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Union General Describes General Robert E. Lee Just Days After Surrender at Appomattox, Ex-Forbes
Union General Describes General Robert E. Lee Just Days After Surrender at Appomattox, Ex-Forbes
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Civil War

Union General Describes General Robert E. Lee Just Days After Surrender at Appomattox, Ex-Forbes


[ROBERT E. LEE.] Samuel W. Crawford, Autograph Letter Signed, to Colonel ?, April 11, 1865, Appomattox Court House, Virginia. 4 pp., 5" x 8.125". Expected folds; some short tears on folds; very good.


This fascinating letter describes a meeting with Confederate General Robert E. Lee two days after he surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. The author, Samuel W. Crawford, was a U.S. Army Surgeon who had been on duty at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, and was present at Lee’s surrender in April 1865, making him one of the few soldiers present at both the beginning and the effective end of the Civil War.


Complete Transcript

HdQuarters / 3rd Div 5th Corps

Appomattox C. H. / April 11th 1865

My dear Colonel

Your letter to me enclosing one to General Lee was received just as we were starting on our march. I was afraid for a moment that it would be a difficult thing for me to send the letter to General Lee, but subsequent events have made it possible & I handed your letter to him in person. I must tell you the result. I visited him in his tent. I had been sitting with Longstreet an old friend of “auld lang syne” & from his HdQuarters went to Genl Lee’s. He recd me very kindly. We talked of you & of Col. Van Buren & your old friendships & he was really glad to hear from you. I had closed your letter before delivering it to him & he excused himself while he read it. He said with one exception it was the first kind word he had received from anyone outside of the Confederacy for a very long time. I assured him that he had a great many friends at the North & he really seemed touched. He said that it had cost him a great deal of pain to part from his old associations, that he had gone out of the Union only with his state & that he had ever urged conciliation. He seemed to dwell upon this view as especially appropriate. There seemed to be a prevalent feeling that it was our intention to exterminate these people, & some of the general officers asked me if we were going “to hang” them. Just imagine this. I should not have believed it if it had not been asked of me personally. I sat sometime with General Lee & he asked me to thank you for your letter, & also Col. Van Buren & to say that his sentiments actively corresponded with [you?] He said that if conciliation was adopted now we might have peace. If not, we could have war for twenty years, for the very children were entering into it. I think from what Judge Ould told me, that Lee is uncertain as to what Jeff Davis may think of his surrender. I was indeed astonished to see the miserable plight his army was in. No forage, no rations demoralization everywhere. It is a glorious day for us & a glorious opportunity. Let us use it aright. With my kind remembrances to Col. & Mrs. Van Buren (for the latter Genl Lee particularly inquired)  believe me your friend &[?]

S. W. Crawford


The “Colonel Van Buren” mentioned in the letter may be Abraham Van Buren (1807-1873), with whom Lee had attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the oldest son of President Martin Van Buren. The younger Van Buren graduated from the Academy in 1827, and Lee graduated in 1829. Van Buren married Dolley Madison’s cousin Angelica Singleton (1818-1877), the daughter of a wealthy South Carolina planter. “Judge Ould” is Robert Ould (1820-1882), a Washington, D.C., attorney who served as Confederate Assistant Secretary of War from 1861 to 1862 and as the Confederate agent for the exchange of prisoners of war from 1862 to 1865.


Samuel W. Crawford (1829-1892) was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1846. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1850 and joined the U.S. Army as a surgeon in 1851. He served as the surgeon on duty at Fort Sumter in April 1861 but also commanded several artillery pieces in the fort. One month later, he accepted a commission as major in the 13th U.S. Infantry, then served as Assistant Inspector General in the Department of the Ohio from September 1861 to April 1862. He received a promotion to brigadier general and led a brigade in Shenandoah Valley. He led troops at the Battles of Cedar Mountain and Antietam, where he was wounded. After recuperating, he returned to duty, leading a division at the Battle of Gettysburg. He remained in command of the Pennsylvania Reserve Division for the rest of the war. He was wounded again in August 1864 at the Battle of Globe Tavern near Petersburg, Virginia. At the Battle of Five Forks eight months later, Crawford misled his division away from the attack on the Confederates, and when Major General Gouverneur K. Warren went to retrieve Crawford’s division, Major General Philip Sheridan relieved Warren. Crawford was present at General Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. Crawford retired from the army in 1873 and published The Genesis of the Civil War in 1887.


Ex-Forbes Collection. Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), the American owner-publisher of Forbes magazine and a consummate collector, amassed one of the most substantial autograph collections of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences on three continents. Many of his manuscripts were sold in a series of multi-million dollar sales by Christie's in the early 2000s. The Forbes name is considered to be the apex of provenance, especially when attached to an item like the above. We are honored to have been chosen by the family to sell at auction the substantial balance of the collection. 


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.


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