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Published: June 29th 2009
Me
I am in the parlor where the formal surrender took place. Lee sat at the table on the left and Grant at the little one on the right.Today we drove two and a half hours west bound to Appomattox Courthouse Virginia. This is where Lee surrendered to Grant to end the Civil War and reunite the country. I have always wanted to go there. It happened on April 9th of 1865. General Lee was down to about 25,000 men and they were tired and hungry and out of supplies. Grant kept after him and would not let up. He finally got an offer of surrender from Lee when no other alternative was available. It was cordial and lasted about 90 minutes after 4 years of war. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place now that it is hard to imagine all the noise and violence of war going on here before the surrender. The house belonged to Wilmer McLean. Oddly enough Wilmer had a house close to one of the first battles of the war and had a shell explode in his summer kitchen. He moved his family out here to get away from the war only to have it end in his front parlor 4 years later. Grant was very generous to Lee. He let all his men keep their mounts but they did have to
Me
Here on the steps that everyone came up. Lee got here first and Grant about 30 minutes later. stack their arms. He fed them all and made them sign passes that paroled them in order to get home unmolested. Otherwise they might be considered deserters or still active. The passes also stipulated they would not take up arms against the United States again. In those days those promises were honored. A printing press was set up in a building adjacent to the McLean house and it ran day and night until 30,000 blank forms had been printed for the Confederate soldiers to go home on. For you married guys, it is a little bit like a kitchen pass I think.
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