U. S. GRANT,
Commanding Armies of the United States.14
Bearing in mind what President Lincoln had said aboard the River Queen at the end of March, Grant offered General Lee the most generous terms possible—he wanted Lee to understand that he would accept just about any condition, and insisted upon only one definite term: that the men and officers would not take up arms again against the Federal government. Grant was also willing to meet Lee almost anywhere, “at any point agreeable to you,” as long as General Lee agreed to surrender his army.
After giving his note to an orderly for delivery to General Lee, General Grant rode from Farmville to the north side of the Appomattox, where he joined the advancing columns of General George Gordon Meade. Grant was moving in “light marching order,” taking no baggage or personal belongings with him. He and his staff wanted to be close to the front and did not waste any time in getting there. According to Colonel Porter, “we billeted ourselves at night in farm houses, or bivouacked on porches, and picked up meals at any camps that seemed to have something to spare in the way of rations.”15 When General Lee's reply arrived, Grant wanted to be in a position to respond to it and report to President Lincoln.
General Grant had been suffering from what Colonel Porter described as “a severe headache” all afternoon, which had been brought on by fatigue, anxiety, rushed meals or no meals at all, and lack of sleep. President Lincoln was not the only one who worried himself sick over the war. The general did his best to cure the headache by indulging in the colorful remedies of the day—soaking his feet in a mixture of hot water and mustard, and applying mustard plasters to his wrists and to the back of his neck. Nothing worked. He spent the night in a “double house.” The general “threw himself on the sofa,” while his staff slept on the floor.16
At around midnight, an officer brought “the expected letter” from General Lee. It was taken to General Grant's room, where the general was in too much pain to sleep. “Come in, I am awake,” the general said, “I am suffering too much to get any sleep.” He sat up on the sofa and, by the light of a candle that Colonel Porter had brought, read General Lee's reply:
APRIL 8, 1865.
Lieutenant-General GRANT,
Commanding Armies of the United States:
GENERAL: I received at a late hour your note of to-day. In mine of yesterday I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army; but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposal may affect the C. S. forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 a.m. to-morrow, on the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General17
General Grant did not have the authority to negotiate anything connected with “the restoration of peace,” which General Lee had mentioned twice in his letter. Only President Lincoln himself had the power to discuss peace terms. “It looks as if Lee still means to fight,” Grant said, “I will reply in the morning.”18 After making “a few more comments,” he stretched himself out on the sofa again. Colonel Porter expressed his hopes that the general might be able to get some sleep.
Abraham Lincoln's visit to City Point, as well as to Richmond and Petersburg, was more than just a vacation. “The expedition had been spoken of almost as if it were a pleasure trip,” Lincoln's bodyguard, William Crook, wrote.19 “Of course,” Crook went on, “in one sense this was true.” The trip did give the president some time away from the pressures and politics and politicians of Washington, which he confessed were killing him. Cynics would be quick to point out that the visit also got him away from his wife, which was another relief. But traveling to City Point accomplished a lot more than just giving the president some peace and quiet and relaxation.
As William Crook noted, Lincoln's City Point visit “was a matter or executive duty, and a very trying and saddening duty in many of its features.” For one thing, going to army headquarters gave the president a first-hand look at the war. He had read all the dispatches and newspaper reports, but at Fort Stedman he saw for himself what artillery fire and the rifled musket could do, which seemed to add to his anxieties regarding the war and how soon it could be brought to an end. “This is the first time in the history of the war that the President has been personally present to encourage and animate the soldiers,” an article in New York's the Sun reported.20 The article went on to report that Lincoln's first-hand observation of the fighting, along with his consultation with his “military chiefs,” combined to give ample evidence of “how anxiously he regarded…the great struggle.”
William Crook, who accompanied the president during his time away from Washington, observed that his visits to Richmond and Petersburg also had an adverse effect on President Lincoln: “These things wore new furrows in his face” and also served to make Lincoln sadder, but at the same time made him more sympathetic toward the soldiers on both sides, including “the forlorn rebel prisoners.”21
President Lincoln's stay at City Point also allowed him to see the war from a general's point of view. General Grant remembered that the president was with him “all the time” during his stay at army headquarters. “We visited the different camps,” General Grant said many years after the war ended, and he also did his best to keep Lincoln both interested and informed.22 The president certainly was kept informed as to what Grant and Meade and Sheridan were trying to accomplish. “He was very anxious about the war closing,” General Grant said, and worried that a new campaign would begin if General Lee managed to join General Johnston's army in North Carolina. The more Grant saw of Lincoln, the more he was impressed by what he saw. After the war, Grant would say that Lincoln was “a great man.”
The River Queen made a brief stop at Fortress Monroe, which was situated on the tip of the peninsula that separates the James River estuary from Chesapeake Bay. It was only a short stopover, made for the purpose of picking up mail and dispatches as well as a Potomac River pilot. Commander John S. Barnes also departed the River Queen for the USS Bat at Fortress Monroe; the Bat was lying close by the Queen but was not at anchor. He shook hands and said goodbye to President Lincoln before leaving the ship. “Mr. Lincoln was kind enough to thank me for the good care taken of him,” he recalled, and also took the time to crack a joke about what a comfortable life “navy men” led during wartime.1 “Probably he never again thought of me,” the commander said, “but the memory of his warm hand-clasp and kindly look remained with me and has never left me.”
Both the River Queen and the Bat left Fortress Monroe during the afternoon and began steaming northward up Chesapeake Bay toward the Potomac River. President Lincoln was in a congenial, conversational mood; his quiet and reflective frame of mind of the night before had passed. “That whole day the conversation turned on literary subjects,” the Marquis de Chambrun remembered.2 “Mr. Lincoln read aloud to us for several hours.” Most of the passages he read were from Shakespeare. He read from a beautiful quarto edition of Shakespeare's works, and recited several speeches from Macbeth, one of the president's favorite plays, including the “Duncan is in his grave” speech from act 3. “The lines after the murder of Duncan, when the new king [Macbeth] falls prey to moral torment, were dramatically dwelt on.”
Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further.3
Lincoln read the speech twice, explaining that Shakespeare gave a picture of a murderer's mind, “when the dark deed achieved, its perpe
trator already envies his victim's calm sleep.”4
Macbeth's speech seemed to unnerve Lincoln's friend James Speed, one of the president's party, who proceeded to warn the president about growing rumors concerning threats of assassination. As the war wound down toward its finish, disgruntled Confederates were looking for a target for their frustrations. Lincoln was the most obvious target. But Lincoln was not interested in James Speed's warnings. He said that he would rather be dead than to live in constant fear. In that state of mind, it would have been more appropriate if he had read the passage from Julius Caesar where Caesar reacts to rumors of his own assassination, instead of the speech from Macbeth:
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once:
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.5
While President Lincoln was reading to his guests, the River Queen steamed north toward the Potomac River estuary. When the ship turned west and entered the Potomac, her escort, the USS Bat, almost immediately began falling behind. The Bat's boilers had a habit of “foaming up,” in Commander Barnes words, whenever there was a change from salt water to fresh, “so that we were hard put…to keep pace with the Queen.”6 The River Queen slowed down “once or twice” to allow the Bat to catch up. But in spite of all efforts, the Bat kept dropping back, “so that the Queen arrived at her dock at Washington some hours before us.”
The president was not concerned with the fact that the Bat could not keep pace, which left the River Queen all alone in her journey up the Potomac. It had been a peaceful afternoon, with no communiques from anyone on shore and no news from the war. President Lincoln seemed to be calm and relaxed. When the River Queen passed Mount Vernon, Chambrun was moved to remark, “Mount Vernon, with its memories of Washington, and Springfield, with those of your own home—revolutionary and civil war—will be equally honored in America.”7 At that particular moment in time, Lincoln was not much interested in being honored and esteemed in the manner of George Washington, but his entire composure changed at the mention of his home in Springfield. “As though awakened from a trance,” Chambrun would remember, “the President exclaimed: ‘Springfield, how happy I shall be in four years hence to return there in peace and tranquility!’” He only wanted to finish his second term in the White House, put the country on the road to recovery and reconstruction after four years of civil war, and to go back to Springfield. Washington was welcome to his praise and adulation; all Lincoln required was to return home and start living a normal life again.
Chambrun also took note of two other conversations. The first was between the president and the marquis himself. Chambrun asked if the United States would become involved in the hostilities between France and Mexico, which had begun in 1862—“our Mexican expedition” is the way the Marquis phrased it—after the Confederate armies surrendered. The president's answer was straightforward and to the point. “We have had enough war,” he said. “I know what the American people want and, thank God, I count for something in this country.”8 He concluded his short remark with, “Rest assured that during my second term there will be no more fighting.”
The second exchange involved Mary Lincoln. As the River Queen steamed closer to Washington and the city's buildings and landmarks came into view, Mrs. Lincoln looked out at the town and said, “That city is full of enemies.” The president was somewhat taken aback by his wife's remarks—she had not said very much up to that point—and answered sharply. “Enemies, never again must we repeat that word.”9 Mary Lincoln was not just referring to Lincoln's political adversaries. She had heard the assassination rumors along with everybody else and was frightened to think that some Confederate sympathizer might be waiting in one of the buildings she could see from the River Queen's deck. The president brushed the remark aside.
The River Queen docked at Washington at around 6:00 p.m. By the time Commander Barnes had arrived in the capital aboard the USS Bat, the president had already been driven off into the city. Before he went ashore, President Lincoln said his goodbyes to Captain Penrose, shaking his hand and thanking him “for the manner in which he had performed his duty.”10 The president shared the carriage with his wife, his son Tad, and, by the bodyguard's own account, with William H. Crook.
As soon as the carriage left the wharf and began traveling through the streets, it became obvious that some sort of celebration was taking place. “The streets were alive with people, all very much excited,” William Crook wrote. “There were bonfires everywhere.”11 Tad became so agitated by all the noise and activity that he could not sit still. Everyone in the vehicle had been aboard the River Queen all day. Nobody had heard any news, and they did not know what was happening. The driver stopped the carriage and asked a passerby about the cause of all the excitement. The man hesitated for a moment, and looked at the occupants in absolute astonishment. “Why, where have you been?” he asked in amazement, not recognizing President Lincoln. “Lee has surrendered.”
General Grant had also been surprised by General Lee's surrender. After he had read Lee's most recent communiqué during the previous night, Grant was convinced that the Confederates meant to continue fighting. On the morning of April 9, he sent this reply:
Headquarters Armies of the U.S.
April 9, 1865
General R. E. Lee
Commanding C.S.A.
Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for ten A.M. today could lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life. I subscribe myself, etc.
U. S. Grant,
Lieutenant General12
After sending his note to General Lee by courier, General Grant and several of his staff officers, including Colonel Horace Porter, rode off to meet with General Philip Sheridan. General Grant still had his migraine; it had been suggested to him that he ride on a covered ambulance instead of traveling by horseback, which might help to lessen the effects of his headache. But Grant elected to ride his big horse, Cincinnati, and rode off toward the village of Appomattox Court House. General Sheridan was up ahead, ready to throw his cavalry and infantry at the enemy. Grant wanted to join him at the front.
The general had not ridden very far when he and his party were overtaken by an officer from General Meade's staff. The officer handed General Grant a note from General Lee:
April 9, 1865
General: I received your note of this morning on the picket line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose.
R. E. Lee, General13
“When the officer reached me I was still suffering from the sick headache,” Grant would later write, “but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured.”14 He immediately wrote a reply:
Headquarters Army of the U.S.
April 9, 1865
General R. E. Lee
Commanding C.S.A.
Your note of this date is but this moment (11:30 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg roads to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am writing this about four miles west of Walker's Church, and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.
U. S. Grant
<
br /> Lieutenant General15
General Grant met General Sheridan on the road approaching Appomattox Court House. After the usual salutes and greetings were exchanged, General Grant gestured toward the village and asked, “Is General Lee up there?” General Sheridan said yes; General Grant replied, “Very well. Let's go up.”16 They rode up to the substantial house of Wilmer McLean, where General Lee was waiting for them.
General Sheridan's men were in position to advance and did not know anything about any meeting between Lee and Grant. General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was about to order his troops to begin moving forward when a Confederate officer rode out from his lines with a white flag. The officer approached General Chamberlain and mentioned “a cessation of hostilities.”17 General Chamberlain sent him to the rear, explaining that he did not have the authority to negotiate surrender terms.
Shortly after this meeting, General Chamberlain received orders to cease firing and to halt, to stop his men from advancing any further. “There was not much firing to cease from,” he remembered, “but to ‘halt,’ then and there?”18 The men had been trained to keep moving forward, and had been advancing ever since they crossed the Rapidan River eleven months earlier—“forward to the end; forward to the new beginning; forward to the nation's second birth,” General Chamberlain said.
But the word went out, “Halt! The rebels want to surrender,” and the men halted where they were.19 A general rode up and asked General Chamberlain why no one was moving up toward the enemy. “Only that Lee wants time to surrender,” General Chamberlain answered with “stage solemnity.” With that, the old general's entire demeanor changed. “Glory to God!” he shouted, and shook Chamberlain's hand “with an impetuosity that nearly unhorsed us both.”
General Lee and General Grant signed the surrender terms later that afternoon. General Grant reported the surrender to the War Department in Washington at 4:30, after General Lee had ridden back to join his own army.
The Last Weeks of Abraham Lincoln Page 19
