Seven thousand five hundred rebels only appeared as the wreck of the army of Northern Virginia, though eighteen thousand "stragglers," hammered out of the line by Grant's persistent pounding, came forward and claimed the benefit of the surrender. After my courteous friend, the author of The Lost Cause, has so kindly furnished me with material for this biography, it pains me to be compelled to raise any further objections to his veracity; but his arithmetic is sadly at fault. He struggles earnestly to convey the impression that Grant, from the Rapidan to Appomattox, was fighting a mere handful of men, which the Union army outnumbered in the ratio of three or four to one; and some of Grant's Northern enemies, or lukewarm friends, have been too willing to use his figures. Pollard says Lee had thirty-three thousand, at both Richmond and Petersburg, in the first months of 1865. He mentions twenty-five thousand five hundred at the surrender, acknowledges that five thousand were taken prisoners in the "shameful misfortune" at Five Forks, and permits us to imply that about the same number were captured at Sailor's Creek,--thus making up thirty-five thousand five hundred, without counting the killed and wounded, though he says of Fort Gregg, that only thirty of two hundred and fifty composing the garrison survived the defence. Long before the fortunes of the day became desperate in the extreme, Pollard groans over heavy losses and numerous stragglers. Undoubtedly the national army did outnumber the rebels. Either General Lee was no general, and was the stupidest fanatic that even the Southern Confederacy contained, or he had at least fifty thousand men under his command, which was by recognized military rules, a fair proportion, fighting behind elaborate fortifications, to the force of the national army. Thirty-three thousand men could not have held his lines twenty-four hours. In my humble opinion, he had from seventy-five to a hundred thousand men. I should cease to respect him as a rebel if he had not, for it would have been inhumanity and butchery for him to stand out with a less number. Grant immediately sent the main body of the army to Burkville. Sherman received the news of Lee's surrender, and Johnston proposed a meeting to arrange terms for a capitulation. They were drawn up, but sent to the capital for approval. The lieutenant general went immediately to Washington. His mission in the field was ended. His name was on every tongue as the greatest of conquerors. He had given the finishing stroke to the greatest rebellion the world had ever seen. All over the nation the people were rejoicing. Cannon thundered forth the joy of the country, and the old flag was spread to the breeze, tenfold more dear now that it waved again over a united nation.