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While the Radical Republicans were later to behave abominably in dealing with the prostrate South during Reconstruction, the Union officers at Appomattox behaved with an incredible degree of gentility, honor, and respect Take Joshua Chamberlain of Maine, who was put in charge of receiving the arms and colors of the Army of Northern Virginia. As John B. Gordon's men marched up, Chamberlain, on his own initiative, had his line come to "carry arms," a marching salute. Gordon caught it, wheeled his horse, dropped his sword point to his boot and ordered his own men to return it. Chamberlain called it "honor answering honor." Gordon later called him "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal army." That is what it looks like when gentlemen fight a war. Notably, many in the North never forgave Chamberlain for it