R.E.  LEE, General.

To LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U.S.  GRANT,

Commanding Armies of the United States.

April 8, 1865.

To General R.E.  Lee, commanding C.S.A.: 

GENERAL:  Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of the same date, asking the conditions on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia is just received.

In reply, I would say, that peace being my first desire, there is but one condition that I insist upon, viz.: 

That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged.

I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will he received.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

U.S.  GRANT, Lieutenant-General, commanding Armies of the United
States.

April 8, 1865.

GENERAL:  I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day, in answer to mine of yesterday.

I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition.  To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender.

But as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals would tend to that end.

I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia; but so far as your proposition may affect the Confederate States forces under my command and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 A.M. to-morrow, on the old stage-road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies.  Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

R.E.  LEE, General C.S.A.

To LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT,

Commanding Armies of the United States.

[Illustration:  Last Council of War.]

No reply was received to this last communication from General Lee, on the evening of the 8th, and that night there was held, around a bivouac-fire in the woods, the last council of war of the Army of Northern Virginia.  The scene was a very picturesque one.  The red glare from the bivouac-fire lit up the group, and brought out the details of each figure.  None were present but General Lee and Generals Longstreet, Gordon, and Fitz Lee, all corps commanders.  Generals Gordon and Fitz Lee half reclined upon an army-blanket near the fire; Longstreet sat upon a log, smoking; and General Lee stood by the fire, holding in his hand the correspondence which had passed between himself and General Grant.  The question what course it was advisable to pursue, was then presented, in a