General grants staff, there was a young captain named Robert Lincoln on his staff, and he, of course, was the son of president Abraham Lincoln, and he was here in the room. Another interesting participant in this ceremony was at least, maybe not participant, but a witness to this ceremony was this rag doll of lula mclean, youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. It was sitting on the couch when the officers came in, and they moved it to the mantel during the meeting. After the meeting, some of the officers took the doll off the mantel and began tossing it around. Captain thomas moore of general phillip sheridans staff took the doll home with him as a war souvenir. In the 1990s, the family wanted the doll to come back to Appomattox Court house, and it is now on display in the Park Visitors Center. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. It was said to be a gentlemans agreement. General grant was very generous with the terms. In the end when general lee said he had nothing to feed his me
Really just sort of scratched the surface out here, and theres a lot more information potential with this site. Its very unique, particularly for this area, the midatlantic region. You dont typically see slavery being practiced on the scale that it was being practiced here at leramie taj. I think i mentioned that 90 slaves is roughly 10 times the number of enslaved individuals you would have expected to be living here. So thats an extremely unusual circumstance for this area. You know, like i said, they are about 20 x 34 feet. Thats just under 700 square feet of living space. If in fact there were only six structures total, one can assume there were somewhere between maybe as many as 12 or 15 People Living in each these dwelling houses which probably sounds like a lot, so i i would i would guess or assume that these may have been extended family units, for example, living together. Multiple generations of families. Like i say, these are pretty utilitarian, simple, expediently construct
Of the union army, and he blocked general lees line of retreat, thus general lee had to continue further west, searching for rations and hoping to get around grants army. The next place general lee could gather supplies was about three miles from us here at appomattox station. Supplies had been brought over from lynchburg to feed general lees army. Its everything the army really needed. Hundreds of thousands of rations, new uniforms, equipment, and thats where theyre heading for on april 8 after leaving Cumberland Church on the night of april 7. General lees advance is led by confederate reserve artillery under general Reuben Lindsey walker. They go to camp about a mile from appomattox station about two miles from here on the afternoon of april 8th. And general custers cavalry advances on that station and captures the supplies, then encounters general Reuben Lindsey walkerss general artillery and fight for about four hours the ballofp at mattox station. A very unique battle in the civi
For preservation was initiated in the 1880s and 1890s when the veterans were at the height of their power in government and Industry Leaders and all of them. It was because battlefields ironically these places of conflict could become places of comfort. So americans always put tremendous emphasis on these places as a tool of reconciliation. The key part of the battlefield that came from the sons of confederate veterans stipulated the government would care for this battlefield and not detract from the glory. The dedication speech i helped managed. 1927, said the keynote speaker said we do more than dedicate these fields in memory of things that have passed. We consecrate them in the spirit of lee and lincoln to a more perfect understanding to south and north. For the next 50 years or so would faithfully carry out that charge. Where americans can come together and understand the war in a very human level. Just to give you a sense of how deep this tradition is and how its perceived by the
Bothersome debate. And maybe its a symptom of why so Many Americans are kind of put off by the war. Why do you argue about stuff like that . But lets look at those names in a different way. Each of those names represents a perfectly valid perspective on the war. And each is a potential gateway for americans to engage in this story. This worldchanging story. The problem is and for reasons that seem mysterious to many, people who are not inclined toward history the problem is we continue to throw barriers large and subtle in the way of those intellectual gateways into this history. We view the labels, these names as not able to stand side by side but mutually exclusive. If the war is a war of northern aggression, it cant also be a war for emancipation. But, in fact it was. It was all those things. And thats okay. So like our fellow americans our history always challenges us to be better. We draw strength and inspiration from those who risked and gave all for our communitys protection, ou