The Washington times., 1936-06-01
!. NOW
Scribe VieUs
AppOmGttOr
u. PARK.
BY HELEN EssARY


Gray" have died away.
But at Appomattox Court House
Va, where General Lee surren
dered the last of the Confederate
troops to General Grant, the Gov
eminent of the United States is at
work restoring the stage setting OF
the final act of the War Between
the States.
Nine hundred and seventy acres
of land surrounding AppomattoS
and the buildings thereon which
had any relation to the Civil War
will be part of the development Of
a chain of roads connecting Vir.
ginia battlefields. The National
Park Service is cooperating with
Virginia commissions in this work
I have seen the small white
headstones of many Civil War
hattlefieldS. Have grieved for a
moment over the hopes and Sor.
rows buried under neat rows of
patriotic sod. But nowhere have
/ been as conscious of the tragedy
of the last great romantic war as
at Appomattox.
Perhaps it was the look of old
Appomattox that touched my sentl'
mental Imagination. Old build
ings, the jail, the inn, the law
offices and the postoffice-land-
marks of history-were set around
a circular drive.
Where the court house once
stood, was a granite marker in a
field thick with buttercups. The
inscription told of Southern pride
even in defeat and said:
"Here on Sunday, April 8,
1865, after four years of heroic
struggle i'm defense of principles
believed fundamental to the
existence of our government Lee
surrendered 1900 men, the
remnant of an army still un-
conquered in spirit to $4,000
men under Grant"
The Mclean house where Lee
met Grant to discuss the terms of
surrender was pile of bricks
covered with honeysuckle and
poison ivy. The house was torn
down in 1893 to be sent to the
Chicago Exposition. But the
bricks we're never moved except
by souvenir hunters.
Two crippled white haired men
were selling post cards and bull
lets out of paper pokes" to
Yankees in big cars. Three dogs
were asleep in the sun. The locust
trees were shedding their blossoms
While we were reveling in the
memories of the past an alert
young man drove up. He was a
Government agent, "aimin' to buy
the Appomattox land and house,
now privately owned. AS he talked
Sympathetically Of the Govern
ment plans to rebuild the court
house and Mclean house, the two
old men plaintively interrupted
with neighborhood tradition and
fact. Said one:
"When App0mattOx cote
house was burned down the
town moved over to the dee-pO
about three miles away.
"That's the old post office
building. 1t had a bar beside
the mail boxes. See that little
cottage with the big chimney.
A lady kept a private school
there during the wah. The
Methodist parsOn lived in that
house. Maybe you'd like to see
the tavern. I live there"
We followed the hobbling old
fellow down the road.
The tavern with deep hipped
roof and big outside chimneys
was on the stage coach route
from Richmond to Bristol. Grant
stayed there eight days, direct.
ing the last pursuit of the Con.
federates. The tavern stable is
tumbling down.
The other old man was wait.
ing outside to show us the Jail.
That's my bailiwick and here's
the Key" he said. ''It weighs
two and half pounds. It's
a job getting it into that so
pound lock-"
A jail empty or crowded is a
miserable place. The rings to
which the prisoners have been
chained to the floor, the double
barred windows, from which one
prisoner had cut out a hole for
escape had withstood time. They
were too evident reminders OF
suffering. It was nice to gel
outdoors in the sunshine again
Our courier saw new sight
SeerS arriving. AS he went tc
sell his cards and collect ''twc
bits" for a tour, an old hen and
her baby chicks scattered from
his hurrying crutch.
It's splendid that the Govern
ment is restoring Appomattox.
hope, however, that the slick
ing up won't destroy its atmos
phere. I'd like to see the
crumbling buildings brought to
life and the destroyed ones re
built, and the poison oak weeded
out. But I hope the old guides
won't be replaced by impersonaI
young men in uniforms. I want
TO go down to Appomattox agar
and hear the fellow with the
twisted foot say:
When General. Lee knew
his time had come, he dressed
himself I'm in a rnn,r r,nifnr.,,n