- description
- # The Surrender at Appomattox.
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
"The Surrender at Appomattox." is a segment of text, likely a poem, extracted from the file [battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8). The segment, spanning lines 3040-3116, is part of the larger poetry collection [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted on January 30, 2026, by the structure-extraction-lambda.
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This segment is a poem within a collection of poems focused on the American Civil War. The poem follows "The Fall of Richmond." (arke:01KG8AJPZHPVK3XF34J169DF31) and precedes "The Martyr." (arke:01KG8AJPZHF488ZNMXR1W3RSBJ), indicating a sequence of related events or reflections. The source file, "battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt," is part of the larger "Melville Complete Works" collection.
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The poem "The Surrender at Appomattox." describes the end of the Civil War, using imagery of rivers, armies, and the natural world. It references the "Abrahamic river" and "Europe's marge," suggesting a broad scope. The poem also includes the lines "Aurora-Borealis. Commemorative of the Dissolution of Armies at the Peace. (May, 1865.)" and "The Released Rebel Prisoner. (June, 1865.)", indicating the poem's subject matter and potential date of composition. The poem reflects on the war's conclusion and the disbanding of armies.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:23.651Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- The Surrender at Appomattox.
- end_line
- 3116
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3040
- text
- The Abrahamic river--
Patriarch of floods,
Calls the roll of all his streams
And watery mutitudes:
Torrent cries to torrent,
The rapids hail the fall;
With shouts the inland freshets
Gather to the call.
The quotas of the Nation,
Like the water-shed of waves,
Muster into union--
Eastern warriors, Western braves.
Martial strains are mingling,
Though distant far the bands,
And the wheeling of the squadrons
Is like surf upon the sands.
The bladed guns are gleaming--
Drift in lengthened trim,
Files on files for hazy miles--
Nebulously dim.
O Milky Way of armies--
Star rising after star,
New banners of the Commonwealths,
And eagles of the War.
The Abrahamic river
To sea-wide fullness fed,
Pouring from the thaw-lands
By the God of floods is led:
His deep enforcing current
The streams of ocean own,
And Europe’s marge is evened
By rills from Kansas lone.
Aurora-Borealis.
Commemorative of the Dissolution of Armies at the Peace.
(May, 1865.)
What power disbands the Northern Lights
After their steely play?
The lonely watcher feels an awe
Of Nature’s sway,
As when appearing,
He marked their flashed uprearing
In the cold gloom--
Retreatings and advancings,
(Like dallyings of doom),
Transitions and enhancings,
And bloody ray.
The phantom-host has faded quite,
Splendor and Terror gone--
Portent or promise--and gives way
To pale, meek Dawn;
The coming, going,
Alike in wonder showing--
Alike the God,
Decreeing and commanding
The million blades that glowed,
The muster and disbanding--
Midnight and Morn.
The Released Rebel Prisoner.[18]
(June, 1865.)
Armies he’s seen--the herds of war,
But never such swarms of men
- title
- The Surrender at Appomattox.