Lee knew that his reputation preceded him, and he wished to live up to it. He dressed in the uniform of a full general, and he rode his well-known horse, Traveller, to the meeting. Lee went with a few aides, but when he dismounted to enter the McLean house, he was pretty much alone. There he found everything in readiness: everything except General Grant, who, as usual, was running late.

It is often commented that both men ran true to form that day, and when Grant and a dozen aides reined up to the McLean house, the Union general looked mud splattered. He had, throughout the war, been indifferent to appearance; in this, as in so many other ways, he and Lee were diametrically opposed. Entering the house, Grant walked over to shake Lee’s hand. That first handshake had to have been a little stiff, but before long the two great commanders of the era were sitting at a square table and discussing events past and present.