Posted on 04/09/2011 4:40:24 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
American Minute, with Bill Federer
April 9
The Civil War began on Wilmer McLean's farm in Manassas Junction,
Virginia, with the First Battle of Bull Run.
A Union shell exploded in his kitchen.
Wilmer McLean moved to get away from the conflict, yet almost four
years later his new home, near Appomattox Court House, Virginia, was
the agreed location for General Robert E. Lee to surrender to General
Ulysses S. Grant on APRIL 9, 1865.
Ken Burn's documentary film of the Civil War stated that the war
began in Wilmer McLean's front yard and ended in his front parlor.
The Civil War resulted in approximately 258,000 Confederate deaths
and 360,000 Union deaths.
General Lee took off his sword and handed it to General Grant, and
Grant handed it back.
The next day, General Lee issued his final order:
"After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage
and fortitude...I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of
those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen.
By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their
homes."
"I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you His blessing
and protection."
Amen.
I think those very words everytime I hear Lincoln praised for "doing what had to be done".
1913 Civil War Reunion at Gettsburg
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=MIJaxu3w4-U
This is a video to be kept in your computer archives, IMO.
Actually, it didn’t end on April 9th. Joe Johnston didn’t suurender to Sherman for almost another week [had to surrender a second time after the terms were disapproved in D.C-after the assasination]. The Trans-Mississippi didn’t surrender for at least another month.
Lee spent his last days as President of Washington College in Virginia. From the poem, Lee in the Mountains:
It is not the bugle now, or the long roll beating.
The simple stroke of a chapel bell forbids
The hurtling dream, recalls the lonely mind.
Young men, the God of your fathers is a just
And merciful God Who in this blood once shed
On your green altars measures out all days,
And measures out the grace
Whereby alone we live;
And in His might He waits,
Brooding within the certitude of time,
To bring this lost forsaken valor
And the fierce faith undying
And the love quenchless
To flower among the hills to which we cleave,
To fruit upon the mountains whither we flee,
Never forsaking, never denying
His children and His children’s children forever
Unto all generations of the faithful heart.
ohh nooo! Please let them go...like true parasites they would DIE without a host. If they turned Detroit into a prairie in 40 years, they would stand no chance of survival with out US!
Thank you very much. What a wondervul video. Very touching, to say the least. And even an old Confederate soldier can be heard saying “That’s the rebel yell”. Wow!
Thanks for the great video!
Great poem. Thanks.
While you’re technically correct, when Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered, it was over.
“Having said that, if you ever are anywhere near Appomattox, you have to go there. It’s one of the most moving places I have ever been.”
Way back in ‘94, I visited Petersburg and then followed the main route of Lee’s army as it fled westward. Stopped at Sayler’s Creek. Not a lot to see there though. Went to Appomattox. Very cool.
You are right. I can only imagine what it must have been like as Lee’s troops found out they were surrendering and later as they stacked their weapons and prepared to head home to an uncertain future.
The account of the ANV’s flight from Petersburg and Richmond has been well-doucumented. I can only imagine the bone-tiredness, hunger and mental confusion as the army fled westward - with the Union army nipping on the heels the whole time.
” I hear Lincoln praised for “doing what had to be done”.”
Lincoln preached that the States had the right to leave the union. He also preached that he didn’t want any free blacks allowed into Illinois and saw them as less than whites.
My take: He was also a major and famous player in the railroad industry and a midwestern lawyer that had both served in the US congress and presented at least one case before the US Supreme Court. He was far from this humble man that lived in a log cabin the elementary public schools want everyone to believe. He had railroad buddies that needed the north and south to stay together. That was his focus: Railroad money.
For what it's worth.
A non-sequitur.....
And worth every bit as much as your input..maybe more since mine actually said something.
Col. John Singleton Mosby who ruled Northern Virginia with his band of irregulars, never did surrender. He disbanded his outfit under conditions arranged by Lee and he and his men were paroled. 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry raised a lot of hell and were the most wanted and most hunted rebels of the war. It is a helluva story.
I think the most wanted and hunted rebels of the war were William Clarke Quantrill, George Todd and William “Bloody Bill” Anderson and their associates.
Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson were not officially part of the Confederate military. Mosby and his band were citizen soldiers from Northern Virginia. While both were considered irregulars in the sense of their unit composition, Mosby reported to and took orders directly from Lee. There are some similarities between Quantrill and Bloody Bill. They were Southern sympathizers who traveled the Kansas / Missouri arena. Deserters, cutthroats, criminals. No doubt they were hunted and wanted. Mosby operated right under the noses of the Union in the Shadow of Wash. DC. Quantrill and Bloody Bill are also a great story. Vicious killers. Think of Lawrence Ks.
Most of it factually incorrect but hey, you did say it.
Quantrill had a “Ranger commission” as a Captain of Confederate partisan forces. The winter of 1863-1864 was spent in Texas by the Missouri bushwhackers [that’s after Lawrence], and the Confederate military authorities provisioned them, and gave all appearances of believing the Missourians were under their military authority.
Substantial second line Union troops were stationed in the Missouri thater of operations for the sole purpose of beating the Bushwhackers. General Order No. 11 was promulgated because of them.
Please understand, I am in NO way comparing Mosby to Quantrill or Anderson. But the fact remains, the latter were Confederate guerillas [Todd was killed fighting with Jo Shelby]. And they were more hunted than Mosby. Nor were they accorded the rights accruing to Mosby’s men by Lee’s [or anyone else’s] surrender. Jsse James was almost killed when he rode in to surrender.
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