Dakota Beacon

People almost never dispute the observation, “There are good people on both sides.” While the numbers on one side may be gigantic, large, in the majority, a minority, small, even infinitesimal, I have never found a “side” without at least one and usually even a few good people. This goes for countries as well. Good people can be found, even in a most tyrannically brutalized country.

Cuba

I did not think much about this until personally visiting Cuba. Cuban people (not the snitch on every block, not the bureaucrats all the way up the communist ladder taking bribes) love music, art, the environment around them, Americans with a modicum of humility, home cooked meals, wine, and especially family.

Appomattox

About a month ago, I found a copy of “Killing Lincoln” and was startled at the events of Chapters 14 and 15. Almost everyone knows that General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. The “rest of the story,” however, is quite extraordinary.

The Army of North Virginia was cornered in a village called Appomattox Court House – Lee’s 8,000 men surrounded by Grants 60,000. When it became obvious that escape was not to be, Lee said aloud, “There is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant. I would rather die a thousand deaths.” It was Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865. Lee is dressed in an impeccable formal gray uniform, polished black boots, and a clean red sash. A spectacular ceremonial sword is buckled around his waist. He expects to meet Grant once he crosses over into the Union lines, there to surrender his sword and be taken prisoner, not knowing what the terms might be.

Lee and a small group of aids ride to a spot between the Union and confederate lines. It becomes obvious that the Union forces are preparing for battle. Grant was miles away, suffering from a severe migraine headache. Fortunately, Lee’s letter of surrender reached General George Meade, who ordered a sixty-minute truce until Grant could be located. Finally, at 12:15PM, a lone Union officer and his confederate escort deliver a letter to Lee.

GENERAL R. E. LEE

COMMANDING C. S. ARMIES:

Your note of this date is but this moment (11:50 a.m.) received. In consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Richmond road, I am at this writing about four miles west of Walker’s church, and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.

            Very respectfully, your obedient servant

            U.S. Grant

Lieutenant-General

Per Grant’s letter, Lee sends his aide Colonel Charles Marshall up the road to find a meeting place. The house belongs to a grocer named Wilmer McLean, who moved to the village of Appomattox Court House to escape the war. McLean and his family are asked to leave the house. Soon, Lee marches up the front steps and takes a seat in the parlor.

About 1:30 PM, after a half hour of waiting, Lee hears a large group of horsemen galloping up to the house. General Grant walks into the parlor in a private’s uniform that is missing a button. He has affixed shoulder boards bearing the three stars of a Lieutenant-General. He had worn the same clothes since Wednesday night and they were now spattered with mud from the thirty-five-mile ride Sunday morning.

Reunion

Grant speaks first. “I met you once before, General Lee. We were serving in Mexico, when you came over from General Scott’s headquarters to visit Garland’s brigade, to which I belonged. I have always remembered your appearance, and I think I should have recognized you anywhere.”

Lee answers. “Yes, I know I met you on that occasion. I have often though of it and tried to recollect how you looked, but I have never been able to recall a single feature.”

The generals speak of Mexico. Grant finds the conversation so pleasant that he momentarily forgets the reason for their meeting. Lee is the one to take the initiative. “I suppose, General Grant, that the object of our present meeting is fully understood. I asked to see you to ascertain upon what terms you would receive the surrender of my army.”

Grant lights a cigar and composes the words that will most amicably end the war. Lee does not smoke. The terms are remarkable in their lenience. Lee will not even have to surrender his sword. President Lincoln’s vision, to which Grant subscribed, was simply “Put down your guns and go home. Let’s rebuild this nation together.”

Reconciliation

Members of Grant’s staff tentatively ask Robert E. Lee for permission to go behind Confederate lines. They have old friends over there, friends they have seen only through the lens of a spyglass, across some great width of battlefield, these last four years. Lee grants permission.

Grant and Lee rise simultaneously and shake hands. As Lee rides back to his lines, his army spontaneously gathers on both sides of the road. Lee fights back tears as his men call out to him. Each group cheers as Lee rides past, only to give in to their sorrow and break down in sobs “all along the route to Lee’s quarters.”

Meanwhile, the reconciliation is beginning. Confederate and Union officers are renewing old friendships at the McLean house. The men swapped stories of their lives and remembrances of battles won and lost. “Here the officers of both armies came in great numbers, and seemed to enjoy the meeting as much as though they had been friends separated for a long time while fighting under the same flag.

The Great Irony

Unbeknownst to all those men who risked their lives to fight those great battles - men who deservedly savored the peace - plans were being hatched throughout the South to seek revenge for the Union victory.

Contemplation

Here then is the great question:

If the officers of both armies were so tired of war that reconciliation came natural to most, if not all of them… when all of those who lived in 1865 are now in their final resting places… why, 160 years later, have subsequent individuals chosen to shatter that reconciliation by denigrating not the slaveholders and their complicit politicians who caused the conflagration, but instead attempting to shame those officers and enlisted men in the army of the South that likely had little choice but to side with their families and neighbors and accept conscription? Because many believe our subsequent wars were unjust, will those conscripted or volunteering to fight in those wars be likewise denigrated by fools in the future?

Media Misinformation/Conspiracy Theories

This is why former President Trump famously said “There are good people on both sides,” obviously referring to the honest disagreements over removing statues and re-naming army posts. He was not referring to white supremacists, neo-Nazis, or Marxists and socialists that are trying to tear our country apart by capitalizing on those honest disagreements.

LOVE = WORK + COURAGE