colonel orville babcock. named william mckee dunn. they found lee resting under that apple tree by the appomattox river. lee had with him only lieutenant colonel charles marshall, his aid to camp of his staff and an orderly named joshua johns. his other aid to camp, walter taylor had begged off from having to suffer the humiliation of attending the surrender meeting. marshall did not. in fact, lee refused to duck the responsibility himself. attending the meeting in person. the previous correspondence, grant offered to save lee the humiliation anymore that he would meet with anyone that lee designated.

lee's father, light horse harry lee had been with washington at yorktown and witnessed what he deemed to be the shameful behavior of lord corn wallaceñr by sending a subordinate to formally surrender the british army. lee would not shame the family's name by transferring the responsibility to a subordinate. as the small party left the apple tree site and reached the appomattox river, lee's horse traveler stopped to drink. continued into the village behind us. and encountered wilmer mclean who was outside of his house, perhaps looking to have a guard posted at his home. mclean first showed him a building most likely in the front corner of his yard. the rain tavern as it was known

but the buildings was unfurnished. then mclean offered his own home, which stands behind us. behind me and in front of you. it was a fine brick home. marshall returned to lee to guide him to the location. the group arrived at the house at about 1:00 p.m. they left lieutenant dunn at the gate. he was posted there to watch for the approach of grant. joshua johns held the horses of lee and marshall outside the house, probably in this area where this stand is set up. babcock, marshall and lee entered the house, turned to the left and took seats in the parlor. lee's biographer suggested this may have been the longest half hour of lee's life.

after riding for more than 20 miles, grant arrived with his staff in tow at about 1:30 in the afternoon. he picked up general sheridan and ord at the top of the ridge in front of you. on his way to the mclean house. in fact, he asked sheridan where general lee was and sheridan said he is over in that house waiting to surrender to you. and he invited sheridan to come along with him. he said, come on, let's go. when grant enters the parlor, lee met him. there, indeed was a contrast between the two men. first of all, lee was 58 years old, grant was 42. there was a 16-year difference between each -- the two men.

and sometimes, i think too much is made about their dress. general lee put on a new uniform that day. said he expected to be general grant's prisoner, and wanted to make his best appearance. general grant was never a fancy dresser. he had just rode over 20 miles on virginia muddy roads. as you probably experienced today. grant wasn't riding by himself. he had his staff with him. had an escort. third west virginia calvary. none of grant's staff was clean. it wasn't like the mud just stuck to grant and no one else. they were all mud splattered. general lee had put on a new uniform and he rode only about a mile and a mile and a half to this meeting.

grant explained that he did not have his baggage with him and he didn't want to makelp general lee wait. general lee said he was glad that grant didn't make him wait and he came to the meeting. they found common ground they began to discuss. grant brought up he met general lee in the mexican war. general lee recalled that he had met grant. as the generals are speaking general grant's staff files into the room. and after some time of conversation about mexico, lee called grant's attention to the matter at hand and inquired to the terms. grant replied that the terms would be substantially the same as what he had wrote the previous day. lee then asked grant to put his terms in writing. and then lee sat down near a large marble top white table.

while puffing on a cigar, grant sat at a small wooden table that had an oval top on it and began writing in pencil in his manifold order book. observing lee as he wrote, grant said he could not discern lee's true feelings. and he said the initial joy he had felt at receiving lee's letter wanting to meet with hill to surrender had dissipated. and now, he felt sad and depressed. he recalled i felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe. the wishes of lincoln came out in the terms. grant had met lincoln on april -- march 28th and discussed the end of the war. and in effect lincoln had said, let them up easy. after all, these men would become, hopefully, worthy united states citizens again.ñ grant was generous. he was not going to send the confederate soldiers to prison

camp. they would beá:siñ paroled and allowed to go home. the officers were allowed to keep their side arms and personal baggage. and their private horses. with the terms written lee would not have to surrender his sword. he would not suffer that humiliation. after reading these generous terms, lee said this will have a very happy effect upon my army. then he inquired if the enlisted men of the army could keep their horses, as well. grant stated the terms did not allow this. and lee acknowledged they did not. but grant was perceptive and caught lee's anxiety on the matter and he acted quickly. he was not going to make lee beg for this concession. he said to lee that he did not know that the confederate soldiers own their own horses. but he assumed that many of the

men were small farmers and they would need toes horses to put in a crop. he then stated he would not change the terms as written but would give instructions to allow the confederate soldiers to take their horses home to work their farms. grant well understood that this meeting taking place in this parlor was about the future of the country. grant -- or lee responded once again, this will have the best possible effect on my army. lee found the terms agreeable. the task of putting the final draft into ink fell to lieutenant colonel e. lee parker. a native american of the seneca people. who was said to have the best penmanship on the general's staff. parker sat down to write, but he lacked ink.

lieutenant colonel charles marshall lee's aid to camp alleviated the problem by producing a box wood ink stand for parker. parker wrote beautifully and the final copy, the final letter which is on loan to the national park here at appomattox from stratford hall is on display in our visitors' center.pu9ñbx marshall was tasked with writing lee's acceptance letter of the terms. but marshall lacked paper. grant's staff quickly produced paper for colonel marshall. right there in the mclean parlor, you have the inner dependency between the north and the south. while waiting for the final letters to be completed, lee mentioned a grant he had a thousand of grant's men prisoners. mainly captured at the april 6th battle of high bridge near farmville. and lee dropped another rather

large hint saying he had no food for grant's men and, indeed, he had nothing for his own men. no food for his own men. grant responded that he could send over 25,000 rations to feed lee's army. lee gratefully acknowledged that that was ample. well drafting the letters continued, grant introduced some of the officers in the room with him, including general seth williams. general lee knew seth williams well. williams had been lee'sage -- from 1852 to 1855. another person that general grant introduced was a young captain that had joined his staff less than a month earlier. his name was robert lincoln.

he was the son of abraham lincoln. he had recently graduated from harvard and joined general grant's staff in mid march and here in the mclean parlor. we don't have a record of how general lee reacted to meeting robert lincoln. the 8-year-old daughter of wilma mclean left a rag doll on the couch in the parlor where the meeting occurred. and when everyone came in they took that doll and placed it on the mantle. of the parlor. and afterwards, the officer started tossing that rag doll around. and it was kept as a war souvenir by captain thomas moore. they called it the silent witness. the moore family kept that doll in new york. the men would exhibit it as a war souvenir.

in the early 1990s the ladies of the family saying the men had passed away they wanted that to come back to the appomattox courthouse, and it's now on the second level of our visitor center museum. once the letters were finished by parker and marshall they were exchanged. the commanders lee and grant did not sign one document. they simply exchanged those letters. the meeting concluding lee and grant shook hands, general lee went out on to the front porch called for johns and traveler. and once lee mounted, grant who had come out of the house with his staff tipped his hat to lee. and lee returned that gesture and began to ride to his army. upon approaching his men in the appomattox river valley, general lee informed them that they had

been surrendered and then told them to go home and make as good citizens as you have soldiers. when general grant left the mclean house, he heard the celebratory firing of muskets and cannon being discharged. he ordered the firings stopped. he said the rebels are our country men again. when the meeting concluded a path was set for the future of the nation. when the meeting concluded, it meant that after four years of slaughter, americans would stop butchering americans on the battlefield. there would be a lasting peace and a more permanent binding for the nation. lee's letter of acceptance of grant's terms made the emancipation proclamation

effective throughout virginia. and i firmly believe and agree with what a west virginia soldier, an infantryman named j.b. cunningham present at the battle on the morning of april 9th 1865 what he wrop home to his family in a letter. the letter stated april 9th is the greatest day in american history. thank you. >> thank you, patrick. americans have a deep and abiding personal connection with the american civil war. those americans who do not have a family connection are often intensely interested in those who do. we have seen it throughout the observances here in virginia.

like wilmer mclean, come to these places. we are honored today, we've ndents welcomed this morning a couple cel of -- a slew of notable descendents. this afternoon we're happy to to feature one of them once again for you, a man who is desended o h from the only confederate officer who accompanied lee into the mclean parlor that afternoon. inoon dennis big ela is the grate grandson of charles marshall. as i said the only officer to join lee inside the house. on most days mr. bigelow can beund found as a costume interpreter for james monroe, of james monroe county home originally known as highland. we've asked dennis if he would . take a few minutes this afternoon and share with you his wit perspective of having a family ctive connection to a historic event his

of suchto magnitude and reach. mr. dennis bigelow. [ applause ] >> there's a chill in the afternoon and you've been wh sitting for a while. so you don't need a repeat of what you've heard so well in in terms of the particulars of what happened in the mclean house andouse the surrender.rrend so i'm not going to read that out of m grandfather marshall's book. but i think you'd like to hear this. by the punctuated by the loss of the third of the army at sailor's rginia creek, on the 6th of april with conf

confederate general gordon being st stopped dead by a sea of the blue coats on the morning of the the 9th, general lee knew his shrinking army could not remain whole. and could not break out of his ou encirclement. but after four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the army of northern virginia must yield a must to overwhelming numbers and resources. in the wee hours of the 9th of april, general lee's aide, and fellow staff officers of 's generals longstreet and gordon, took their only refreshment of the day. a little cornmeal gruel they

shared from a heated shaving tin. and grandfather marshall noted later that this was our last meal in the confederacy. our next was taken in the united states.r [ applause ] the agreement of surrender which took place in the mclean house 150 years ago was the culmination of seven letters between general grant and general lee, exchanges initiated ini by grant onti the 7th, and closed by grant on the morning of the n 9th. the number seven, which might be whi seen as the number of n. completions, if not perfection.

grandfather marshall noted that here on the 9th of april, at the a littlet village of appomattox when general lee met general grant, the question of the of the undeniable union of the state passed into history, never to be revived. [ applause ] but what must never be forgotten here he felt, was the conduct here of the victorious americans in blue towards defeated americans in gray.ans specifically marshall said of aid the federals, they love their enemy, and did good to those who hated them..

this great kindness over four days of surrender proceedings, from the 9th to the 12th, from agreement of terms, the stacking of arms, from the conduct of general grant to the gracious spirit of generals chamberlain of t from thehe soldiers of the blue toward the gray, from the e strong to the broken, and lifting them up, forever molded up charles marshall's life after appomattox making him a peacemaker, and he readily alluded to matthew 5:9 blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of god. [ applause ]

and so after that, he became the peacemaker among rtthe die-hards he l of the lost cause renewing him ng him as a citizen of the united states of america. and he did that until he died in 1902. before before he died, in 1892 a memorial day, he was asked to give a keynote speech before grant's tomb, that he may carry m on the work of peacemaking, which is our job today.. [ applause ] >> thank you, dennis.

it is probably at this moment this 150 years ago that lieutenant colonel parker of grant's staff bing t washe transcribing the final terms of the surrender for grant's signature. a copy of the surrender document, as patrick mentioned, is on display in the visitors center. we met this morning a number of descendents, including a descendent a great, great grandp nephew of parker, a seneca indian who became somewhat famous for what he did here, but remained legendary for a story told, and has been told earlier today when lee met parker at the conclusion of the meeting by one account lee paused. he flinched, wondered at the

presence of a man in the room who was not white. w after he recovered himself, lee looked at eli parker extended his hand and said, i'm glad to see one real american here. eli parker grasped lee's hand in return, and told the confederate general, the general, the man at appomattox who probably had morex who cause to doubt his status as an b american, being assured of his status as an american by a man hard who was seen atos an american. and eli parker turned and shook his hand, and said, we are all americans this day. and i'd like to just take this take moment to introduce to you just briefly, to acknowledge his presence here, al parker who ist

the great, great grand nephew of eli parker of the seneca nation. [ applause ] >> in the seneca language, i wi wish to welcome all who have gathered today, and give a thanksgiving that you have arrived safely and enjoy your njoy day here at appomattox. a wonderful time tremendous t commemoration, it's a great privilege and honor for me to represent the parker family. and to take part in this this commemorative event. thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ]nt >> i have to say that all of us who work for the national park service, many of us have done many events over the 150th, and

i have to say we're in awe at say, the number of people here the thoughtfulness of the people of here, and we thank you very much for being here. we've looked today at the afternoon of april 9th, 1865, in a close-up version. it's time as this meeting in the mee house wound down between 2:30 woun and 3:00 to take a step back, and to see the events of april 9th through maybe a larger lens. now, we are honored today to welcome dr. ed ayers from the university of richmond. some of you have met ed before. if you were in the sweltering heat heat in manassas july 21st, 2011, if you can remember back that far, he gave the keynote address at manassas on that day. it seems a very, very, very long time ago. he was more recently a driving

force behind the outstanding events in richmond last weekend, commemorating the fall of richmond. co dr. ed ayers is one of america's preeminent civil war historians. i don't say that lightly.. he is committed not just to the impeccable scholarship, but to ut to reaching people beyond academia. he roots out stories untold s, he stories, he amplifies voices unheard, and he constantly ays. challenges us to see events in new ways, always with a sense ofalways historical justice to those who were there.eare perhaps more than any historian y working in the field he helps us afford meaning to events that were almost always far more s far complex and far-reaching than we imagined it would be. he's retiring from his position he's at the university of richmond this summer. a while it's a great loss to the university for sure, dr. ayers hi

devoting his time once again to on history is good news tceo the rest news of us. it is my pleasure to introduce you to dr. ed ayers.ha [ applause ] >> thank you.nk y there are indeed very many of ny you. and it's convenient that all of you come labeled. i can see where everybody's from by the baseball caps. so i see everything from boston to mississippi right here a few rows apart. few it seems very fitting. and i'm. going to take just a few a moments for all of us to think of about what it has meant to this country to have the national park service step up throughout the this sesquicentennial to make these sites available to us ensibl welcoming to us. it's true i was at manassas and it was approximately 800 degrees, is my memory. also had the good fortune of at

being at fort sumter the evening before the firing.at getty i was also at gettysburg where it was also hot. last weekend in richmond we had thousands of people come to to commemorate what it was like ate when the confederates fled that city. and the united states colored troops and abraham lincoln came into it. it was one of the more powerful it. moments of my life to see americans come together and remembering all of our history.icans co i feel very noble by the drums building in the background here. it's been a long war. i think maybe just people in the national park service and i'm . actually going to say i would like to take this moment to take actually thank the folks in the on national park service for their remarkable work. [ applause ]the k.

[ applause ] >> i thought it was very characteristic that i turned around to look john in the eye and thank him, but he was already working again. you have to convey the standing ovation.me p people already standing there to do that. i feel a great sense of responsibility at this moment. what could i possibly say.greaib the meaning of these events thatat we just remembered seem very firmly embedded in our national story.ory. there's a reason all of you came yo here today. today. you came here to see the story that you know. and in it our national understanding.ing, appomattox is america at its best.best the gentlemanly drama on this landsc landscape showed americans to be principled generous and

fundamentally decent. the shaking of hands, the refusal of the sword, the role of eli parker, the humility of both general grant and general lee, all of those things tell ustting of that the blood letting of the previous four years in which theequi equivalent of 8 million people and who had died had been an anomal anomaly. the pairedy. stories of confederate soldiers permitted to keep their horses and guns, and of them then melting away, suddenly civilians, back to their homes, has reassured generations of americans that at americans are different from other nations. we are fundamentally unwar-like we tell ourselves, fundamentally unified. this is the story in our textbooks. this is th e story we teach our ur children. this isn't a story of our best sellers. it shows us our best selves.

it elevates soldiers and men of discipline principle restraintline and , courage. it allows everyone to be a hero. even an icon. general grant himself did much to create this version of the story. here's what he wrote in his great memoirs 20 years later, s dying in upstate new york, desperate to tell the story of te the civil war as he lived it. he recalled this day, that he ordered no firing or salutes orother uttered what he called unnecessary humiliation of confederates. cal they were quote now our they prisoners, and we did not want eir do to exult over their downfall. indeed, as you heard from from patrick, grant's own feelings, quote, which had been quite jubilant at the receipt of lee's

letter, were sad and depressed.ed. i felt like anything rather than than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause. then there's just a comma. there's not a semicolon, not a dash, there's not a period, and he completes that same sentence.he com though that cause was, i believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought and ever one for which there was the least excuse. so in one sentence, grant is saying that he felt sad and depressed, and he admired a foe who fought so long and valiantlyd and suffered so much, but the cause was the worst for which a people ever fought.'s the that's the feeling that all americans have to wrestle with. from that day on. that's a remarkable sentence. it's self-contradictory.

and it's nonse qui ter that has us understanding this event evert ever since. the cause could not have been een worse, and there's no excuse for that fight and yet the man who led the fight had fought long and valiantly. cause now, the cause of course that grant identified was the dismantling of the united states. the uworld'sn most hopeful ful democracy, to create a new n nation that would beew explicitly slave based onry slavery. it was that severing of the everin cause andg of the fight that established the bargain that the white north and the white south would hold on to for generations. despite the terrible cause, spite grant continued, quote, i do not question the sincerity of the si great mass of those who were great opposed to it. sincerity. indeed who could have doubted bted the sincerity of the

confederacy, who had bled itself to death in pursuit of that cause. the confederacy was profoundly sincere. the soldiers were sincere in their longing to lead the united states. sincere in their hatred of what they saw as an invading army.nvadin sincere in their hatred of the abolitionist and black republicans that they blamed for starting the war. sincere in their belief that they had the best army and the rmy an best d generals. they were never shaken in those beliefs all the way up to to appomattox and beyond for generations. so general grant was right not gen to doubt their sincerity.er general grant's portrayal at appomattox gave the white south what it most wanted, and thought m it had certainly earned. respect. the soldiers were not fooled into fighting, they said. we were not traitors they said.they

but were sincere believers that at we upheld the same ideals that other americans upheld.s our own freedom, our own . independence, our own rights. they used exactly the same wordst the sa as the northern counterparts and meant the same thing. as a result the fighting in the confederates' eyes could be and was divorced from the worst cause for which a people ever fought. they can say they did not fight for slavery, but rather for home e and rightsve.r they would say that three-fourths of them were not not slaveholders, but that all were citizens and soldiers. wer and indeed the root cause that abraham lincoln said that all knew was somehow the cause of the war, was buried deeply most of the time during the war. the confederates never charged into battle shouting about houting slavery. their generals never exhorted

them to fight over slavery. based the fact that the nation they fought for was the reality underneath.ity while grant, lee and their comrades met right behind us, slavery was dying elsewhere. it had been mortally wounded n medica across the south during the war itself dissolving everywhere it could dissolve. everywhere the united states ol army wentve..ates everywhere the slaveholders fled. now, it was dying in the legislative halls in washington where the 13th amendment passed the u.s. senate the day before grant and lee met here.gran it's grant's worst cause not slavery, but rather the destruction of the united states, that too had been decided by the time people met here. the confederacy's purpose had

already disappeared with eared richmondwi falling, with jeffersonnd davis fleeing into the southern night, with sherman marching to th she the southern rmspring, with the confederate army scattered and powerless. and despite later fantasies of sies guerrilla fighting, that could lla fi not be a desperate and undisciplined tactic that lee would support, he knew the war was over here. ove the confederacy was over here. ov all the otherer confederate generals followed his example. though the war, slavery and the sla confederacy ended in the spring of 1865, no one could claim to know what would come next. everything was up in the air when the events that we are commemorating today unfolded. the story has helped us to understand what happened here. for grant, the union victory was one of right over wrong. he believed that his magna nim magnanim

ti, no less than his victory, cated vibd indicated frefre society and the union's way of war. his generosity of spirit, he t, intended to say, this is what is the north is actually like. is this is the spirit of generosity that we bring. and she continues, grant's eyes es. were on the future, a future in which southerners chastened and repentent to join the north in progress. she sees lee acting differently. he believed the union victory was might over might. if you listen to the orders that you just heard, it is that we hear haved, succumbed to superior numbers and resources. t it does not say that we have succumbed to a better purpose. in his view southerners had nothing to repent of and had survived the war with their

honor and principles intact. he was intent on restoration, onon turning the clock back as much as possible to the days when virginia led the nation and before sexual extremism alienated the north from the sm south. each man believed he was on the high moral ground. but they were believing that they w they were on different high moral ground. for supporters of lincoln and the republicans including an ligsists, black and white grant's generosity of spirit spiri proved their moral as well as their material superiority. they were giving the south a ving t chance to acknowledge that it was wrong as well as defeated. for supporters of the of confederacy and for the many northern enemies of lincoln and his party, on the other hand, n the lee's dignity proved that the south could be restored to its its place in the nation and that whatever t slavery became would change the racial order as little as possible.

throughout the war, lincoln's enemies in the north had called for the union as it was, and when lee was surrendering here, he believed that is what he was helping to restore, the union as it was. both the republicans and democrats, the north and the south, claimed victory in this ceremony. th claimed vindication for their cause. even though they claimed different things.th now, it was no accident that lee and grant grew farther and farther apart as the months and t years passed after this day. the powerful moment we ful commemorate today which seemed to stand outside of the war and outside of politics, became ever more entangled in the messy politics that followed.followe in fact, appomattox became ever appom more elevated in our national imaginations, but not because itcause resolved what would follow, but

because everyone could see in it what they wanted. they could see here their highest aspirations.%÷ the white south envisioned nothing like the reconstruction that would follow. they thought that the honorable surrender here meant we thoughte we lost, we're back in the united states, they did not imagine that the united states army would press on with reconstruction. they could not imagine that more would be asked or demanded of them. they saw appomattox as the end, as a resolution not as the ution, beginning of a more profound revolution in american life. they could not have imagined that the same army that was as gathered here would in two years help oversee the men who were held in slavery for 250 years up to this day would then become voting men in the south and in s

america.ou they could not imagine that the enslaved people all around in here and in virginia would be insisted upon as being full citizens in thein 13th and 14th 14 amendments. that is not what they thought they they were surrendering. and they did not believe that did they were undergoing a th revolution in which the north would call the shots in american politics, and public life for generation after generation to follow. now, many people in the north by contrast saw appomattox as a cessation of armed hostilities but not as a culmination a hosti fulfillment of all that the war had been. they thought merely ending the legality of slavery did not end sp its spirit.at the that the freed people would havee given to be given a chance to make lives for themselves, with law, with education, with an ucatio opportunity to gain property op with a right to the ballot box. and enemies of the south

determined it would not be an permitted in h the white house anduse, i congress and supreme court that the it had joined since the founding of the nation. the american south had controlled much of american history up to the civil war. white north said, no longer. we've won the war, we will now run the nation. so grant's generosity of spirit enero was a generosity not only of a general, but of a man who a thought he stood for the future. sto a future in which the south had the sacrificed its place of authority.ed its in the united states. now, lee and grant privately expressed their profound expres disappointment in each other over the next few years. that was one reason that grant became more devoted to black rights as president in 1868 than he had been on this day in 1865. t he thought that the white south had not fulfilled the spirit of the surrender that he struck here. when he s saw the black codes he s written within months of this time, when he saw the riots in e

memphis and new orleans when he saw the ku klux klan rise up, grant said that is not the spirit of appomattox. that is a spirit of revenge.hat's that is a spirit of retaliation.revenge. it's a spirit contrary of what we agreed upon. lee, for his part, burned with resentment, that even though he had surrendered in good faith bringing the ward, grant and the north continued to press forgrant more and morane in the five years after appomattox. lee was appalled when grant was alled elected president of the united states. he wrote a cousin, our boasted self-government is fast becoming the jeer and laughing stock of the world.ent that's not very long after these t days that those are years that years were filled with a profound reimagining of what this countrywhat might mean. what would it mean if not only t me if slavery were gone, and the north and south were unified

but what would it mean if 4 icans, million black americans actually had c had a chance to be full americans. so from lee's perspective, reconstruction was a violation reco of the bargain struck here a here. bargain that would have restoredve things to the closest as they had been in 1861 as possible. now, that's one reason that the th memory of thisat place has not been stable. people did not immediately flock to this as a kind of shrine that it is today.ay. african-americans celebrated this place first because of the cel role of the united states can colored troops here.colore the white southerners were much were more ambivalent.ivalent. this was not a place that white hite southerners flocked to.herner that's one reason that appomattox did not become a national park site until 1950. park so it takes a long time for t people toi decide that what this place means, and it may not be an accident that it's the wake of world war ii, it takes them that long to decide, yes, this

is the place that we want to remember the best thatth america is.ha this is thet place we want to wh remember where america became reunited.er the debates have never stopped. you may not be surprised to knowe that historians still argue about these things. that's because people see in see these events the testimonies to ev american shared greatness, and testimony to promises unfulfilled. both of those things are real. let me be clear, it mattered enormously that the death and ed the suffering and the chaos a ended here as it ended here. it did matter that the union e army was gracious. it did matter that the confederates went home peacefully. most civil wars as we can see onil war our television sets every day do not end this way. most civil wars end with rampant

bloodshed. and while american politics wereerican forever changed after this, hanged outright war did not resume, though many people worried that it would.eople we should be grateful for the accomplishments that happened here. on the other hand, it did mattert that fundamental issues of o freedom, of rights, and of power could not be settled here. generations of struggle followed, and still follow to an fulfill those rights ford all th americans. i a think that's why we all come here. we come here tos t remind us of how much sacrifice there was to create a foundation on which we kroo can build.tion on that's why today is important. th it's not merely a celebration but a commemoration a remembering of just what was at stake here. and what is at stake here was here a nothing less than the future of he the united states and all the and people who live in it. not an ending, but the beginning of a long journey in which we're

still traveling, and that the best days 6 the united states jo lay not behind us, but before us. thank you very much. [ applause ]est >> thank you, dr. ayers.r. the clock ticks toward 3:00 p.m. as the meeting between lee and eetin grant neared its conclusion the armies waited under flags of truce for whils around you. it's likely after 10:30 that morni morning, not a shot echoed across this landscape. before official word of the ev surrender came out, confederates realized what the silence portended. they had risked everything in ey had their quest for r independence and any chance for recompense beyond pride was gone.a s

aou south carolinaian wrote, i cannot describe it. we looked into each other's faces, blank and fathomless despair was written, no one said a word.. our hearts were too full for ere language. we could f only murmur stupidly rmur and meaninglessly the word damn surrender.artil artillerymen were sobbing, like g children recovering after a a s severe whipping, he said. another said simply, it was the saddest day of my life. o not surprisingly, more than a few union soldiers called it the happiest days of their lives. virtually all struggled to find words to describe the moment.words a chaplain from a pennsylvania regiment wrote, it was grand to gr be there. the patient endurance and victories and defeat and ies an mismanagement and all the very gloom and sunshine of the four nd years' history of the army of the potomac crowded upon my mind.f potomac

and now, it had its reward. its work is done.re and well done. one soldier offered a simple synopsis to his wife at home. my dear, i can say now that the war is over, and i am still living.he >> the march of death, as war ath neared the. end and grief competed, for men continued to die. an at precisely the same time that lee and grant were meeting in the mclean house that afternoon, bells tolled in engine house n, number 20 in philadelphia whileengine mourners gathered at the home of a soldier and firefighter william hoover for his funeral. hoover had been a member of the he 99th pennsylvania of the army of the potomac, and captured in

battle. from the "philadelphia enquirer," thehi deceased died from exposure while a prisoner in salisbury, north carolina.nort he was a member of the independence fire engine company number 20. eng hisin funeral was largely attended. the members of the independent engine company in a body with their ambulance followed the lance remains to their last resting place. the old bell and engine house tolled the sad news of the death of one of its members. it the fall of richmond and the imminent surrender of lee's armylee's while soldiers still toiled and died, andengendered an eng uncomfortable mix of joy and sadness among northerners. from the milwaukee sentinel, our milwauk foes are flying, but our friends are falling.

if is a shame not to rejoice, but it is a sin not to weep. it is unjust not to greet the living to live to see their victories, but it is cruel not to mourn the dead who died in uel the sight of what they died for. whether we have their names or not, weth shall have their deeds. the deeds of these dead on this these field. all around the rebellious region re for all time to come, there will be, they will wear this girdle of grave of the republic sacrificial son.gr they will remain without marble mausoleums and elaborate epitaphs, but they will be sacred.e b and in future ages will draw as many r manyev reverent feet as mecca, or the pyramid of egypt.

>> as the mantle clocks around appomattox courthouse click appoma toward 3:00 p.m. that sunday 3:00 afternoon, the meeting between lee and grant in mclean's parlorclane came to's an end. the two generals rose and they shook hands. rose lee bowed to the other officers her present, and he and charles marshall walked out the front door. wa when lee crossed the threshold wh back onto the porch and into mclean's yard he walked into a nto a landscape awash with both jubilation and sadness. for union soldiers, jubilation. joy for the redemption of their four years of effort, and their sacrifice, joy for the union joy for the promise of home and safety. for slaves jubilation at the laves, prospect of freedom though the road ahead seemed uncertain d indeed.d for confederates, despair at a onfede

cause lost. an immense gamble unrewarded, the reality that they would leave appomattox with no more than pride after four years of toil and sacrifice. they would return to communities th and townsey often ravaged by war, to the empty beds and chairs of lost brothers, sons and fathers. few places have ever embodied so many emotions at odds as did appomattox 150 years ago this moment. but when robert e. lee crossed that threshold onto mclean's porch with a copy of the surrender terms written by eli n parker in his pocket he did pock more than confront a place of deep emotion. he entered a new world one in wo which therl southern confederacy hern was no longer a possibility.a

the end of slavery was real, and an empowered united states ited s confronted the immense challenges of reconstruction, reconciliation and justice. though few could see it that day, lee's ride from the mclean yard through appomattox to the throes of his defeated army was not an end, but a beginning the first act in a long national eginni journey that continues still. ♪

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>> forward, march!

>> we will conclude our program here today with the ringing of this bell. rin on the morning of april 10th, 1865, the day after appomattox caroline carl richards was sitting quietly eating breakfast in new york. suddenly she recorded, our church bell commenced to ring. re and then the methodist bell. and now all the bells in town are ringing. mr. noah clark ran by oh excitement, and i don't believe he knows who he is or where he is. i saw captain aldridge passing. aldri so i rushed to the window and he waved his hat. i raised the window and asked him what was the matter. he came to the front door where em wha i met him and he almost shook my hand off. the war is over.hook we have lee's surrender. with his own name signed.ned. five days later caroline ri

richards looked out thech same window and saw a group of men gathered around someone reading the morning paper. i feared from their silent inter motionless interest that thing something dreadful had happened. that afternoon, just days after of the bells had rung in the ung aftermath of appomattox the bells rang again to mark the death of america's president. bells have always been a werful powerful form of f public expression. they mark oursion celebrations, and our joys, our triumphs, and our tragedies. today in america, bells will toll again.ag at 3:15 the liberty bell will be struck.k and and bells across minnesota, and in downtown chicago, and in richmond, at the state capital, in delaware and california and kentucky and georgia and many more, at ebenezer baptist church

in atlanta, bells will ring. and in churches across our land, in schools and courthouses, and even on street corners and in national parks. natio they will ring for four minutes, one minute for each year of the war, a grand collective gesture in remembrance of the war's end. it is up to us here at appomattox to begin bells acrosspomatt the land. we will ring this bell, brought is b to us by the family of mrs. mccoy who will ring it first ing today. her ancestors her great-grandmother were once slaves -- great great-grandmother was once a slave, and they acquired this af bell after the civil war. we will ring this bell, and from here the bells will reverberatete across our land. for the first year of the war, ending in the spring of 1862,

the year of manassas and shiloh and the realization that this thi war would be long and hard, i call for mrs. ora mccoy whose mrs. family provided this bell and john griffith the great, great grandson of general ulysses s. grant.

>> the second year of the war ending in the spring of 1863 the year of antietam and fredericksburg and the emancipation proclamation i call forth tad campbell of the sons of union veterans the commander, and dennis big ela, the great great grandson of lieut lieutenant colonel charles marsha marshall who was here at appomattox.llmattles ma ll who was here at appomattox. [ bell ringing ]lieutenant colonel charles marshall who was here at appomattox.

[ bell ringing ]grandson of lieutenant colonel charles marshall who was here at appomattox. [ bell ringing ]eat grandson of lieutenant colonel charles marshall who was here at appomattox. [ bell ringing ] [ bell ringing ] >> the third year of the war ending in the spring of 1864,

the year of gettysburg vicksburg, and the overland campaign. i call cadet warren jackson of the virginia military institute who saw so many serve here and alvin parker, the great great parker grand nephew of lieutenant colonel eli s. parker.t-gr

>> the fourth year of the war, ar of endingt in the spring of 1865, sherman's march, the toils of petersbu petersburg richmond falling, fall the war's end, relief, grief, and rejoicing. i call forth sergeant clark b. hall great, great grandson of charles h. hall a u.s. marine corps veteran of vietnam and first lieutenant samuel moseley,

a korean war veteran winner of kore the silver star and the purple heart. >>

>> and now at precisely 3:15 on 3:15 the afternoon of april 9th, 2015, bells will ring across america.ing [ applause ]

join american history trch on sunday for live coverage of ceremonies marking the 150th anniversary of the surrender at appomattox. in april 1865, robert e. lee met union general ulysses s. grant in the village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia effectively ending the civil war. this sunday historians reflect on the last battles and explore the aftermath and legacy of

appomattox. we'll also open our phone lines to take your calls for authors david blight and elizabeth barren, sunday on "american history tv" on c-span3. this sunday on q&a senator editor for the weekly standard andrew ferguson on his writing career, the gop presidential candidates for 2016. >> he looks like he's stood up for them. i'm amazed now, the degree to which my which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment. the sense of being put upon. and, you know, those people really don't understand us. and here's a guy who does understand us, and he's going to stick it to them. that happens on both sides. hillary clinton will give her own version of that kind of thing.

and i don't think that that was actually true 30 years ago. i mean, resentment has always been a part of politics, obviously, but the degree to which it's almost exclusively the motivating factor -- >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. "american history tv" was live in march from longwood university for a seminar on the closing of the civil war in 1865. the program was co-hosted by the university and appomattox courthouse national park. next, chief historian of fredericksburg and spotsylvania national military park john hen i si talks about how the civil war is reinterpreted by each ohn he generation. this is about 1 hour and 5 minutes. [ applause ]ood morn

>> good morning everybody. thank you, david. thank you, patrick. i don't know if any of you quitence li realize the amount of effort that goes into a conference like this. but the 150th observances of at pat mocks here they're working like dogs to create a program lly in that will connect all of you hopefully in a meaningful way to this history. it's very good to be here. few this is one of the few and long-standing, enduring them conference events every year. most of them have faded away.ev but this one simply does not. be and every year it seems to get better and bigger. it's very nice to be here. i'm going to turn the tide on you a little bit today, and probably end up asking you some questions rather than have you ask me questions.tions, although we'll get to that as s well. i might have entitled this talk why is the civil war so damn hard for americans to deal with.we w we're going to talk about the as

war as it extends beyond want t appomattox. but i want to start with a storyd a to kick us off. a couple of years ago i did a program, and i've done a number r a we of programs, butll this one was ducate fodr a pretty well-read rogram educated, aware, broad-thinking group. it was a program on slavery, and emancipation. wh and it was aen pretty straightforward historical program. and when i was done it wasn't very controversial, but when i was done, i asked the audience said there were about 60 or so people i said, and they littl probably were a little baffled i sa byid wthis but i said who do you think i voted for for president in the last election? and this was in 2009.. so it was john mccain. or barack obama. and about 80% of them raised their hand and projected -- or

guessed that i voted for barack obama. now i'm going to tell you whether they were right or wrong. my poibtsnt is, isn't that interesting. i can give talk about history so distance, it was 150 years ago and people, thoughtful people would concludes from that or draw from that conclusions about my political thought. as we go on today we'll revisit that toward the end. i just wanted to share that as a kick off. think about how we portray our history and how we perceive our history. we see it through the statutes

of our founders, our military heroes frozen in time. almost a noble force. we see our history and priceless artifak artifacts. we see lincoln's second inaugural address of the wall monument, memorial to washington, d.c. we see bedroom of gettysburg left as it was, so we think. when we acquire them, what do we do? we remove all the modern intrusions. we remove the light from them. the people who live there don't live there any longer. we make them set pieces. we make them status so that our mind's eye can work in uncluttered environment.

that's a remarkable experience. the monuments that population these places, too, frozen in time. the monument sits. yes, they were there. some of this it's not have you against these things and some of this is clearly unavoidable. there's one commonality to all of these things and they portray a person in a moment where often most unfratlattering form. we are addicted to simplicity. we love to embrace the truisms that run through our lives.

washington may not have cut down a cherry tree but he never told a lie. lbj was the last of the frontier presidents. he would have told you. grant was a butcher. lee was noble. gettiesy gettysburg is where it happened. boys your work is done. lee has surrendered. you can go home. all of those things are engrained deeply in our culture, in our memory. some of them even appear in school curriculum across our land. if you will think about the memory of your own life.

they're neatly organized far more organized than our experience actually was. characterized by ideals or facts, simplicities that become conventional wisdom. more than that these little nuggets of conventional wisdom that run through our history and through our culture often become rigid. especially when there's people that have a personal stake in the history that we're talking

about. what happens to violators of those conventions. those who acknowledge complexities rather than simplicities or worse deny the simplicities altogether. that are assaulted in some way, physically of course. they are labeled unpatriotic. they are labeled unproductive, divisive, revisionists, political correct. those are the words that we use as when one violates one of our cherished simplicities we often react to that as society much as a body does to an infection. try to contain it stamp it out.

there's great irony in this. it's our content commitment to conventional wisdom and the simplicities that all those things entail. it's that commitment to simplicity that invites contention. it's our commitment to provokes people to argue complexity. history ride a very raucous time. constantly historying --

shifting. always slowed by entities. every swirl, every eddies every time someone dares to disrupt the flow as we perceive it it either engages enthralls or disaffects. what we thought we knew or understood 80 years ago or even 30 years ago we sometimes now no longer believe or we understand differently. the symbols that we once erases as a nation are seen as offensive. the convention wisdom that undergirds our understanding of our past is so simple as to be wrong or at least incomplete or debatable. so we challenge, we debate. that really ticks some people

off. it brings me to civil war in its place. i would offer that no historic event has a more complicated place. there's no event in our history we argue about more than the civil war. from its cause to its purpose to the details. we can't even agree on its name. the war of the rebellion once led by the u.s. official government name. the war for southern independence, the second american revolution. the war for emancipation. probably two or three dozen

more. in no other period of american history do we have a historical memory so carefully considered. so consciously shaped. control the universe. ensuring, trying to ensure that particular perspective. my hope is. bear with me some of these

questions may seem scattered at first. try to bring them. i want to start with something that i've been thinking about the last year. america preserves battles. suggests that americans that preserve more civil war battles than the rest of the world combined has preserved for all wars in all of history. talking about formal preservation. more preserved battlefield land related to the war probably exists than the rest of the world combined than all.

society thinks of itself as being nonmilitaristic and i think in our essence we are. preserves battlefield land to such a degree. now our traditional view of the civil war was born on the post-war period. the reunification of our nation. think about the fact in united states capital today are seven statutes to man supporting the rebellion against the federal government during the american civil war. they don't do that in syria, libya. they do it here.

that's remarkable. now there are lots of ways and the reconciliation scholars have shone is buried and incomplete in some areas and in some ways. how did that come to pass? part of the answer is when you want to make up with somebody you find common ground. place where you can both be comfortable. to some degree we did it on a national level. in the aftermath of the civil war -- few things everybody could agree with or most people and that was that the american soldier be he dressed in gray or

blue was amazing phenomenon. in our search for common ground we found that ground literally on the battlefields. all of the great battle movement for preservation was initiated in the 1880s and 1890s when the veterans were at the height of their power in government and industry leaders and all of them. it was because battlefields ironically these places of conflict could become places of comfort. so americans always put tremendous emphasis on these places as a tool of

reconciliation. the key part of the battlefield that came from the sons of confederate veterans stipulated the government would care for this battlefield and not detract from the glory. the dedication speech i helped managed. 1927, said the keynote speaker said we do more than dedicate these fields in memory of things that have passed. we consecrate them in the spirit of lee and lincoln to a more perfect understanding to south and north. for the next 50 years or so would faithfully carry out that

charge. where americans can come together and understand the war in a very human level. just to give you a sense of how deep this tradition is and how it's perceived by the public. a couple of years ago a colleague of mine were doing a tour in fredericksburg for three black churches. what do you mean?

are you going to get the trouble for doing this tour? you guys, are you allowed to do this? now i share that story to point out how deep perception is. celebrate the centennial of the american war. the 150th was a very different time. we have talked about that in our

organization that that's our goal. what in 50 years has changed that we've gone from celebrating to consciously and in a reflective way commemorating this. i think there are a lot of things. one is since 1963 and many years that is my math doesn't add up 40 some odd years we've been at war 24 years. there's no other period of american history that approaches that. we're tired of it.

the late, great, jerry russell will be an advocate for battlefield preservation. many of you know could argue against it. he said and it applied his view but it applied very well to the centennial period. this rests upon all americans having a chairshared language and a shared culture. that's one version. common understanding. of course, the obvious question is it white southerners? was it northern abolitionists.

who's memory do we pick? prior to the centennial that was an easy question. because history to some degree always reflects those who possess who are in power. of course since the beginning of the centennial the dynamics of our political conversation, the dynamics of power within our society changed dramatically. women's rights movement. i think most of us are glad. it's an important part of the story. the civil rights movement of course.

so it goes on. new scholarship. scholarships with job of academics is to agitate us all and provoke us, and they do. they challenge us. they ask questions. some of it we don't like. some of it makes us feel a little bit uncomfortable or unstable. have pretty convincingly shown us that many the cultural assumptions about the war, the simplities that we cherish were purposely shaped in order to

help the nation achieve reconciliation. slavery was not benign. we treated our slaves well. we often heard that. i've heard that in my career. we've all heard that but we know that simply not true nor was it on its last legs in virginia in 1860 or 1861. the emancipation proclamation was not meaningless. grant was not simply a butcher. lee was hardly devoid of political fun. lincoln's views on slavery evolved as the war progressed. slaves did not standby loyally rooting or some have suggested fighting for southern independence confederate

victory. all these things have been changed. most of them have been demonstrated to be far more complex than the simplicities we once embraced. some of them -- the that is what americans do. we challenge each other to be better. to be better in the present and we challenge each other to see our history as well. sometimes that challenge comes from think tanks and people sitting this big towers. or in the houses of congress or the white house. just as often it comes from the

people themselves. it is this process of constant challenge that renders what one generation believes insufficient for the next. it's always been so and it always will be so. content as we might be with our perspective on certain issues today our grand children 50 years from now will look back and say just as we look back on those state troopers at the edmond pettus bridge or a dozen moments in american history what were they thinking. this process of challenge and revision and improvement is what

america does. it's noisy, it's raucous. it's sometimes painful. argument and failure and discord are every bit as much part of the american fabric as success, virtue and community. it's conscience will never be calmed. from the first day to this day. so, in 50 years since the centennial we have changed. we should not be surprised by that. in the 50 years going forth for those of you here for the by centennial we'll have a different conversation. you'll wonder what were they thinking. here is another question. why do we argue over whether or

not slavery provokes succession and thus the american civil war. there's a historical topic where there's a wider span of opinion than that in question and a louder volume of discourse than over that question. this is a question from 150 or 160 years ago. why do we argue about it now? if you roll back time to the succession debates of 1860 and 1861 and sat down with the delegates of the virginia succession convention and said to them, you know, we know what you're doing. it has nothing to do with slavery and they would have

said, what. because at the time, of course, they said it had something to do with slavery. not everything to do with slavery but something to do with slavery. after the war, i would suggest to you that the mainspring and the answer to this question or an answer to this question as to why we are is rooted in our very very personal connection. how many of you related to par tis participants in the war. probably 60% of you. how many are related to a confederate confederate? most all of you are. and, so when adelia donovan in 1902 stood before her groups annual convention and declared

what lies before us is not only loyalty to memories but loyalties to principles but the vindication of the men. if you want to google that statement by stephen d. lee it appears online last time i checked more than 8050 times. john gordon one of the great kind of post-war romantics of the civil war would write the unseemly things that occur

should be forgotten or at least forgiven. those things should be forgotten. you see by these, it's very complex story and we're simplying it here because we only have 45 minutes or so. you'll pardon me for engaging in some simplicities myself.

that search focused on the common virtues at northerners and southerners shared which are most commonly shared. it even extends in former heritage of defense for the sons of confederate veterans said admonishing the park service we don't need to give visitors an entire history so they come away with an idea that one side is civil. even today. i would suggest it's because as this room evidences so many americans have not just an intellectual or scholarly connection but a personal connection to the american civil

war. if slavery caused the war what does that say about your an ancestors. it makes many people uncomfortable. i would suggest to you we ought to be at a point in our national development where we can see that the deeds of our fore bearers are not always a testament. indeed oddly not to see those deeds rather as a testament on the morals of their time. i think all of us hope as we sit here today and ponder our grand children and great grandchildren thinking back upon us.

as a testament on us as individuals. rather as a testament in our time. so, another question. you can start squirming any second. or vj lawyers from new york city. the union soldiers marched into

farmville. let me put the question differently. i see shaking or noddings of heads. did the confederates who rushed on to the field at gains mill or who held the stone wall in fredricksburg, did they fight to preserve slavery, to perpetuate. i don't see anybody offering up any opinion in terms of shaking or nodding their heads. ron's heard it.

patrick's heard it. you'll hear something like this. my great great grandfather he didn't own slaves. he didn't fight to preserve slavery. he fought to defend his home his way of life and the community and state. the civil war wasn't about slavery. you're wrong to tell people that it was. you had that happen, we've all had that happen. we had that happen probably a couple of times a month if not more. what do you say? oh, yeah, the war was about slavery. your grandfather fought to preserve slavery. it's not likely to receive, well, it's likely to receive a letter to a congressman more than anything.

they're great, great grandfather from woodstock virginia who served the second virginia infantry infantry, for example. most resume their ancestors did not fight, were not motivated. they didn't march off to war saying we need to keep them. most people who attend to believe that or believe that about their ancestors, many of them might be right.

that is we have done a very poor job in our nation of making a distinction between the nation and the soldiers who fight. we have in america to a degree in many ways that's astonishing allowed the personal motivations of why soldiers fight to define the national purpose to which they fought. soldiers go do war choose to enlist and carry a weapon and enter places of danger for a million reasons.

a million reasons. most of them noble. nations go to war for a list of reasons far narrower than that. that list often bears very little resemblance to a list of reasons. one of the things we have not done particularly well was to make the distinction, that distinction. nations go to war for very special reasons for policy and purpose.

how many years ago couple years ago i was doing a program and we were talking about if legacies of war. a man stood up, he was an african-american gentleman. he doesn't see the war through the lens of personal connection. he sees the confederacy through that lens of national -- the confederacy fought to sustain it

fought between itself and the rest of the union. that's what brought on the war, the differences. those differences are clearly laid out in statement, policy and practice. the confederate constitution, for example. what is the difference between the united states constitution and the confederate constitution? there's a six-year term president. don't think they went to war over that. major difference is the issue the approach the national commitment to the sustenance of slavery. there were many other characters, social regional distinctions that fueled into this. when someone who doesn't have the personal connection to the war stands back and looks and

they see the confederacy, they don't see a swarm of young men fighting to defend their homes. the government committed to the sustenance of white supremacy and slavery in america. not all people see it that way but some of them day. getting back to this question of policy. those union soldiers who marched into town in april of 1865, racist union soldiers who might hated black people, some of them, they marched for freedom. not because they were motivated by that but because the government that they were fighting for had established that as one of the purposes of the war.

our job is to help people untangle these tangled things. remembering or creating a memory of your life or of our national life. while remembering certain things can be painful and some can be hurtful, forgetting can be just as painful. what you've seen over the last 50 years in an effort by this nation challenged by people within it to not forget so much.

and to understand how so many americans might see the war differently than you or i might see it. that puts the parks service in a very interesting place because we have always been the keeper of the nation's memory especially as it relates to the civil war. we facilitate this dialogue of reconciliation, of virtue. people come to our parks not to be provoked and angered but to be inspired and to learn. and to understand why they ought to be grateful to be americans and why they ought to be grateful to the americans that proceeded them. i think we do a pretty good job

of them, but here is the question. are we seeking truth. can we do both? some people would argue that our role disqualifies. some people have been a little bit uncomfortable with the role we play in a facilitating connection. they recognize, as i think we have increasingly so recognized that part of the work that we've done involves a good deal of forgetting.

you don't need to kind of coddle people. just throw it out there and do it. they work on negotiated ground. think about the historic sites we manage. lbj. do you think when lady bird was alive with park staff didn't say i wonder what was mrs. johnson was. all of these places have come to us 9/11 directly often times.

does that put us in a different place than the historians and academia? absolutely. can we do our jobs better? absolutely that. can america distinguish between confederates and the confederacy confederacy. can we honor confederates and talk honestly about the con fed confederacy at the same time?

it applied two things, be perpetuation for a time and the destruction of the union. can you lament the demise of the confederacy and still love america? it's a milestone moment