Silent Witness by Ed Ford
Paperback, 32 pages, Historical Fiction, A/E Press, ISBN-13: 9780979001017
Surrender story had a very human side
Silent Witness: The Surrender at Appomattox, although fictionalized, is based on the true account of what really happened at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 9, 1865. The meeting that day between Generals Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant essentially ended America’s Civil War. But, there’s a more human side to the story and that’s the focus of this booklet.
The involvement of the Wilmer and Virginia McLean family is full of almost unbelievable irony. The McLeans saw the war start in the backyard of their farm in Manassas and end in the parlor of their home in Appomattox Court House. This is their story as much as it is about Grant and Lee and the North and the South.
And, it’s also the story of the only witness to all that occurred on that historic spring day in 1865. That witness, incidentally, is still around. But, she will be forever silent.