Grant had proposed to Lee at Farmville, on the evening of the 7th, terms for the surrender of Lee's army, to which Lee replied that as much as he desired peace, yet the time certainly had not arrived for the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the repulse of Gordon, on April 9th, Lee soon arranged a meeting with Grant and a truce was ordered pending negotiations for the surrender of Lee's army. This meeting took place at the house of Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House, at which place the terms were finally agreed upon by the two world famous commanders and were put in writing in the form of a letter from General Grant to General Lee, and the acceptance of the terms were written by Lee to Grant in the same form. It is interesting to know that Wilmer McLean had lived on the battlefield of Bull Run during the progress of the first battle fought there, and after the battle moved to Appomattox Court House, and at his house was negotiated the terms of the surrender of Lee's army, thus around his premises was fought the first and the last great battle of the war. The Confederate officers were allowed to retain their side arms, and the Confederate soldiers to retain their horses. This was a welcome concession. Lee's army numbered less than 28,000 men, which he surrendered. Of these less than one-third were bearing arms on the day of surrender. The Confederate soldiers for some time did not realize that negotiations for their surrender was on and were expecting and seemed to be anxious for another battle with General Sheridan in their front, and were greatly surprised on learning of the negotiations that had been completed for their surrender. It was at once apparent to all that the great war was practically ended. On the next day the surrender of the army was completed, and when Lee made his farewell address to his soldiers, who had so faithfully defended their faith in the Confederacy in all the hard battles in which they had been engaged, and especially since the Wilderness campaign, and in the defense of Petersburg and Richmond in the closing days, where their endurance was the greatest, and had now come down to the closing scenes at Appomattox, they were all deeply moved. General Lee, in broken accents, admonished them to be as brave citizens as they had been soldiers. Thus practically ended the greatest civil war in history. Soon after Lee's surrender the other Confederate forces arranged for their surrender in quick succession. It had been a long, bloody and devastating war, and it is said that there were more Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout alone than the number with Lee's army at the surrender. The war closed on a spectacle of ruin the greatest yet known in America. While the smoke had cleared away, and the roar of the cannon had ceased, yet there could be heard the wailing of mothers, widows and orphans throughout both North and South, which is the greatest costs of so great and devastating war.