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| A wooden board mark's Lee HQ |
Recently, I acquired a postcard of Robert E. Lee’s last headquarters at Appomattox. In the turn- of-the-century style, a board nailed to a tree marks the spot of Lee’s camp site. The post card is postmarked 1906, about two decades before the National Park Service acquired the property.
Lee’s headquarters was
about a mile east of Appomattox Court House. He spent the night of April 8,
1865, sans tent, sleeping under the stars with Longstreet, Fitz Lee, and John
B. Gordon. Lee met with Grant the following day at the McLean House,
surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. The headquarters’ wagon arrived,
and Lee’s tent was pitched. It was at this site that Lee’s headquarters’ flag
was cut up, and where, in a wagon, General Order #9 was drafted, copied, and
sent to the surviving corps and division commanders.
There are not many
descriptions of the camp compound. One came from Maj. Gen. Thomas F. McCory
(US), who had known Lee during the war with Mexico. McCory recalled in 1888
that it was a challenge, but
“so favorable an opportunity may never again he presented,
and would make the effort, so that we could have it to say that we spoke with
the great Confederate General. The way to Lee’s headquarters we did not know,
but we rode along the great rode leading through the Confederate camps, and as
we advanced made inquerry, and for some time received but little satisfaction,
but at length met an officer who very courteously said that Lee’s headquarters
would be found ‘right out that road.’ Following the direction some distance in
a wood we soon found ourselves in the midst of headquarters tents. On the right
of the road we saw one of our Major-Generals, an old army officer, sitting beneath
a tent-fly waiting for an interview with Lee. A little further on we noticed an
officer in full uniform of the Confederate color standing before a fire in
front of his tent, and I at once said to my companion that it was General Lee, whom
I immediately recognized, although I had not seen him for nearly twenty years.
It was suggested that we ride a little aside, hitch up our horses, and go right
up to the General and not attempt a formal approach in the red tape style, or
we might fail in our purpose.”[1]
McCoy detailed his
conversation with Lee, yet provided no other descriptions of the camp. One Tar
Heel recalled that on the night of April 9, the regimental band of the 4th
North Carolina Infantry visited Lee’s headquarters, serenading him. The entire
regiment was present, and “Gen. Lee came out of his tent, gave his hand to all and
bid them farewell.”[2]
There was a movement
to start marking various spots connected to historical events related to the
war. For some places, like Gettysburg, that movement started in 1864 with the
Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association. For the most part, it was not
until the late 1800s that the movement picked up traction. Veterans were
visiting the fields where they had fought, some attempting to mark prominent
positions with painted boards, often nailed to trees.
Joseph W. Kirkley
and Calvin D. Cowles visited Appomattox in 1892. Both Kirkley and Cowles worked
on commission producing the Official Records and are the authors of the
atlas that accompanied the volumes. What they discovered was that the Grand
Army of the Potomac, a veterans’ organization for Federal soldiers, had purchased
much of the property. The idea was that summer homes could be constructed for “members
who desired to revisit leisurely the scene of the surrender.” The venture, however,
had failed.[3] A
new courthouse was being constructed down the road at Appomattox Station, and
the McLean house had been disassembled for shipment to Washington, D.C. for
display. “It became at once apparent that Appomattox was being robbed of its
most interesting architectural feature, and the commissioners at once regretted
that steps had not been taken to prevent this act of vandalism, and measures
taken to have the McLean house made some sort of memorial hall in perpetuity.”
Plans were made to
produce several iron signs, much like those at Chickamauga. One sign denoted
where Confederate artillery fired their last shot on the morning on April 9,
1865; another the apple tree that Lee and Grant met under on the morning of
April 10; and yet another denoted the site of Lee’s final headquarters. These
were apparently all in place by 1893.[4]
But to the
postcards, which still have the wooden sign image. These were apparently printed
prior to 1893. Maybe they were made to support the failed Grand Army of the
Republic enterprise.
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