Having surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia, General Lee rode back toward his headquarters tent through a cool and dark Palm Sunday evening. The sun behind the clouds had slanted near the horizon; sunset in Richmond that night came at 6:24. A chaplain present with the army described the weather: "The morning had been bright and fair. By noon dark and gloomy clouds had gathered over the whole face of the sky."
From a distance of a half-mile, General Edward Porter Alexander saw Lee coming out of the village on his familiar gray "Traveller" at about 4:30 p.m. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Marshall, Lee's reliable 34-year-old aide, rode beside his chief. "A strong desire seized me," Alexander wrote, "to have the men do something, to indicate to the general that our affection for him was even deeper than in the days of greatest victory and prosperity."
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