At 8:30 a. m. on April 9 General Lee called his generals to him and asked them what he should do; they all agreed that the choice of surrender was all that was left.
General Lee mounted his horse Traveller, accompanied by Colonel Marshall and Sergeant G. W. Tucker and under a white flag rode to the McLean House, met with General Grant and arranged the terms of surrender. Each signed the agreement and General Lee rode back to his men and told them the war was over and that they would be fed, given a parole and allowed to return to their homes. Any one who owned a horse could take it home to do their farm work with.
General Lee stood in his tent and received the throngs of those who came to make their farewells. On April 10 he made a short farewell speech to his famed Army of Northern Virginia. They stacked their arms and left for their homes.
What was left of the 42nd Infantry Division, as most of them were taken prisoner along with General Ewell on April 6 at Sayler's Creek, were with General Lee at Appomattox Court House. They stacked arms and received their parole, were sent to Clover Hill, Virginia on the 10th and left for home.
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