That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant - Rilegato

Richard Parry is a retired surgeon who divides his time between Anchorage, Alaska, and Sun City, Arizona. He is the author of two acclaimed novels on Wyatt Earp.

                                                                April 7, 1865

GENERAL:  The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.
                                                U.S. Grant, Lieutenant-General
GENERAL R. E. LEE

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                                                                April 7, 1865
GENERAL:  I have received your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.
                                                        R. E. Lee, General
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT

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                                                                April 8, 1865
GENERAL: Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply, I would say, that peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon--namely, that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.
                                                U. S. Grant, Lieutenant--General
GENERAL R. E. LEE

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                                                                April 8, 1865
GENERAL: I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day. In mine yesterday I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army; but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposal may affect the Confederate States forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at ten a.m. tomorrow on the old stage-road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies.
                                                        R. E. Lee, General
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT

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                                                                April 9, 1865
GENERAL: Your note of yesterday is received. I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed for ten a.m. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, general, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desired event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc.
                                                U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General
GENERAL R. E. LEE
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FARMVILLE, VIRGINIA, EIGHT MILES EAST OF
APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, APRIL 9, 1865
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Ulysses S. Grant, General-in-Chief of the Federal forces, rode slumped forward in his saddle. Avoiding the worried glances of his staff, he struggled against the headache that threatened to split his skull. Normally, Grant rode as if he and his horse were one, but not today. His faithful mount, Cincinnati, recognized the uneven pressure of his rider's legs and tossed his head nervously. Grant noted thankfully that the animal was picking its way over the battle-torn road with infinite care and with an easy gait, something his other mount, the little pony Jeff Davis, would never have done.

Colonel Horace Porter, his trusted aide-de-camp, followed closely at his general's side, half expecting his leader to pitch from his saddle onto the muddy road. Porter gnawed his lower lip, and his fingers twisted his reins into endless knots while he watched Grant suffer.

Since noon yesterday the headache had plagued the general. Mustard plasters to his neck and wrists did nothing to ameliorate the attack, nor did soaking his feet most of the night in hot water laced with mustard. At four in the morning Porter found Grant sitting on the sofa in the abandoned hotel in Farmville, throbbing head in hands and bare feet shuffling his boots about the floor.

Porter had even suggested that his general ride in an ambulance this morning to avoid the sun as well as the jostling. But Grant refused.

Plodding along with his jaw clenched, Grant reviewed the events of the last day. Despite the flurry of notes, Lee's last letter clearly showed that the Confederate general still meant to fight. Grant ground his teeth, forcing the insistent smell of the mustard plasters from his mind.

Did the man not realize that his army was surrounded? Grant wondered. Lee was in a bottle with Sheridan's cavalry corking the opening. Good old Sheridan could be relied upon to hold the door shut even if Lee threw his whole army at him and he, Grant, was rushing Ord's command and the Fifth Corps to reinforce Sheridan. When they got there, the cork would be driven firmly in place with Lee's army trapped inside. What was left of it could scarcely amount to more than twenty thousand men, thirty thousand at the most. And those men were presumed to be starving. Reports saying they were boiling the leather form their bullet pou...