south and west of the enemy, heading him off completely. Generals Sheridan and Ord, with a group of officers around them, were seen in the road, and as our party came up General Grant said: “ How are you, Sheridan f ” “ First-rate, thank you; how are you?” cried Sheridan, with a voice and look that seemed to indicate that on his part he was having things all his own way. “Is Lee over there ? ” asked General Grant, pointing up the street, having heard a rumor that Lee was in that vicinity. “Yes, he is in that brick house,” answered Sheridan. “Well, then, we ’ll go over,” said Grant.
The general-in-chief now rode on, accompanied by Sheridan, Ord, and some others, and soon Colonel Babcock’s orderly was seen sitting on his horse in the street in front of a two-story brick house, better in appearance than the rest of the houses. He said General Lee and Colonel Babcock had gone into this house a short time before, and he was ordered to post himself in the street and keep a lookout for General Grant, so as to let him know where General Lee was. Babcock told me afterward that in carrying General Grant’s last letter he passed through the enemy’s lines and found General Lee a little more than half a mile beyond Appomattox Court Blouse. He was lying down by the roadside on a blanket which had been spread over a few fence rails on the ground under an apple-tree, which was part of an orchard. This circumstance furnished the only ground for the widespread report that the surrender occurred under an apple-tree. Babcock dismounted upon coming near, and as he approached on foot, Lee sat up, with his feet hanging over the roadside embankment. The wheels of the wagons in passing along the road had cut away the earth of this embankment and left the roots of the tree projecting. Lee’s feet were partly resting on these roots. One of his staff-officers came forward, took the despatch which Babcock handed him and gave it to General Lee. After reading it, the general rose and said he would ride forward on the road on which Babcock had come, but was apprehensive that hostilities might begin in the mean time, upon the termination of the temporary truce, and asked Babcock to write a line to Meade informing him of the situation. Babcock wrote accordingly, requesting Meade to maintain the truce until positive orders from General Grant could be received. To save time it was arranged that a Union officer, accompanied by one of Lee’s officers, should carry this letter through the enemy’s lines. This route made the distance to Meade nearly ten miles shorter than by the roundabout way of the Union lines. Lee now mounted his horse and directed Colonel Charles Marshall, his military secretary, to accompany him. They started for Appomattox Court House in company with Babcock and followed by a mounted orderly. When the party reached the village they met one of its residents, named Wilmer McLean, who was told that General Lee wanted to occupy a convenient room in some house in the town. McLean ushered them into the sitting-room of one of the first houses he came to, but upon looking about and finding it quite small and meagerly furnished, Lee proposed finding something more commodious and
He handed this to Colonel Babcock of the staff, with directions to take it to General Lee by the most direct route. Mounting his horse again the general rode on at a trot toward Appomattox Court House. When five or six miles from the town, Colonel Newhall, Sheridan’s adjutant-general, came riding up from the direction of Appomattox and handed the general a communication. This proved to be a duplicate of the letter from Lee that Lieutenant Pease had brought in from Meade’s lines. Lee was so closely pressed that he was anxious to communicate with Grant by the most direct means, and as he could not tell with which column Grant was moving he sent in one copy of his letter on Meade’s front and one on Sheridan’s. Colonel New-hall joined our party, and after a few minutes’ halt to read the letter we continued our ride toward Appomattox. On the march I had asked the general several times how he felt. To the same question now he said, “ The pain in my head seemed to leave me the moment I got Lee’s letter.” The road was filled with men, animals, and wagons, and to avoid these and shorten the distance we turned slightly to the right and began to “ cut across lots ”; but before going far we spied men conspicuous in gray, and it was seen that we were moving toward the enemy’s left flank, and that a short ride farther would take us into his lines. It looked for a moment as if a very awkward condition of things might possibly arise, and Grant become a prisoner in Lee’s lines instead of Lee in his. Such a circumstance would have given rise to an important cross-entry in the system of campaign bookkeeping. There was only one remedy—to retrace our steps and strike the right road, which was done without serious discussion. About 1 o’clock the little village of Appomattox Court House, with its half-dozen houses, came in sight, and soon we were entering its single street. It is situated on some rising ground, and beyond the country slopes down into a broad valley. The enemy was seen with his columns and wagon trains covering the low ground. Our cavalry, the B’ifth Corps, and part of Ord’s command were occupying the high ground to the 314
the sun, but this he declined to do, and soon after mounted “Cincinnati” and struck off toward New Store. From that point he went by way of a crossroad to the south side of the Appomattox with the intention of moving around to Sheridan’s front. While riding along the wagon road that runs from Farmville to Appomattox Court House, at a point eight or nine miles east of the latter place, Lieutenant Charles E. Pease of Meade’s staff overtook him with a despatch. It was found to.be a reply from Lee, which had been sent in to our lines on Humphreys’s front. It read as follows :
“April 9th, 1865.
“ 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 ask an interview, in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday, for that purpose.	R. E. Lee, General.
“ Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant.”
Pease also brought a note from Meade, saying that at Lee’s request he had read the communication addressed to General Grant and in consequence of it had granted a short truce.
The general, as soon as he had read these letters, dismounted, sat down on the grassy bank by the roadside, and wrote the following reply to Lee:
“ ArRIL 9TH, 1865.
“ General B. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. Army:
“Your uotoof this date is but this moment (11: 50 A. M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Bichmond 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 HOUSE.	to take place will meet me.
“ U. S. Grant, Lieut.-General.”
General Grant had been able to get but very little sleep. He now sat up and read the letter, and after making a few comments upon it to General Rawlins lay down again on the sofa.
About 4 o’clock on the morning of the 9th I rose and crossed the hall to ascertain how the general was feeling. I found his room empty, and upon going out of the front door saw him pacing up and down in the yard holding both hands to his head. Upon inquiring how he felt, he replied that he had had very little sleep, and was still suffering the most excruciating pain. I said: “Well, there is one consolation in all this, General: I never knew you to be ill that you did not receive some good news. I have become a little superstitious regarding these coincidences, and I should not be surprised if some good fortune overtook you before night.” He smiled and said : “ The best thing that can happen to me to-day is to get rid of the pain I am suffering.” We were soon joined by some others of the staff, and the general was induced to go over to Meade’s headquarters with us and get some coffee, in the hope that it would do him good. He seemed to feel a little betternow, and after writing the following letter to Lee and despatching it he prepared to move forward. The letter was as follows:
“ April 9th, 1865.
“ General : Yarn-note of yesterday is received. I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace. The meeting proposed for 10 a. m. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, that I am equally desirous 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 would hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all ourdifficulties maybe settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc.,
“ U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.
“ General B. E. Lee.”
It was proposed to Mm to ride during the day in a covered ambulance which was at hand, instead of on horseback, so as to avoid the intense heat of
MCLEAN’S HOUSE, APPOMATTOX COURT From a photograph.
APPOMATTOX STATION, YA.