The Auburn Libraries Special Collections announced Friday that on April 10 it received a copy of the terms of surrender by General Ulysses S. Grant written in a letter to General Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865.
"In 30 years as an archivist, I have never received an item of greater significance," said Dwayne Cox, head of Auburn Libraries Special Collections.
Cox said it's important to realize that this is a copy of the letter written to Lee, not the original letter itself.
"Before the days of copy machines, it was common practice to produce more than one handwritten copy of important documents.
We are still unsure whether or not the letter was written by Grant himself or one of his aides."
Kenneth W. Noe, professor of history at Auburn and an expert on the Civil War, stressed the importance of having it appraised and authenticated by professionals.
"Recently an appraiser did certify it as Grant's," Noe said. "But over the weekend, Brooks Simpson, a Grant biographer at Arizona State, saw the handwriting and suggested that an aide named Theodore Bowers almost certainly copied it for Grant."
Noe said that given Simpson's reputation and years of working with those papers, he believes that to be an accurate assessment.
"The key facts remain that the words were Grant's, the letter came from Grant's headquarters at Appomattox, and thus it bears witness to a central moment in American history," Noe said.
The letter was donated by 1971 engineering graduate James L. Starr of Auburn.
"Something as historically important as this should be preserved for future generations," Starr said. "I knew Auburn's collection was the best place for it.
Now it can be enjoyed by students, scholars and the general public."
The letter states the terms enforced on Lee's army to surrender their artillery and other weapons, but would exclude officers' sidearm weapons, as well as private horses and other personal items.
Finally, Grant agreed to allow officers and soldiers to return to their homes, "not to be disturbed" by United States authorities, provided they observed their parole and the laws of their localities.
Cox said this is just the beginning of a current project the ALSC is taking on to preserve its Civil War collection.
"Joyce Hicks, one of our employees, is working on translating and digitizing all of our collected Civil War manuscripts and journals," Cox said.
Among the important pieces being digitized, Cox said, are the papers of Brig. Gen. James Henry Lane who fought with the Army of Northern Virginia and was an aide to Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
Later he was a professor of civil engineering and drawing at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute from 1882 to his death.
The Grant letter and Lane collections are scheduled to appear in Auburn's Digital Library during the Civil War sesquicentennial, which begins in 2011.
"Gifts like Mr. Starr's give the Auburn University Libraries its distinct personality, making our collection unique," said dean of libraries Bonnie MacEwan.
Currently, the April 10, 1865 copy of Grant's letter to Lee is on display in Special Collections, located on the ground floor of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.
For more information about the Grant letter or to learn more about the ALSC please contact Dwayne Cox at 334-844-1707.
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