Meantime, on the 8th, Grant and Lee had again exchanged courtesies, the former writing to Lee that his surrender could be accepted only on the understanding that his soldiers should not take up arms against the United States until properly exchanged, and the famous Virginia names the 9th as the day for their meeting, stipulating however that it need not necessarily lead to his surrender, and 10 a. m. as the hour. All this is not known to the rank and file, who for ought they know are still due for weeks of marching and fighting, though for the last few days there has been considerably more of the former than of the latter. Accordingly there was no surprise abroad when the familiar assembly call rang out on the morning air of the 9th and without rations the day before, or breakfast this morning, at four o'clock, the Corps moved from its bivouac and reached the headquarters of General Sheridan at 6 a. m. The cavalry evidently was hotly engaged and the Twenty-fourth Corps was moving out when Ayers of the Fifth (Second Div.), followed by Bartlett and the First Division, took position also. General Griffin reported that the failure of the Third Division to be in line with the others was entirely the fault of the commander, though Apr. 9, '65 he had been notified of the necessity of keeping well closed up; as a result the division did not reach its proper position till after hostilities for the day were over.
The 9th day of April will figure in history as one of the most important dates ever recorded; the correspondence, now passing between Grant and Lee, will rank with the other all but sacred documents in our national records. Hostilities had begun and our lines were pressing forward, driving the enemy, when a message was received from Sheridan that fighting should cease as the Confederates were about to surrender. On the scenes that follow—those beneath the famous apple tree and within the parlor of Wilmer McLean, where foemen "worthy of their steel" were assembled—it does not behoove us to linger, for they are as familiar as household tales throughout the land. The two pre-eminent figures, those of Grant and Lee, meet face to face, each one increasing the esteem in which he must be held as long as the Nation lives.
"These in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat,
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet."
While the great majority of the triumphant army, setting their faces homeward, start on the return march the next day after the surrender, to the troops of General Ord and the First Division of the Fifth Corps is entrusted the honor as well as task of receiving the formal "laying down of arms" by the beaten Confederates. This crowning event does not take place until the 12th, the Fourth anniversary of the firing upon Sumpter, when at nine o'clock in the morning General Joshua L. Chamberlain of Maine, having asked for the services of his old Brigade, the Third, had the same ranged in line to receive the oncoming Southrons. "It was not long before a column of gray was seen marching down the valley which sent a thrill of excitement through every individual present. The Union troops were brought to attention. Evans' Brigade of Gordon's Corps led the advance of the Confederates. As its head reached the extreme right of Chamberlain's line, it was wheeled into company line first and subsequently into general line confronting the Union troops. Then each regiment stacked arms, unslung cartridge boxes and hung them on the stacks, and finally laid down their colors. It was a trying scene. And then, disarmed and colorless, they again broke into column and marched off, disappearing forever as soldiers of the Southern Confederacy."[X]
While to the Fifth Corps came the honor of receiving the formal surrender of the Confederates the fact that the men had to linger here, at least some of them, until the 15th brought upon them certain hardships, disagreeable in spite of their pleasure over the successful ending of the campaign. For some reason, perhaps the destruction of bridges on the route, supplies did not reach the army, so that there was positive suffering on account of lack of food. Only a few days before, hungry rebel stomachs had been filled through the foresight and kindness of Grant, and now the victorious Yankees are experiencing want themselves; somehow there comes to mind the Scriptural expression, "He saved others, himself He cannot save." To crown all, a severe rain fell during the 14th, so without tents and minus rations, the soldiers passed a miserable day and night. It was about noon of the 15th, that the Corps began its retrograde movement, but the rain had rendered the roads well nigh impassable, hence the course backward had few of the features of a triumphal procession, everyone being on the lookout for expected rations, but none arrived, and after dark came the orders to halt, break ranks and make the best of the situation for the night; meanwhile the rain was falling incessantly. The 16th dawned cold and raw and under the circumstances the men were as comfortable when marching as when nominally resting. At noon the Appomattox was reached Apr. 14, '65 and, on a temporary bridge it was crossed, and soon after Farmville was gained, a place more conspicuous in history than in fact.
Here, at 4 p. m., came the dispatch announcing the death of President Lincoln and the already discouraged men had a deeper pitch of woe to bear, naturally the rank and file of them ascribing the assassination to the Confederate leaders rather than to a half-crazed actor. It is said that to properly drape their colors, some of the bearers actually dipped their handkerchiefs in ink. The next day, Monday, the 17th, the homeward route was resumed by way of Burkeville, and on the 21st the Second Brigade encamped at Blacks & Whites Station on the Southside R. R. Evidently the Fifth Corps was distributed along the road, for Powell mentions Sutherland Station, near Petersburg, as the camping place, reaching the same on the 23d; and a diarist of the Thirty-ninth, who was at corps headquarters, places the same at Nottoway Court House. However placed, in due time the army learned of the surrender of Johnston in North Carolina on the 26th. Here too were welcomed back many of the men who were captured in the Weldon R. R. incident, among them being Major F. R. Kinsley upon whom devolved the command of what was left of the Regiment.
We observed May Day by breaking camp and resuming the march towards the North, passing through Petersburg on the 3d, taking hurried glances at what had occasioned us so many months of toil and danger. The James River was reached at Manchester, just across from Richmond, so as to pass through the former Capital of the Confederacy on Saturday, the 6th, taking note in passing of Libby Prison, Castle Thunder and the State House. Near the latter to review the Army of the Potomac, excepting the Sixth Corps, were standing Generals Meade, Henry Wager Halleck and other officers. The Sixth Corps was still doing guard duty along the railroad, between Burkeville and Danville. On the 9th, we pass over the famous battlefield of Fredericksburg where Massachusetts regiments suffered so severely. We cross the Rappahannock on pontoons below the city, this being our tenth and last time, and Friday, the 12th of May, beheld us on Arlington Heights, near Fort Albany and almost on the very spot of our first camping ground when, in September, '62, we crossed the Potomac and entered the enemy's country, thus ending where we began. What days of wearisome marching, long and dreary vigils on picket line and vidette, what dangers of the embattled field the interval covers! The extended line marks our duties along the Potomac, in Washington, from Harper's Ferry to Antietam and thence southward to the Rapidan, with a backward turning to Bull Run and Thoroughfare Gap, through the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Petersburg, the pursuit, surrender and return, till now the circle is complete. With so much behind us, what wonder that visions of home become more and more absorbing!