Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-05-27
Attend memOrial Services
Sunday, Inlay 80, 1915

enemy was slow at first, but the fire
of their b tteries had nettled our
horses into a half trot, when suddenly
an officer rode out from the C~onfeder.
ate line waving a large towel in his
hand. He said he was Captain Sims
Of Longstreets stan, and came by di.
rection Of General Lee, who asked a
suspension of hostilities.
in an instant General Custer said
to me: Whitaker. take this towel, go
with this officer to General Lee, with
my compliments, and say l cannot stop
this charge. as | am not in sole COM
mand On this field, unless he an.
nounces an unconditional surrender
/ took the towel and asked Sims to
show Inc the shortest cut to where he
had left Lee. | remember vigorously
swinging the old towel and the relief
/ felt on entering the Confederate
lines without being fired on.
AT the point we entered, only a
short distance fromwhere we had left
Custer, a battery Of artillery was post.
ed, and as We passed the guns no.
tlced a pile of shells on the ground In
the rear Of each gun, and every gun.
ner in position ready to give up a
warm reception at the command,
Fire On reaching the road, columns
OF Confederate infantry were moving
in perfect order, and | recall hearing
a soldier shout, What is that Yankee
doing here with his arms on" ! had
folded the towel out of sight as soon
as ] reached the Confederate line,
Lee Had Gone to Find Grant.
when we arrived at the place
where Sims had left General Lee We
found only Generals Gordon and Long
street, who explained that General Lee
had galloped off to the rear to find
General Grant Immediately after Sims
had started out with the flag OF truce,
and had left them in command. |
stated to them the message from Gus.
ter to Lee and told them that | must
have an immediate reply, They said
there was no doubt OF surrender, as
NC u Sul oi tiltli III vi iNbiSat AN
night before. and that they were per
sonally satisfied of the uselessness OF
further resistance. expressed regret
that so many good men had been
killed the night before and that morn
ing, whereupon they said that General
Lee would not believe that the Union
infantry was across the Lynchburg
pike until the repulse Of Gordon's
charge, which had been made that
morning by his orders.
"Whiie We were talking firing was
heard to the east Of where | had left
Custer, and at my suggestion an Off.
Ger was sent with orders to stop 1t.
noticed that the guns that were NOV
ing past us as We talked had smoke
coming from their mouth, indicating
that they were the same that had been
used so vigorously on our column a
short time before. I protested against
the moving Of these guns. and was as
sured that the object was to water the
horses in a small creek-pear by. At
this moment General Ord's infantry
line of battle was seen closing in on
us from the west. and | was begged to
announce the surrender Of the army to
that line.
First Notice Of Surrender.
II saw that there was no time to
lose, SO I pulled out the old towel
again and rode out to the Union In
fantry line and said to General Cham
berlain OF Maine that Lees army had
surrendered. The line halted at once
and a shout went up from right to
left, followed by a scene that words
fail to describe. l then galloped back
across the field to General Custer to
make the same announcement. 1t was
in this way that the infantry hsto'
rians claim that the surrender was
first made to them.
I'm conclusion, let me say that OF al!
the battlefelds Of the Civil war-and
I had the honor of being In eighty-one
battles-Appomattox was the most
magnificent"
|
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