A loud cheer rose, and the blue line rushed straight upon him. Nighthawk’s head rose, and he gazed at them with flashing eyes—then he looked at Mohun and groaned.
Summoning his last remains of strength, he drew from his breast a pencil and a piece of paper, wrote some words upon the paper, and affixed it to Mohun’s breast.
This seemed to exhaust him. He had scarcely finished, when his head sank, his shoulders drooped, and falling forward on the breast of Mohun, he expired.
An hour afterward, all was still. On the summit of the Court-House hill a blue column was stationary, waving a large white flag.
General Lee had surrendered.
XXIX. — THE SURRENDER.
Lee had surrendered the army of Northern Virginia.
Ask old soldiers of that army to describe their feelings at the announcement, reader. They will tell you that they can not; and I will not attempt to record my own.