August 19, 2025 • 19 mins
Discover the remarkable life of Ulysses S. Grant, the celebrated Union hero of the Civil War and the 18th President of the United States. This engaging biography, presented in a concise 145-page pamphlet, offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of a man who shaped American history. Though the author is renowned for his captivating tales of the Old West, he also crafted a significant body of nonfiction that reveals much about Grants legacy. (Summary by David Wales)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section eight of Ulysses s. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five, Part five.
The Withers of the South were being wrong. Side failures
did nothing to obscure the looming end. The great blows
of Sherman, Sheridan, and Thomas sent their shocks to the
(00:23):
heart of secession, and at the heart sat Grant, holding
Lee tight in Richmond. It is recorded of his ceaseless
work at this period that on one day he wrote
forty two important despatches. This winter was a time of
thought for the weary, disenchanted Southern people, and a time
(00:45):
of desperation on the part of their political misleaders. In
early February, some of these had, in good faith visited
Grant to talk of peace, which talk he had tactfully evaded,
while showing them all all hospitality at his headquarters. With
tact still greater, he had persuaded Lincoln to come and
(01:07):
see them himself instead of sending Seward as an emissary.
But this ended in nothing save that Grant's character and
kindness won the high admiration of the Confederate Vice President Stephens,
who wrote, he is one of the most remarkable men
I ever met. He does not seem to be aware
(01:29):
of his powers presently. Again, the South asked for a
peace talk, this time through General Lee, who addressed Grant
in a letter. But Grant explained that terms of peace
were not in his province, that his authority allowed him
to act only regarding military subjects such as the exchange
(01:50):
of prisoners, and the matter stopped there. Lee's actions and
spirit must be kept wide apart from those of the
secession politicians at this time and at all times. Under
the inspiration of Jefferson Davis, in the spring, a manifesto
issued from the Confederate Congress, which struggled to goad the
(02:12):
people to further efforts and sacrifices by such prophecies as
follow if the union one, not only would the property
and estates of vanquished rebels be confiscated, but they would
be divided and distributed among our African bondsmen. Our enemies
have threatened to deport our entire white population and supplant
(02:36):
it with a new population drawn from their own territories
and from European countries. The manifesto further says failure makes
us vassals of an arrogant people. Failure will compel us
to drink the cup of humiliation, even to the bitter
dregs of having the history of our struggle written by
(02:57):
New England historians. But even this excruciating peril seemed to
the Southern people, whose sons were dead and whose livelihood
was gone, a less calamity than paying a thousand dollars
of their money for a barrel of flour, and seeing
their white haired fathers and fifteen year old boys now
(03:18):
forcibly thrown into the mill of blood. They wanted peace.
They began to see in Jefferson Davis and his associates
not a group of patriots, but a heartless, selfish, unscrupulous
gang of intriguers. They began to go home from the army.
There was no pay and no food for those who
(03:40):
devotedly remained faithful to Lee. Grant was closing in. On
April three, Lee had to break cover and retreat from Richmond.
Davis fled southward, and even while flying and with full
knowledge of the crumbling house, he made another speech to lure,
if possible, more victims to the slaughter. We have now
(04:03):
entered upon a new phase of the struggle. He said,
Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army
will be free to move from point to point to
strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Few
could have believed him, but the soldiers, ragged and starved,
(04:24):
followed and fought under their beloved lee across the rainy
fields of Virginia. No successes now changed a muscle of
Grant's impassive face. Nothing but the capture of prisoners wakened
visible elation in him. Each prisoner meant one enemy less
to fight, one more life saved from fruitless sacrifice of
(04:48):
his thoughts, only his actions show anything. When leaving headquarters
at City Point on March twenty nine, for this last struggle,
he bad his wife good bye with more than his
daily tenderness, which was always great. He kissed her again
and again at the door, as though their next meeting
(05:08):
might never be, or would not be until after much
had happened. Then Lincoln walked to the train with him,
said God bless you all with an unsteady voice, and
they moved away to begin the taking of Richmond. The
President said, Grant is one of the few who have
not attempted to extract from me a knowledge of my movements,
(05:32):
although he is the only one who has a right
to know them. Rain fell the next day and dulled
the army's spirits, but weather made no change in the
quiet general, and Sheridan rode in through the rain from
his cavalry to headquarters, talked with the staff and with Grant,
and departed to his coming battles like a meteor, leaving
(05:56):
a trail of fired enthusiasm behind him to this star.
In these final days, the great wagon of the army
seemed hitched whatever they separately did, and they were doing
something during every hour. The fierce white light of Sheridan's
genius beats upon the whole, and his deeds against the
(06:18):
enemy are like strokes of lightning. On the morning of
April three, Lincoln came to Grant and captured Petersburg, and
shook his hand and poured out his thanks. A long
while he said this was something like his expectations, only
that he had imagined Sherman would have been brought from
the South to share in it. Then he learned more
(06:41):
of his general's tact, for Grant told him it was
justice that the army which fought lee from the beginning
should fight him at the end, and divide the glory
with no one. Thus there could be no rancor The
close partisans of mead bitter over the great slight which
history has so far done his fame, contend that he
(07:04):
should have received the final surrender. But a later generation
must think that this belonged to the general in chief.
Had Grant's brooding mind been occupied with any thoughts save
how best to end the matter and how best to
be merciful to the vanquished, he could scarcely be excused.
(07:24):
But he thought neither of himself nor of any other
of the victors. So he and Lincoln talked together a
while at Petersburg and understood each other well. For one
thought filled them both leniency. Then Grant went forward and
learned of Richmond's fall, but no wish to enter and
(07:46):
gloat over his prize was in the conqueror's heart. As
he had asked at Donaldson, why humiliate a brave enemy,
And as at Vicksburg he had forbidden a cheer to
be raised over the surrendered, or any taunt made as
they passed. So now he avoided Richmond, and Lee's last
(08:07):
march went on. The good deeds and the exploits of
Sheridan's cavalry spurred the infantry to a race. The pursuit quickened,
and Sheridan, striking blow on blow at the front, forever,
called back for greater speed. Lee must not escape to Danville.
(08:28):
Lee must be headed off and compelled to fight again.
Newhall of Sheridan's staff writes. All along the road were
evidences of the demoralization of the enemy. Flankers and scouting
parties of cavalry were continually bringing in scores of prisoners
from the woods on either side, prisoners who would throw
(08:50):
down their arms at the sight of blue uniforms and
request to be captured. The steadfast women who begged them
to turn back and face us again had been laughed
to scorn. At dark on April five, word came from
Sheridan to Grant, I wish you were here. I see
(09:11):
no escape for General Lee. Grant called for his horse
and rode through the night to Sheridan and Mead, and
on the next day, at Sailor's Creek, the cloud sank
lower round Lee again. Grant's actions reveal his thoughts. On Friday,
April seventh, he wrote, Lee, the last week must convince
(09:33):
you of the hopelessness of further resistance. I regard it
as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of
any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the
surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, the unsuccessful battles,
the dwindling regiments, the starvation, the retreat cut off. All
(09:56):
this was plainly the end, and it stared Lee in
the face. But on such a sight Lee had not
at first the moral strength to open his eyes. The
pain was too blinding. In his youth, he had taken
an oath to support the government. That government had educated
him to be a soldier. He had been against secession.
(10:20):
But when the time came to choose between secession and
his oath, he chose, not without reluctance, to break his
oath and turn against the government the teaching it had
given him. And now here he sat with his lost
cause like a broken idol in his hands. For a
(10:42):
moment he shrank from the final pang of renunciation. I
have received your note, he replied to Grant on that
same Friday, Though not entertaining the opinion you express of
the hopelessness of further resistance, I reciprocate your desire to
avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore ask the terms
(11:05):
you will offer, and Grant on Saturday replied, peace being
my great desire, there is but one condition that the
men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up
arms until properly exchanged. And then follows a touch of
his perfect consideration for the defeated opponent. I will meet you,
(11:30):
or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name.
So did Washington write to Cornwallis, as Horace Porter reminds us.
But Lee would himself go through with whatever had to come.
Only still he pushed the bitter cup away from him.
(11:50):
I cannot meet you with a view to surrender, he answered,
But as far as your proposal may tend to the
restoration of peace, I shall be pleas to meet you,
And he named Sunday morning on the old stage road
between the picket lines. This disappointing word came to Grant
in the heart of the night, where he lay sleepless
(12:13):
from many hours of pain in his head. Hunger, fatigue, exposure,
and strain had brought on such torments that he had
allowed remedies to be tried, but without avail he lay
down again. In the early hours, he was found walking
up and down outside, holding his head with both hands.
(12:35):
He now wrote a third time to Lee that he
had no authority to treat of peace, but that peace
could be had and lives and property saved by the
South laying down their arms. An urgency, almost an appeal,
pervades this letter. He then declined advice to take an
(12:57):
ambulance for the sake of his severe pain, and mounting
once more, proceeded towards Sheridan's front. It was near noon now,
and as he went a despatch overtook him. Time and
further mischances had brought Lee to the point he requested
an interview for the purpose of surrender according to the
(13:19):
terms offered. As Grant read and understood that here in
his hand at last lay peace, all pain left him.
He dismounted and by the roadside wrote his answer. While
he was doing this and hurrying forward to the meeting, Lee,
some six miles away, lay waiting, stretched on a blanket
(13:44):
under an apple tree by the road. He contemplated the
sunshine that bathed Virginia. Of his thoughts. Also, only his
actions reveal anything. When Grant's note reached him. He rose
and had soon ridden into a Bramatox court house, and
in a house there waited for Grant. In a little
(14:06):
while Grant reached the grassy village street, and there dismounted
stood Sheridan and others. No significant words were spoken in
this hour. Silence is the only reference that men make
to great events, which they are in the midst of
the ordinary greetings of every day were briefly given the
(14:28):
house were generally waited was pointed out to Grant, and
he went in, leaving most of the others upon the porch.
There they sat while General Lee's gray horse cropped the
grass near them. Quietness was over the little village and
the armies lying in the country round. The door opened,
(14:49):
and two of those on the porch were signed to
come in. They entered, it is said, treading as those
do who steal into a sick chamber, while the the
rest still sat on the porch. When the door next opened,
they rose, for out of it generally came splendid, tall,
(15:10):
gray bearded, immovable. They looked at him and his sword
and spotless gray uniform. He stood absently on the step,
gazing away across Virginia. And two or three times he
struck one hand against the other. Then, having spoken no word,
(15:31):
and noticing his gray horse that had been brought him,
he mounted and rode away. As he was going, Grant
came through the door, saluted him in silence, and in
silence also rode away. When Lee reached his army, the
faithful men swarmed around him, cheering not their common misfortune
(15:55):
but the peace that he had made. They mingled their
grief with his, grasping his hands, and then almost overcome,
he spoke, men, we have fought through the war together.
I have done the best I could for you. What
Grant's features concealed on that day we know now from him.
(16:19):
What generally's feelings were, I do not know. But my own,
which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter,
were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than
rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought
so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for
(16:41):
a cause. Though that cause was, I believe, one of
the worst for which a people ever fought, and one
for which there was the least excuse. But inside the house,
what had gone on between the two chiefs. The witnesses
watched and moved, always with the hush of a sick room.
And after the first greeting, when they sat down, it
(17:05):
became Grant who shrank from the point. He talked to
Lee about Mexico and old times and how good peace
was going to be now, and twice Lee had to
remind him of the business they had to do. Then
Grant wrote, as always simple and clear words. In the middle,
(17:28):
his eye fell upon Lee's beautiful sword, and the chivalric
act which it prompted has knighted his own spirit forever.
The surrender, he instantly wrote, would not embrace the side
arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage.
When Lee's eyes reached that sentence, his face changed for
(17:52):
the first time, and he said, this will have a
very happy effect upon my army. He then told what
was new to Grant, that the horses ridden by the
men were their own. Again. The conqueror's tenderness lifted him
into a realm diviner than the renown of victory. He
(18:12):
ordered that the men take the animals home with them
to work their little farms. To this nobility, Lee's own
responded this will have the best possible effect upon the men,
he said, moved to greater frankness, he told Grant of
his army's hunger, And for this also Grant at once provided.
(18:36):
These are the things which the conqueror had done. When
he came out of the house with unrelaxed countenance, and
rode away. As he went he heard firing from his lines.
It was in honor of the news already spreading. He
stopped these salutes at once. The war is over, he said,
(18:58):
the rebels are our countrymen again. Thus, when his strength
had quelled the four year storm, did a rainbow rise
from his great heart across the heavens of our native land.
End of Chapter five, Part five
Section eight of Ulysses s. Grant by Owen Wister. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter five, Part five.
The Withers of the South were being wrong. Side failures
did nothing to obscure the looming end. The great blows
of Sherman, Sheridan, and Thomas sent their shocks to the
(00:23):
heart of secession, and at the heart sat Grant, holding
Lee tight in Richmond. It is recorded of his ceaseless
work at this period that on one day he wrote
forty two important despatches. This winter was a time of
thought for the weary, disenchanted Southern people, and a time
(00:45):
of desperation on the part of their political misleaders. In
early February, some of these had, in good faith visited
Grant to talk of peace, which talk he had tactfully evaded,
while showing them all all hospitality at his headquarters. With
tact still greater, he had persuaded Lincoln to come and
(01:07):
see them himself instead of sending Seward as an emissary.
But this ended in nothing save that Grant's character and
kindness won the high admiration of the Confederate Vice President Stephens,
who wrote, he is one of the most remarkable men
I ever met. He does not seem to be aware
(01:29):
of his powers presently. Again, the South asked for a
peace talk, this time through General Lee, who addressed Grant
in a letter. But Grant explained that terms of peace
were not in his province, that his authority allowed him
to act only regarding military subjects such as the exchange
(01:50):
of prisoners, and the matter stopped there. Lee's actions and
spirit must be kept wide apart from those of the
secession politicians at this time and at all times. Under
the inspiration of Jefferson Davis, in the spring, a manifesto
issued from the Confederate Congress, which struggled to goad the
(02:12):
people to further efforts and sacrifices by such prophecies as
follow if the union one, not only would the property
and estates of vanquished rebels be confiscated, but they would
be divided and distributed among our African bondsmen. Our enemies
have threatened to deport our entire white population and supplant
(02:36):
it with a new population drawn from their own territories
and from European countries. The manifesto further says failure makes
us vassals of an arrogant people. Failure will compel us
to drink the cup of humiliation, even to the bitter
dregs of having the history of our struggle written by
(02:57):
New England historians. But even this excruciating peril seemed to
the Southern people, whose sons were dead and whose livelihood
was gone, a less calamity than paying a thousand dollars
of their money for a barrel of flour, and seeing
their white haired fathers and fifteen year old boys now
(03:18):
forcibly thrown into the mill of blood. They wanted peace.
They began to see in Jefferson Davis and his associates
not a group of patriots, but a heartless, selfish, unscrupulous
gang of intriguers. They began to go home from the army.
There was no pay and no food for those who
(03:40):
devotedly remained faithful to Lee. Grant was closing in. On
April three, Lee had to break cover and retreat from Richmond.
Davis fled southward, and even while flying and with full
knowledge of the crumbling house, he made another speech to lure,
if possible, more victims to the slaughter. We have now
(04:03):
entered upon a new phase of the struggle. He said,
Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army
will be free to move from point to point to
strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Few
could have believed him, but the soldiers, ragged and starved,
(04:24):
followed and fought under their beloved lee across the rainy
fields of Virginia. No successes now changed a muscle of
Grant's impassive face. Nothing but the capture of prisoners wakened
visible elation in him. Each prisoner meant one enemy less
to fight, one more life saved from fruitless sacrifice of
(04:48):
his thoughts, only his actions show anything. When leaving headquarters
at City Point on March twenty nine, for this last struggle,
he bad his wife good bye with more than his
daily tenderness, which was always great. He kissed her again
and again at the door, as though their next meeting
(05:08):
might never be, or would not be until after much
had happened. Then Lincoln walked to the train with him,
said God bless you all with an unsteady voice, and
they moved away to begin the taking of Richmond. The
President said, Grant is one of the few who have
not attempted to extract from me a knowledge of my movements,
(05:32):
although he is the only one who has a right
to know them. Rain fell the next day and dulled
the army's spirits, but weather made no change in the
quiet general, and Sheridan rode in through the rain from
his cavalry to headquarters, talked with the staff and with Grant,
and departed to his coming battles like a meteor, leaving
(05:56):
a trail of fired enthusiasm behind him to this star.
In these final days, the great wagon of the army
seemed hitched whatever they separately did, and they were doing
something during every hour. The fierce white light of Sheridan's
genius beats upon the whole, and his deeds against the
(06:18):
enemy are like strokes of lightning. On the morning of
April three, Lincoln came to Grant and captured Petersburg, and
shook his hand and poured out his thanks. A long
while he said this was something like his expectations, only
that he had imagined Sherman would have been brought from
the South to share in it. Then he learned more
(06:41):
of his general's tact, for Grant told him it was
justice that the army which fought lee from the beginning
should fight him at the end, and divide the glory
with no one. Thus there could be no rancor The
close partisans of mead bitter over the great slight which
history has so far done his fame, contend that he
(07:04):
should have received the final surrender. But a later generation
must think that this belonged to the general in chief.
Had Grant's brooding mind been occupied with any thoughts save
how best to end the matter and how best to
be merciful to the vanquished, he could scarcely be excused.
(07:24):
But he thought neither of himself nor of any other
of the victors. So he and Lincoln talked together a
while at Petersburg and understood each other well. For one
thought filled them both leniency. Then Grant went forward and
learned of Richmond's fall, but no wish to enter and
(07:46):
gloat over his prize was in the conqueror's heart. As
he had asked at Donaldson, why humiliate a brave enemy,
And as at Vicksburg he had forbidden a cheer to
be raised over the surrendered, or any taunt made as
they passed. So now he avoided Richmond, and Lee's last
(08:07):
march went on. The good deeds and the exploits of
Sheridan's cavalry spurred the infantry to a race. The pursuit quickened,
and Sheridan, striking blow on blow at the front, forever,
called back for greater speed. Lee must not escape to Danville.
(08:28):
Lee must be headed off and compelled to fight again.
Newhall of Sheridan's staff writes. All along the road were
evidences of the demoralization of the enemy. Flankers and scouting
parties of cavalry were continually bringing in scores of prisoners
from the woods on either side, prisoners who would throw
(08:50):
down their arms at the sight of blue uniforms and
request to be captured. The steadfast women who begged them
to turn back and face us again had been laughed
to scorn. At dark on April five, word came from
Sheridan to Grant, I wish you were here. I see
(09:11):
no escape for General Lee. Grant called for his horse
and rode through the night to Sheridan and Mead, and
on the next day, at Sailor's Creek, the cloud sank
lower round Lee again. Grant's actions reveal his thoughts. On Friday,
April seventh, he wrote, Lee, the last week must convince
(09:33):
you of the hopelessness of further resistance. I regard it
as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of
any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the
surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, the unsuccessful battles,
the dwindling regiments, the starvation, the retreat cut off. All
(09:56):
this was plainly the end, and it stared Lee in
the face. But on such a sight Lee had not
at first the moral strength to open his eyes. The
pain was too blinding. In his youth, he had taken
an oath to support the government. That government had educated
him to be a soldier. He had been against secession.
(10:20):
But when the time came to choose between secession and
his oath, he chose, not without reluctance, to break his
oath and turn against the government the teaching it had
given him. And now here he sat with his lost
cause like a broken idol in his hands. For a
(10:42):
moment he shrank from the final pang of renunciation. I
have received your note, he replied to Grant on that
same Friday, Though not entertaining the opinion you express of
the hopelessness of further resistance, I reciprocate your desire to
avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore ask the terms
(11:05):
you will offer, and Grant on Saturday replied, peace being
my great desire, there is but one condition that the
men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up
arms until properly exchanged. And then follows a touch of
his perfect consideration for the defeated opponent. I will meet you,
(11:30):
or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name.
So did Washington write to Cornwallis, as Horace Porter reminds us.
But Lee would himself go through with whatever had to come.
Only still he pushed the bitter cup away from him.
(11:50):
I cannot meet you with a view to surrender, he answered,
But as far as your proposal may tend to the
restoration of peace, I shall be pleas to meet you,
And he named Sunday morning on the old stage road
between the picket lines. This disappointing word came to Grant
in the heart of the night, where he lay sleepless
(12:13):
from many hours of pain in his head. Hunger, fatigue, exposure,
and strain had brought on such torments that he had
allowed remedies to be tried, but without avail he lay
down again. In the early hours, he was found walking
up and down outside, holding his head with both hands.
(12:35):
He now wrote a third time to Lee that he
had no authority to treat of peace, but that peace
could be had and lives and property saved by the
South laying down their arms. An urgency, almost an appeal,
pervades this letter. He then declined advice to take an
(12:57):
ambulance for the sake of his severe pain, and mounting
once more, proceeded towards Sheridan's front. It was near noon now,
and as he went a despatch overtook him. Time and
further mischances had brought Lee to the point he requested
an interview for the purpose of surrender according to the
(13:19):
terms offered. As Grant read and understood that here in
his hand at last lay peace, all pain left him.
He dismounted and by the roadside wrote his answer. While
he was doing this and hurrying forward to the meeting, Lee,
some six miles away, lay waiting, stretched on a blanket
(13:44):
under an apple tree by the road. He contemplated the
sunshine that bathed Virginia. Of his thoughts. Also, only his
actions reveal anything. When Grant's note reached him. He rose
and had soon ridden into a Bramatox court house, and
in a house there waited for Grant. In a little
(14:06):
while Grant reached the grassy village street, and there dismounted
stood Sheridan and others. No significant words were spoken in
this hour. Silence is the only reference that men make
to great events, which they are in the midst of
the ordinary greetings of every day were briefly given the
(14:28):
house were generally waited was pointed out to Grant, and
he went in, leaving most of the others upon the porch.
There they sat while General Lee's gray horse cropped the
grass near them. Quietness was over the little village and
the armies lying in the country round. The door opened,
(14:49):
and two of those on the porch were signed to
come in. They entered, it is said, treading as those
do who steal into a sick chamber, while the the
rest still sat on the porch. When the door next opened,
they rose, for out of it generally came splendid, tall,
(15:10):
gray bearded, immovable. They looked at him and his sword
and spotless gray uniform. He stood absently on the step,
gazing away across Virginia. And two or three times he
struck one hand against the other. Then, having spoken no word,
(15:31):
and noticing his gray horse that had been brought him,
he mounted and rode away. As he was going, Grant
came through the door, saluted him in silence, and in
silence also rode away. When Lee reached his army, the
faithful men swarmed around him, cheering not their common misfortune
(15:55):
but the peace that he had made. They mingled their
grief with his, grasping his hands, and then almost overcome,
he spoke, men, we have fought through the war together.
I have done the best I could for you. What
Grant's features concealed on that day we know now from him.
(16:19):
What generally's feelings were, I do not know. But my own,
which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter,
were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than
rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought
so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for
(16:41):
a cause. Though that cause was, I believe, one of
the worst for which a people ever fought, and one
for which there was the least excuse. But inside the house,
what had gone on between the two chiefs. The witnesses
watched and moved, always with the hush of a sick room.
And after the first greeting, when they sat down, it
(17:05):
became Grant who shrank from the point. He talked to
Lee about Mexico and old times and how good peace
was going to be now, and twice Lee had to
remind him of the business they had to do. Then
Grant wrote, as always simple and clear words. In the middle,
(17:28):
his eye fell upon Lee's beautiful sword, and the chivalric
act which it prompted has knighted his own spirit forever.
The surrender, he instantly wrote, would not embrace the side
arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage.
When Lee's eyes reached that sentence, his face changed for
(17:52):
the first time, and he said, this will have a
very happy effect upon my army. He then told what
was new to Grant, that the horses ridden by the
men were their own. Again. The conqueror's tenderness lifted him
into a realm diviner than the renown of victory. He
(18:12):
ordered that the men take the animals home with them
to work their little farms. To this nobility, Lee's own
responded this will have the best possible effect upon the men,
he said, moved to greater frankness, he told Grant of
his army's hunger, And for this also Grant at once provided.
(18:36):
These are the things which the conqueror had done. When
he came out of the house with unrelaxed countenance, and
rode away. As he went he heard firing from his lines.
It was in honor of the news already spreading. He
stopped these salutes at once. The war is over, he said,
(18:58):
the rebels are our countrymen again. Thus, when his strength
had quelled the four year storm, did a rainbow rise
from his great heart across the heavens of our native land.
End of Chapter five, Part five
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