompanied by
Col. Charles Marshall, his military sec
! Rotary. and Col. Babcock, rode to the
| village. There they met Wilmer Nc
Lean. one Of the residents, who was told
that Gen. Lee wished to occupy for a
| short time a room in one Of the houses.
| They were first ushered into the nearest
house into a small room. but Gen. Lee,
proposing that a larger room be found.
Mclean led them to his own house. a
comfortable brick structure. standing
| somewhat back from the street.
Dismounting in the yard. Gen. Lee
| went into the house with Col. Marshall
and entered sitting-room on the left
| of the hall. About 1 o'clock Gen. Grant
arrived at the village, and was told
where Gen. Lee awaited him.
Although accompanied by several ON
GERS, Gen. Grant expressed a desire to
first meet Gen. Lee alone. As he entered
the room Gen. Lee rose and greeted him
by shaking hands. Their conversation
has not been recorded.
In a few minutes Gen. Grant indicated
that he wished the other officers to enter.
They walked into the room softly, as
men might do at a funeral. A few found
seats and the others ranged themselves
about the room. The Federals present.
besides Grant. were Maj. Gen. Philip H.
Sheridan. Maj Gen. Edward o. c. Ord.
commanding q corps: Maj. Con. Rufus
Ingalls, quartermaster general: Brig.
Cen lnhn Pa~linR rhiAf ~
star: Mai. Gen. Seth Williams, Maj.
Gen. John G. Barnard. chief engineer.
and Col. Horace Porter, Col. Orville E.
Babcock, Col. Ely s. Parker, Col. Theo-
dore s. Bowers, Col. Frederick T. Dent
and Col Adam Badeau. Of Grants staff.
Contrast Between Generals.
Gen. Leo was seated at q small oval
table near the front window. facing
Gen. Grant. who was seated At a slightly
larger table Of mahogany in the center
of the room.
Accounts Of the surrender have been
left by three of the participants in the
scene, namely Gen. Grant. Col Badeau.
who had been trained as q journalist, and
Col. Porter. The latter's account. writ
ten from memoranda made at the time
and published in 1883 Is the most COM
plete and Is generally quoted by his
torians.
All the officers present noticed a strik-
ing contrast in tho appearance of the
two generals. Lee wore . new and per-
fectly fitting gray uniform. He carried
nue sword with gold hilt. studded with
jewels. For the leader Of an exhausted
army that had been through a ten
months siege. and q weeks hot retreat,
he seemed sin8ularly clean.
With his six feet Of height. his we'll
shaped form, his silver gray hair and
beard, and his handsome, impassive face.
he was a striking figure. It was after
ward explained that the reason for his
being 60 well dressed lay In the fact that
his baggage wagons had been 80 hard
pressed by the Federals on the retreat
that be had selected his best uniform
and let the rest Of his effects behind.
Grant had on . sing1e-breasted blue
blouse. such a. n worn BY common SOL
disfs. mbuttoned In front and showing
waisteoaf beneath. Only the shoulder
stfAps indicated his rank. His high
boots and his clothing were literally
spattsfed With red mud. He had no
sword. A. II in some slight Difference to
custom. he wore . pair Of brown thread
gloves. the same sort that he had worn
on the opening day Of his virginia cam
paign. nearly . year before.
His beard and hair were brown.