[applause] john hennessy: thank you.eated throughout the observances, like mclean descendents carry , a sense of celebrity. i am -- we are honored today to welcome a slew of notable people, we are happy to feature one of them once again. a man who is this ended from the -- descended from the only confederate officer who accompanied lee into the parlor. dennis bigelow is the great great grandson of charles marshall. as i said, the only officer to join lee in the house. on most days, mr. bigelow works as a costume interpreter for james monroe. we asked dennis if you would take a few minutes this afternoon and share with you his perspective of having a family connection to an historic event of such magnitude. mr. dennis bigelow. [applause] dennis bigelow: you don't need a repeat of what you have already heard about the surrender and the mclean house so i'm not going to read that of grandfather marshall's book. i think you would like to hear this. punctuated by the laws of the -- of a third of the armies of northern virginia

[applause] john hennessy: thank you dennis. it is probably at this moment 150 years ago that lieutenant colonel parker of grant's staff was transcribing the final terms of the surrender for grant signature. a copy of the surrender document is on display in the visitor center. we met this morning a number of descendents, including a great great grand nephew of eli parker, seneca indian who would become somewhat famous for what he did here, but would remain legendary for a story told earlier today, when we met parker at the conclusion of the meeting he wondered or flinched or wondered at the presence of a man in the broom who is not white. after he recovered himself, lee looked at eli parker, extended his hand and said i'm glad to see one real american. unite parker grasped his hand and told the confederate general , the general, the man at appomattox, the man at appomattox who probably had more cause to doubt his status as an american, being assured of his status as an american by a man who had had to strive hard to be seen as a