When I’m searching for articles about Appomattox, I often give up and just relax with a newspaper’s front page. Such is the situation with this day in 1896 with The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But, to stay within this topic’s reach, the front page of this newspaper did carry information about Virginia and about Appomattox in two separate opinion blurbs.
The first piece was about Fitzhugh Lee’s appointment as consul-general at Havana by President Cleveland in April 1896. Lee, the grandson of “Light Horse Harry” Lee, and the nephew of Robert E. Lee, served in the Civil War, was a member of the board of visitors of West Point, and from 1886 to 1890 was governor of Virginia.
Virginia appears to be very enthusiastic because Fitz Hugh Lee is going to Havana as American consul. In view of the fact the climate at that place is not healthful Fitz should advise his friends not to waste all their energies at the present time as he is deserving of a grand demonstration at his funeral. There may be some honor but not much comfort in being the American representative at yellow fever headquarters.
Fortunately, Lee did not succumb to yellow fever. He retained this position through President William McKinley until 1898, when he re-entered the army during the war between Spain and the United States. Lee died on 18 April 1905 in Washington, D.C. and is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.
The second piece was a bit of nonsense about who was responsible for the surrender at Appomattox:
A historian is seeking to make himself famous by the claim that Custer and not Grant was entitled to the credit of the surrender at Appomattox. This is not highly probable. Gen. Robert E. Lee under no circumstances would have talked of surrender to an inferior in rank. To believe such a preposterous story one needs a profound ignorance of the character, not only of Lee, but of the southern soldiery.
So, there you go for thoughts produced by someone in Cedar Rapids on this day in 1896.
