VIII INTRODUCTION.
APRIL STH. General R. E. LEE, Commanding Confederate States Army :
GENERAL, Your note of last, in reply to mine of same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply I would say that, peace being my first desire, there is but one condition that I will insist upon, viz. :
That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant- General ', Commanding Armies of the United States.
"In the meantime, General Lee was pressing on toward Lynch- burg, and, on the evening of the 8th, his vanguard reached Appo- mattox Station, where rations for the army had been ordered to be sent from Lynchburg. Four loaded trains were in sight, and the famished army about to be supplied, when the head of Sheridan's column dashed on the scene, captured the provisions, and drove the vanguard back to Appomattox Courthouse, four miles off. Sheri- dan's impetuous troopers met a sudden and bloody check in the streets of the village, the colonel commanding the advance being killed. That morning General Lee had divided the remnant of his army into two wings, under Gordon and Longstreet Gordon having the advance and Longstreet the rear. Upon the repulse of the cavalry, Gordon's corps advanced through the village and spent another night of sleepless vigilance and anxiety; while Longstreet, four miles in the rear, had to entrench against the Army of the Potomac under Meade. That night General Lee held a council of war with Longstreet, Gordon, and Fitz. Lee,* at which it was deter- mined that Gordon should advance early the next morning to 'feel ' the enemy in his front; that, if there was nothing but cavalry, he should press on, followed by Longstreet; but that, if Grant's infantry had got up in too large force to be driven, he should halt and notify General Lee, that a flag of truce might be raised and the useless sacrifice of life stopped.
- General Mahone was not present at this conference, as has been alleged,
nor at any of approximate date.
