434 GENERAL LEE'S SURRENDER [1865 the President completed his river journey in a twelve-oared barge and walked about a mile and a half through the Richmond streets accompanied by Admiral Porter and three other officers with a guard of only ten sailors armed with carbines. He was received with demonstrations of joy by the negroes and, though the city was full of drunken civilians, he met with neither molestation nor indignity. He went to the house which Davis had occupied as a residence, now Weitzel's headquarters and, if we may believe some personal recollections, looked about the house and sat in Davis's chair with boyish delight. Lincoln passed the night in Richmond and on April 5 returned to City Point. Under that date Jones reported perfect order in the city and Dana telegraphed from Richmond, "Whig appeared yesterday as Union paper. Theatre opens here to-night." 1 The Army of Northern Virginia evacuated Richmond and Petersburg during the night of April 2 and the early morning of the 3d. Grant, without tarrying for a visit to Richmond, set after them in hot pursuit. After a chase of eighty miles he hemmed them in and compelled their surrender.2 When Lee became convinced that further resistance was useless he said, "Then there is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths.' He ordered the white flag to be dis10. R., XLVI, Pt. 3, 575. 2 T. L. Livermore wrote on Jan. 8. 1906: "During the Appomattox campaign, March 29 to April 9, 1865, with a force of about 116,000 effectives, Grant manoeuvred and drove out of their intrenchments in front of Richmond and Petersburg about 52,000 Confederates and then with 72,000 men pursuing for eighty miles the remainder of the Confederate army estimated at 37,000, captured, dispersed, or put hors de combat on the way about 9000, and finally surrounded and received the surrender of 28,231. In no other modern campaign has an army ever pursued, surrounded and captured so many men in full flight." Milt. Hist. Soc., VI, 451. CH. XIV] on GENERAL LEE'S SURRENDER 435 played, requested by letter a suspension of hostilities and an interview with Grant. The two generals met at McLean's house in the little village of Appomattox CourtHouse. Lee wore a new full-dress uniform of Confederate gray "buttoned to the throat" and a handsome sword, the hilt of which "was studded with jewels," while Grant had "a blouse of dark-blue flannel unbuttoned in front" and carried no sword. "In my rough travelling suit," wrote Grant, "the uniform of a private with the straps of lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high and of faultless form."2 Although jubilant over his victory Grant, on coming into personal contact with Lee, "felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly." 11 3 Grant was magnanimous; Lee heroic in his adversity. Generous terms were offered and the paper signed that ended the war. The number of men surrendered was 28,231. The Confederates had "been living for the last few days principally upon parched corn" and were badly in need of food. Grant supplied them with rations. As soon as the Union soldiers heard of the surrender they commenced firing salutes at different points along the lines. He ordered these stopped saying, "The war is over; the rebels are our countrymen again; and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field." 4 Lee rode back sorrowfully to his soldiers. With eyes full of tears he said, "We have fought through the war together. I have done the best I could for you. My heart is too full 1 H. Porter, Oct. 1897, 883. 2 Grant, II, 490. Grant was 5 feet 8 in. high, with shoulders slightly stooped. He was nearly 43, Lee 58. 3 Grant, II, 489. 4 Horace Porter, Oct. 1897, 886, 887. 436 to say more. On the morrow he issued a farewell address to the Army of Northern Virginia and rode away to Richmond. The army disbanded and dispersed to their homes.2 The news of Lee's surrender was received in Washington at nine o'clock on Sunday evening, April 9, and at a somewhat later hour in other cities. While the people had exulted at the occupation of Richmond, they perceived that the possession of the capital of the Confederacy did not imply the end of the war. But now it was in everybody's mouth, "the great captain of the rebellion had surrendered": this imported that slavery was dead, the Union restored and that the nation lived. So pregnant an event ought to be made known speedily to Europe; accordingly the Inman line despatched a special steamer on the Monday to carry the intelligence across the ocean. The people of the North rejoiced on the night of the 9th and during the day and evening of the 10th as they had never rejoiced before, nor did they on any occasion during the remainder of the century show such an exuberance of gladness. Business was suspended and the courts adjourned. Cannons fired, bells rang, flags floated, houses and shops were gay with the red, white and blue. There were illuminations and bonfires. The streets of the cities and towns were filled with men who shook hands warmly, embraced each other, shouted, laughed and cheered and were indeed beside themselves in their great joy. There were pledges in generous wine and much common drinking in bar-rooms and liquor shops. There were fantastic processions, grotesque performances and some tomfoolery. Grave and old gentlemen forgot their age and dignity and played the pranks of schoolboys. But always above these foolish and bibulous excesses sounded the patriotic and religious note of the jubilee. 1 Life of Lee, Cooke, 463. 2 See V, passim. CH. XIV] REJOICING 437 "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow" were the words most frequently sung in the street, the Board of Trade and the Stock Exchange. One writer recorded that in the barroom of Willard's Hotel, Washington, when the news arrived, an elderly gentleman sprang upon the bar and led the crowd in singing with unwonted fervor the well-known doxology.] Twenty thousand men in Wall Street sang it with uncovered heads. On the Tuesday, Trinity Church, New York, was crowded for a special service. The choir chanted the Te Deum and at the bidding of the clergyman the congregation rose and, inspired by the great organ and guided by the choir, sang the noble anthem "Gloria in Excelsis." These opening words, "Glory be to God on high and on earth peace, good will towards men" had a peculiar significance to the Northern people who during these days of rejoicing were for the most part full of generous feeling for the South. Patriotism expressed itself in the songs "John Brown's Body," "My Country, 'tis of Thee," "Rally Round the Flag," and the "Star-spangled Banner." Lowell instinctively put into words what his countrymen had in their hearts: "The news, my dear Charles, is from Heaven. I felt a strange and tender exaltation. I wanted to laugh and I wanted to cry and ended by holding my peace and feeling devoutly thankful. There is something magnificent in having a country to love." 1 The surrender of Johnston to Sherman naturally followed Lee's surrender. The war was over. Between these two events our country suffered the greatest disaster in its history. Lincoln was assassinated. Walt Whitman sang: O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won. 1 To C. E. Norton, Lowell, I, 344. 438 ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN [1865 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still." Although exasperated by Lincoln's assassination, the North was at the same time inspired by the grandeur of Grant's conduct at Appomattox. Nobody was hanged for a political crime,1 no land of the vanquished Confederates confiscated. Since the Americans' "most noble closing of the Civil War," wrote George Meredith, "I have looked to them as the hope of our civilization." 2 The great man of the Civil War was Lincoln. Lacking him the North would have abandoned the contest. His love of country and abnegation of self made him a worthy leader. Other rulers of great power have remorselessly crushed those who stood in their way. He said, I am not in favor of crushing anybody out. Give every man a chance. Lincoln is not as Mommsen wrote of Cæsar — the "entire and perfect man" who "worked and created as never any mortal did before or after him." Verily Cæsar created Cæsarism for the modern world, the autocracy of the super-man. But which is the better policy to transmit to mankind, despotism or liberty? the better injunction, Submit yourselves unto Cæsar, or Give every man a chance? In intellect Cæsar and Lincoln are not to be compared. We speak of the mighty Cæsar, never of the mighty Lincoln. But nobody speaks of honest Julius, while Honest Old Abe will live through the ages. 1 "It has been eloquently said that the grass soon grows over blood shed upon the battlefield but never over blood shed upon the scaffold." Froude's Elizabeth, IV, 368. 2 Lect., 193, n. 1; see V, passim. |