ugh knowing
well that it was true.

Talbot's eyes became misty.

"Yes, it is all so," he replied. "I was there and I saw it. We went down
to Appomattox and the Yankees came right after us--I don't know how many
strong, but too strong for us. Grant would never let us alone. He was
there at our heels all the time, and Sheridan kept galloping around us,
lopping off every straggling regiment and making our lives miserable.
When we got to Appomattox we found the Yankees were so thick that we
stayed there. We couldn't move. There weren't more than fifteen thousand
of us left, and we were starved and barefoot. The firing around us never
stopped. Grant kept pressing and pressing. Bob, I felt then that
something was going to happen."

Talbot stopped and choked, but in a moment he went on:

"Our generals had a big talk--I don't know what they said, but I know
what they did. A messenger went over to Grant's army, and by and by
General Grant and a lot of officers came and met General Lee and his
staff, and they went into a house and talked a long time. When they came
out it was all over. The Army of Northern Virginia, the victor of so
many great battles, was no more. We couldn't believe it for awhile,
though we knew that it must come. We hung around Marse Bob, and asked
him if it was true, and he said it was. He said when a war was over it
was over. He said we were beaten and we must now stop fighting. He told
us all to go home and go to work. It was an undivided Union; the war had
settled that and we must stick to it. General Grant had promised him
that we shouldn't be harmed, and he told us to think no more of war now,
but to rebuild our homes and our country. We loved Marse Bob in victory,
but we love him just as much now in defeat. We crowded around him and we
shook his hand and we would hardly let him go."

Talbot choked again, and it was a long time until he continued:

"General Grant did everything that he promised General Lee. He's the
right sort all through--so is the Yankee army. I've got nothing against
it. They never insulted us with a single word. We had our own camp and
they sent us over part of their rations. We needed them badly enough;
and then General Grant said that every man among us who had a horse was
to take it--and we did. Here I am on mine, and I reckon you might call
it a gift from the Yankee General."

The little group was silent. They had fought four years, and all had
ended in defeat. Tears were