out of consideration for Lee. Shortly after, General Grant sent a request for them to come in. And in that room the terms of surrender were signed. Colonel Marshall, of Lee's staff, leaned his back against the mantel of the broad, open fireplace. In front of him sat General Lee. At the table fronting him was General Grant. Back of the table, and leaning against the wall, were Colonel Babcock and General Seth Williams, of the staff. Near by, and behind Grant, standing with his sheathed sabre resting across his left arm, was General Sheridan. Next to him were Generals Ingalls and Barnard. Directly behind Grant's chair stood his chief of staff, General Rawlins, with other members of the staff near by. General Ord was seated near the table. The others present were Colonels Badeau, Eli Parker, T. S. Bowers, Frederick T. Dent, and Horace Porter. Sheridan was as marked a figure, in face, pose, expression, dress, as was Lee himself. The Confederate commander was in full uniform, with sword and equipment, all of which were nearly or quite new. The condition of General Lee's and Colonel Marshall's clothing was explained by the fact that the activity of Sheridan's cavalry in attacking their baggage train had compelled officers to select the most needed articles and leave the rest to be destroyed, rather than have them fall into our hands. Sheridan had fallen unconsciously, as the generals conversed, into a strikingly dramatic attitude. The others sat or lounged, with quiet if intense interest. Sheridan's attitude was that of the soldier who expected to be called suddenly to action. It was that of his mood, for during the whole marvelous pursuit in which he had led the attack and the advance he had been wrought up to the loftiest pitch of endurance, courage, foresight, and vital movement. Indeed, he could have almost stood as a model of Fate, so alert and unyielding was his attitude. Cavalry boots, rusty and soiled, covered half his short, sturdy limbs. He wore the full uniform of his rank, with sash, belt, and sword. His short, broad, sturdy form stood posed in strength. The head and face were remarkable. Beardless, except a close, dark mustache, its striking form and lines were seen most clearly. The expression was that of set, fixed force and determination. There was a tremendous degree of vitality in the notable figure - a great amount of intellectual reserve in the lined countenance. With close-cropped head and beardless face, the depth, height, and breadth of the general's remarkable cranium were felt by all. The jaw, strong and well defined, was not heavy. There was not a gross line to be seen. The arched brows dipped strongly to the interior, and were drawn close by the set, stern look habitual to him in the field. The Irish gray eyes followed searchingly every facial movement of the Confederate leader. That the brain behind that fixed, impassive sternness was at work could be understood by one glance. Standing "at attention," with his heavy sheathed cavalry sabre resting on his left arm, Sheridan was indeed the embodied vigilance of the Union army. That morning found ample cause for vigilance. The bold, ardent, ceaseless pursuit which had followed Five Forks, and especially marked the advance from Jetersville, had been rewarded by the securing of the west ridge beyond Lee's position and by the rapid alignment of infantry across the only road by which Lee could move. The Confederates were enmeshed and knew it. The work of disabling guns and destroying military property was going on. Custer in the advance was as usual aching to attack and capture more guns. His division secured the last taken by actual combat in Virginia. It was a wonderfully picturesque sight, for the topographical features permitted a full display of our strengthening and encircling lines, as well as the hurried movements of the gallant enemy within the fateful circles forming about them. Lieutenant-General Gordon with his corps faced Sheridan and Ord, fretting with the impatience of valor. It was his desire to cut his way through, and the veterans behind him would at his word have tried it. Lee knew, however, that such sacrifice was useless, and took pains to forward to General Sheridan a copy of his letter to Grant, calling for a conference to arrange the terms of surrender. Sheridan received this at least an hour before Grant did, with information, also, of the short truce allowed by Meade, whose army was steadily pressed to its position. Sheridan at once rode down to meet Gordon, accompanied by Custer, Merritt, Deven, and others. How the news was received can be faintly seen by the following incident: Captain A. J. Ricks, of Major-General J. D. Cox's staff, was with that officer when the dispatch announcing Lee's surrender was read. The cheering frightened his horse, which dashed off at full speed, heading to an approaching column of the army. The thought flashed through the rider's mind that this was an opportunity to carry the news through the whole army, so giving free rein to the excited horse, he rode on. The battalions opened for the horse and rider, and he shouted out the news as he sped onward. Captain Ricks narrates: "In one of the regiments, as I was sweeping through the ranks, I caught the bright face of a soldier leaning out from the lines as far as possible into the road, to catch the message that fell from my lips. What is it? What is it?' he anxiously shouted. Lee has sur rendered his whole army to Grant,' was the reply. Clear and loud, above all the voices, and quick as the message fell upon his ear, was his answer: Great God! you're the man I've been looking for for the last four years.'" A little incident occurred which deserves mention, and it is given here in the words of General Horace Porter. After the formal terms of surrender were signed, and the staff of General Grant had been introduced, General Lee took the initiative in bringing the conference to business again, and said: "I have a thousand or more of your men as prisoners, General Grant, a number of them officers, whom we have required to march along with us for several days. I shall be glad to send them into your lines as soon as it can be arranged, for I have no provisions for them. I have, indeed, nothing for my own men. They have been living for the last few days principally upon parched corn, and we are badly in need of both rations and forage. I telegraphed to Lynchburg, directing several train loads of rations to be sent on by rail from there, and when they arrive I should be glad to have the present wants of my men supplied from them.' "At this remark, all eyes turned towards Sheridan, for he had captured these trains with his cavalry the night before, near Appomattox Station." The incident shows how complete was the Union environment, and how hopeless would have been any further struggle on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia. It is another evidence of Sheridan's ubiquity. The cavalry was always there wherever that might be. - Sheridan shared with the other officers, after Lee had ridden away, the desire to secure some relic of the memorable occasion in which he had been so stalwart an actor. But his desire took a generous turn, for paying McLean twenty dollars in gold for the little table on which Lee had signed the terms of surrender, he at once made a present of it to Mrs. Custer-through her husband. Porter says that Custer "started off to camp bearing it upon his shoulder, and looking like Atlas carrying the world." And for the time being they were - these men of high valor—“ carrying the world" on their shoulders. It was a memorable event. The accessories were simple enough, as always on really great occasions. But no field in human history has held higher hopes, and none have ever witnessed a larger magnanimity, a grander generosity. CHAPTER XXIV. THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRYMEN. THE SOUTHERN ADVANTAGE AT FIRST-CAVALRY OFFICERS MAKING FINE "JEB STUART THEIR BEST FEDERACY-WHAT LEE SAID OF HIS USEFULNESS- THE "BOYS" ARE MARCHING HOME AGAIN - NOT ALL OF THEM. 1864, and during the rapid retreat from Missouri of General Sterling Price and his army, mostly mounted, that Rosecrans, commanding the Department of Missouri, coming up on the tail of the pursuit, sneered audibly at General Curtis, commanding the Department of Kansas, for pressing the enemy with the mounted forces under his control, which comprised only about half his command, and was much less in numbers than Price's beaten army. General Rosecrans remarked to the officer in command of an engineer party, that Curtis "could not keep it up." Our marches were then some thirty miles a day when not fighting. . You'll see; I'll have to come up at last with my infantry." As a matter of fact, in that pursuit "Rosy's" infantry never got within fifty miles of a battle-field, and Price was three times routed, and driven finally across the Arkansas River, 200 miles below where the infantry was to "come up," if at all. The Southern leaders, certainly at first, understood the logistics of the situation better than our own authorities. One reason of that is perhaps to be found in the fact that so many of the Confederate commanders those from the regular service especially-had been in the cavalry service. Jefferson Davis himself evidently appreciated this arm, as he took especial pains while Secretary of War, under Pierce, in organizing four additional regiments to the regular army, to procure the legislation necessary to equip them as cavalry, and then to officer them with those who, it seemed to him, would best serve the South in the contingencies that were likely to arise. The ex-cavalrymen among commanding and leading generals of the Confederacy, can be named by the score. It was in the eastern division of our vast field of war that the cavalry service was, after all, brought to its highest perfection. And it was in that field, also, that the Confederacy aggregated of necessity some of its most useful cavalry commanders. It had the advantage in some degree of securing there the most experienced of the old army dragoons. Lee himself, J. E. B. Stuart, Fitzhugh Lee, Ewell, Hill, Anderson, Sibley, Joseph E. Johnston, Steele, Hood, Jordan, Albert Sidney Johnston, and a hundred others who could be named, might be properly selected from our ante bellum army as the fittest men to organize a cavalry force. The Confederates were not, also, without most gallant cavalry soldiers and leaders whose sabres carved their way from civil life to martial eminence. Among those still living are such men as Wade Hampton, Wheeler, Chalmers, and Moseby. General Gordon himself has shown all the finest qualities of a cavalry commander. Of those who have passed away may be named with respect for soldierly qualities at least, Stuart, Forrest, Cleburne, Wickham, Gilmore, Ashby, Van Dorn, Ben. McCullough, and many others. Still, as at first in our own army, the engineer officers, like Beauregard, were made prominent. The exigencies of field service, however, soon put the trained cavalry commanders to the fore. The excellence of our West Point training was well illustrated there, in that it showed how easily its graduates could pass from one arm of the service to another, especially in the three active ones-infantry, cavalry, and artillery. |