Transcripts For CSPAN3 Surrender At Appomattox 20150315 : vi

His aid. They found general lee resting at the apple orchard. Delivered the message, which in essence would indicate the general lee should select the site of their meeting, and general grant would approach when he arrived. So, general lee sent forward actually, he mounted his horse and he had with him his secretary lieutenant, and the headquarters courier, and the two federal offices. They approached the river, the appomattox, but stopped when one person wanted to drink. At which point, general lee set for set forward colonel marshall with the headquarters aid to go into the village and find a suitable meeting location. As i mentioned the village was very much neutral location between contending forces. Marshall left an account of that ride. He said, general lee told me to go forward and find a house. Very critical that he mention house. In the community, there was a courthouse. The courthouse is a judicial chamber. No one is on trial. Besides, what day of the week is it . Its sunday. Its locked in close. He continued on, where we could meet general grant, and of all people, who did i meet mclean. Im sure everyone, or most of you, have heard of mclean. I rode up to him and said, can you show me a house where general lee and grant can meet together . He took me to a house that was dilapidated. It had no furniture in it. I guess we would probably do the same. Nonetheless, it was a structure that stood out in front of his twostory brick home, which had an english basement. The house had originally been built in 48. The small building that the colonel was taken to was probably a small building no longer in use. I told him, it wouldnt do. He said, maybe my house will do. He lives in a house and i told him i thought it would suit. I sent him back to bring general lee who was coming up behind. I went into the house ands debt down. After a while, general lee and thatbabcock came along. So, general lee babcock and myself sat down in mcleans parlor and taught in an amicable way. We often hear of general lees attire when this meeting took place. He had dressed himself in a very sought lists almost new confederate uniform at 1 00 a. M. Complete with leather boots, feingold spores fine gold spurs. When the general saw him, and inquired why he was so tired it he said, i want to leave my best possible appearance. Is this the confidence of a man that thinks his men could break through the federal lines . Or is this reality . Well, what do we know about mr. Mclean and the people who lived in that house . One was age 50. I would consider wilmer and opportunities. He had married his wife, who at this point was four months pregnant. Other children were living at the house and the time. Im sure that all ladies would welcome a bunch of military officers with muddy boots coming into their house unannounced. She had brought to the marriage as i mentioned, wilmer was an opportunist a fine home called yorkshire, 1200 acres of property in one location, and additional an additional 800 acres in another location. Wilmer was a sugar importer and a wholesale grocery. When he moved into gotcher, he became a gentlemans farmer. You see, york shire is located in a place called manassas. It was seen fit by a general in july of 1860 want to make his headquarters in mr. Mcleans home. Mr. Mclean will have property at the beginning of the war, the first battle of manassas july 21, 1861, and he will bring it into his parlor in 1865. He had no friends or relatives when he moved to appomattox. He was episcopalian, and most of the inhabitants of the community were baptist and methodist. Being a tradesman, he was close to the southside railroad. He could use this for commercial purposes, which had connections to petersburg and lynchburg and points south and north. General lee, when he arrived at the home, i said to be nine stairs, when across the porch into the central hall, and into the parlor, to the left of the central hall. He may have noticed above the fireplace a lithograph drawing. That lithograph drawing was the interview between George Washington and why do we think general lee would have an interest in the drawing . Simply because his wife, mary anna randolph, was the greatgranddaughter of martha washington. Lee would be related to the washingtons. He would find that he was related to the carters, the fitzhughs, the harrises and the randolphs. Many of the first families of virginia. Roberts father was henry light horse lee, of revolutionary warfare fame and governor of virginia. His mother was and hill corridor of the king carter family. Unfortunate, his father had gambled on speculation and land, which did not materialize. When robert was six, his father left for barbados. Robert would not see him again. He had to relatives that were signers of the declaration of independence, Richard Henry lee and Francis Lightfoot lee. From his mother, the family had moved to arlington at this point, away from stratford, his birthplace. From his mother, he learned of the economy, moderation, selfcontrol courtesy, jen tilly, honor, and devotion. The fact that he was in his room was duty. He had not asked others to accompany him. He had asked only one other officer to come that did not and that was walter taylor. Walter taylor had gotten married , he only been married one week. He declined to come. General lee would not ask others to share in the trial of surrender. In 1825, he would attend the United States military academy and graduate in 1829. Graduate second in the class of what he thinks of 46. He would become a member of the elite corps of engineers and be responsible for projects and saving the waterfront in st. Louis. He and mary would have seven children three sons, all of which would serve in the confederate army, and four daughters. In the mexican war, he would serve on general scott staff general scotts staff. He would later say the general lee was the best soldier of the field. He would be superintendent of the United States military academy from 18521855. On april 17, 1861, virginia would secede and the following day, colonel lee would be offered by Francis Blair Junior Command of all federal forces. He would reject the offer. He would resign from the army on april 20 and take command of virginia forces on the 23rd. June 1, 1862, he took command of the army of Northern Virginia. We know the rest of the history. Seven days stuck at manassas, sharpsburg fredericksburg. On february 9, 1855, he was made general in chief of all confederate forces. 39 years of military service. Meanwhile, grant is making his way toward this meeting. He has them, as i mentioned, staff and upon entering the facility, he meets general sheridan and asks where generally is located, and he was in the house there to surrender. Rant indicated that grant and decay that they should ride. There is a vast difference in general grants background and appearance which makes this meeting kind of a symbolic one of division. A division in the history of the country. A division culturally, industrially. Grant would dismount in the courtyard into the same hallway and go into the parlor. General lee is now seated behind a small oval top table, and using a king back chair. He has been about one hour. The longest half hour and e lees life. One might imagine, since i reiterated all the things ive taken place in his life, and his idol being George Washington, the things he would contemplate. When grant enters the parlor, he will bring with him 1517 other federal offices. And a newspaper officer of the new york herald. The newspaper reporter traveled with the staff quite regularly. This was not an unusual situation. Grants uniform if we can call it that was quite the drug will money, he had no spurs. He had no cord on his hat. He wore no so lord. He had the uniform of a private, only modified with five buttons. The only distinguishing mark between general grant and i was any other soldier is the fact that he had Lieutenant General shoulder boards. He hadnt expected general lead to react as quickly as he had, even though he had indicated to the secretary of war the day before the general lee would surrender on this day. What we know about grant. We know id initially that general lee his hand, the two offices shook hands. Grant, at this point, is 42 years of age. General lee is 58 years old. He was born on april twice on april twice 7 1822, at a place called point pleasant. He would soon move with the family to georgetown, where he said most of his childhood. His father, jesse grant operated a tannery. He was very outspoken and opinionated. Many would call him a know it all. His mother was very genteel. He was born into this world, and given a name of Hiram Ulysses grant. The young boy hated the tannery. He couldnt stand the smell of it. His name was changed when he entered west point. They only had entry for someone named Ulysses Simpson grant. The entry was made because of a congressman from the area who thought the boy was named after his mother. He turned out to be an indifferent student at the academy. He had over 250 demerits. He didnt want to go to west point. He wanted to become a mass teacher. But his father insisted and he didnt argue against his father. He set a record at the academy. General grant was an expert horseman. He graduated in 1843, the 21st of 39 cadets. He was assigned to the fourth United States infantry. He went to jettison barretts where he soon became friends of another officer by the name of james longstreet. He would fight in the mexican war. In 1848, he married julia dance. They would have four children, three sons and one daughter. He did not like being apart from his family or his wife, especially when transferred to many of the western outpost. As a result, he may have taken up the use of alcohol. April 11, 18 54, he was promoted to captain. Shortly thereafter, he was forced to resign on being under the influence of alcohol. The acceptance of that resignation was in the secretary of war office, and the secretary of war was jefferson davis. He never showed the stories that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Though, in reality, he drink very little. He drink only when drank only when, for the most by, separated from his family. He returned to st. Louis after several jobs, all of which were failures until finally his father invited him to come work in his Leather Goods store in illinois. He was there when the war broke out. Offered his services to United States army, but without the backing of congressman washburn he probably would have never gotten the command. The local congressman had influenced and saw that the former captain got a regiment. From there, he went on to achieve great military success. For henry shiloh, china, chattanooga. He was ordered to washington and he was promoted to Lieutenant General. I certainly cant think of anyone who went from the street corners, so to speak, of st. Louis, and the Leather Goods store to Lieutenant General in three years. He had promised, obviously. No one since George Washington held that rank on a permanent basis. On march 12, he was given command of all federal forces. He took his position in the field. The field would bring forth wilderness, cold harbor, petersburg, and finally meeting with general lee. Of volunteers staff officer on general need staff general nmeans staff observed him on several occasions and said he is of eyes of clear blue, for head high, a jar set squarely. His face has three expressions deep thought, extreme determination, and great simplicity and confidence. It was hard to shake general grant, even in the present calamity, he would always remain column. What would entitle him to be here . What instructions had he received . How would he know what to put on paper . He met with the president several times. He met with the president on march 28, and again on april 3 in petersburg. He had instructions from a march 3 telegram. He had generally instructions on how to conduct his surrender. Of course, there would be no talk of other military forces. That was a political consideration to recognize the other forces as a single unit would be in a sense of recognition of the existence of the confederation, would the Lincoln Administration would never do. Had he had any experience . His military experience. But, i venture to say, that no one had more experience of this procedure, military surrender as general grant. He accepted the surrender of four dollars fort donnelly, and he became known as Unconditional Surrender grant. On july 3 1863. Could he put his terms explicitly in writing . Would there be any second guessing as to what was intended . I put forward to you that he was an excellent writer. His autobiography was just completed. He died one week earlier. It is still in print today and considered one of the best autobiographies in english language. General mead said that you only need to just needed to read his instructions wants to understand their full complicity. He had experience, instructions, and the ability. One thing that is probably also not known about this meeting, and we will talk about what transpires is that grant smoked probably during the entire meeting. One of his Staff Officers said that he consumed 20 cigars per day. I dont know if he smoked that many or gave them away, or chewed on them, but they said he consumed 20 cigars, and there is no doubt that you probably smoked to relieve the tensions of the meeting during the full preceding. The first conversation between the two generals was talk of the mexican war. That wasnt something that they had written about to discuss. It may have been something that general grant brought forward to ease himself into the discussion. Did generally remember general grant . General lee remember general grant . Sunsetted no. Some say the general lee did recognize them. General grant had this to say our conversation grew so pleasant, that i almost forgot the subject of our meeting. After the conversation ran on for some time, general lee brought my attention to the object of the meeting the purpose of getting me to give the terms to his army. I said sadly, his army should lay down arms and not take them up again during the civil war unless duly and properly exchange. He said he so understood my letter. We then fell off again in conversation to matters for of the subject that brought us together. This continued for some time when general lee again interrupted the course of a conversation by suggesting that the terms that i propose to his army ought to be written out. General lee called for the order book. Writing in the order book, he began to write out the terms. His order book was kind of a modern copy machine. He could write out an order and have two copies below it which he could then tear out and give to other commanders if he wished. So that time would not be wasted, or the possibility of a mistake in recopying. The terms, as written, in draft form, stated that the officers of Northern Virginia would be paroled until properly exchange. The arms the artillery, and all these symbols of war and public property would be surrendered. The officers could retain their personal baggage and courses. Horses. General grant then detailed one of his Staff Officers to copy the terms into ink after they had been gone over three fully. Briefly. While this was taking place, general grant said what general lees feelings are, i do not know. He is a man as much dignity, it was impossible to say if he felt sad or was to merely to show it. What ever his feelings were, they were entirely concealed from my observations, but my own feelings, which had been jubilant, were sad and depressed. I might add that colonel parker, who would begin the process of copying this draft was not a citizen of the United States. He was a seneca indian. Grant had met him in illinois when he was supervising the construction of the post office. Colonel parker had gone on to study law, but not being a citizen, he was not allowed to practice. He went on to an institute in new york state, and became a civil engineer. Matt recognize the man for his ability, not for his birth. Actually before parker began to copy in eating and grant had given the copy to general leaee for him to read and make corrections. There was a correction to be made. The Word Exchange had been left out and lee asked for it to be included, which was granted. The terms were handed to general lee. The terms, as written, where written in ink that was provided by colonel marshall. The federals havent brought any ink with them. Mr. Macleans ego was unusable. So, we will have terms of surrender drafted by a gentleman who is not a citizen of the country, using ink from the opposing side. General lee asked general marshall to complete a letter of acceptance. He completed one, but it was unacceptable, so he required a second effort. He does not have enough paper so he must borrow taper from the federal offices. If youre are looking for symbolism in this meeting, its all over. If this country is going to have to come together and proceed into the 20th, 21st, 20 second century, it must use the resources of all of its citizens. As well as the physical Resources Available to them. General grant would then rise and there would be an introduction made with some of the federal offices in the room. General lee would note that Seth Williams is there. He had been in west point from 18521855. He also noted colonel parker and said, it is good to see one real american here. You know what colonel parker said . He said, general, we are all americans. As there is anything that is symbolic with what happened in that room, it is really not about the military event. Its about the feeling that came from it. The feeling to bring about a reunification of the nation after a very bloody contests. I thank you for your indulgence. This meeting lasted until about 3 00. General lee boyd depart and general grant would depart. Other events at appomattox are beyond the scope of these meetings. Any question . [applause] we do have time for a few questions. I see a gentleman standing over here at the microphone in the aisle to the left. If you could give your name and then ask a question we would appreciate it. My name is jim morgan. I would like to ask you a question not about the ma