The Bennett Place, Appomattox Courthouse, VA
On a Sunday in April, 150 years ago this month, the war that
had torn America in two at last drew to a close. The victorious Union General Ulysses S. Grant
rode into Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia to accept the surrender of Robert E.
Lee, his Confederate equal and fellow West Point graduate. Lloyd Lewis, who was with Grant at the laying
down of arms, recalled that the General said he felt sad in spite of being on
the winning side because “compassion for the brave old foe drowned all the
elation of his own triumph. . . .”
General Ulysses S. Grant
When the leaders converged at a brick house at the edge of
the town, Grant looked more like the loser than Lee, covered with dust and
wearing the disheveled coat of a private, appearing said Lewis, “like a
Missouri farmer who had by mistake crawled into a blouse that carried,
unnoticed, three little silver stars on its shoulders.” Lee, on the other hand, conducted himself as the
aristocratic gentleman that he was, schooled in the old manners and customs of
his native South, a region that now lay in ruins. While both sides had suffered catastrophic
losses, it would take the South until well into the twentieth century to
recover fully.
General Robert E. Lee
Lee was guarded as he met Grant and his staff, unsure of
what further hurts would be inflicted upon his people according to the terms of
surrender. In silence the Union’s
general wrote them down--the enlisted men were to give up their weapons while
the officers could retain their own, as well as keep their property. They had permission to return to their homes
without fear of being harmed by any Union soldier or government authority, in
exchange for their pledge never to rebel against the United States of America
again. Lee was surprised by the generous
spirit of the conditions, and Lewis recalled that his face “lit up” as he said,
“This will have a very happy effect upon my army.”
He went on to ask Grant if the Confederate soldiers could
keep their horses, and Grant gave his permission since most of them were
farmers who needed the animals for their livelihoods. “At this,” Lewis recorded, “Lee melted
entirely. ‘This will have the best
possible effect upon the men. It will be
very gratifying and will do much toward conciliating our people,’” he said.
Generals Lee and Grant
There was something else on Lee’s mind, however. At this point, the older general leaned
closer and quietly told Grant that his men were starving—they’d been surviving
on only parched corn for several days. “It
was,” said Lewis, “like one brother confiding in another.” And so they were. Although they had been mortal enemies during
the war, the two men had a bond closer than national allegiance, a strong Christian
faith.
The room where the surrender occurred
Grant sprang into action, directing his staff to travel
throughout the Union regiments to drum up provisions for the Southern soldiers.
He told them to “ask every man who has
three rations to turn over two of them.
Go to the commissaries, go to the quartermasters. General Lee’s army is on the point of
starvation.” As word of Lee’s surrender reached the Union soldiers, many began
to celebrate by firing their guns into the spring air. Grant, however, immediately ordered them to
stop. “The rebels are our countrymen
again,” he said. “The best sign of
rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations on the
field.”
Grant was living out his faith, as well as President Lincoln’s
soothing message from his second inaugural address just weeks earlier:
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have
borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Excerpt from Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address
What is your reaction to this stunning story about the end
of the Civil War?
Rebecca Price Janney is a theologically trained historian
with a special love of American history.
In her book, Great Events in
American History, from which this account is taken, she takes many of the
dates we all had to learn in school and puts a faith-based story behind
them. Rebecca lives in suburban
Philadelphia with her husband and her son.
I think Grant's stance and reaction to Lee's requests went a long ways in bringing about healing after the war. In spite of the losses the North suffered, Grant was able to respond as a godly man and show grace and mercy.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think as well, Vickie. I think there was a lot of grace on both men's parts.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca, Grant did show grace and mercy, but he was clear about his goals. Had Lee not pledged to keep from rebelling against the United States Grant may not have been so merciful. Both men deserve equal credit. We could use men like them today negotiating Iran's nuclear weapon problem.
ReplyDeleteThose are good points, Margaret! There had to be capitulation on Lee's part. As we know from Lincoln's assassination, not everyone was feeling like surrendering was the right course.
ReplyDeleteI remember standing in that house and trying to grasp what had happened there. Thinking about the brokenhearted Confederate soldiers waiting outside. One of those moments when I realized that I couldn't really begin to understand what those men were experiencing. Everyone interested in the Civil War should visit this site.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, that must've been quite an experience for you, visiting the Bennett House. I think the Civil War was one of the saddest chapters in our history, but I do believe God was at work, as He always is with this fallen creation. This is just one example of His grace. I am grateful that so many of our nation's historic homes and sites are there for us to go and ponder what happened, and to learn.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved this story behind the surrender at Appomattox. I've never been there, but I've read a lot about it. Knowing what Grant did about food helped me with the first book in my Journey Homeward series. It begins just after the surrender and my hero and his brother get their first good meal from a Union cook after months with very little provision.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful testimony to their Christian faith, and it's sad that it's not one of the better known facts about the Civil War.