-SURRENDER ~~

-'ONE PERSON WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE'
-By: David R. Barnhart

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Civil War cost the divided nation a staggering 620,000 lives, with more than 1,200,000 wounded. Nearly every home in American was impacted by the war in one way or another.

Following his surrender at Appomattox, General Lee mounted his trusty steed Traveler and went to Richmond to be with his wife who was very ill. On arrival in Richmond, Lee commented, "I am homeless- I have nothing on earth."

Much of the South lay in ruins following the war, including the city of Richmond. Even so, the congregation at St. Paul's Episcopal Church gathered for worship on a Sunday morning in May 1865. In the gallery of the church sat several dozen blacks whose newly won freedom was now assured. The service proceeded in the customary manner until the Pastor at St. Paul's, Reverend Charles Minnergerode, offered Holy Communion to the assembled. The first person who went forward to receive Communion was a black man from the gallery. Blacks were regularly communed at St Paul's but only after all the whites had been served.

The congregation, filled with Richmond's elite, was stunned by such a breach of conduct, and none more so than Reverend Minnergerode who seemed immobilized for a time. The black man remained kneeling alone at the altar for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the tension in the congreatation was broken when a distinguished white man walked forward and knelt beside the lone communicant. That man was General Robert E. Lee. Soon, other memebers of the church took their places at the altar rail. The crisis passed, thanks to the actions of one man who sought in a difficult moment of time to make a difference.

For over a hundred years after the Civil War, racial prejudice existed not only in the southern states but in the northern states as well. The same racist attitude also prevailed throughout much of the nation against Jews who were just as restricted as the blacks over where they could live and what organizations they could join. Thankfully, such reprehensible practices have greatly faded within our society, but not without the courage of those who saw a wrong and bravely sought to right it. Standing for right when wrong is popular still marks the difference between those who acquire and practice values from their culture and those whose acquire and practice their values from the Word of God.
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