accumulation
of vigor to draw on, we had passed a week with food and sleep scarcely
sufficient for one day; and to cope with such exigencies as now
confronted us, what a part the stomach does play! All in all, it was a
situation of a lifetime that will ever abide in the gloomy recesses of
memory. About eight o'clock on Sunday morning, April 9, as our two guns
were entering the little village of Appomattox, several cannon-shots
sounded in quick succession immediately in our front. Without word of
command we came to our last halt.

Turning out of the road we went into park, unhitched our hungry horses,
and awaited developments. During the two preceding days several written
communications had passed between Generals Lee and Grant, of which we
knew nothing. Our suspense, however, was soon interrupted by the
appearance of a Confederate officer, accompanied by a Federal officer
with long, flowing yellow hair, and waving a white handkerchief as they
galloped by. This was General Custer, of cavalry fame, and the
conspicuous hero and victim of the Indian massacre, which bore his name,
in Idaho ten years later.

Several sharp encounters had occurred during the morning, in which our
men displayed the same unflinching valor, capturing in a charge a
Federal major-general (Gregg) and two pieces of artillery; but now all
firing had ceased, and the stillness that followed was oppressive. As
soon as it became known that General Lee had surrendered, although for
days it had been perfectly understood that such a result was
inevitable, there was for a time no little excitement and commotion
among the men. That we should be subjected to abhorrent humiliation was
conceived as a matter of course, and, to avoid it, all sorts of efforts
and plans to escape were discussed. The one controlling influence,
however, to allay such a feeling was the unbounded and unimpaired
confidence in General Lee. The conduct and bearing of the men were
characterized by the same sterling qualities they had always displayed.
The only exhibition of petulance that I witnessed was by a staff officer
who bore no scars or other evidence of hardships undergone, but who
acquired great reputation after the war. He "could not submit to such
degradation," etc., threw away his spurs and chafed quite dramatically.
When a bystander suggested that we cut our way out, he objected that we
had no arms. "We can follow those that have," was the reply, "and use
the guns of those tha