April 9:
General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on this day in 1865,
signaling the end of the American Civil War. The eyewitness records of the
event include the diary of William G. Hinson, a lieutenant in the 7th
South Carolina Cavalry. The following excerpts follow Hinson's path from
January 27, 1865, when he returned to battle after a month's leave:
- Left home at 9
a.m. to return to Virginia with feelings that no pen can do justice to. Ah! The
anguish of a mother under such circumstances, when all the natural feelings say
try and retain him, as one has already been taken, but the nobler sense of duty
says no, obey your country's call….
- The fall of
Charleston announced. Oh how it hurts me to think of the proud old city being
in the hands of the enemy. How they will gloat over it. The spirits of our men
are very low. …For several days no corn or grain for horses and no meat for
men.
- The evacuation
of Richmond has commenced. …Witnessed a sight that will never be forgotten;
thousands of ladies weeping and wringing their hands as they saw their last
hope departing. Would that every one of the army could have seen it! The heart
must indeed be a craven one, that would not be fired to noble deeds by the
sight.
By the time that Hinson
and the other troops under Lee's command arrive at Appomattox the cause is all
but lost. But battle is engaged, and as Hinson and his men are firing on a
troop of Yankee cavalry, forcing them into retreat, a rider speeds past him
towards the Union side:
…At the same glance took
in a horseman at a rapid gate riding towards them with a small white flag and
horror of horrors! it flashes through the command that Lee had surrendered. My
pencil almost refuses to write the disgrace….
It takes the starving
Hinson three weeks to make it home, traveling through a South that itself "seems
eaten out." His last diary entry confesses to tears and to feelings of
disgrace: "I had expected the day I could put off my armor to be the
proudest of my life but alas, how different."
Daybook is contributed by Steve King, who teaches in the English Department of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. His literary daybook began as a radio series syndicated nationally in Canada. He can be found online at todayinliterature.com.
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