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08 - Ulysses S. Grant by Owen Wister · Ulysses S. Grant

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  Speaker 1: Section eight of Ulysses s. Grant by Owen Wister. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five, Part five.
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  Speaker 1: The Withers of the South were being wrong. Side failures
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  Speaker 1: did nothing to obscure the looming end. The great blows
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  Speaker 1: of Sherman, Sheridan, and Thomas sent their shocks to the
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  Speaker 1: heart of secession, and at the heart sat Grant, holding
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  Speaker 1: Lee tight in Richmond. It is recorded of his ceaseless
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  Speaker 1: work at this period that on one day he wrote
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  Speaker 1: forty two important despatches. This winter was a time of
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  Speaker 1: thought for the weary, disenchanted Southern people, and a time
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  Speaker 1: of desperation on the part of their political misleaders. In
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  Speaker 1: early February, some of these had, in good faith visited
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  Speaker 1: Grant to talk of peace, which talk he had tactfully evaded,
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  Speaker 1: while showing them all all hospitality at his headquarters. With
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  Speaker 1: tact still greater, he had persuaded Lincoln to come and
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  Speaker 1: see them himself instead of sending Seward as an emissary.
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  Speaker 1: But this ended in nothing save that Grant's character and
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  Speaker 1: kindness won the high admiration of the Confederate Vice President Stephens,
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  Speaker 1: who wrote, he is one of the most remarkable men
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  Speaker 1: I ever met. He does not seem to be aware
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  Speaker 1: of his powers presently. Again, the South asked for a
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  Speaker 1: peace talk, this time through General Lee, who addressed Grant
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  Speaker 1: in a letter. But Grant explained that terms of peace
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  Speaker 1: were not in his province, that his authority allowed him
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  Speaker 1: to act only regarding military subjects such as the exchange
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  Speaker 1: of prisoners, and the matter stopped there. Lee's actions and
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  Speaker 1: spirit must be kept wide apart from those of the
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  Speaker 1: secession politicians at this time and at all times. Under
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  Speaker 1: the inspiration of Jefferson Davis, in the spring, a manifesto
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  Speaker 1: issued from the Confederate Congress, which struggled to goad the
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  Speaker 1: people to further efforts and sacrifices by such prophecies as
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  Speaker 1: follow if the union one, not only would the property
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  Speaker 1: and estates of vanquished rebels be confiscated, but they would
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  Speaker 1: be divided and distributed among our African bondsmen. Our enemies
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  Speaker 1: have threatened to deport our entire white population and supplant
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  Speaker 1: it with a new population drawn from their own territories
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  Speaker 1: and from European countries. The manifesto further says failure makes
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  Speaker 1: us vassals of an arrogant people. Failure will compel us
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  Speaker 1: to drink the cup of humiliation, even to the bitter
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  Speaker 1: dregs of having the history of our struggle written by
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  Speaker 1: New England historians. But even this excruciating peril seemed to
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  Speaker 1: the Southern people, whose sons were dead and whose livelihood
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  Speaker 1: was gone, a less calamity than paying a thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: of their money for a barrel of flour, and seeing
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  Speaker 1: their white haired fathers and fifteen year old boys now
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  Speaker 1: forcibly thrown into the mill of blood. They wanted peace.
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  Speaker 1: They began to see in Jefferson Davis and his associates
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  Speaker 1: not a group of patriots, but a heartless, selfish, unscrupulous
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  Speaker 1: gang of intriguers. They began to go home from the army.
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  Speaker 1: There was no pay and no food for those who
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  Speaker 1: devotedly remained faithful to Lee. Grant was closing in. On
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  Speaker 1: April three, Lee had to break cover and retreat from Richmond.
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  Speaker 1: Davis fled southward, and even while flying and with full
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the crumbling house, he made another speech to lure,
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  Speaker 1: if possible, more victims to the slaughter. We have now
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  Speaker 1: entered upon a new phase of the struggle. He said,
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  Speaker 1: Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army
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  Speaker 1: will be free to move from point to point to
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  Speaker 1: strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Few
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  Speaker 1: could have believed him, but the soldiers, ragged and starved,
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  Speaker 1: followed and fought under their beloved lee across the rainy
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  Speaker 1: fields of Virginia. No successes now changed a muscle of
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  Speaker 1: Grant's impassive face. Nothing but the capture of prisoners wakened
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  Speaker 1: visible elation in him. Each prisoner meant one enemy less
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  Speaker 1: to fight, one more life saved from fruitless sacrifice of
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  Speaker 1: his thoughts, only his actions show anything. When leaving headquarters
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  Speaker 1: at City Point on March twenty nine, for this last struggle,
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  Speaker 1: he bad his wife good bye with more than his
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  Speaker 1: daily tenderness, which was always great. He kissed her again
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  Speaker 1: and again at the door, as though their next meeting
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  Speaker 1: might never be, or would not be until after much
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  Speaker 1: had happened. Then Lincoln walked to the train with him,
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  Speaker 1: said God bless you all with an unsteady voice, and
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  Speaker 1: they moved away to begin the taking of Richmond. The
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  Speaker 1: President said, Grant is one of the few who have
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  Speaker 1: not attempted to extract from me a knowledge of my movements,
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  Speaker 1: although he is the only one who has a right
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  Speaker 1: to know them. Rain fell the next day and dulled
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  Speaker 1: the army's spirits, but weather made no change in the
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  Speaker 1: quiet general, and Sheridan rode in through the rain from
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  Speaker 1: his cavalry to headquarters, talked with the staff and with Grant,
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  Speaker 1: and departed to his coming battles like a meteor, leaving
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  Speaker 1: a trail of fired enthusiasm behind him to this star.
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  Speaker 1: In these final days, the great wagon of the army
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  Speaker 1: seemed hitched whatever they separately did, and they were doing
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  Speaker 1: something during every hour. The fierce white light of Sheridan's
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  Speaker 1: genius beats upon the whole, and his deeds against the
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  Speaker 1: enemy are like strokes of lightning. On the morning of
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  Speaker 1: April three, Lincoln came to Grant and captured Petersburg, and
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  Speaker 1: shook his hand and poured out his thanks. A long
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  Speaker 1: while he said this was something like his expectations, only
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  Speaker 1: that he had imagined Sherman would have been brought from
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  Speaker 1: the South to share in it. Then he learned more
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  Speaker 1: of his general's tact, for Grant told him it was
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  Speaker 1: justice that the army which fought lee from the beginning
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  Speaker 1: should fight him at the end, and divide the glory
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  Speaker 1: with no one. Thus there could be no rancor The
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  Speaker 1: close partisans of mead bitter over the great slight which
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  Speaker 1: history has so far done his fame, contend that he
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  Speaker 1: should have received the final surrender. But a later generation
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  Speaker 1: must think that this belonged to the general in chief.
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  Speaker 1: Had Grant's brooding mind been occupied with any thoughts save
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  Speaker 1: how best to end the matter and how best to
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  Speaker 1: be merciful to the vanquished, he could scarcely be excused.
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  Speaker 1: But he thought neither of himself nor of any other
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  Speaker 1: of the victors. So he and Lincoln talked together a
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  Speaker 1: while at Petersburg and understood each other well. For one
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  Speaker 1: thought filled them both leniency. Then Grant went forward and
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  Speaker 1: learned of Richmond's fall, but no wish to enter and
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  Speaker 1: gloat over his prize was in the conqueror's heart. As
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  Speaker 1: he had asked at Donaldson, why humiliate a brave enemy,
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  Speaker 1: And as at Vicksburg he had forbidden a cheer to
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  Speaker 1: be raised over the surrendered, or any taunt made as
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  Speaker 1: they passed. So now he avoided Richmond, and Lee's last
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  Speaker 1: march went on. The good deeds and the exploits of
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  Speaker 1: Sheridan's cavalry spurred the infantry to a race. The pursuit quickened,
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  Speaker 1: and Sheridan, striking blow on blow at the front, forever,
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  Speaker 1: called back for greater speed. Lee must not escape to Danville.
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  Speaker 1: Lee must be headed off and compelled to fight again.
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  Speaker 1: Newhall of Sheridan's staff writes. All along the road were
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  Speaker 1: evidences of the demoralization of the enemy. Flankers and scouting
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  Speaker 1: parties of cavalry were continually bringing in scores of prisoners
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  Speaker 1: from the woods on either side, prisoners who would throw
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  Speaker 1: down their arms at the sight of blue uniforms and
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  Speaker 1: request to be captured. The steadfast women who begged them
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  Speaker 1: to turn back and face us again had been laughed
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  Speaker 1: to scorn. At dark on April five, word came from
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  Speaker 1: Sheridan to Grant, I wish you were here. I see
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  Speaker 1: no escape for General Lee. Grant called for his horse
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  Speaker 1: and rode through the night to Sheridan and Mead, and
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  Speaker 1: on the next day, at Sailor's Creek, the cloud sank
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  Speaker 1: lower round Lee again. Grant's actions reveal his thoughts. On Friday,
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  Speaker 1: April seventh, he wrote, Lee, the last week must convince
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  Speaker 1: you of the hopelessness of further resistance. I regard it
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  Speaker 1: as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of
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  Speaker 1: any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the
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  Speaker 1: surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, the unsuccessful battles,
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  Speaker 1: the dwindling regiments, the starvation, the retreat cut off. All
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  Speaker 1: this was plainly the end, and it stared Lee in
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  Speaker 1: the face. But on such a sight Lee had not
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  Speaker 1: at first the moral strength to open his eyes. The
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  Speaker 1: pain was too blinding. In his youth, he had taken
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  Speaker 1: an oath to support the government. That government had educated
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  Speaker 1: him to be a soldier. He had been against secession.
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  Speaker 1: But when the time came to choose between secession and
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  Speaker 1: his oath, he chose, not without reluctance, to break his
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  Speaker 1: oath and turn against the government the teaching it had
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  Speaker 1: given him. And now here he sat with his lost
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  Speaker 1: cause like a broken idol in his hands. For a
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  Speaker 1: moment he shrank from the final pang of renunciation. I
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  Speaker 1: have received your note, he replied to Grant on that
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  Speaker 1: same Friday, Though not entertaining the opinion you express of
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  Speaker 1: the hopelessness of further resistance, I reciprocate your desire to
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  Speaker 1: avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore ask the terms
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  Speaker 1: you will offer, and Grant on Saturday replied, peace being
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  Speaker 1: my great desire, there is but one condition that the
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  Speaker 1: men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up
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  Speaker 1: arms until properly exchanged. And then follows a touch of
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  Speaker 1: his perfect consideration for the defeated opponent. I will meet you,
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  Speaker 1: or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name.
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  Speaker 1: So did Washington write to Cornwallis, as Horace Porter reminds us.
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  Speaker 1: But Lee would himself go through with whatever had to come.
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  Speaker 1: Only still he pushed the bitter cup away from him.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot meet you with a view to surrender, he answered,
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  Speaker 1: But as far as your proposal may tend to the
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  Speaker 1: restoration of peace, I shall be pleas to meet you,
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  Speaker 1: And he named Sunday morning on the old stage road
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  Speaker 1: between the picket lines. This disappointing word came to Grant
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  Speaker 1: in the heart of the night, where he lay sleepless
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  Speaker 1: from many hours of pain in his head. Hunger, fatigue, exposure,
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  Speaker 1: and strain had brought on such torments that he had
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  Speaker 1: allowed remedies to be tried, but without avail he lay
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  Speaker 1: down again. In the early hours, he was found walking
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  Speaker 1: up and down outside, holding his head with both hands.
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  Speaker 1: He now wrote a third time to Lee that he
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  Speaker 1: had no authority to treat of peace, but that peace
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  Speaker 1: could be had and lives and property saved by the
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  Speaker 1: South laying down their arms. An urgency, almost an appeal,
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  Speaker 1: pervades this letter. He then declined advice to take an
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  Speaker 1: ambulance for the sake of his severe pain, and mounting
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  Speaker 1: once more, proceeded towards Sheridan's front. It was near noon now,
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  Speaker 1: and as he went a despatch overtook him. Time and
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  Speaker 1: further mischances had brought Lee to the point he requested
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  Speaker 1: an interview for the purpose of surrender according to the
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  Speaker 1: terms offered. As Grant read and understood that here in
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  Speaker 1: his hand at last lay peace, all pain left him.
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  Speaker 1: He dismounted and by the roadside wrote his answer. While
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  Speaker 1: he was doing this and hurrying forward to the meeting, Lee,
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  Speaker 1: some six miles away, lay waiting, stretched on a blanket
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  Speaker 1: under an apple tree by the road. He contemplated the
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  Speaker 1: sunshine that bathed Virginia. Of his thoughts. Also, only his
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  Speaker 1: actions reveal anything. When Grant's note reached him. He rose
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  Speaker 1: and had soon ridden into a Bramatox court house, and
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  Speaker 1: in a house there waited for Grant. In a little
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  Speaker 1: while Grant reached the grassy village street, and there dismounted
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  Speaker 1: stood Sheridan and others. No significant words were spoken in
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  Speaker 1: this hour. Silence is the only reference that men make
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  Speaker 1: to great events, which they are in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: the ordinary greetings of every day were briefly given the
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  Speaker 1: house were generally waited was pointed out to Grant, and
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  Speaker 1: he went in, leaving most of the others upon the porch.
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  Speaker 1: There they sat while General Lee's gray horse cropped the
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  Speaker 1: grass near them. Quietness was over the little village and
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  Speaker 1: the armies lying in the country round. The door opened,
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  Speaker 1: and two of those on the porch were signed to
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  Speaker 1: come in. They entered, it is said, treading as those
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  Speaker 1: do who steal into a sick chamber, while the the
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  Speaker 1: rest still sat on the porch. When the door next opened,
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  Speaker 1: they rose, for out of it generally came splendid, tall,
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  Speaker 1: gray bearded, immovable. They looked at him and his sword
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  Speaker 1: and spotless gray uniform. He stood absently on the step,
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  Speaker 1: gazing away across Virginia. And two or three times he
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  Speaker 1: struck one hand against the other. Then, having spoken no word,
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  Speaker 1: and noticing his gray horse that had been brought him,
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  Speaker 1: he mounted and rode away. As he was going, Grant
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  Speaker 1: came through the door, saluted him in silence, and in
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  Speaker 1: silence also rode away. When Lee reached his army, the
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  Speaker 1: faithful men swarmed around him, cheering not their common misfortune
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  Speaker 1: but the peace that he had made. They mingled their
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  Speaker 1: grief with his, grasping his hands, and then almost overcome,
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  Speaker 1: he spoke, men, we have fought through the war together.
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  Speaker 1: I have done the best I could for you. What
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  Speaker 1: Grant's features concealed on that day we know now from him.
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  Speaker 1: What generally's feelings were, I do not know. But my own,
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  Speaker 1: which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter,
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  Speaker 1: were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than
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  Speaker 1: rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought
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  Speaker 1: so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for
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  Speaker 1: a cause. Though that cause was, I believe, one of
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  Speaker 1: the worst for which a people ever fought, and one
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  Speaker 1: for which there was the least excuse. But inside the house,
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  Speaker 1: what had gone on between the two chiefs. The witnesses
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  Speaker 1: watched and moved, always with the hush of a sick room.
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  Speaker 1: And after the first greeting, when they sat down, it
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  Speaker 1: became Grant who shrank from the point. He talked to
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  Speaker 1: Lee about Mexico and old times and how good peace
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  Speaker 1: was going to be now, and twice Lee had to
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  Speaker 1: remind him of the business they had to do. Then
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  Speaker 1: Grant wrote, as always simple and clear words. In the middle,
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  Speaker 1: his eye fell upon Lee's beautiful sword, and the chivalric
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  Speaker 1: act which it prompted has knighted his own spirit forever.
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  Speaker 1: The surrender, he instantly wrote, would not embrace the side
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  Speaker 1: arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage.
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  Speaker 1: When Lee's eyes reached that sentence, his face changed for
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  Speaker 1: the first time, and he said, this will have a
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  Speaker 1: very happy effect upon my army. He then told what
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  Speaker 1: was new to Grant, that the horses ridden by the
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  Speaker 1: men were their own. Again. The conqueror's tenderness lifted him
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  Speaker 1: into a realm diviner than the renown of victory. He
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  Speaker 1: ordered that the men take the animals home with them
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  Speaker 1: to work their little farms. To this nobility, Lee's own
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  Speaker 1: responded this will have the best possible effect upon the men,
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  Speaker 1: he said, moved to greater frankness, he told Grant of
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  Speaker 1: his army's hunger, And for this also Grant at once provided.
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  Speaker 1: These are the things which the conqueror had done. When
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  Speaker 1: he came out of the house with unrelaxed countenance, and
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  Speaker 1: rode away. As he went he heard firing from his lines.
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  Speaker 1: It was in honor of the news already spreading. He
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  Speaker 1: stopped these salutes at once. The war is over, he said,
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  Speaker 1: the rebels are our countrymen again. Thus, when his strength
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  Speaker 1: had quelled the four year storm, did a rainbow rise
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  Speaker 1: from his great heart across the heavens of our native land.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter five, Part five