Picture of Lee's sword - truly a thing of beauty:
By contrast Grants sword (as presented to him) was sorta awkward in its embellishments and (to me) ostentatious:
Posted on 04/09/2019 7:40:56 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
The Army of Northern Virginia passes into history. General Lee surrenders the 28,000 men of his army to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. This is the third Confederate Army that has surrendered to Grant during the war.
Lol
IIRC, Grant wrote in his memoirs that the phrase “Officers to retain side arms” was included in the surrender document so that Lee would not be required to surrender his sword.
Correct. In regard to Lee, Grant did not accept the sword as a matter of courtesy, respect and honor.
Grant was very generous to the Confederates as per what he and Lincoln had discussed previously.
Both generals were great in different ways. Don’t care to get in the middle of an insult exchange. Just want to say there are a lot of reasons Lee and the South lost, including the north’s ‘endless supple of conscripted immigrants. “Patriotic” folks in NYC were so anxious to help preserve the union they rioted many time because...it was just like slavery.
Keeping in mind that many people believe the war was fought in the name of freedom (it wasn’t), it’s ironic that in order to do so, the freedom of Southerners had to be denied.
I wonder at the balls or the stupidity of the man who stole Grant’s sword. I wonder if he realized when pilfering it if that it was Grant’s? And if so, what he thought he would do with it...show it off to his friends...who would then beat hell out of him for stealing Gran’s sword. Now THAT would be an interesting historical anecdote.
“For anyone with a Soul who has visited Gettysburg, the thousands who perished there did not die in vain..You feel that to your core...”
Visiting Cold Harbor was very moving...
“...courtesy, respect and honor...”
Three words missing from discourse these days, for sure.
But they still matter.
Both of your points are very true.
Most people today don’t know, let alone, understand, the meaning of those things.
From Dr. Jones’ version it sounds like Grant’s sword was just packed away because he didn’t wear it every day, not stolen. He didn’t have time to have it found.
Picture of Lee's sword - truly a thing of beauty:
By contrast Grants sword (as presented to him) was sorta awkward in its embellishments and (to me) ostentatious:
Beautiful metalwork, on both (to me, anyway).
Being a “Forged in Fire” devotee, I have a serious appreciation for the time, effort, and artistry involved in creating blades.
And that’s a damned sad thing.
“endless supple of conscripted immigrants.”
Not the case. the majority of both the Confederate and Union armies were volunteers, not draftees. A slightly higher percentage of Confederate soldiers were drafted into that army than Union soldiers into the Northern army.
In the Union Army 4% were drafted and 11% were substitutes for men that had been drafted. About 14% of the total army strength were in the army because of the draft.
In the Confederate army 10% were drafted and 11% were substitutes for men that had been drafted. About 21% of the Confederate army were in the army as a result of the draft.
Ok, so the NYC draft riots were fiction. Check.
The last act of the Confederacy was when Captain Waddell of CSS Shenandoah surrendered his ship to an officer of the Royal Navy in England on 6 Nov. 1865
Please, the place of surrender was NOT Appomattox. It was Appomattox Courthouse.
Copied from Wikipedia: The Old Appomattox Court House is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. In the 1800s, this structure gave the surrounding village the name, Appomattox Court House.
Never said that, Just facts that a slightly larger number of men were drafted into the Confederate Army than into the Union army.
As a matter of fact, if you owned 20 or more slaves, you got to watch the Civil War from the comfort of your porch, while your countrymen that owned less than 20 slaves got to see the Civil War in such exotic settings as the Hornets Nest, the Corn Field, the Devils Den, Cemetery Ridge and the Mule shoe, all for $13 dollars a month and rations (occasionally)
as was said in WV and other places in Appalachia!
Rich man’s war poor man’s fight!
The account said, "All that was said about swords was that Gen. Grant apologized to me for not wearing his own sword, saying it had been taken off in his baggage, and he had been unable to get it in time." I read that to mean that the sword was with Grant's personal baggage and Grant had not had a chance to retrieve it in time, not that it was stolen.
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