Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/288

 272 Southern Historical Society Papers.

with the views of either. Neither of them, I am sure, was influenced by any theatrical ideas of the surrender.

"You will observe that by the very terms of the surrender de- manded by General Grant, it was expressly provided that the officers of the Confederate army should retain their sidearms. To have of- fered to surrender his sword would have been an offer on General Lee's part to do more than had been demanded of him. I cannot, therefore, understand how Mrs. Davis, or any one else, could have supposed that General Lee made that offer, or how General Grant could have made such a demand.

This subject has been so much dwelt upon by those who pretend to write about the circumstances of the surrender that it has become fatiguing. All the facts are, I think, fully set forth in the address I send you. This statement has been prepared with great care and has never been contradicted by any officer on either side to my knowledge.

" Believe me, my dear sir, very truly yours,

"CHARLES MARSHALL.'

GENERAL GRANT'S TESTIMONY.

Mr. Bird also writes the Sun as -follows:

"General Grant himself fully corroborates Colonel Marshall's statement in his book, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Volume II, Chapter xxv, pages 344-346. I quote General Grant's own words:

' No conversation not a word passed between General Lee and myself, either about private property, sidearms or kindred sub- jects. The much talked of surrendering of Lee's sword and my handing it back, this, and much more that has been said about it is the purest romance. The word "sword" or "sidearms" was not mentioned by either of us until I wrote it in the terms. There was no premeditation, and it did not occur to me until the moment I wrote it down. If I had happened to omit it and General Lee had called my attention to it, I should have put it in the terms precisely as I acceded to the provision about the soldiers retaining their horses.'

" This brief extract should be conclusive as to this question. Ad- ditional extracts show that the terms of surrender contained specific provision for retention of sidearms by the officers, and private prop- erty by both officers and men of General Lee's army.