60 Southern Historical Society Papers.
to receive any communication that was offered, and could not prop- erly accept or offer any courtesies. In fact, if I had offered what I could it would have taken my corn.
GENERAL GRANT'S LETTER.
He then handed me a letter, which he said was from General Grant to General Lee, and asked that General Lee should get it immediately, if possible. I made no reply, except to ask him if that was all we had to transact, or something to that effect. He said that was all. We bowed very profoundly to each other and turned away. In a moment I was called again by General Williams, and he asked if I would meet one of the colonels of General Miles' s brigade, whose name I have forgotten, but who, if living and remembering the incidents, I hope will write to me at Waynesboro, Georgia. I hesitated a moment and replied that I would. The colonel came up and presented to me some of the effects taken from the trunk of General Mahone that evening, which had been captured by the Fede- ral forces. They were pictures of General Mahone' s family, and, if I remember rightly, letters from his wife. I took them and promised to deliver them, thanking him for his kind consideration. He asked me if I knew anything of Lieutenant or Captain Boyd, who was either killed or wounded, and was in our lines. I related what had occurred as I came forward. He asked me to send him to them. I had no authority to do this, but I said for the sake of humanity I would take the authority, at the risk of a court-martial, and I asked him if any of our men were suffering in his lines to do likewise in relieving them. I went back, met Captain English, and asked him to attend to it, and he took four men, as he afterward told me, and sent Captain Boyd forward to a detail of Federal soldiers, who received him. Is Captain Boyd alive now ? I would like to know. He can thank Captain English and his Confederate pickets for saving him from a long night of suffering.
IN GENERAL LEE'S HAND.
In twenty minutes after I got back in our lines a Confederate courier, riding a swift horse, had placed in General Lee's hand the letter which was handed to me, the first demand for the surrender of his devoted army. In an hour's time we were silently pursuing our
