APPOMATTOX
The morning after Lee's retreat the Winchester regiment rode into
Petersburg and looked curiously at the smoldering fires and what was
left of the town. They had been before it so long it seemed almost
incredible to Dick Mason that they were in it now. But the Southern
leader and his army were not yet taken. They were gone, and they still
existed as a fighting power.
"We have Petersburg at last," he said, "but it's only a scorched and
empty shell."
"We've more than that," said Warner.
"What do you mean?"
"We've Richmond, too. The capital of the Confederacy, inviolate for
four years, has fallen, and our troops have entered it. Jefferson
Davis, his government and its garrison have fled, burning the army
buildings and stores as they went. A part of the city was burned also,
but our troops helped to put out the fires and saved the rest. Dick,
do you realize it? Do you understand that we have captured the city
over which we have fought for four years, and which has cost more than
a half million lives?"
Dick was silent, because he had no answer to make. Neither he nor
Warner nor Pennington could yet comprehend it fully. They had talked
often of the end of the war, they had looked forward to the great
event, they had hoped for the taking of Richmond, but now that it was
taken it scarcely seemed real.
"Tell it over, George," he said, "was it Richmond you were speaking of,
and did you say that it was taken?"
"Yes, Dick, and it's the truth. Of course it doesn't look like it to
you or to me or to Frank, but it's a fact. Today or tomorrow we may go
there and see it with our own eyes, and then if we don't believe the
sight we can read an account of it in the newspapers."
It was a process of saturation, but in the next hour or two they
believed it and understood it fully. On the following day they rode
into the desolate and partly burned capital, now garrisoned heavily by
the North, and looked with curiosity at the little city for which such
torrents of blood had been shed. But as at Winchester and Petersburg,
they gazed upon blind doors and windows. Nor did they expect anything
else. It was only natural, and they refrained carefully from any
outward show of exultation.
Richmond was to hold them only a few hours, as Grant and Sheridan
continued hot on the trail of Lee. They knew that he was marching
along the Appomattox, intending to concentrate at Amelia Court House,
and they were resolved that he should not escape. Sheridan's cavalry,
with the Winchester regiment in the van, advanced swiftly and began to
press hard upon the retreating army. The firing was almost continuous.
Many prisoners and five guns were taken, but at the crossing of a creek
near nightfall the men in gray, still resolute, turned and beat off
their assailants for the time.
The pursuit was resumed before the next daylight, and both Grant and
Sheridan pressed it with the utmost severity. In the next few days
Dick felt both pity and sympathy for the little army that was defending
itself so valiantly against extermination or capture. It was almost
like the chase of a fox now, and the hounds were always growing in
number and power.
The Northern cavalry spread out and formed a great net. The Southern
communications were cut off, their scouts were taken, and all the
provision trains intended for Lee were captured. The prisoners
reported that the Southern army was starving, and the condition of
their own bodies proved the truth of their words. As Dick looked upon
these ragged and famished men his feeling of pity increased, and he
sincerely hoped that the hour of Lee's surrender would be hastened.
During these days and most of the nights too Dick lived in the saddle.
Once more he and his comrades were clothed in the Virginia mud, and all
the time the Winchester regiment brought in prisoners or wagons. They
knew now that Lee was seeking to turn toward the South and effect a
junction with Johnston in North Carolina, but Dick, his thoughts being
his own, did not see how it was possible. When the Confederacy began
to fall it fell fast. It was only after they passed through Richmond
that he saw how frail the structure had become, and how its supporting
timbers had been shot away. It was great cause of wonder to him that
Lee should still be able to hold out, and to fight off cavalry raids,
as he was doing.
And the Army of Northern Virginia, although but a fragment, was
dangerous. In these its last hours, reduced almost to starvation and
pitiful in numbers, it fought with a courage and tenacity worthy of its
greatest days. It gave to Lee a devotion that would have melted a
heart of stone. Whenever he commanded, it turned fiercely upon its
remorseless pursuers, and compelled them to give ground for a time.
But when it sought to march on again the cavalry of Sheridan and the
infantry of Grant followed closely once more, continually cutting off
the fringe of the dwindling army.
Dick saw Lee himself on a hill near Sailor's Creek, as Sheridan pressed
forward against him. The gray leader had turned. The troops of Ewell
and Anderson were gathered at the edge of a forest, and other infantry
masses stood near. Lee on Traveler sat just in front of them, and was
surveying the enemy through his glasses. Dick used his own glasses,
and he looked long, and with the most intense curiosity, mingled with
admiration, at the Lion of the South, whom they were about to bring to
the ground. The sun was just setting, and Lee was defined sharply
against the red blaze. Dick saw his features, his gray hair, and he
could imagine the defiant blaze of his eyes. It was an unforgettable
picture, the one drawn there by circumstances at the closing of an era.
Then he took notice of a figure, also on horseback, not far behind Lee,
a youthful figure, the face thin and worn, none other than his cousin,
Harry Kenton. Dick's heart took a glad leap. Harry still rode with
his chief, and Dick's belief that he would survive the war was almost
justified.
Then followed a scattering fire to which sunset and following darkness
put an end, and once more the Southern leader retreated, with Sheridan
and his cavalry forever at his heels, giving him no rest, keeping food
from reaching him, and capturing more of his men. The wounded lion
turned again, and, in a fierce attack drove back Sheridan and his men,
but, when the battle closed, and Lee resumed his march, Sheridan was at
his heels as before, seeking to pull him down, and refusing to be
driven off.
Grant also dispatched Custer in a cavalry raid far around Lee, and the
daring young leader not only seized the last wagon train that could
possibly reach the Confederate commander, but also captured twenty-five
of his guns that had been sent on ahead. Dick knew now that the end,
protracted as it had been by desperate courage, was almost at hand, and
that not even a miracle could prevent it.
The column with which he rode was almost continually in sight of the
Army of Northern Virginia, and the field guns never ceased to pour shot
and shell upon it. The sight was tragic to the last degree, as the
worn men in gray retreated sullenly along the muddy roads, in rags,
blackened with mire, stained with wounds, their horses falling dead of
exhaustion, while the pursuing artillery cut down their ranks. Then
the news of Custer's exploit came to Grant and Sheridan, and the circle
of steel, now complete, closed in on the doomed army.
It was the seventh of April when the Winchester men rested their weary
horses, not far from the headquarters of General Grant, and also gave
their own aching bones and muscles a chance to recover their strength.
Dick, after his food and coffee, watched the general, who was walking
back and forth before his tent.
"He looks expectant," said Dick.
"He has the right to look so," said Warner. "He may have news of
earth-shaking importance."
"What do you mean?"
"I know that he sent a messenger to Lee this morning, asking him to
surrender in order to stop the further effusion of blood."
"I wish Lee would accept. The end is inevitable."
"Remember that they don't see with our eyes."
"I know it, George, but the war ought to stop. The Confederacy is gone
forever."
"We shall see what we shall see."
They didn't see, but they heard, which was the same thing. To the
polite request of Grant, Lee sent the polite reply that his means of
resistance were not yet exhausted, and the Union leader took another
hitch in the steel girdle. The second morning afterward, Lee made a
desperate effort to break through at Appomattox Court House, but
crushing numbers drove him back, and when the short fierce combat
ceased, the Army of Northern Virginia had fired its last shot.
The Winchester men had borne a gallant part in the struggle, and
presently when the smoke cleared away Dick uttered a shout.
"What is it?" exclaimed Colonel Winchester.
"A white flag! A white flag!" cried Dick in excitement. "See it
waving over the Southern lines."
"Yes, I see it!" shouted the colonel, Warner and Pennington all
together. Then they stood breathless, and Dick uttered the words:
"The end!"
"Yes," said Colonel Winchester, more to himself than to the others.
"The end! The end at last!"
Thousands now beheld the flag, and, after the first shouts and cheers,
a deep intense silence followed. The soldiers felt the immensity of
the event, but as at the taking of Richmond, they could not comprehend
it all at once. It yet seemed incredible that the enemy, who for four
terrible years had held them at bay, was about to lay down his arms.
But it was true. The messenger, bearing the flag, was now coming
toward the Union lines.
The herald was received within the Northern ranks, bearing a request
that hostilities be suspended in order that the commanders might have
time to talk over terms of surrender, and, at the same time, General
Grant, who was seven or eight miles from Appomattox Court House in a
pine wood, received a note of a similar tenor, the nature of which he
disclosed to his staff amid much cheering. The Union chief at once
wrote to General Lee:
Your note of this date is but at this moment (11:50 A. M.) received,
in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg
road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing
about four miles west of Walker's Church, and will push forward to
the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent to me on
this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.
It was a characteristic and modest letter, and yet the heart under the
plain blue blouse must have beat with elation at the knowledge that he
had brought, what was then the greatest war of modern times, to a
successful conclusion. The dispatch was given to Colonel Babcock of
his staff, who was instructed to ride in haste to Lee and arrange the
interview. The general and his staff followed, but missing the way,
narrowly escaped capture by Confederate troops, who did not yet know of
the proposal to suspend hostilities. But they at last reached Sheridan
about a half mile west of Appomattox Court House.
Dick and his comrades meanwhile spent a momentous morning. It would
have been impossible for him afterward to have described his own
feelings, they were such an extraordinary compound of relief, elation,
pity and sympathy. The two armies faced each other, and, for the first
time, in absolute peace. The men in blue were already slipping food
and tobacco to their brethren in gray whom they had fought so long and
so hard, and at many points along the lines they were talking freely
with one another. The officers made no effort to restrain them, all
alike feeling sure that the bayonets would now be rusting.
The Winchester men were dismounted, their horses being tethered in a
grove, and Dick with the colonel, Warner and Pennington were at the
front, eagerly watching the ragged little army that faced them. He saw
soon a small band of soldiers, at the head of whom stood two elderly
men in patched but neat uniforms, their figures very erect, and their
faces bearing no trace of depression. Close by them were two tall
youths whom Dick recognized at once as St. Clair and Langdon. He waved
his hand to them repeatedly, and, at last, caught the eye of St. Clair,
who at once waved back and then called Langdon's attention. Langdon
not only waved also, but walked forward, as if to meet him, bringing
St. Clair with him, and Dick, responding at once, advanced with Warner
and Pennington.
They shook hands under the boughs of an old oak, and were unaffectedly
glad to see one another, although the three youths in blue felt
awkwardness at first, being on the triumphant side, and fearing lest
some act or word of theirs might betray exultation over a conquered
foe. But St. Clair, precise, smiling, and trim in his attire, put them
at ease.
"General Lee will be here presently," he said, "and you, as well as we,
know that the war is over. You are the victors and our cause is lost."
"But you have lost with honor," said Dick, won by his manner. "The
odds were greatly against you. It's wonderful to me that you were able
to fight so long and with so much success."
"It was a matter of mathematics, Captain St. Clair," said Warner. "The
numbers, the big guns and the resources were on our side, If we held on
we were bound to win, as anyone could demonstrate. It's certainly no
fault of yours to have been defeated by mathematics, a science that
governs the world."
St. Clair and Langdon smiled, and Langdon said lightly:
"It would perhaps be more just to say, Mr. Warner, that we have not
been beaten, but that we've worn ourselves out, fighting. Besides, the
spring is here, a lot of us are homesick, and it's time to put in the
crops."
"I think that's a good way to leave it," said Dick. "Do you know where
my cousin, Harry Kenton, is?"
"I saw him this morning," replied St. Clair, "and I can assure you that
he's taken no harm. He's riding ahead of the commander-in-chief, and
he should be here soon."
A trumpet sounded and they separated, returning respectively to their
own lines. Standing on a low hill, Dick saw Harry Kenton and Dalton
dismount and then stand on one side, as if in expectancy. Dick knew
for whom they were waiting, and his own heart beat hard. A great hum
and murmur arose, when the gray figure of an elderly man riding the
famous war horse, Traveler, appeared.
It was Lee, and in this moment, when his heart must have bled, his
bearing was proud and high. He was worn somewhat, and he had lost
strength from the great privations and anxieties of the retreat, but he
held himself erect. He was clothed in a fine new uniform, and he wore
buckled at his side a splendid new sword, recently sent to him as a
present.
Near by stood a farm house belonging to Wilmer McLean, but, Grant not
yet having come, the Southern commander-in-chief dismounted, and, as
the air was close and hot, he remained a little while under the shade
of an apple tree, the famous apple tree of Appomattox, around which
truth and legend have played so much.
Dick was fully conscious of everything now. He realized the greatness
of the moment, and he would not miss any detail of any movement on the
part of the principals. It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon
when Grant and his staff rode up, the Union leader still wearing his
plain blue blouse, no sword at his side, his shoulder straps alone
signifying his rank.
The two generals who had faced each other with such resolution in that
terrible conflict shook hands, and Dick saw them talking pleasantly as
if they were chance acquaintances who had just met once more.
Presently they went into the McLean house, several of General Grant's
staff accompanying him, but Lee taking with him only Colonel Thomas
Marshall.
Before the day was over Dick learned all that had occurred inside that
unpretentious but celebrated farm house. The two great commanders, at
first did not allude to the civil war, but spoke of the old war in
Mexico, where Lee, the elder, had been General Winfield Scott's chief
of staff, and the head of his engineer corps, with Grant, the younger,
as a lieutenant and quartermaster. It never entered the wildest dreams
of either then that they should lead the armies of a divided nation
engaged in mortal combat. Now they had only pleasant recollections of
each other, and they talked of the old days, of Contreras, Molino del
Rey, and other battles in the Valley of Mexico.
They sat down at a plain table, and then came in the straightforward
manner characteristic of both to the great business in hand. Colonel
Marshall supplied the paper for the historic documents now about to be
written and signed.
General Grant, humane, and never greater or more humane than in the
hour of victory, made the terms easy. All the officers of the Army of
Northern Virginia were to give their parole not to take up arms against
the United States, until properly exchanged, and the company or
regimental commanders were to sign a like parole for their men. The
artillery, other arms and public property were to be turned over to the
Union army, although the officers were permitted to retain their side
arms and their own horses and baggage. Then officers and men alike
could go to their homes.
It was truly the supreme moment of Grant's greatness, of a humanity and
greatness of soul the value of which to his nation can never be
overestimated. Surrenders in Europe at the end of a civil war had
always been followed by confiscations, executions and a reign of terror
for the beaten. Here the man who had compelled the surrender merely
told the defeated to go to their homes.
Lee looked at the terms and said:
"Many of the artillerymen and cavalrymen in our army own their horses,
will the provisions allowing the officers to retain their horses apply
to them also?"
"No, it will not as it is written," replied Grant, "but as I think this
will be the last battle of the war, and as I suppose most of the men in
the ranks are small farmers who without their horses would find it
difficult to put in their crops, the country having been swept of
everything movable, and as the United States does not want them, I will
instruct the officers who are to receive the paroles of your troops to
let every man who claims to own a horse or mule take the animal to his
home."
"It will have a pleasant effect," said Lee, and then he wrote a formal
letter accepting the capitulations. The two generals, rising, bowed to
each other, but as Lee turned away he said that his men had eaten no
food for several days, except parched corn, and he would have to ask
that rations, and forage for their horses, be given to them.
"Certainly, general," replied Grant. "For how many men do you need
them?"
"About twenty-five thousand," was Lee's reply.
Then General Grant requested him to send his own officers to Appomattox
Station for the food and forage. Lee thanked him. They bowed to each
other again, and the Southern leader who no longer had an army, but who
retained always the love and veneration of the South, left the McLean
house. Thus and in this simple fashion--the small detached fighting
elsewhere did not count--did the great civil war in America, which had
cost six or seven hundred thousand lives, and the temporary ruin of one
section, come to an end.
Dick saw Lee come out of the house, mount Traveler and, followed by
Colonel Marshall, ride back toward his own men who already had divined
the occurrences in the house. The army saluted him with undivided
affection, the troops crowding around him, cheering him, and, whenever
they had a chance, shaking his hand. The demonstration became so great
that Lee was moved deeply and showed it. The water rose in his eyes
and his voice trembled as he said, though with pride:
"My lads, we have fought through the war together. I have done the
best I could for you. My heart is too full to say more."
He could not be induced to speak further, although the great
demonstration continued, but rode in silence to his headquarters in a
wood, where he entered his tent and sat alone, no one ever knowing what
his thoughts were in that hour.
Twenty-six thousand men who were left of the Army of Northern Virginia
surrendered the next day, and the blue and the gray fraternized. The
Union soldiers did not wait for the rations ordered by Grant, but gave
of their own to the starved men who were so lately their foes. Dick
and his friends hastened at once to find Harry Kenton and his comrades,
and presently they saw them all sitting together on a log, thin and
pale, but with no abatement of pride. Harry rose nevertheless, and
received his cousin joyfully.
"Dick," he said as their hands met, "the war is over, and over forever.
But you and I were never enemies."
"That's so, Harry," said Dick Mason, "and the thing for us to do now is
to go back to Kentucky, and begin life where we left it off."
"But you don't start this minute," said Warner. "There is a small
matter of business to be transacted first. We know all of you, but
just the same we've brought our visiting cards with us."
"I don't understand," said Harry.
"We'll show you. Frank Pennington, remove that large protuberance from
beneath your blouse. Behold it! A small ham, my friends, and it's for
you. That's Frank's card. And here I take from my own blouse the half
of a cheese, which I beg you to accept with my compliments. Dick, you
rascal, what's that you have under your arm?"
"It's a jar of prime bacon that I've brought along for the party,
George."
"I thought so. We're going to have the pleasure of dining with our
friends here. We've heard, Captain Kenton, that you people haven't
eaten anything for a month."
"It's not that bad," laughed Harry. "We had parched corn yesterday."
"Well, parched corn is none too filling, and we're going to prepare the
banquet at once. A certain Sergeant Whitley will arrive presently with
a basket of food, such as you rebels haven't tasted since you raided
our wagon trains at the Second Manassas, and with him will come one
William Shepard, whom you have met often, Mr. Kenton."
"Yes," said Harry, "we've met often and under varying circumstances,
but we're going to be friends now."
"Will you tell me, Captain St. Clair," said Dick, "what has become of
the two colonels of your regiment, which I believe you call the
Invincibles?"
St. Clair led them silently to a little wood, and there, sitting on
logs, Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant Colonel Hector St. Hilaire
were bent intently over the chess board that lay between them.
"Now that the war is over we'll have a chance to finish our game, eh,
Hector?" said Colonel Talbot.
"A just observation, Leonidas. It's a difficult task to pursue a game
to a perfect conclusion amid the distractions of war, but soon I shall
checkmate you in the brilliant fashion in which General Lee always
snares and destroys his enemy."
"But General Lee has yielded, Hector."
"Pshaw, Leonidas! General Lee would never yield to anybody. He has
merely quit!"
"Ahem!" said Harry loudly, and, as the colonels glanced up, they saw
the little group looking down at them.
"Our friends, the enemy, have come to pay you their respects," said
Harry.
The two colonels rose and bowed profoundly.
"And to invite you to a banquet that is now being prepared not far from
here," continued Harry. "It's very tempting, ham, cheese, and other
solids, surrounded by many delicacies."
The two colonels looked at each other, and then nodded approval.
"You are to be the personal guests of our army," said Dick, "and we act
as the proxies of General Grant."
"I shall always speak most highly of General Grant," said Colonel
Leonidas Talbot. "His conduct has been marked by the greatest
humanity, and is a credit to our common country, which has been
reunited so suddenly."
"But reunited with our consent, Leonidas," said Lieutenant Colonel St.
Hilaire. "Don't forget that I, for one, am tired of this war, and so
is our whole army. It was a perfect waste of life to prolong it, and
with the North reannexed, the Union will soon be stronger and more
prosperous than ever."
"Well spoken, Hector! Well spoken. It is perhaps better that North
and South should remain together. I thought otherwise for four years,
but now I seem to have another point of view. Come, lads, we shall
dine with these good Yankee boys and we'll make them drink toasts of
their own excellent coffee to the health and safety of our common
country."
The group returned to a little hollow, in which Sergeant Whitley and
Shepard had built a fire, and where they were already frying strips of
bacon and slices of ham over the coals. Shepard and Harry shook hands.
"I may as well tell you now, Mr. Kenton," said Shepard, "that Miss
Henrietta Carden, whom you met in Richmond, is my sister, and that it
was she who hid in the court at the Curtis house and took the map.
Then it was I who gave you the blow."
"It was done in war," said Harry, "and I have no right to complain. It
was clever and I hope that I shall be able to give your sister my
compliments some day. Now, if you don't mind, I'll take a strip of
that wonderful bacon. It is bacon, isn't it? It's so long since I've
seen any that I'm not sure of its identity, but whatever it is its odor
is enticing."
"Bacon it surely is, Mr. Kenton. Here are three pieces that I broiled
myself and a broad slice of bread for them. Go ahead, there's plenty
more. And see this dark brown liquid foaming in this stout tin pot!
Smell it! Isn't it wonderful! Well, that's coffee! You've heard of
coffee, and maybe you remember it."
"I do remember tasting it some years ago and finding it good. I'd like
to try it again. Yes, thank you. It's fine."
"Here's another cup, and try the ham also."
Harry tried it, not once but several times. Langdon sat on the ground
before the fire, and his delight was unalloyed and unashamed.
"We have raided a Yankee wagon train again," he said, "and the looting
is splendid. Arthur, I thought yesterday that I should never eat
again. Food and I were such strangers that I believed we should never
know each other, any more, or if knowing, we could never assimilate.
And yet we seem to get on good terms at once."
While they talked a tall thin youth of clear dark complexion, carrying
a long bundle under his arm, approached the fire and Lieutenant Colonel
St. Hilaire welcomed him with joy.
"Julien! Julien de Langeais, my young relative!" he cried. "And you
are indeed alive! I thought you lost!"
"I'm very much alive, sir," said young De Langeais, "but I'm starved."
"Then this is the place to come," said Dick, putting before him food,
which he strove to eat slowly, although the effort at restraint was
manifestly great. Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire introduced him to the
Union men, and then asked him what was the long black bag that he
carried under his arm.
"That, sir," replied De Langeais, smiling pathetically, "is my violin.
I've no further use for my rifle and sword, but now that peace is
coming I may be able to earn my bread with the fiddle."
"And so you will! You'll become one of the world's great musicians.
And as soon as we've finished with General Grant's hospitality, which
will be some time yet, you shall play for us."
De Langeais looked affectionately at the black bag.
"You're very good to me, sir," he said, "to encourage me at such a
time, and, if you and the others care for me to play, I'll do my best."
"Paganini himself could do no more, but, for the present, we must pay
due attention to the hospitality of General Grant. He would not like
it, if it should come to his ears that we did not show due
appreciation, and since, in the course of events, and in order to
prevent the mutual destruction of the sections, it became necessary for
General Lee to arrange with someone to stop this suicidal war, I am
glad the man was General Grant, a leader whose heart does him infinite
credit."
"General Grant is a very great man, and he has never proved it more
fully than today," said Dick, who sat near the colonels--his first
inclination had been to smile, but he restrained it.
"Truly spoken, young sir," said Colonel Leonidas Talbot. "General Lee
and General Grant together could hold this continent against the world,
and, now that we have quit killing one another, America is safe in
their hands. Harry, do you think I've eaten too much? I wouldn't go
beyond the exploits of a gentleman, but this food has a wonderful
savor, and I can't say that I have dined before in months."
"Not at all, sir, you have just fairly begun. As Lieutenant Colonel
St. Hilaire pointed out, General Grant would be displeased if we didn't
fully appreciate his hospitality and prove it by our deeds. Here are
some sardines, sir. You haven't tasted 'em yet, but you'll find 'em
wonderfully fine."
Colonel Leonidas Talbot took the sardines, and then he and Lieutenant
Colonel St. Hilaire rose suddenly and simultaneously to their feet, a
look of wonder and joy spreading over their faces.
"Is it really he?" exclaimed Colonel Talbot.
"It's he and none other," said Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire.
A tall, powerfully built, gray-haired man was coming toward them, his
hands extended. Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire
stepped forward, and each grasped a hand.
"Good old John!"
"Why, John, it's worth a victory to shake your hand again!"
"Leonidas, I've been inquiring, an hour or two, for you and Hector."
"John Carrington, you've fulfilled your promise and more. We always
said at West Point that you'd become the greatest artilleryman in the
world, and in this war you've proved it on fifty battle fields. We've
often watched your work from the other side, and we've always admired
the accuracy with which you sent the shells flying about us. It was
wonderful, John, wonderful, and it did more than anything else to save
the North from complete defeat!"
A smile passed over John Carrington's strong face, and he patted his
old comrade on the shoulder.
"It's good to know, Leonidas, that neither you nor Hector has been
killed," he said, "and that we can dine together again."
"Truly, truly, John! Sit down! It's the hospitality of your own
general that you share when you join us. General Lee would never make
terms with men like McClellan, Burnside and Hooker. No, sir, he
preferred to defeat them, much as it cost our Union in blood and
treasure, but with a man of genius like General Grant he could agree.
Really great souls always recognize one another. Is it not so, John?"
"Beyond a doubt, Leonidas. We fully admit the greatness and lofty
character of General Lee, as you admit the greatness and humanity of
General Grant. One nation is proud to have produced two such men."
"I agree with you, John. All of us agree with you. The soldiers of
General Lee's army who are here today will never dispute what you say.
Now fall on, and join us at this board which, though rustic, is indeed
a most luxurious and festive one. As I remember at West Point, you
were a first-class trencherman."
"And I am yet," said John Carrington, as he took his share. They were
joined a little later by a gallant young Southern colonel, Philip
Sherburne, who had led in many a cavalry attack, and then the equally
gallant Northern colonel, Alan Hertford, came also, and as everybody
was introduced to everybody else the good feeling grew. At last the
hunger that had been increasing so long was satisfied, and as they
leaned back, Lieutenant Colonel St. Hilaire turned to Julien de
Langeais:
"Julien," he said, "take out your violin. There is no more fitting
time than this to play. Julien, John, is a young relative of mine from
Louisiana who has a gift. He is a great musician who is going to
become much greater. Perhaps it was wrong to let a lad of his genius
enter this war, but at any rate he has survived it, and now he will
show us what he can do."
De Langeais, after modest deprecations, took out his violin and played.
Upon his sensitive soul the war had made such a deep impression that
his spirit spoke through his instrument. He had never before played so
well. His strings sang of the march, the camp, of victory and defeat,
and defeat and victory, and as he played he became absorbed in his
music. The people around him, although they were rapidly increasing in
numbers, were not visible to him. Yet he played upon their hearts.
There was not one among them who did not see visions and dream dreams
as he listened. At last his bow turned into the old and ever young,
"Home Sweet Home."
'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain,
Oh! give me my lowly, thatched cottage again.
Into the song he poured all his skill and all his heart, and as he
played he saw the house in which he was born on the far Louisiana
plantation. And those who listened saw also, in spirit, the homes which
many of them had not seen in fact for four years. Stern souls were
softened, and water rose to eyes which had looked fearlessly and so
often upon the charging bayonets of the foe.
He stopped suddenly and put away his violin. There was a hush, and
then a long roll of applause, not loud, but very deep.
"I hear Pendleton calling," said Harry to Dick.
"So do I," said Dick. "I wonder what they're doing there. Have you
heard from your father?"
"Not for several months. I think he's in North Carolina with Johnston,
and I mean to go home that way. I've a good horse, and he'll carry me
through the mountains. I think I'll find father there. An hour or two
ago, Dick, I felt like a man and I was a man, but since De Langeais
played I've become a boy again, and I'm longing for Pendleton, and its
green hills, and the little river in which we used to swim."
"So am I, Harry, and it's likely that I'll go with you. The war is
over and I can get leave at once. I want to see my mother."
They stayed together until night came over Appomattox and its famous
apple tree, and a few days later Harry Kenton was ready to start on
horseback for Kentucky. But he was far from being alone. The two
colonels, St. Clair, Langdon, Dick, De Langeais, Colonel Winchester and
Sergeant Whitley were to ride with him. Warner was to go north and
Pennington west as soon as they were mustered out. Dick wrung their
hands.
"Good-by, George! Good-by, Frank! Old comrades!" he said. "But
remember that we are to see a good deal of one another all through our
lives!"
"Which I can reduce to a mathematical problem and demonstrate by means
of my little algebra here," said Warner, fumbling for his book to hide
his emotion.
"I may come through Kentucky to see you and Harry," said Pennington,
"when I start back to Nebraska."
"Be sure to come," said Dick with enthusiasm, "and remember that the
latch string is hanging out on both doors."
Then, carrying their arms, and well equipped with ammunition, food and
blankets, the little party rode away. They knew that the mountains
were still extremely unsettled, much infested by guerrillas, but they
believed themselves strong enough to deal with any difficulty, and, as
the April country was fair and green, their hearts, despite everything,
were light.