“I have received your note of this day. Though not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.”
While this correspondence was pending, both armies, under the respective directions of Grant and of Lee, continued their preparations for battle as if there was no thought of cessation. The next day, April 8, General Grant wrote General Lee as follows:
“Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of the same date asking the conditions on which I will accept surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply I would say that, peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon,—namely, that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the United States government until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you might name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.”
To this General Lee replied, under the same date:
“I received at a late hour your note of to-day. In 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 of this army, but as the restoration to peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposal 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.”
That night General Lee spread his couch about a hundred feet from the saddle and blanket that were General Longstreet’s pillow for the night, and it is not probable that either had a more comfortable bed than the other. Of the early hours of the next day, the last day of active existence of the Army of Northern Virginia, Colonel Venable, of General Lee’s staff, has written a touching account, which is published in General Long’s “Memoirs of General Lee.” When further resistance seemed useless, he quoted General Lee as saying,—
“Then there is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.”
Many were the wild words of passionate grief spoken by the officers around him. Said one, “Oh, General, what would history say of the surrender of the army in the field?” According to Colonel Venable, General Lee replied, “Yes, I know they will say hard things of us; they will not understand how we are overwhelmed with numbers. But that is not the question; the question is, Is it right to surrender this army? If it is right, then I will take all the responsibility.”
Presently General Lee called General Longstreet to ride forward with him. He said that the advance columns stood against a very formidable force which he could not break through, while General Meade was at Longstreet’s rear ready to call for all the work that the rear guard could do. He added that it did not seem possible for him to make further successful resistance. General Longstreet asked if the sacrifice of his army could benefit the cause in other quarters. He thought not. Then, said Longstreet, “The situation speaks for itself.” Several other leading generals were consulted, and all of them held the same view.
Meanwhile, the Federal forces appeared plainly to be preparing for attack. The Confederates continued work on their lines of defence. General Longstreet ordered parts of the rear guard forward to support the advance forces, and directed General E. P. Alexander to establish them with part of his batteries in the best position for support or rallying line in case the front lines were forced back.