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... from a time when the goal of the country was to heal after the civil war - not endlessly pick wounds, fight, or gin up hatred. General Grant allows General Robert E. Lee to keep his sword...

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/appomattoxsurrender.html

“On April 9, 1865, after learning that his army
had been unable to break through encircling
Union lines at the Battle of Appomattox Court
House, General Robert E. Lee told his staff
that there was nothing left for him to do but
“go and see General Grant, and I would
rather die a thousand deaths.”

After four years of bitter war against larger
armies and more advanced weaponry, the
famed Army of Northern Virginia had finally
been cornered in the fields and pastures
surrounding the little Virginia town of
Appomattox Court House. Dramatically out-
numbered and cut off from any hope of
supply or reinforcement, Lee made one last
attempt to cut his way out. When the effort
failed, he sent a letter to General Ulysses S.
Grant requesting a meeting with the Union
commander.

Grant was then about twelve miles away from
Appomattox Court House near present-day
Hixburg, Virginia. He was suffering from a
severe headache that morning as he rode on
horseback, pushing his men forward in an all
out effort to cut off Lee’s maneuver to unit his
army with that of General Joseph E. Johnston
in North Carolina. When the letter arrived
from the Confederate general, however,
Grant’s headache vanished.

Union officers sent to arrange the conference
found General Lee sitting under an apple
tree. He summoned his staff and rode with
Grant’s emissaries into Appomattox Court
House to arrange a suitable location for the
meeting.

As the party of officers, some in blue and
some in gray, arrived in town, Lieutenant
Colonel Charles Marshall (Lee’s
Aid-de-Camp) spotted local resident Wilmer
McLean. Riding up to the man, he inquired if
he knew of a building where the two generals
could meet. McLean pointed out an empty
structure. When he realized it would be
unsuitable for what was about to take place,
however, he offered his own home.

Arrangements were made to receive the
generals in the parlor of the McLean House.
General Lee arrived first, reaching the house
at around 1 p.m. and taking a seat in the
parlor to await the arrival of his adversary. He
was dressed in his finest uniform.

Grant arrived about thirty minutes later,
wearing a simple uniform that was dirty and
splattered with mud from his hard ride.

The two commanders, both veterans of the
Mexican War, talked cordially for about twenty-
five minutes before Lee finally raised the
topic of his surrender.

Despite his reputation as “Unconditional
Surrender” Grant, the Union general offered
generous terms to his defeated foe. The
entire Army of Northern Virginia would be
paroled, soldiers with horses or mules could
take them home and officers would be
allowed to keep their side arms. The last
clause spared Lee from the humiliation of a
classic surrender of his sword.

Lee accepted the terms and the two men
signed the final agreement in the parlor of
the McLean House as a host of officers from
both sides looked on in silence. Among them
was a man who would later meet his own
destiny at the Little Big Horn, General George
Armstrong Custer.

The generous terms offered to General Lee
by General Grant did much to ease tensions
among the Confederates. Provided with
rations by the Federals, they signed their
paroles and began making their long trips
home.