256 Nort Caro.tina Troops, 1861-’65.

don overtook me, and placing his hand upon my shoulder,
asked me if I were going to desert the army and tarnish my
own honor as a soldier, and said that it would be a reflection
upon General Lee and an indelible disgrace to me, if I, an
officer of rank, should escape under a flag of truce, which
was then pending. I was in a dilemma and knew not what
to do; but finally concluded to say nothing on the subject to
my troops.

Upon reaching them, one of the soldiers asked if General
Lee had surrendered, and upon my answering that I feared it
was a fact that we had been surrendered, he cast away his
musket and holding his hands aloft, cried in an agonized
voice, “Blow, Gabriel, blow! My God, let him Blow; I am
ready to die!” We then went beyond the creek at Appo-
mattox Court House, stacked arms amid the bitter tears of
bronzed veterans, regretting the necessity of capitulation.

Among the incidents ever fresh in my memory of this
fatal day to the Confederacy is the remark of a private sol-
dier. When riding up to my old regiment to shake by the
hand each comrade who had followed me through four years
of suffering, toil, and privation often worse than death, to
bid them a final, affectionate, and, in many instances, an
eternal farewell, a cadaverous, ragged, barefooted man
grasped me by the hand, and choking with sobs said, “Good-
bye, General; God bless you; we will go home, make three
more crops and then try them again.” I mention this in-
stance simply to show the spirit, the pluck and the faith of
our men in the justice of our cause, and that they surren-
dered more to grim famine than to the prowess of our ene-
mies.

That day and the next the terms of surrender were ad-
justed ; the following day our paroles were signed and coun-
tersigned, and on Wednesday, 12 April, 1865, we stacked
our arms in an old field, and each man sought his home as

best he might.
Bryan GrRIMzEs.

GrimesLanp, N, C.,
5 November. 1879.

Norr.—This is taken from a letter from General Grimes to Major John
W. Moore.

sean wa nin Nas oa ie