Marking Lee’s Headquarters of Appomattox

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 4^th 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.”

 

  Kirkley and Cowles could find only one man, George Peers, who had lived in the area during the eventful days of April 1865. Peers had been the clerk of court since 1860. Kirkley and Cowles filed their report, and there was some movement to mark the important positions. This included support from former Confederate general John B. Gordon.

   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.

---

[1] The Free Lance-Star, June 5, 1888.

[2] The Charlotte Observer, March 17, 1895.

[3] The Times-Picayune, November 24, 1893.

[4] The Times-Picayune, November 24, 1893.

Robert E. Lee and John S. Mosby

Col. John S. Mosby

            “The Marble Man” and the “Gray Ghost.” If we mention those two names, Robert E. Lee and John S. Mosby come to mind. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Mosby was a colonel, charged with disrupting Federal operations behind the lines in Northern Virginia. While Mosby might not have been a “trusted” lieutenant like Jackson or Longstreet, he still communicated frequently with the commanding general. (Note: “The Marble Man” and the “Gray Ghost” were names applied much later.)

            Mosby was much younger than Lee. He was born in Powhatan County, Virginia, in 1833. Small in stature and frequently bullied, Mosby shot one of those bullies. Convicted of the crime and expelled from the University of Virginia, Mosby wound up studying law under the prosecting attorney while incarcerated. Mosby was later pardoned by the Virginia governor and was admitted to the bar. He and his family were living in Bristol when the war began.

            Lee was born in 1807 at Stratford Hall, the son of a Revolutionary War hero and former governor of Virginia. Lee grew up in Alexandria, graduated from West Point, and served as an engineer in the United States army. He was three times brevetted for his role in the Mexican-American War. In the early days of the secession crisis, Lee was serving with a cavalry regiment in Texas.

            At the beginning of the war, Mosby enlisted as a private in the Washington Mounted Rifles, under Grumble Jones. While members of the 1^st Virginia Cavalry, the men of the Washington Mounted Rifles were not seriously engaged at First Manassas. In early 1862, Private Mosby was promoted to adjutant of the regiment, with the rank of first lieutenant. Mosby slipped off on his first scout in March 1862, reporting back to Stuart that there was no serious pursuit of the Confederate army as it pulled back from the Manassas area to the Rappahannock River. When Fitzhugh Lee replaced Jones, Mosby resigned. Stuart kept Mosby as a scout. It was Mosby who scouted the Federal position that led to Stuart’s famed ride around McClellan in June 1862. Lee made mention of Mosby in a general report of the operation. Mosby continued under Stuart’s command during the Seven Days battles. After this campaign Mosby came up with the idea of a partisan ranger command that could harass Federal supply columns. While on his way to consult with Jackson at Gordonsville, Mosby was captured. Upon being paroled and released, Mosby made his way to Lee’s headquarters, explaining to Lee what he had seen at Hampton Roads. This was probably the first meeting between Lee and Mosby. The date: August 5, 1862.

            Mosby served on Stuart’s staff the next few months, serving as a scout. It was at the end of December 1862, while Stuart was scouting in Loudoun County, that Mosby received permission to remain behind with nine men. On January 10, they made their first raid, capturing a picket post near Herndon, Virginia. By January 22, when they reported back to Stuart, they had captured twenty horses and men. Mosby asked for a few more men, and Stuart granted his request. It was the beginning of Mosby’s Rangers and the 43^rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry.

            Lee and Mosby communicated often over the next couple of years. It was Lee who wrote General Samuel Cooper of Mosby’s capture of Brig. Gen. Edwin Stoughton in March 1863.[1] Lee recommended that same month that Mosby needed to be promoted, and the rank of captain came a couple of days later, along with orders to recruit his command.[2] With Mosby operating so close to the Washington, D.C. defenses, Lee frequent wrote to his superiors with details of his raids and the information gathered.

            Mosby continued to raid Federal wagons trains north of the Rappahannock as Lee began moving the army north, the start of the Gettysburg campaign. It was Mosby who suggested Stuart ride once again around the Federal army, and Mosby who scouted that army with two men, trying to decern its intentions.

            In August 1863, Lee wrote Stuart about Mosby: “I fear he exercises but little control over his men…his attention has been more directed toward the capture of wagons than military damages to the enemy.”  Lee wanted Mosby to attack railroads, trying to force Meade to pull troops away from the army to guard the vital supply lines.[3]  

            Lee again mentioned Mosby in December 1863, writing that he had destroyed a wagon train at Brandy Station, capturing 112 mules.[4] In April 1864, Lee wrote Cooper that he was attempting to “have Col. Mosby’s battalion mustered into regular service. If this cannot be done I recommended that this battalion be retained as partisans for the present.”[5] For much of April, Mosby continued to funnel information to Lee regarding troop movements.

            When Jubal Early commenced his campaign through the Shenandoah Valley in June, July, and August 1864, Mosby joined in, attacking Federal positions at Point of Rocks, Mount Zion Church, the Snicker’s Gap War, Berryville Wagon Train Raid, Gold’s Farm, and others.

            Mosby paid Lee a visit at the latter’s headquarters near Petersburg on December 6, 1864. At Edge Hill, they had a meal together – a leg of mutton, which Lee joked about as being stolen since it was a rarity.[6] Mosby visited Lee’s headquarters again on February 2, 1865.[7] This appears to be the last time the two met during the war.

            Lee of course surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. In Loudoun County, Mosby received word of the surrender on April 15, asking for a ceasefire so he could verify the validity of the news. This was granted. Word was sent to Lee, now back in Richmond. What should the rangers do? Lee’s response? He thought they should go home. Mosby disbanded the 43^rd Battalion on April 21, 1865, in Salem. Mosby and a few others rode south, trying to link up with the Army of Tennessee. When they learned that Johnston had also surrendered, they returned, and Mosby, confirming that he would not be arrested, likewise surrendered on June 17.

 

---

[1] Knight, Arlington, 247.

[2] Knight, Arlington, 250.

[3] OR 29, pt. 2, 652-3.

[4] Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers, 630.

[5] Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers, 689.

[6] Mitchel, Mosby Letters, 125.

[7] Knight, Arlington, 470.