Recent Grant Biography Paints the Picture

At the corner of N. Main St. and N. 2nd St. in Downtown Farmville, there are two black wrought-iron benches a little back from the sidewalk – a nice place to relax and take in small town America. But if you look over your shoulder from this spot – in the flower bed behind you – you’ll see a stone marker that reveals historic happenings from 153 years ago. Its chiseled letters say, in part:

SITE OF THE RANDOLPH HOUSE
Here stood the hotel where general U.S. Grant made his headquarters April 7, 1865, and opened correspondence with General R.E. Lee which terminated in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House two days later. From the porch of the Randolph House Grant reviewed segments of his army – the last wartime review.

A recently published biography of Ulysses S. Grant by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow paints the picture more vividly. Chernow writes:

By the afternoon of April 7, riding in light rain, applauded by soldiers as he passed … Grant arrived at Farmville. In the town hotel, an ample brick building with a wide porch, he set up temporary headquarters. That morning, Lee had passed through Farmville, where he tried to resuscitate his faltering army with waiting rations.

Chernow relates that Lee was desperately attempting to secure rations and then escape with his army to Lynchburg, while Grant’s army closed in from behind and General Philip Sheridan’s Cavalry Corps moved to get ahead of them. If they could escape this trap, then “maybe (they could) vanish into the vast hinterland of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” Chernow continues the story of Grant’s stay in Farmville:

At five in the afternoon, Grant conferred on the hotel verandah with General Ord and John Gibbon … “I have a great mind to summon Lee, to surrender.” Taking up his dispatch book … he began his letter to Lee: “GENERAL, The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance …” Riding under a flag of truce, Brigadier General Seth Williams and an orderly disappeared down darkening country roads to deliver this momentous message to Lee.

This started the correspondence that would, after several respectful notes back and forth, result in Lee agreeing to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. In the meantime, here’s how Chernow describes what happened as Grant waited in Farmville for Lee’s response:

Awaiting the reply, Grant eased into a chair on the verandah, which afforded him a front-row seat as emboldened soldiers from Wright’s Sixth Corps moved by with a crisp, elastic step. It developed into one of the war’s more theatrical scenes. The soldiers, who had learned to love Grant, spotted him on the porch and saluted him with exultant cheers as they swung by, crooning “John Brown’s Body.” When Grant rose and stood by the banister, puffing his cigar, the ovation swelled in volume. As night fell, a starry sky stood revealed, washed clean by the day’s rainfall. The soldiers tramped by in bright moonshine, their movements thrown into silhouette by the powerful glow of bonfires bordering the route. They grabbed sticks, thrust them into the blaze, then strode on with flaming torches, as if participating in a candlelight election parade. “The night march had become a grand review,” noted Horace Porter, “with Grant as the reviewing officer.”

The Chernow book – which weighs in at 1,104 pages, covering Grant’s entire life including two terms as our 18th president – is highly acclaimed. And we know the perfect bench on which to sit and read it, right here in Downtown Farmville, just about where General Grant sat puffing his cigars while reviewing his troops as they marched along Main St. 153 year ago.

Learn more about Farmville history and plan your visit at visitfarmville.com.