Greensboro, North Carolina - Yesterday I was in Virginia, at Appomattox, where, in 1865, Robert E. Lee was brought to heel by U.S Grant, and finally forced to surrender the army of Northern Virginia. The surrender set of a string of surrenders from other Southern armies across the South, which ended, soon after, in the final laying down of arms and the beginning of peace.
I stood on the spot where Lee and Grant met, and shook hands. After the peace that was signed at Appomattox, after the Civil War was over, the young men had to finally go home and begin to rebuild their lives. The war had lasted nearly five years. It had killed thousands, and at last these boys were going home.
Union General Joshua Chamberlin, who ordered a salute from the men in Blue to the men in Gray as they surrendered, stated: "It was worth a pilgrimage to see."
Andrew C. Abbott
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