peace. Grant at once informed him that the only subject for
discussion was the surrender of the army. That evening Federal
cavalry under General George A. Custer raided Appomattox Station,
five miles southwest of the Court House, and held up four trains.
A few hours later, early on Sunday, the famous ninth of April,
1865, Lee's advanced guard was astounded to find its way disputed
so far west. It attacked with desperation, hoping to break
through what seemed to be a cavalry screen before the infantry
came up; but when Lee's main body joined in, only to find a solid
mass of Federal infantry straight across its one way out, Lee at
once sent forward a white flag.

Grant, overwrought with anxiety, had been suffering from an
excruciating headache all night long. But the moment he opened
Lee's note, offering to discuss surrender, he felt as well as
ever, and instantly wrote back to say he was ready. Pushing
rapidly on he met Lee at McLean's private residence near
Appomattox Court House. There was a remarkable contrast between
the appearance of the two commanders. Grant, only forty-three,
and without a tinge of gray in his brown hair, took an inch or
two off his medium height by stooping keenly forward, and had
nothing in his shabby private's uniform to show his rank except
the three-starred shoulder-straps. When the main business was
over, and he had time to notice details, he apologized to Lee,
explaining that the extreme rapidity of his movements had carried
him far ahead of his baggage. Lee's aide-de-camp, Colonel Charles
Marshall, afterwards explained that when the Confederates had
been obliged to reduce themselves simply to what they stood in,
each officer had naturally put on his best. Hence Lee's
magnificent appearance in a brand-new general's uniform with the