image: 17 5/8 in x 24 1/2 in; 44.7675 cm x 62.23 cm
overall: 22 in x 27 1/4 in; 55.88 cm x 69.215 cm
Object Name:
Lithograph
Object Type:
Lithograph
Place made:
United States: New York, New York City
Date made:
ca 1866
Description:
This print depicts General Ulysses S. Grant handing his rival, General Robert E. Lee, the terms of surrender under an apple tree on April 9, 1865, after the Battle of Appomattox. The men’s officers stand behind them on either side. Ranks of troops and the outline of Appomattox Courthouse are visible in the background. The entire scene is a fabrication by the lithographer, however, as the two generals discussed terms of surrender solely at the McLean house. Instead, a story that Lee had waited under an apple tree for Grant’s reply to his request for surrender morphed into the myth that the leaders had met under the tree. This confusion unfortunately led soldiers to indiscriminately cut apart several apple trees in the vicinity, desiring souvenirs of this historic event.
The print was drawn by Edward Valois, who was a lithographer based in New York City during the 1840s through the 1860s. It was printed by William Robertson, another New York lithographer. The work was published by Thomas Kelly, a successful Irish-born lithographer who had learned the craft in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
