“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General, U. S. A.”
GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT.
“April 8, 1865.
“General—I received at a late hour your note of to-day in answer to mine of yesterday.
“I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender.
“But as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals would tend to that end.
“I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposition may affect the Confederate States’ forces under my command and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at ten A. M. to-morrow, on the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket lines of the two armies.
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“R. E. LEE, General C. S. A.”