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Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Negotiations at Appomattox-interview with Lee at McLean's House-the terms of surrender-lee's surrender-interview with Lee after the surrender (search)
rely upon the country for that. Generals Gibbon, Griffin and Merritt were designated by me to carry into effect the paroling of Lee's troops before they should start for their homes-General Lee leaving Generals Longstreet, Gordon and Pendleton for them to confer with in order to facilitate this work. Lee and I then separated as cordially as we had met, he returning to his own lines, and all went into bivouac for the night at Appomattox. Soon after Lee's departure I telegraphed to Washington as follows: Headquarters Appomattox C. H., Va., April 9th, 1865, 4.30 P. M. Hon. E. M. Stanton: Secretary of War, Washington. General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully. U. S. Grant, Lieut.-General When news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced firing a salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent word, however, t
Parthenia Antoinette Hague, A blockaded family: Life in southern Alabama during the war, Chapter 1: (search)
aitened and distressed. It is of the exigencies of that stormy day, as hydra-headed they rose to view, that I have to write; of the many expedients to which we were reduced on our evernar-rowing territory, daily growing not only smaller, but less and less adequate for the sustenance of ourselves, our soldiers, and the Northern prisoners who were cast upon us by the fortunes of war. Blame us not too severely, you who fought on the Union side; we, too, loved the Union our great and good Washington bequeathed us: with what deep devotion God knoweth. But, as Satan sagely remarks in the Book of Job, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Also a writer of profane history has truly said that a man's family is the nearest piece of his country, and the dearest one. Need there be any wonder that, when a political party, with no love in its heart for the Southern white people, came into power, a party which we believed felt that the people of the South were fit only for the pikes
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Xxxiii. (search)
The article was a very carefully prepared digest of historical precedents in relation to the subject of amnesty, in connection with treason and rebellion. It analyzed English and continental history, and reviewed elaborately the action of President Washington in reference to Shay's and the subsequent whiskey rebellion. I had read but two or three pages, said Mr. Owen, in giving me this account, when Mr. Lincoln assumed an erect posture, and, fixing his eyes intently upon me, seemed wholly ontents of the manuscript. Frequently he would break in with: Was that so? Please read that paragraph again, etc. When at length I came to Washington's proclamation to those engaged in the whiskey rebellion, he interrupted me with: What! did Washington issue a proclamation of amnesty? Here it is, sir, was the reply. Well, I never knew that, he rejoined; and so on through. Upon the conclusion of the manuscript, Mr. Lincoln said: Mr. Owen, is that for me? Certainly, sir, said Mr. O., ha
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Xlv. (search)
th people listening to the weekly concert of the Marine Band, the President appeared upon the portico. Instantly there was a clapping of hands and clamor for a speech. Bowing his thanks, and excusing himself, he stepped back into the retirement of the circular parlor, remarking to me, with a disappointed air, as he reclined upon the sofa, I wish they would let me sit out there quietly, and enjoy the music. I stated to him on this occasion, that I believed no President, since the days of Washington, ever secured the hearts of the people, and carried them with him as he had done. To this he replied that, in such a crisis as the country was then passing through, it was natural that the people should look more earnestly to their leaders than at other periods. He thought their regard for any man in his position who should sincerely have done his best to save the government from destruction, would have been equally as marked and expressive; to which I did not by any means assent. I
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lviii. (search)
d you; and I said if He spared me I would see you before the four years expired, and He has done so, and now I am here to see you for myself. He then congratulated me on my having been spared. Then I said: I appreciate you, for you are the best President who has ever taken the seat. He replied thus: I expect you have reference to my having emancipated the slaves in my proclamation. But, said he, mentioning the names of several of his predecessors, (and among them emphatically that of Washington,) they were all just as good, and would have done just as I have done if the time had come. If the people over the river (pointing across the Potomac) had behaved themselves, I could not have done what I have; but they did not, and I was compelled to do these things. I then said: I thank God that you were the instrument selected by Him and the people to do it. He then showed me the Bible presented to him by the colored people of Baltimore, of which you have heard. I have seen it for
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxi. (search)
eeks and under his eyes being very marked. The mouth was his plainest feature, varying widely from classical models,--nevertheless expressive of much firmness and gentleness of character. His complexion was inclined to sallowness, though I judged this to be the result, in part, of his anxious life in Washington. His eyes were blueish-gray in color,--always in deep shadow, however, from the upper lids, which were unusually heavy, (reminding me, in this respect, of Stuart's portrait of Washington,)--and the expression was remarkably pensive and tender, often inexpressibly sad, as if the reservoir of tears lay very near the surface,--a fact proved not only by the response which accounts of suffering and sorrow invariably drew forth, but by circumstances which would ordinarily affect few men in his position. The Hon. Mr. Frank, of New York, told me that just after the nomination of Mr. Chase as Chief Justice, a deeply interesting conversation upon this subject took place one even
Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, Lxviii. (search)
at chap smells no blood of royalty in this establishment. Captain Mix was frequently invited to breakfast with the family at the Home residence. Many times, said he, have I listened to our most eloquent preachers, but never with the same feeling of awe and reverence, as when our Christian President, his arm around his son, with his deep, earnest tone, each morning read a chapter from the Bible. Some one was discussing, in the presence of Mr. Lincoln, the character of a time-serving Washington clergyman. Said Mr. Lincoln to his visitor:-- I think you are rather hard upon Mr.--. He reminds me of a man in Illinois, who was tried for passing a counterfeit bill. It was in evidence that before passing it he had taken it to the cashier of a bank and asked his opinion of the bill, and he received a very prompt reply that it was a counterfeit. His lawyer, who had heard of the evidence to be brought against his client, asked him, just before going into court, Did you take the bill
William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 9. (search)
no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood. In June the Whigs met in national convention at Philadelphia to nominate a candidate for President. Lincoln attended as a delegate. He advocated the nomination of Taylor because of his belief that he could be elected, and was correspondingly averse to Clay because of the latter's signal defeat in 1844. In a letter from Washington a few days after the convention he predicts the election of Old rough. He says: In my opinion we shall have a most overwhelming glorious triumph. One unmistakable sign is that all the odds and ends are with us-Barn-burners, Native Americans, Tylermen, disappointed office-seeking Locofocos, and the Lord knows what not . . . Taylor's nomination takes the Locos on the blind side. It turns the war thunder against them. The war is now to them the gallows of Haman, which they built for us an
William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 16. (search)
tury I have lived among you, and during all that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands; Here I have lived from my youth until now I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were assumed. Here all my children were born; and here one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon Washington. Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with and aid me, I must fail; but if the same omniscient mind and almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me I shall not fail — I shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. To him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that with equal sincerity and faith you will invoke his wisdom and guidance for me. With these words I must leave you, for how long I know not. Friends, one a
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 1. (search)
begin again. Under these various disadvantages, and by the help of such troublesome expedients, Abraham Lincoln worked his way to so much of an education as placed him far ahead of his schoolmates, and quickly abreast of the acquirements of his various teachers. The field from which he could glean knowledge was very limited, though he diligently borrowed every book in the neighborhood. The list is a short one-Robinson Crusoe, AEsop's Fables, Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress, Weems's Life of Washington, and a History of the United States. When he had exhausted other books, he even resolutely attacked the Revised Statutes of Indiana, which Dave Turnham, the constable, had in daily use and permitted him to come to his house and read. It needs to be borne in mind that all this effort at self-education extended from first to last over a period of twelve or thirteen years, during which he was also performing hard manual labor, and proves a degree of steady, unflinching perseverance in a
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