الوسم: العاشر

Two Viewpoints of the Same Event:
Lee Surrenders to Grant, 1865
What General Lee’s feelings were I do not
know. As he was a man of much dignity, with
an impassible face, it was impossible to say
whether he felt inwardly glad that the end
had fi nally 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, 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 fi eld. 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 suffi ciently 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.