1865] Lees surrender. Flight of Jefferson Davis. 541 cavalry confronted him, Lee ordered Gordon's corps to clear the way for a continuation of their retreat. But when Gordon, advancing on the morning of the 9th, saw the cavalry gradually retire, opening to his view the solid lines of Federal infantry directly in his way, he halted and hurriedly sent two messages, one with a white flag to Sheridan, asking a suspension of hostilities pending negotiations for surrender, the other to General Lee, on receipt of which the Confederate commander at once announced his intention to hold a conference with General Grant. That afternoon the village of Appomattox was made historic by a meeting of the military chiefs. Lee, a tall, handsome man, fifty-nine years old, over six feet in height, with silver-grey hair, erect in carriage, and wearing a full new Confederate uniform with handsome sword and sash, arrived first and was conducted to the parlour of a comfortable two-storey brick house. Grant arrived soon after, clad in the ordinary fatigue dress he habitually wore, " the uniform of a private soldier, with the shoulder-straps of a Lieutenant-General," as he himself describes it in his memoirs, without sword or sash, and with his trousers tucked into his top-boots which were splashed by his hurried ride. He was then forty -three years of age, five feet eight inches in stature, with shoulders slightly stooping, and dark brown hair and beard without a trace of grey. The interview was courteous; the terms of surrender granted and accepted were simple. Officers and men were to be paroled not to take up arms against the United States until properly exchanged, and to return home, "not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside." Lee expressed his special gratification that the officers were permitted to retain their side arms, private horses, and baggage ; and that every soldier who claimed a horse or mule might ride him home to do the summer's ploughing. When Lee mentioned that his army was out of provisions and had been subsisting on parched corn, Grant promptly agreed to supply rations. It was found that the surrendered army numbered 28,000 men. The warning which Jefferson Davis received in St Paul's Church on the morning of April 2, that Richmond must be immediately evacuated, came with a painful suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that such a probability had been discussed, and that he had previously sent away his family and the furniture of his house. That evening the Confederate President and Cabinet, with such archives as they could hastily pack, departed for Danville, on the only available railroad train. Arriving there on the 5th, Davis issued a proclamation in order once more to "fire the Southern heart," stating that they had "now entered upon a new phase of the struggle," and that Virginia should be held and defended, " and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory." Hearing, however, on April 9, that Lee had surrendered to Grant, the fugitive Confederate government again hastily packed its CH. XVI.
