Lee rejects the stratagem, saying that the soldiers would have to revert to robbing and plundering just to subsist. General Edward Alexander, proposes a radical change of strategy: guerrilla warfare. But when Lee receives news of his encircled army's failed breakout attempt, he realizes his options are disappearing. Lee's initial response is equivocal, only inquiring as to the terms Grant might propose, and later suggesting they meet to discuss "peace" rather than "surrender". Grant proposes that Lee surrender to avoid further bloodshed. Scene 5: the exchange of letters between Lee and Grant after the taking of Richmond The sentry is to be replaced with a white soldier. General Rawlins, and expresses her outrage at having a black soldier as sentry in her occupied house. The slaves sing a hymn in praise of Lincoln. When one of them falls to her knees in front of him, he lifts her up telling her to kneel only to God. President Lincoln arrives and meets a throng of newly freed slaves. Morris Chester writes a triumphant report to his newspaper while sitting in the speaker's chair of the House of Representatives. A regiment of black Union soldiers enter and sing a marching tune, a variation of the Marching Song of the First Arkansas. She and Agnes reflect on the horrors of war. Lee, remaining in her home, watches as the residents of Richmond flee and burn everything they own so as to not leave anything behind for the Union army. Grant assures her that the seemingly endless killing will soon be over.Ī chorus of refugees flees and sings between bomb blasts. Now she worries about the horrible strain the long, bloody war has put on him. Julia Grant, on the eve of the Union's attack on Richmond, reflects on the hard years of her husband's earlier life, including his business failures and alcoholism, but she recalls her mother's prophecy that he would rise to be the highest in the land. General Howell Cobb arrives to give a report and confronts Lee over a bill he supports, one that will recruit slaves to fight for the Confederacy, a bill that Cobb believes undermines the entire revolution: If slaves make good soldiers, where does that leave the theory of slavery? Lee responds that his business is war, not theorizing. Lee reflects on his reason for joining the Confederacy despite having been offered the leadership of the Union forces: his invincible loyalty to his home state of Virginia. Lee rejects her husband's advice to flee Richmond before the coming battle. Lee watch the sunset from their different offices. " Tenting on the Old Camp Ground", sung by both armies as Grant and Robert E. The scene ends with an actual Civil War campfire song. Parker of the day's battle Grant then orders the final assault on Richmond. News of a successful retaking of a Confederate-held fort is brought in by Brigadier General John Rawlins and Colonel Ely S. Lincoln voicing petty grievances, while Mrs. Grant are aboard his floating headquarters on the Potomac, the President and Grant outline a plan to end the war and discuss the generous terms of surrender to be offered to Lee. Scene 1: The days leading up to Robert E. All sing of the sorrows of war and the hope that this will be the last, joined by a female chorus who carry pictures of their loved ones killed in the war. Mary Todd Lincoln appears and asks her black servant Elizabeth Keckley to interpret a nightmare her husband, the President, has had. She is soon joined by Mary Anna Custis Lee and her daughter, Eleanor Agnes Lee, who worry for their way of life and hope the war will be over soon. Julia Dent Grant sings of her fears for her husband, Ulysses, and her sense of foreboding. Synopsis (2007 version) Time: The final days of the American Civil War. Chorus of Union and Confederate Soldiers, Citizens of Richmond and Appomattox, Slaves and Women