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Historically significant Appomattox surrender display centered on a contemporary manuscript copy of Robert E. Lee's General Order No. 9, his farewell address to the Army of Northern Virginia issued the day after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The display also includes an Appomattox parole pass issued to one of Lee's surrendered soldiers, an ink signature of Lee, and several strands of the Confederate general's hair, bringing together four artifacts associated with Lee and the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.
First is a contemporary manuscript copy of Robert E. Lee's General Orders No. 9, one unfolded page, 16 x 12.25, penned in an unknown hand at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 10, 1865, bearing the text of Lee's *Farewell Address to the Army of Northern Virginia* issued the day after his surrender to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. The order was drafted by Colonel Charles Marshall and issued by Lee. It reads, in part: “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 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.”
The integral leaf contains a manuscript roll entitled, "Roll of officers and men of Company 'G' 2nd Regiment Engineer Troops present at Surrender of 'Army of Northern Virginia' near Appomattox Court House Virginia on the 9th of April 1865," and is signed by the company's three officers, Captain Benjamin M. Harrod, First Lieutenant J. E. Roller, and Second Lieutenant Fred Harris, and 27 additional members of Company G. Affixed at the lower right is an ink signature of Robert E. Lee, "R. E. Lee," on an off-white 2.75 x 2 sheet.
Also included is an Appomattox Court House parole pass issued to First Lieutenant John E. Roller of Company G, 2nd Regiment Engineer Troops, one of the soldiers who signed the accompanying manuscript roll. Partly-printed DS, signed "T. M. R. Talcott," one page, 7.75 x 3, Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 10, 1865. Completed in manuscript, it identifies Roller as "a Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia" and grants him permission "to go to his home, and there remain undisturbed." Completing the display are several strands of Robert E. Lee's silver-gray hair, authenticated by noted autograph expert Charles Hamilton.
Professionally matted and framed together with engraved plaques and a portrait of Lee depicting him at Appomattox to an overall size of 36.75 x 28. In overall fine condition, with show-through from mounting remnants at the reverse corners of the manuscript.
By the spring of 1865, the Confederacy was on the brink of collapse. Following the nearly ten-month Siege of Petersburg, General Robert E. Lee evacuated both Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond on April 2nd, hoping to unite the Army of Northern Virginia with General Joseph E. Johnston's forces in North Carolina. Pursued relentlessly by Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Lee's exhausted army found no provisions awaiting it at Amelia Court House and, days later, lost its last major supply train when Union cavalry captured Appomattox Station. With his escape route blocked and his men surrounded near Appomattox Court House, Lee met Grant at the home of Wilmer McLean on April 9, 1865, and surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia, signaling the imminent collapse of the Confederacy and bringing the Civil War to its decisive conclusion.
