V. AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF LIEUTENANT- 

 GENERAL U. S. GRANT TO THE HON. EDWIN 

 M. STANTON, SECRETARY OF WAR. 



By W. J. Holland. 



(Plates XII and XIII.) 



The Carnegie Museum, through the kindness of Mr. William 

 Metcalf, Jr., has been enabled to add to its historical collections a 

 letter, which is of more than usual interest. It is a lead-pencil note, 

 evidently hastily written upon a scrap of paper, by General U. S. 

 Grant, and addressed to the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of 

 War. A facsimile of this note is given in Plate XII accompanying 

 this paper. The note reads as follows: 



Farmville, Apl. 8th, 1865. 

 Hon. E. M. Stanton, Sec. of War, 

 Washington. 



The enemy so far have been pushed from the road toward Danville and are 

 now pursued towards Lynchburg. I feel very confidant of receiving the surrender 

 of Lee and what remains of his Army by to-morrow. 



LT. S. Grant, Lt. G— 



The confidence expressed by the great commander was justified 

 by the events of the following day, for on April 9, 1865, General Lee 

 surrendered at Appomattox Court House. 



This note was originally presented by Hon. Edwin M. Stanton 

 to Mr. Charles Knap, of Pittsburgh. Mr. Knap was the senior 

 member of the firm of Knap and Wade, owners of the Fort Pitt 

 Foundry, which during the Civil War cast all the large guns and 

 mortars used by the Federal army. Between Mr. Knap and Hon. 

 Edwin M. Stanton there existed a close friendship, which was strength- 

 ened by the constant intercourse brought about through the neces- 

 sities of the Government during the four years of civil strife. After the 

 war was over, Mr. Stanton, as a token of friendship, gave this note 

 to Mr. Knap. The note passed from Mr. Knap into the possession 

 (it his favorite nephew, the late William Metcalf, Sr., who during the 

 greater part of the civil war was the manager of the Fort Pitt Foundry. 



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