Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 15.djvu/13

 Rh them, were seen on the road, and as our party came up, General Grant said: 'How are you, Sheridan?' 'First rate, thank you; how are you?' cried Sheridan, with a voice and look that seemed to indicate that on his part he was having things all his own way. 'Is Lee over there?' asked General Grant, pointing up the street, having heard that he was in that vicinity. 'Yes, he is in that brick house,' answered Sheridan. 'Well, then, we'll go over,' said Grant.

"The General in Chief now rode on, accompanied by Sheridan, Ord and some others, and soon Colonel Babcock's orderly was seen sitting on his horse in the street in front of a two story brick house, better in appearance than the rest of the houses. He said General Lee and Colonel Babcock had gone into this house a short time before, and he was ordered to post himself in the street and keep a lookout for General Grant, so as to let him know where General Lee was.

"The house [that of Wilbur McLean] had a comfortable wooden porch, with seven steps leading up to it. A hall ran through the middle from front to back, and on each side was a room having two windows, one in front and one in rear. Each room had two doors leading into the hall. The building stood a little distance back from the street, with a yard in front, and to the left was a gate for carriages and a roadway running to a stable in the rear. We entered the grounds by this gate and dismounted. In the yard were seen a fine, large gray horse, which proved to be General Lee's, and a good-looking mare belonging to Colonel Marshall. An orderly in gray was in charge of them, and had taken off their bridles to let them nibble the grass.

"General Grant mounted the steps and entered the house. As he stepped into the hall, Colonel Babcock, who had seen his approach from the window, opened the door of the room on the left, in which he had been sitting with General Lee and Colonel Marshall, awaiting General Grant's arrival. The General passed in, while the members of the staff, Generals Sheridan and Ord, and some general officers who had gathered in the front yard, remained outside, feeling that he would probably want his first interview with General Lee to be, in a measure, private. In a few minutes Colonel Babcock came to the front door, and, making a motion with his hat towards the sitting room, said, 'The General says come in.' It was then about half-past one of Sunday, the 9th of April. We entered, and found General Grant sitting at a marble-topped table in the centre of the room, and Lee sitting beside a small oval table near the front window, in the