Appomattox Courthouse

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Chamberlain and the Salute of Arms

One of the most touching passages of the Civil War happen on April 12, 1865 as Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.

The setting was northeast of the courthouse and just past the Peers House on the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road. This was the offical surrender ceremony a few days after Lee had surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House.

The event is best related in a passage from James McPherson’s Pulitzer Prize winning history of the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom:

The Union officer in charge of the surrender ceremony was Joshua L. Chamberlin, the fighting professor from Bowdoin who won the medal of honor for Little Round Top, had been twice wounded since then, and was now a major general. Leading the southerners as they marched towards two of Chamberlain’s brigades standing at attention was John B. Gordon, one of Lee’s hardest fighters who now commanded Stonewall Jackson’s old corps. First in the line of march behind him was the Stonewall Brigade, five regiments containing 210 ragged survivors of four years of war. As Gordon approached at the head of these men with “his chin drooped to his breast, downhearted and dejected in appearance,” Chamberlain gave a brief order, a bugle call rang out. Instantly the Union soldiers shifted from order arms to carry arms, the salute of honor. Hearing the sound General Gordon looked up in surprise, and with sudden realization turned smartly to Chamberlain, dipped his sword in salute, and ordered his own men to carry arms. These enemies in many a bloody battle ended the war not with shame on one side and exultation on the other but with a soldier’s “mutual salutation and farewell.”

This interaction between the victorious north and the defeated south was the first step in helping to bring a divided and bloodied nation back on the path to becoming the United States again. Did it work? I leave it to you, dear reader, to decide.

The Peers House at Appomattox Courthouse. The site of the Chamberlain-Gordon encounter is just down the stage road to the left of the Peers House.

On the morning of April 9, 1865, the Army of Northern Virginia was involved in it’s final wartime conflict. The last shots where fired from the front yard of the Peers House. The cannon shot caused some of the last casualties of the war in Virginia.

The countryside around Appomattox Courthouse is beautiful. The photo above is taken near the spot of Lee and Grant’s second meeting. The meeting occurred on the morning of April 10 with both men on horseback. While the surrender in McLean’s front parlor pertained to the Army of Northern Virginia, Grant tried to persuade Lee to convince the remaining Confederate forces to surrender. Lee refused telling Grant that the decision was up to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

To the right of this photo and out of frame is the location of Chamberlain’s Salute of Honor. I sketched the view looking down the Richmond-Lynchburg State Road (featured sketch).

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Appomattox Courthouse

One Civil War location I have been interested in visiting and sketching for a long time is Appomattox Courthouse in southern Virginia.

This is not the site of a major battle. Civil War lovers come here to visit a house just down the street from the courthouse and pay a visit to the front parlor.

Now how did this small parlor in a small southern Virginia town become a major historical landmark?

This is where the Civil War ended, at least on paper.

The McLean House.

The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, was surrounded by Union forces near the small town of Appomattox Courthouse. Lee was now out of options and had no choice but to surrender. Lee said, “there is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths. “

On April 9, 1865, in the early afternoon, Robert E. Lee, entered the village of Appomattox Courthouse. He headed past the courthouse and stopped at the McLean House. Lee dismounted his horse Traveller, and entered the house.

Shortly afterwards General Ulysses S. Grant, General-in-Chief of all the forces of the United States, entered the house.

The front parlor where Lee surrendered to Grant.

The two men met in Wilmer McLean’s front parlor while the family was in the upstairs bedrooms. Here the lenient terms of surrender where agreed upon. The Confederate soldiers had to pledge not to take up arms again against the United States, they had to turn in their rifles but could keep their sidearms, and Lee was allowed to go free.

This surrender Appomattox was the beginning of the process of reunification.

Or was it?

Coda: Before he lived in Appomattox Courthouse, Wilmer McLean lived further north in Manassas.

During the the first battle of Manassas (aka Bull Run), McLean’s house was used by Confederate General Beauregard as his headquarters. His house was shelled by Unionist cannons.

It is said of McLean that the Civil War, “began in his front yard and ended in his front parlor”.