Capt. Harlock
Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001 From: Los Angeles Status: offline
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150 Years Ago Today: In the early hours of the morning, Ulysses S. Grant drafted his reply to Robert E. Lee: HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S., April 9, 1865. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A. Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for ten A.M. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc., U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. I proceeded at an early hour in the morning, still suffering with the headache, to get to the head of the column. I was not more than two or three miles from Appomattox Court House at the time, but to go direct I would have to pass through Lee's army, or a portion of it. I had therefore to move south in order to get upon a road coming up from another direction. --The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant At dawn, the Confederates made one last try to break through the Union cavalry and regain their supply trains. An assault using John B. Gordon’s badly depleted corps and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry went forward. At first, the advance seemed to prosper. The Northern cavalry men gave ground, and the Rebels took the first ridge in their front. But as they topped the ridge, they discovered that the Yankees had also brought up more men during the night. Facing them were the bulk of two Union infantry corps, the V and the XXIV, which had just had time to get into line of battle. The Confederate advance stopped immediately; their forces were no match for what was before them. The bad news went back to Lee: . . . our advance made no progress, and the increased fire told of large forces already in our front. Lee was up at an early hour and sent Col. Venable to Gordon to inquire how he progressed. Gordon’s answer was:— ‘Tell Gen. Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet’s corps.’ When Lee received this message, he exclaimed: — ‘Then there is nothing left me but to go and see Gen. Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.’ --Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate Alexander had thought of one other thing left to do: that the Army of Northern Virginia should scatter and become guerrillas. But Lee, to his great credit, realized the consequences. The atrocities already done in Kansas, Missouri, eastern Tennessee, and elsewhere would be visited throughout Virginia, and likely to much of the remainder of the South as thousands of desperate men spread across the land. . . . I hastened to lay my plan before him. I said:— ‘Then we have only choice of two courses. Either to surrender, or to take to the woods and bushes, with orders, either to rally on Johnston, or perhaps better, on the Governors of the respective States. If we surrender this army, it is the end of the Confederacy. I think our best course would be to order each man to go to the Governor of his own State with his arms.’ ‘What would you hope to accomplish by that?’ said he. ‘In the first place,’ said I, ‘to stand the chances. If we surrender this army, every other army will have to follow suit. All will go like a row of bricks, and if the rumors of help from France have any foundation, the news of our surrender will put an end to them. But the one thing which may be possible in our present situation is to get some sort of terms. None of our armies are likely to be able to get them, and that is why we should try with the different States. Already it has been said that Vance can make terms for N. C., and Jo Brown for Ga. Let the Governor of each State make some sort of a show of force and then surrender on terms which may save us from trials for treason and confiscations. . . [...] His first words were: — ‘If I should take your advice, how many men do you suppose would get away?’ ‘Two-thirds of us,’ I answered. ‘We would be like rabbits and partridges in the bushes, and they could not scatter to follow us.’ He said: ‘I have not over 15,000 muskets left. Two-thirds of them divided among the States, even if all could be collected, would be too small a force to accomplish anything. All could not be collected. Their homes have been overrun, and many would go to look after their families. Then, General, you and I as Christian men have no right to consider only how this would affect us. We must consider its effect on the country as a whole. Already it is demoralized by the four years of war. If I took your advice, the men would be without rations and under no control of officers. They would be compelled to rob and steal in order to live. They would become mere bands of marauders, and the enemy’s cavalry would pursue them and overrun many wide sections they may never have occasion to visit. We would bring on a state of affairs it would take the country years to recover from. And, as for myself, you young fellows might go to bushwhacking, but the only dignified course for me would be, to go to Gen. Grant and surrender myself and take the consequences of my acts. ’ He paused for only a moment and then went on. ‘But I can tell you one thing for your comfort. Grant will not demand an unconditional surrender. He will give us as good terms as this army has the right to demand, and I am going to meet him in the rear at 10 A. M. and surrender the army on the condition of not fighting again until exchanged.’ I had not a single word to say in reply. He had answered my suggestion from a plane so far above it, that I was ashamed of having made it. --Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate And so, Lee sent another message to Grant: April 9, 1865. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT Commanding U. S. Armies. GENERAL: I received your note of this morning on the picket-line whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose. R. E. LEE, General. Since Grant was traveling on a different road than expected, it took extra time for the note to reach him. But it was worth the wait: When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache, but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured. I wrote the following note in reply and hastened on: April 9, 1865. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. Armies. Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing about four miles west of Walker's Church and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. I was conducted at once to where Sheridan was located with his troops drawn up in line of battle facing the Confederate army near by. They were very much excited, and expressed their view that this was all a ruse employed to enable the Confederates to get away. They said they believed that Johnston was marching up from North Carolina now, and Lee was moving to join him; and they would whip the rebels where they now were in five minutes if I would only let them go in. But I had no doubt about the good faith of Lee . . . --The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant Grant had generously allowed his adversary to pick the meeting place. Lee's staff, after rejecting one house, selected the house of Wilmer McLean, who had owned the farm on Bull Run, and whose house had been used as a Confederate headquarters before the first major battle of the war. McLean could say with some truth that the Civil War had started in his back yard and ended in his front parlor. "Mcleanhouse parlor 2008 08 21" by Rolfmueller - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons When I had left camp that morning I had not expected so soon the result that was then taking place, and consequently was in rough garb. I was without a sword, as I usually was when on horseback on the field, and wore a soldier's blouse for a coat, with the shoulder straps of my rank to indicate to the army who I was. When I went into the house I found General Lee. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats. . . . . . What General Lee's feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly . . . . . . General Lee was dressed in a full uniform which was entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value, very likely the sword which had been presented by the State of Virginia; at all events, it was an entirely different sword from the one that would ordinarily be worn in the field. In my rough traveling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high... ... We soon fell into a conversation about old army times. He remarked that he remembered me very well in the old army; and I told him that as a matter of course I remembered him perfectly, but from the difference in our rank and years (there being about sixteen years' difference in our ages), I had thought it very likely that I had not attracted his attention sufficiently to be remembered by him after such a long interval. Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood my letter... ...we gradually fell off again into conversation about matters foreign to the subject which had brought us together. This continued for some little time, when General Lee again interrupted the course of the conversation by suggesting that the terms I proposed to give his army ought to be written out. I called to General Parker, secretary on my staff, for writing materials, and commenced writing out the following terms: HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, Appomattox C. H., Va., April 9, 1865. GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. Army: General: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers nor the private horses or baggage. This done each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside. Very respectfully, U. S. Grant, Lt.-Gen. If Lee had spared the country the nightmare of guerrilla warriors, Grant had performed a great service as well. Not only were the men of the Army of Northern Virginia not to be imprisoned, they were essentially granted immunity from prosecution for treason. There would be no mass executions of Rebel soldiers. Grant also allowed the Confederates to keep much of their property: When he read over that part of the terms about side arms, horses and private property of the officers, he remarked, with some feeling, I thought, that this would have a happy effect upon his army. [...] I said further I took it that most of the men in the ranks were small farmers. The whole country had been so raided by the two armies that it was doubtful whether they would be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter""without the aid of the horses they were then riding. The United States did not want them and I would, therefore, instruct the officers I left behind to receive the paroles of his troops to let every man of the Confederate army who claimed to own a horse or mule take the animal to his home. Lee remarked again that this would have a happy effect. --The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant Grant finished by ordering 25,000 rations to be sent to Lee's hungry men. (The Northerners could afford to, for most of the provisions were from the Confederate trains they had captured the day before.) Lee wrote his acceptance on a separate piece of paper: Headquarters Army of Northern Va., April 9, 1865. Lt.-Gen. U. S. Grant. General: I received your note of this date containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulation into effect. R. E. Lee, Gen. Grant had written out the original terms in his own hand, but his adjutant now made more formal copies. The adjutant, Ely S. Parker (below on left), was a Native American (of the Seneca nation). Noticing this, Lee remarked, "I am glad to see one real American here." Parker replied, "We are all Americans." Immediately upon his return to Washington, President Lincoln hurried to visit the injured William Seward. The Secretary of State could barely speak because of his broken jaw, but he managed, "You are back from Richmond?" Lincoln answered, "Yes, and I think we are near the end, at last." (It is possible that the surrender conference between Lee and Grant was going on at that same time.) Lincoln continued to tell Seward of his trip to City Point and Richmond until Seward fell asleep. Seward was in need of the rest, for his injuries were still painful, and sleep was hard to come by. But when the news of Lee's surrender came, Secretary of War Stanton guessed that Seward would want to hear the once-in-a-lifetime news, and hurried over to Seward's house to wake him up and share the message. The surrender at Appomattox was not the end of the war; Lee surrendered about 28,000 men, with 175,000 still in the ranks at other places in the South. But as Edward Porter Alexander had predicted, the other armies went down "like a row of bricks". There was still to be some fighting, of course. In Alabama, Fort Blakely did not last as long as Spanish Fort had done, falling to a massive assault of 16,000 Federals under Edward Canby. This apparently happened a few hours after the meeting at Appomattox Court House, but there had not been time to get the word out.
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< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 4/9/2015 4:09:42 AM >
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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers? --Victor Hugo
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