U.S. Grant,
Meeting with Robert E. Lee,
9 April 1865
I had
known General Lee in the old army, and had served with him in the Mexican
War; but did not suppose, owing to the difference in our age and rank,
that he would remember me; while I would more naturally remember him
distinctly, because he was the chief of staff of General Scott in the
Mexican War.
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. I had my staff with me, a good portion
of whom were in the room during the whole of the interview.
What General Lee's feelings were I do not
know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassable 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 [proposing negotiations], were sad and
depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the
downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered
so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst
for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least
excuse. I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass
of those who were opposed to us.
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
and of faultless form. But this was not a matter that I thought of
until afterwards.
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 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.
Then 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 [Ely S.]
Parker, secretary on my staff, for writing materials, and commenced
writing out the following terms:
Appomattox C. H., Va.,
Ap'l 9th, 1865
Gen. R. E. Lee,
Comd'g C. S. A.
In accordance with the substance of my letter to
you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to
wit: Rolls of all the officers and men
to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer
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 officer appointed by me to receive
them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or
baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return
to their homes, 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. When I put my
pen to the paper I did not know the first word that I should make use of
in writing the terms. I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished
to express it clearly, so that there could be no mistaking it. As I
wrote on, the thought occurred to me that the officers had their own
private horses and effects, which were important to them, but of no value
to us; also that it would be an unnecessary humiliation to call upon them
to deliver their side arms.
No conversation, not one word, passed between
General Lee and myself, either about private property, side arms, or
kindred subjects. He appeared to have no objections to the terms
first proposed; or if he had a point to make against them he wished to
wait until they were in writing to make it. 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.
Then, after a little further conversation, General
Lee remarked to me again that their army was organized a little
differently from the army of the United States (still maintaining by
implication that we were two countries); that in their army the cavalrymen
and artillerists owned their own horses; and he asked if he was to
understand that the men who so owned their horses were to be permitted to
retain them. I told him that as the terms were written they would
not; that only the officers were permitted to take their private
property. He then, after reading over the terms a second time,
remarked that that was clear.
I then said to him that I thought this would be
about the last battle of the war -- I sincerely hoped so; and 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.
He then sat down and wrote out the following
letter:
Headquarters Army of Northern
Virginia,
April 9,
1865
Lieut.-General U. S. Grant.
--I received your letter 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 inst., they are
accepted. I will proceed to designate
the proper officers to carry the stipulations into
effect.
While
duplicates of the two letters were being made, the Union generals present
were severally presented to General Lee.
The much talked of surrendering of Lee's sword and
my handing it back, this and much more that has been said about it is the
purest romance. The word sword or side arms was not mentioned by
either of us until I wrote it in the terms. There was no
premeditation, and it did not occur to me until the moment I wrote it
down. If I had happened to omit it, and General Lee had called my
attention to it, I should have put it in the terms precisely as I acceded
to the provision about the soldiers retaining their horses.
General Lee, after all was completed and before
taking his leave, remarked that his army was in a very bad condition for
want of food, and that they were without forage; that his men had been
living for some days on parched corn exclusively, and that he would have
to ask me for rations and forage. I told him "certainly," and asked
for how many men he wanted rations. His answer was "about
twenty-five thousand": and I authorized him to send his own
commissary and quartermaster to Appomattox Station, two or three miles
away, where he could have, out of the trains we had stopped, all the
provisions wanted. As for forage, we had ourselves depended almost
entirely upon the country for that.
Generals Gibbon, Griffin and Merritt were
designated by me to carry into effect the paroling of Lee's troops before
they should start for their homes -- General Lee leaving Generals
Longstreet, Gordon and Pendleton for them to confer with in order to
facilitate this work. Lee and I then separated as cordially as we
had met, he returning to his own lines, and all went into bivouac for the
night at Appomattox.
Soon after Lee's departure I telegraphed to
Washington as follows:
Headquarters Appomattox C. H.,
Va.,
April 9th, 1865, 4:30
p.m.
Hon. E. M. Stanton:
Secretary of War,
Washington.
General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern
Virginia this afternoon on terms
proposed by myself. The accompanying additional
correspondence will show the
conditions fully.
U. S. Grant,
Lieut.-General When
news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced firing a
salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent
word, however, to have it stopped. The Confederates were now our
prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.
I determined to return to Washington at once, with
a view to putting a stop to the purchase of supplies, and what I now
deemed other useless outlay of money. Before leaving, however, I
thought I would like to see General Lee again; so next morning I rode out
beyond our lines towards his headquarters, preceded by a bugler and a
staff-officer carrying a white flag.
Lee soon mounted his horse, seeing who it was, and
met me. We had there between the lines, sitting on horseback, a very
pleasant conversation of over half an hour, in the course of which Lee
said to me that the South was a big country and that we might have to
march over it three or four times before the war entirely ended, but that
we would now be able to do it as they could no longer resist us. He
expressed it as his earnest hope, however, that we would not be called
upon to cause more loss and sacrifice of life; but he could not foretell
the result. I then suggested to General Lee that there was not a man
in the Confederacy whose influence with the soldiery and the whole people
was as great as his, and that if he would now advise the surrender of all
armies I had no doubt his advice would be followed with alacrity.
But Lee said, that he could not do that without consulting the President
first. I knew there was no use to urge him to do anything against
his ideas of what was right.
I was accompanied by my staff and other officers,
some of whom seemed to have a great desire to go inside the Confederate
lines. They finally asked permission of Lee to do so for the purpose
of seeing some of their old army friends, and the permission was
granted. They went over, had a very pleasant time with their old
friends, and brought some of them back with them when they
returned.
When Lee and I separated he went back to his lines
and I returned to the house of Mr. McLean. Here the officers of both
armies came in great numbers, and seemed to enjoy the meeting as much as
though they had been friends separated for a long time while fighting
battles under the same flag. For the time being it looked very much
as if all thought of the war had escaped their minds. After an hour
pleasantly passed in this way I set out on horseback, accompanied by my
staff and a small escort, for Burkesville Junction, up to which point the
railroad had by this time been repaired.
SOURCE: U. S. Grant, Personal
Memoirs of U. S. Grant (New York, 1885), pages 555-560.
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