at the proper time with good effect; and, as the voices of over twenty thousand singers subsided, the echoes of the chimes. from the towers of Trinity came floating on the breeze, and repeating in musical accord "Praise Him, all creatures here below."* * From the appearance of the New York papers one would suppose that the general excitement, produced by the capture of Richmond, had culminated in the commercial metropolis of the North. The Tribune occupied one-half of its first page with an enormous spread eagle, and the eighth page with a map of Richmond. The editor, while congratulating his readers on the fall of Richmond, could not avoid saying, that "it might have been ours long ago." An Irish drinking song, prepared for the occasion, and beginning, “Bad luck to the man who is sober to-night," was published on the inside, and proposed a good health to every official who had been connected with the military department of the Government, not excepting "Shtanton." The World's columns were chiefly occupied with a brilliant and lengthy account of the battles, but the displayed heads of the news were jubilant and expressive; and the editor declared, that "the taking of Richmond was a greater event, and more fully justified exuberant rejoicing, than any previous achievement in the history of the war." The New York Herald declared, that the taking of Richmond was one of the grandest triumphs that had crowned human efforts for centuries." The following specimen of Yankee poetry on the occasion was published in a New York paper: RICHMOND IS OURS! Richmond is ours! Richmond is ours! Hark! to the jubilant chorus ! Up, through the lips that no longer repress it, Leapeth our joy, like an ocean! Richmond is ours! Richmond is ours! Glory to Grant! Glory to Grant! Hark! to the shout of our Nation! Up, from the Irish heart, up from the German— Up, from all peoples uniting Freedom's high loyalty plighting Glory to all! Glory to all! Heroes who combat, and martyrs who fall! The people of Washington vied with those of New York in demonstrations of joy over the fall of Richmond and Petersburg. In accordance with the recommendation of the Secretary of State, the Executive Mansion, the Capitol, and all the departments and other public buildings, and the City Hall, were at night illuminated, and each in a blaze of light was exhibited in its beautiful proportions. The National flag was a prominent adornment, and appropriate mottoes were conspicuously displayed. Pennsylvania Avenue and the principal streets were thronged with pedestrians. Bonfires were kindled in various parts of the city, and rockets ignited. Washington was, in short, ablaze with lights. The residences of the heads of the departments, and other officers of the Government, were also adorned and illuminated. The Capitol made a splendid appearance. It was the centre of attraction, and from basement to dome was a blaze of light. Over the main entrance, fronting on Pennsylvania Avenue, was a large transparency, on which was inscribed, "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." Over the main entrance to the War Department was the motto, "The Union must and shall be preserved," and underneath an eagle, the word, "Richmond." Over the main entrance to the Patent Office building was an immense gas-jet, displaying the word, "Union." Over the Fling out the Flag! Flash out the Flag! Up from each turret and steeple ! Liberty seals us forever! Up from each valley, and out from each crag, Richmond is ours! Richmond is ours! Hark! to the joy that our Nation convulses, Voices of martyred ones blending: Mingling like watchwords on Liberty's towers, Freedom rejoiceth in Heaven! lower entrance of the Treasury building, on Fifteenth-street, was a huge transparency representing a ten-dollar Treasury note, over which was the motto, "U. S. greenbacks and U. S. Grant Grant gives the greenbacks a metallic ring." Over the front entrance of the State Department was displayed the motto, "At home, union is order, and order is strength; abroad, union is strength, and strength is peace." Over the Fifteenth-street entrance was the following motto, "Peace and good-will to all nations; but no entangling alliances, and no foreign intervention." Thousands of persons of both sexes attended a public meeting at the southern portico of the Patent Office, where the word "Union" was largely prominent in flaming gas jets. Speeches were delivered by a number of persons, among them VicePresident Johnson. He made a long and intensely Union speech, in the course of which he said he could live down all the slanders which had been uttered against him. He was particularly severe on "the rebels," at the head of whom he placed Jefferson Davis, and he asked, what should be done with him. The response from many voices was, "Hang him! hang him!" To this he agreed, and applause succeeded his remark that Davis ought to be lianged twenty times higher than Haman. The following are passages from Vice-President Johnson's speech: "At the time that the traitors in the Senate of the United States plotted against the Government, and entered into a conspiracy more foul, more execrable, and more odious than that of Catiline against the Romans, I happened to be a member of that body. I was then and there called upon to know what I would do with such traitors, and I want to repeat my reply here. I said, if we had an Andrew Jackson, he would hang them as high as Haman. Humble as I am, when you ask me what I would do, my reply is, I would arrest them; I would try them; I would convict them; and I would hang them. I say this: 'The halter to intelligent, influential traitors.' But to the honest boy, to the deluded man, who has been deceived into the rebel ranks, I would extend leniency; I would say, return to your allegiance, renew your support to the Government, and become a good citizen; but the leaders I would hang. It is not my intention to make any imprudent remarks or allusions, but the hour will come when those nations that exhibited towards us such insolence and improper interference in the midst of our adversity, and, as they supposed, of our weakness, will learn that this is a Government of the people, possessing power enough to make itself felt and respected." The passages of this speech, quoted above, as we must presume correctly, from the columns of a New York paper, obtained a most important significance in view of the tragical death of Mr. Lincoln, on the 14th day of April, and the succession of Mr. Johnson to the office of President of the United States, and that of dictator of the programme of subjugation consequent upon the war. But these events lie beyond the period and purpose of our narrative of the war, and we make only this brief and passing reference to them. CHAPTER XIII. What the Confederates anticipated on the fall of Richmond.-Two opinions.-Prophetic words of the Richmond Examiner.-Disintegration of Lee's army.-The line of his retreat.-Grant's pursuit.-Sheridan captures prisoners, guns, and wagons. Sheridan's dispatch.-Change in the movements of both armies.-The situation at Appomattox Court-house.-How Lee was surrounded.-SURRENDER OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.-A frightful demoralization of the army.--More than two-thirds of the men deserted.--Pickett's division.-Reasons to suppose that General Lee had predetermined a surrender on moving from Richmond and Petersburg. Straggling of his soldiers.-Official correspondence concerning the surrender.-Interview between General Lee and General Grant at McLean's house. -How General Lee looked.--Grant's generous conduct.-Scenes between the lines of the two armies.--An informal conference of officers.-How the news of surrender was received in the Yankee army.-How received at Washington.--Secretary Stanton's dispatch.-President Lincoln's speech.-" Dixie" in Washington.--General Lee's farewell address to his army.-His return to Richmond.--Effect of Lee's surrender. -General Johnston's department.-MOVEMENTS IN THE SOUTHWEST.--FALL of MoBILE.-Wilson's cavalry expedition through Alabama and Georgia.-SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY.--Sherman's "basis of negotiations" repudiated at Washington. The policy of the Northern Government unmasked.-Sherman's reply.-SURRENDER OF TAYLOR'S ARMY.-SURRENDER OF KIRBY'S SMITH'S ARMY.-" War meetings" in Texas.-Want of public resolution.-The last act of the war.-A sudden peace, and what it implied. FOR a long time there had been two opinions in the Confederacy, as to the effect the fall of Richmond would have upon the war. Many intelligent persons considered that Richmond was not a vital point in the Confederacy; and now that it had been evacuated, there were not a few persons who still indulged the hope of the supremacy of the Southern arms and the dream of independence. There were found sanguine persons in Richmond the day after the evacuation, who pleased themselves with the imagination that that event was only about to date a new era in the Confederate defence; that the Government would re-establish itself, perhaps, in Georgia, and with advantages and under auspices it had never had before; that it might reopen Georgia and the Carolinas, and thus place itself nearer its resources of subsistence, and have the control of a territory practically much larger than that in the Richmond jurisdiction. But these hopeful and ingenious persons wholly failed to take |