general lee changed the entire nature of the correspondence. he approached general grant on a prospect of peace surrendering all confederate forces. this is something that has a little prior history to it. on march 2nd general lee had written to general grant and it said in that message sincerely desiring to leave nothing untried that may put an end to the calamities of war, i propose to meet you at such convenient time and place as you may designate with the hope of upon interchange of views it may be found practical to submit to the subject of controversy between the two belligerents a convention of the kind mentions. he proposed a peace settlement. message was sent to the war department. general grant received the following response written by the president but signed by secretary of war. it says general grant, the president directs you to say that he wishes you to have no conference with general lee unless it be for the copitchlation of general lee's army or some military manner. he instructs you to say you're not to decide discuss, confer u

after being surrounded, general lee wished to have a meeting with general grant to surrender his army. lee said charles marshall of his staff into the village to find a suitable place to meet and he encountered will reclaim -- wilmer mclean and he offered his own home. they sat at the marble topped table. general grant arrived about 1:30. he sat at the oval wooden table here. the two had met each other in the mexican war. that was the first discussion. they talked about the mexican war for quite a while. the conversation got quite pleasant and general lee reminded general grant of the nature of the meeting and asked general grant to put his terms in writing. grant sat down and set his terms in writing for general lee principally, the confederate officers would be paroled and allowed to go home. he was going to allow officers to keep their sidearms and personal baggage. general lee later requests and asks if his men can keep the horses. general grant initially says that is not in the terms but thinks about it and says he understands most of these men are farmers and could use the horse

some of them general lee knows very well such as seth williams who was lee's adjutant. another interesting aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course was the son of president abraham lincoln and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in the ceremony was a, or at least maybe not a participant but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mcclain, the youngest daughter of wilmer mcclain. it was sitting on the horsehair couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse, and it is now on display in the park visitor's center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous in the terms. when the end

behind general lee, about four miles from here is general meade with the army of the potomac. white flags are sent out to stop the fighting and over the course of the week of fighting, lee's army had dwindled from 60,000 men to 30,000 men here at appomattox court house. he had lost half his army and determined it was time to meet with general grant and surrender his forces. they did that here on the afternoon of april 9. we are now inside the parlor of the home of william maclean, the appomattox county resident who move here in the fall of 1862. general lee and general grant corresponded over three days and after being effectively surrounded, generally wished to have a meeting to surrender his army. lee sent charles marshall into the village to find a suitable place to meet and encountered wilmer mclean. he sat here at this marble top table and general grant also arrived at about 1:30. he sat at the oval wooden table. the two had met each other in the mexican war and that was their first discussion. they talked about the mexican war for quite a while and the conversation got qu

general lee said this would have a happy effect on his army. the terms are read over by generally and given to general grant. general grant calls for theodore bowers to write out the terms in ink. bowers is nervous, botches the job and turns it over to healy parker. he is a senokot indian and they say he had the best penmanship in the army. he writes out the formal terms for general grant. general lee's staff officer is marshall and they exchange those letters. that is how the surrender is effected the exchange of letters. they both do not sign one document. over the course of the meeting general grant introduces officers of the staff to general lee. some of them general lee knows very well like seth williams who was lee's adjutant at the u.s. military academy at west point. another interesting aspect is there was a young captain named robert lincoln. he was the son of president abraham lincoln. another interesting participant, a witness to this ceremony. this ragdoll of lula mclean. it was sitting on the couch when the officers came in and they

lee. general grant is portrayed by kurt field and general lee by thomas jesse. you want to invite you to be part of the conversation. here's how to do that -- call us at the numbers on your screen. send us a tweet at c-span history and you can also join us on facebook. this moment our viewers just saw on american history tv, gentlemen, what were you thinking as general lee wrote away? guest: sadness. i knew how much they were suffering with the surrender after they had fought so hard for four long years. i felt it was almost anti-climactic. one of the things i noted was the silence. there were no guns, no candidate in, no shouts, no battle sounds. the silence was a sound we had not heard for four years and it approached the eerie. host: general lee, as we watched that site just moments ago, you seemed to pause for a moment before mounting traveler. what was going through your mind? guest: at that particular moment, i was concerned for my horse. we were putting the bridle on and i removed the forelock from under the bridle but what was going on in my mind for mos

some of them general lee knows very well such as seth williams who was lee's adjutant. another interesting aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff, and he, of course was the son of president abraham lincoln and he was here in the room. another interesting participant in the ceremony was a, or at least maybe not a participant but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mcclain, the youngest daughter of wilmer mcclain. it was sitting on the horsehair couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantle and began tossing it around. captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridan's staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. in the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse, and it is now on display in the park visitor's center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous in the terms. when the end

here general lee wished to have a meeting with general grant to surrender his army. lee sent lieutenant colonel charles marshall of his staff into the village to find a suitable place to meet, and he encountered william mclean and mclean offered his own home. lee arrived here about 1:00 sat here at this marble-topped table. general grant, after riding over 20 miles, arrived about 1:30. when he came in he sat at the oval wooden table here. the two had met each other in the mexican war, and that was their first discussion. they talked about the mexican war for quite a while, and the conversation got quite pleasant, and general lee reminded general grant the nature of this meeting and asked general grant to put his terms in writing. grant sat down and set his terms in writing for general lee. principally the confederate officers were going to be paroled and allowed to go home. he was going to allow the officers to keep their sidearms and personal baggage. and general lee later requests asks if his men can keep their horses. grant initially said no that that is not in the

i met general lee in the mexican war, but even then, he was the great captain lee with a long shadow. i was only a second lieutenant, not long out of the academy. generally was quite the distinguished man. he was born to be the war hero he obviously is all stop when i met him in the parlor of the maclean house, i was disheveled muddy as you find me now, and general lee was resplendent in a uniform that had never been more before with a jeweled presentation sword. i was nervous. in fact, and chatting with him i tried to break the tension and general lee had to cough and say we must be about the business we are here to attend to. guest: i have been trying to recollect what i looked like from the mexican war. i do have a very good memory but i remember in the incident of meeting him, but it was briefly and i cannot recall a single feature. guest: i was clean shaven at that time. i had not yet grown a beard. guest: more importantly when he arrived, i was relieved he was there and i was not concerned with his appearance. i was concerned with mine because i did not know what the terms would

grant brought up he met general lee in the mexican war. general lee recalled that he had met grant. 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 effec

lee. general grant is portrayed by kurt field and general lee by thomas jesse. you want to invite you to be part of the conversation. here's how to do that -- call us at the numbers on your screen. send us a tweet at c-span history and you can also join us on facebook. this moment our viewers just saw on american history tv gentlemen, what were you thinking as general lee wrote away? guest: sadness. i knew how much they were suffering with the surrender after they had fought so hard for four long years. i felt it was almost anti-climactic. one of the things i noted was the silence. there were no guns, no candidate in, no shouts, no battle sounds. the silence was a sound we had not heard for four years and it approached the eerie. host: general lee, as we watched that site just moments ago, you seemed to pause for a moment before mounting traveler. what was going through your mind? guest: at that particular moment, i was concerned for my horse. we were putting the bridle on and i removed the forelock from under the bridle but what was going on in my mind for most

the very end of the siege of petersburg, general lee's headquarters was to far west of the city. at ed chill -- at edgehill. while lee was there, one of his aides, walter taylor, instead of being available to lee had gone off to richmond to get married that night. apparently in richmond where the supplies were to be sent from, they got a message from lee's headquarters, saying we are preparing to withdraw our troops from the city. send the supplies down the line, but they didn't say exactly where. the commissary or whoever was in charge of supplies ascsent a message back to the house in lee's headquarters asking for more specific instruction. they broke through the union -- what happened, lee was forced to abandon his headquarters. when that second message came for where do we send them, nobody was there to receive them. that comes out of the four vines of re lee, it's an appendix at the end of volume four. i think that is probably what happened. >> anyone else have a question? ron has a question. he is making his way to the microphone. i will throw something out for chris here. i

and in that fighting they will capture general joseph kershaw george washington cust s lee, dudley dubois and confederate officer who had been in charge of stonewall jackson's artillery and was wounded in the battle of chancelorsville with the general. he will be killed in that assault and buried on the battlefield. so with the counter attack taking place there along the creek one of the confederate soldiers who are in the battle mentioned in the final part of the battle said quicker than i can tell it the battle generated into a butchery and confused melee of brutal personal conflicts. bayonets and rifle butts crushed and pierced. others lost their weapons and used teeth to bite noses and ears in the terrible scuffle. one of the union soldiers that if you come to the park you will be introduced to his name was samuel eddie in the 37th massachusetts. they had a particular advanced weapon called a rifle that could fire seven cartridge rounds without reloading. and in this final attack eddie sees a confederate officer coming towards him with a white flag to surrender and eddie's officer mov

now, secondly let's examine lee as general in chief of all confederate armies. as we well know lee and grant were not peers until february 6th, 1865. when the confederate congress and a reluctant commander in chief, jefferson davis approved the creation of the office of general in chief and named lee to the post. lee had not actively sought the position, and davis saw the creation of the rank as a potential infringement on his strategic prerogatives. still, such was lee's prestige. and so well did lee understand and appease the president, that davis ultimately set aside his objections, and agreed to promote lee. as personally flattering as this may have been in reality, there was little lee could do on the chessboard of war. but as a morale booster the assignment possessed real value. providence raises up the man for the time, editorialized the richmond dispatch. and a man for this occasion we believe has been raised up in robert e. lee. the washington of the second american revolution, upon whom from the beginning all eyes are fixed as the future deliverer of hi

grant brought up he met general lee in the mexican war. general lee recalled that he had met grant. s 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

here on failor's creek general lee will lose 7700 men and eight confederate generals. st of those are prisoners. what that resulted to be his somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of lee's army. they have taken prisoners and unlike those that have surrendered they will go to prison camp and will remain there. it usually isn't until the end of may. that is what happens to them. there is a strategic item right in here that was of high importance to both armies. that is high bridge, where the southside railroad crosses the valley of appomattox river. it is part of our new state park. you can walk out there and if you look off to the side you can see the original pillars. what happens on april 6 earlier in the day the union cavalry will attack the high bridge in burnaby for the confederate army could use it. they will be successful. the next day after sailor's creek union forces will pursue confederate forces across the bridge. confederates burned the western edge of it. there is a small wagon bridge underneath, which doesn't get burned and the armies used that the high r

now, secondly let's examine lee as general in chief of all confederate armies. as we well know lee and grant were not peers until february 6th, 1865. when the confederate congress and a reluctant commander in chief, jefferson davis approved the creation of the office of general in chief and named lee to the post. lee had not actively sought the position, and davis saw the creation of the rank as a potential infringement on his strategic prerogatives. still, such was lee's prestige. and so well did lee understand and appease the president, that davis ultimately set aside his objections, and agreed to promote lee. as personally flattering as this may have been in reality, there was little lee could do on the chessboard of war. but as a morale booster the assignment possessed real value. providence raises up the man for the time, editorialized the richmond dispatch. and a man for this occasion we believe has been raised up in robert e. lee. the washington of the second american revolution, upon whom from the beginning all eyes are fixed as the future deliverer of hi

when i used to work at appomattox people would say i guess general lee got here to this pretty village and decided to surrender. that is not the case. because of the the battle of appomattox on april 9th, lee was forced to surrender because he was unable to break through the union cordon. anyways, general lee and general grant would meet at lee's home and surrender. 3:30 afternoon of april 9th the surrender this taken place. i'd like to close with in my years at appomattox courthouse national historical park, i had the opportunity to converse with thousands of visitors and get their perceptions on what the story of that place meant to them. many particularly southerners found it a sad environment, and one which they cared to eradicate in their minds. i could emphasize with them appomattox surrendered a way of life to a long ago generation. yes, i would agree the story of appomattox is indeed a sad one. we as angel intelligent democratic society could find no other alternative to our disagreements than the field of war would lose for mankind the talents of over a half a million men who

grant brought up he met general lee in the mexican war. general lee recalled that he had met grant. re 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 h

generally -- general lee arrived at the meeting. they found common ground. they discussed meeting and the mexican war. generally recalled that they had met. as the generals are speaking, general grants staff of files into the room. after some time a conversation about mexico, lee called grant seduction -- grants protection to the matters at hand. grant replied the terms of be substantially the same as what he had wrote. lee asked grant to put his terms in writing. lee sat down near a large white table. while puffing on a cigar grant set at a wooden table with an oval top and began writing in pencil in his order book. observing lee as he wrote, grant said he could not discern lee's feelings. he said the initial joy he felt that receiving lee's letter wanting to meet with him to surrender had dissipated. now he felt sad and depressed. grant had met lincoln on it -- on march 28 to discuss the end of the war. lincoln had said, let them off easy. after all, these men would become worthy united states citizens again. grant was generous. he was not going to send con

in april, 1865 confederate general robert e. leemet yupon general grant in the village of the courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia effectively ending the civil war. we'll be live from appomattox courthouse april 9th and 12th as historians refleblgtct on the last battles and explore the aftermath and legacy of appomattox. we'll also bring you reenactments from some of the key moments and open this weekend on the c-span networks. on c-span2 book tv. president of american's for tax reform says that americans are tired of the irs and our tax system and sunday night at 8:00, author susan butler on franklin roosevelt and soviet leader joseph stalin. saturday night at 8:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span3 on lectures in history. university of virginia college of wise professor jennifer murray on several war veteran reunions have changed from the reconstruction era to present. >>> american history tv visited longwood university in virginia for a ceremony on the closing of the civil war in 1865. the program was c

general grant happened to ask general lee, may i see your sort. st graciously let him see the sword and grant took it as surrender. that is a true story of what we call the surrender. so the south did not surrender. host: thank you for sharing. elizabeth: there are many stories connected with the surrender that don't stand up to scrutiny, the less to say. the idea lee offered grant the sword and greg refused to take it is one of them. what you allude to there is the appearance of the two men -- grant, disheveled, muddy frockcoat, lee dressed very handsomely in a dress uniform. the people present in the courthouse read a lot into the appearance of those two men symbolic of those. he had more that she had molded them into a formal army and they were proud of grandpa's disheveled appearance. the confederates saw them -- they were proud of lee's appearance. every detail of the settings -- of the setting here was highly symbolic and americans read a great deal in to be tail. host: was that symbolism only after the fact? elizabeth: no, and this is someth

grant and 65,000 union troops cornered general robert e. leeof 30,000 starving confederate soldiers. the gray fox says ranger patrick schroeder, had finally been run to ground. >> he said he would rather die a thousand deaths than have to go meet with general grant. >> reporter: what did he think would happen to him? >> he expected to be general grant's prisoner. >> reporter: at 1:30 in the afternoon, lee and grant met. what's at stake when these two men sit down here? >> what's at stake is the future of this country. will we be one country again? >> reporter: after four years of war and 700,000 dead, the man known as unconditional surrender grant wrote out the terms he thought president lincoln with his promise of malice toward none and charity toward all would want. >> grant offers very generous terms. he's not going to punish the south. he's going to parole these soldiers and allow them to go home. >> reporter: it was over in 90 minutes. lee called for his horse. >> general grant takes off his hat to general lee as he riding by, and the rest

to the north in upper mississippi, general nathan lee forest had his cavalry command part of this department and forest will disband his cavalry. again, there's no union troops in the vicinity but being under general taylor he's instructed to have his men turn their equipment in and get ready to go home. there's a nice monument here that marks where general forest was camped. that's may 4th. let's move a little more to the west, to the trans-mississippi. the largest geographic department in the confedaeracy embraces there entire area, arkansas, texas, missouri and the indian territory which today is oklahoma. the commander of this department is general kirby smith. that's not his picture up there. see him later. this is going to be one of the more chaotic events that unfolds. by 1865 the bulk of the confederate army of the trans-mississippi is camped around shreveport louisiana. union forces are down here in port hudson, bayton rouge and new orleans. we're going to have a situation where the two armies are not in contact and the confederates will do what they want to do without union troops

general lee, general lee said i cannot tell you how i have suffered and still suffer on account of mr. davis. others spoke of him as their representative man. in prison davis maintained his dignity. one witnessed him walk through the gates as a prisoner. said the man walked through tall and erect as a man who knew that his fate would have been different if his side had prevailed. davis did not rail to his captors. he maintained his dignity. he did not apologize for his personal actions or for that of the south. he stood there as a man proud of what he and his people had tried for. he did not become a martyr for the south as early as 1865. that would come a little bit later after his release in 1867. dwip beginning really in 1866. but in 1865 he was looked upon as somebody who would stand up proudly for his people and to take what came to him with dignity. in conclusion davis began 1865 as the president of nation, in an executive mansion, having faced a dire situation, he was still hopeful. that is the quotations will read out to you aboutman in lee's army. we look back now and say how

general lee, general lee said i cannot tell you how i have suffered and still suffer on account of mr. davis. others spoke of him as their representative man. in prison davis maintained his dignity. one witnessed him walk through the gates as a prisoner. said the man walked through tall and erect as a man who knew that his fate would have been different if his side had prevailed. davis did not rail to his captors. he maintained his dignity. he did not apologize for his personal actions or for that of the south. he stood there as a man proud of what he and his people had tried for. he did not become a martyr for the south as early as 1865. that would come a little bit later after his release in 1867. dwip beginning really in 1866. but in 1865 he was looked upon as somebody who would stand up proudly for his people and to take what came to him with dignity. in conclusion davis began 1865 as the president of nation, in an executive mansion, having faced a dire situation, he was still hopeful. that is the quotations will read out to you aboutman in lee's army. we look back now and say how

it was only when general lee surrender that he observed in his wpa interview that we learned we were free. for some former slaves, the date of the lee surrender structured the very sense of time and of history. aliza washington told her interviewer, the first thing i remember was living with my mother about six miles from scotts crossing in arkansas about the year 1866. i know it was 1866 because it was the year after the surrender and we knew the surrender was in 1865. just as appomattox persisted in the memory of many ex slaves, it was also an enduring presence on the commemorative calendar of the free slaves. test test test. test test test. pril 9 commemorations begin as early as 66, we see blacks in mecklenburg county pledging if lee had never been beaten the emancipation proclamation had been to no avail but in research i found african-american communities, philadelphia, chicago, all over the country celebrating april 9 in churches and other civic settlings well into the 20th century. and now liberation helping to free the slaves would be a point of pride within black communities