Lee read Grant’s terms and remarked that in the Confederate army soldiers serving in the cavalry and the artillery owned their own horses. Grant did not revise his written terms, which addressed only horses owned by officers, but told Lee that he would permit paroled soldiers to take their own horses and mules home with them. He also gave orders for the surrendered Confederates to be fed from Union army rations. Lee signed a letter accepting Grant’s terms, and the two men parted. As news of the surrender spread, the Union artillery began firing a one-hundred-gun salute that Grant immediately ordered silenced. “The Confederates were now our prisoners,” he would write in his memoirs, “and we did not want to exult over their downfall.” Thousands of men cheered Lee and reached out to touch him as he rode through the Confederate ranks on his horse Traveller. The next day Lee issued a farewell message to his army that was initially drafted by one of his senior aides, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Marshall. Having given his parole, Lee left Appomattox Court House on April 11 and returned to his home in Richmond.
Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia
April 10, 1865
After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.
I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them.
But feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that would compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen.
By the terms of the agreement officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a Merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection.
With an increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous considerations for myself, I bid you all an affectionate farewell.
R. E. LEE
Genl