The second, at the war’s end, is probably the finest single document in private hands to-day, as it is the original official telegram which ended the greatest conflict in American history. Why I was allowed to get this is one of the mysteries of collecting. It should not be in the hands of any one person, but ought to be in the safekeeping of the Government. It was written in obvious haste, in his own hand, at the moment General Lee surrendered, on a page in the notebook of Grant’s orderly, General Badeau.

Appomattox Court House
April 9th, 1865. 4.50 o’clock P. M.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Sec. of War, Washington

Gen. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Va. this afternoon on terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the condition fully.

U. S. Grant, Lt. Gen.

The demand for things American is not a passing fancy. It will increase in the same way as a stone gathers moss. The prices now paid for early American furniture, pottery, glass, and pictures are but an indication of a movement yet in its infancy. Even collectors in England, such as that eminent enthusiast, Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth, Bart., are gathering objects of interest relating to this country. It is only meet and proper that Americans themselves should tenderly cherish the primal, honest, unpretentious things to which this country owes its greatness.

INDEX

Transcriber’s Notes: