Year: 1879

be sacrificed General Lee then began to
talk about the distress and trouble that sur
render would bring on his country and his
people. That cannot be put against the
useless shedding of these brave mems blood.
If you are satisfied that you cannot save the
army, it should be surrendered. The peo-
pie will know that you have done all you can
do" He then told me that he had discover.
ed that there were heavy masses Of infantry
in front and that he could not hope to cut
through. 1t was terrible moment for Gen.
eral Lee Having fought for years with high
and lofty purposes, having won victory after
victory and made record for his army not
eoualed in our history, it was hard that he
must surrender everything. | cannot tell
you how my heart went to him." (But the
moistened eyes and the fine voice, grown hus-
XIV, as General Longstreet went over bis story,
did tell me.) 81 left General Lee and went
back to my men. ordered firing stopped.
| l stood quietly awaiting events. Suddenly
horse came Gathering down my front. l look
ed up and saw a smart-looking officer, with
yellow hair streaming behind him, hurrying
forward to where stood. He was in great
excitement, and urged his horse to where /
stood. Then he wrenched him suddenly to
his launches, aud said. in somewhat violent
tone: In the name of General Phil. Sheri:
dan, demand the instant surrender Of this
army! I was not in humor for trifiing
just then. but replied as calmly as | could i:
L am not the commander Of this army, and
| if I we're I should not surrender to you,'
meaning, of course, that l would treat with
the proper authority 4 make the demand
he rejoined, simply for the purpose Of pre-
venting further bloodshed.' If you wish to
prevent any further shedding of blood, don't
shed any more we have already stopped, l
said, still keeping cool. He reiterated bis de-
mand for an immediate and unconditional sur
render. I then notified him that he was out
side of his lines, and that if he was not more
courteous l would remind him of this fact in
away that might be unpleasant to him. Il
then explained that General Grant and Gen
eral Lee were then engaged in conference
that would probably settle everything. he
grew pleasant then, and after awhile galloped
off. He was a. brave and spirited young
fellow, but my old veterans were not in the
mood to humor him when he dashed up to us
that day. The surrender fell with more
crushing effect on my troops than on any in
the army. They were in fine condition aud
were flushed with victory. We had thrown
back the Federals day after day as they. pres
sed on us-punishing them when they cana
too near and stunning them when they charg-
ed us seriously. Enveloped for six or eight
days in the continual smoke of battle, we had
little idea of what was going on elsewhere,
and when we surrendered 1000 bayonets to
General Grant we surrendered also 1900
Federal prisoners that had been plucked out
of his army during our retreat. Still, we all
had the most perfect confidence in General
Lees ability and heroism and we knew that
he had done all that mortal man could do"


AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM GENERAL


BEAUREGARD.


have Just read the interesting letter OF
Judge Lyons, of Richmond, to Col. Magruder,
of Baltimore, relative to the mission Of Count
Mercier, French Minister at Washington, to
Richmond in the summer of 1852, with
view of bringing about peace. between the
Northern and Southern States.


Shortly after the war had the pleasure Of
meeting Judge Lyons at the Greenbrier White
Sulphur Springs, and hearing him relate, in
the presence of Gen. Lee, Governor Wise,
Messrs. Peabody, Corcoran and ether gentle
men of note, the facts as stated in his letter.
But it seemed to be the general opinion then
that the southern States would not have been
willing to adopt any plan Of gradual emancl-
patton of their slaves under coercion. The
contest then engaged upon was one OF email
A.. ipfo in
constitutional rights, one ofwhich was that OF
slavery. 1t was thought during the war that
if we yielded to that demand we might soon
be compelled to yield to other still more vital
to Southern prosperity. With the sad expe-
rence of the past and of the present, we see
that we should have stood by the Crittenden
resolutions and fought "for the Constitution
in the Union" With Democratic Senate
and Democratic majority of the people in
our favor, we could, think, have opposed
successfully any destructive measures propos
ed. But that is of the past. We must now
look to the dangers Of the present and of the
future. A few years hence we will be able TO
indicate with certainty what the present
Democratic majority in Congress and IN the
country should have done to counteract the
centralizing tendencies Of the Radicals, where,
as at present, our wisest statesmen are much
at loss to know what measure to adopt to
check in their mad career those designing
politicians who seem determined to bring On
another desperate struggle between the con-
servative and radical element of the country.


A few days after the battle of Manassas
Prince Napoleon and suite, accompanied ny
Count Mercier, came in carriages from Wash
ington to visit the battlefield. Gen. Johnston
and went with them to explain the positions
and movements of the contending forces,
which seemed to interest them much, espscl-
ally the Prince, who had some pretensions to
military knowledge not at all justified, how
ever, by his services in the Italian campaign
of 1859. When the party was about to de-
part, on its return to Washington, Count
Mercier, whom had known before the war,
and who seemed anxious during our several
hours drive to communicate privately with
me, took me to one side of the Warrenton
Turnpike, on which we were then, and was
about to commence speaking, when the
Prince Joined US and put stop (whether de-
signedly or not l cannot say) to the inter-
change of sentiment which was about to take
place. have always regretted that mop
perfume interruption, for l am convinced
that the Count had important information
to impart which might have had some in
auence on subsequent events


When at Charleston, in 1S62-63, had oc-
casion to meet several times some French
naval officers, who were allowed by me to en-
ter the harbor to confer with their consul
The captain of the sloop-ofwar was highly