https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Court_House


"Sign it, bitch."

The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War (1861–1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate General in Chief, Robert E. Lee, and his Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant.

Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the nine-and-a-half-month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the remaining Confederate forces in North Carolina, the Army of Tennessee under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Union infantry and cavalry forces under Gen. Philip Sheridan pursued and cut off the Confederates' retreat at the central Virginia village of Appomattox Court House. Lee launched a last-ditch attack to break through the Union forces to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of lightly armed cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was now backed up by two corps of federal infantry, he had no choice but to surrender with his further avenue of retreat and escape now cut off.

The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony of parade and the stacking of arms led by Southern Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon to federal Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain of Maine marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia with the parole of its nearly 28,000 remaining officers and men, free to return home without their major weapons but enabling men to take their horses and officers to retain their sidearms (swords and pistols), and effectively ending the war in Virginia.

This event triggered a series of subsequent surrenders across the South, in North Carolina, Alabama and finally Shreveport, Louisiana, for the Trans-Mississippi Theater in the West by June, signaling the end of the four-year-long war.

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Surrender
Well-dressed in his customary uniform, Lee waited for Grant to arrive. Grant, whose headache had ended when he received Lee's note, arrived at the McLean house in a mud-spattered uniform—a government-issue sack coat with trousers tucked into muddy boots, no sidearms, and with only his tarnished shoulder straps showing his rank. It was the first time the two men had seen each other face-to-face in almost two decades. Suddenly overcome with sadness, Grant found it hard to get to the point of the meeting and instead the two generals briefly discussed their only previous encounter, during the Mexican–American War. Lee brought the attention back to the issue at hand, and Grant offered the same terms he had before:

In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside

.

The terms were as generous as Lee could hope for; his men would not be imprisoned or prosecuted for treason. Officers were allowed to keep their sidearms, horses, and personal baggage. In addition to his terms, Grant also allowed the defeated men to take home their horses and mules to carry out the spring planting and provided Lee with a supply of food rations for his starving army; Lee said it would have a very happy effect among the men and do much toward reconciling the country. The terms of the surrender were recorded in a document hand-written by Grant's adjutant Ely S. Parker, a Native American of the Seneca tribe, and completed around 4 p.m., April 9. Lee, upon discovering Parker to be a Seneca, remarked "It is good to have one real American here." Parker replied, "Sir, we are all Americans." As Lee left the house and rode away, Grant's men began cheering in celebration, but Grant ordered an immediate stop. "I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped," he said. "The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall," he said. Custer and other Union officers purchased from McLean the furnishings of the room Lee and Grant met in as souvenirs, emptying it of furniture. Grant soon visited the Confederate army, and then he and Lee sat on the McLean home's porch and met with visitors such as Longstreet and George Pickett before the two men left for their capitals.

On April 10, Lee gave his farewell address to his army. The same day a six-man commission gathered to discuss a formal ceremony of surrender, even though no Confederate officer wished to go through with such an event. Brigadier General (brevet Major General) Joshua L. Chamberlain was the Union officer selected to lead the ceremony. In his memoirs entitled The Passing of the Armies, Chamberlain reflected on what he witnessed on April 12, 1865, as the Army of Northern Virginia marched in to surrender their arms and their colors:

The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply. I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition, which could be no other than a salute of arms. Well aware of the responsibility assumed, and of the criticisms that would follow, as the sequel proved, nothing of that kind could move me in the least. The act could be defended, if needful, by the suggestion that such a salute was not to the cause for which the flag of the Confederacy stood, but to its going down before the flag of the Union. My main reason, however, was one for which I sought no authority nor asked forgiveness. Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond;—was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured? Instructions had been given; and when the head of each division column comes opposite our group, our bugle sounds the signal and instantly our whole line from right to left, regiment by regiment in succession, gives the soldier's salutation, from the "order arms" to the old "carry"—the marching salute. Gordon at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual,—honor answering honor. On our part not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order, but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!

—?Joshua L. Chamberlain, The Passing of the Armies, pp. 260–61

Chamberlain's account has been questioned by historian William Marvel, who claims that "few promoted their own legends more actively and successfully than he did". Marvel points out that Chamberlain in fact did not command the federal surrender detail (but only one of the brigades in General Joseph J. Bartlett's division) and that he did not mention any "salute" in his contemporary letters, but only in his memoirs written many decades later when most other eyewitnesses had already died. Confederate General John Brown Gordon, in command of the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, did recall there was a salute and he cherished Chamberlain's act of saluting his surrendered army, calling Chamberlain "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal army." Gordon stated that Chamberlain “called his troops into line, and as my men marched in front of them, the veterans in blue gave a soldierly salute to the vanquished heroes.” This statement by Gordon contradicts Marvel's perception of the event.

At the surrender ceremonies, about 28,000 Confederate soldiers passed by and stacked their arms. General Longstreet's account was 28,356 officers and men were “surrendered and paroled”. The Appomattox Roster lists approximately 26,300 men who surrendered. This reference does not include the 7,700 who were captured at Sailor's Creek three days earlier, who were treated as prisoners of war.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-09/coronavirus-may-reactivate-in-cured-patients-korean-cdc-says

By Kyunghee Park
April 9, 2020, 12:25 AM EDT

The coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness, according to Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 51 patients classed as having been cured in South Korea have tested positive again, the CDC said in a briefing on Monday. Rather than being infected again, the virus may have been reactivated in these people, given they tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, director-general of the Korean CDC.

“While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”

A patient is deemed fully recovered when two tests conducted with a 24-hour interval show negative results.

The Korean CDC will conduct an epidemiological probe into the cases, Jeong said.

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https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1248212688716681221
Geoff Bennett ✔@GeoffRBennett

A sailor assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been transferred to ICU after being found unresponsive in his/her room in Guam, @ckubeNBC reports. The Navy says “details will be released when they become available.” To date, 416 sailors aboard the ship have tested positive.

7:34 AM - Apr 9, 2020

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/who-is-this-dumba-ny-post-reporter-destroyed-for-asking-trump-absurd-tiger-king-question-during-coronavirus-briefing/

By Reed Richardson Apr 8th, 2020, 7:06 pm

New York Post reporter Steven Nelson was absolutely roasted online for using his time during the daily White House coronavirus press briefing to ask President Donald Trump about possibly pardoning Joe Exotic from the Tiger King documentary that has become a pop culture hit.

With nearly 450,000 Americans having contracted the COVID-19 and more than 13,000 deaths so far, the notion that a supposedly professional journalist would instead shift the focus of the questions to the president to a snarky, stunt set off a torrent of criticism.

https://twitter.com/BrookeOnAir/status/1248014357608296448





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Update: Nelson pushed back on all those challenging his journalistic priorities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in a comment to Mediate: “At today’s White House briefing, I asked about WHO coronavirus funding, negotiations on a post-crisis infrastructure bill, and the top-rated TV show as people stay at home during the outbreak. I have nothing more to add.”

One of those things, even the most elementary of media watchers can see, is definitely not like the others.

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https://twitter.com/markos/status/1247925171584786432
Markos Moulitsas ✔@markos

"I'm not voting for Biden" translates to "I want Trump to replace RBG."

12:32 PM - Apr 8, 2020

https://apnews.com/58f1b869354970689d55ccae37c540f3

By JONATHAN LEMIRE
26 minutes ago

As he tries to distance his White House from the mounting death toll, Trump has cycled through a long list of possible scapegoats in an attempt to distract from what critics say were his own administration’s missteps in slowing the spread of the coronavirus on American shores.

The strategy relies on validation from supportive media personalities and Republicans, evoking White House tactics during other challenging times for Trump’s presidency. The effort is taking on more urgency during a once-in-a-century health crisis playing out just seven months before voters go to the polls.

The list of those Trump has blamed is lengthy, and shifting:

Democratic governors for alleged mismanagement at the front lines of the crisis. The media, first for hyping the threat of the virus and then for not giving the administration credit for its response. Federal inspectors general, believed to be conspiring to make the White House look bad. The Obama administration, for not adequately preparing. China, initially absolved of responsibility, then accused of covering up worrisome health data. And now the WHO, from which Trump has threatened to withhold funding.

Trump himself owns up to no mistakes.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zoom-video-commn-privacy-senate-idUSKCN21R0VU

(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate has told its members to not use Zoom’s video conferencing app due to data security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, even as the company attempts to stem a global backlash against its fast-growing app.

Senators have been asked to find an alternative platform to use for remote working, the Financial Times reported citing a person who had seen the warning, adding that the Senate had stopped short of officially banning Zoom Video Communications Inc’s service.

The use of Zoom has soared after political parties, corporate offices, schools, organizations and millions across the world started working from home after lockdowns were enforced to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

However, the huge influx of users on its platform has raised concerns ranging from its lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions, routing of traffic through China and “zoombombing,” when uninvited guests crash meetings.

To address those concerns, the company has hired former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser and formed an advisory board to look into its privacy and safety practices.

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https://twitter.com/ChrisJansing/status/1247938718100606978
Chris Jansing ✔@ChrisJansing

Heartbreaking and maddening: a Milwaukee nurse, just coming off a shift of saving lives, turned away at the polls because she arrived 3 minutes after 8. "I'm upset...because they've been saying so many different things about how you're supposed to vote and when..can't do it now"

1:25 PM - Apr 8, 2020