army under General J. E. Johnston was encamped in the neighborhood of
Smithfield, North Carolina, and was protecting Raleigh. General
Sherman’s forces were at Goldsboro’, and in that vicinity. On the 6th of
April the news of the Virginia victories reached General Sherman. Four
days later, on the 10th inst., at daybreak, his army commenced its final
advance against the enemy. Major-General H. W. Slocum took the two
direct roads for Smithfield; Major-General O. O. Howard made a circuit
by the right, and feigned up the Weldon road, to disconcert the enemy’s
cavalry; Generals Terry and Kilpatrick moved on the west side of the
Neuse river, and aimed to reach the rear of the enemy between Smithfield
and Raleigh. General Schofield followed General Slocum, in support. All
the columns met, within six miles of Goldsboro’, more or less cavalry,
with the usual rail barricades, which were swept away as chaff; and by
10 A. M. of the 11th, the Fourteenth corps entered Smithfield, the
Twentieth corps close at hand. Johnston had rapidly retreated across the
Neuse river, and, having his railroad to lighten up his trains, could
retreat faster than the National forces could pursue. The rains had also
set in, making the resort to corduroy absolutely necessary to pass even
ambulances. The enemy had burned the bridge at Smithfield, but, as soon
as possible, Major-General Slocum got up his pontoons, and crossed over
a division of the Fourteenth corps. News of the surrender of Lee’s army,
at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, was here received, and was
announced to the armies in orders, creating universal joy. “Not an
officer or soldier of my armies,” says General Sherman, “but expressed a
pride and satisfaction that it fell to the lot of the armies of the
Potomac and James so gloriously to overwhelm and capture the entire army
that had held them so long in check; and their success gave us new
impulse to finish up our task.”
Marching still onward in rapid pursuit, General Sherman’s soldiers
passed through Raleigh, on the 13th. Johnston was at Greensboro’, and
his army was retreating from Hillsboro’, on all the roads leading to the
former point.
Such was the position of affairs, when General Sherman received the
first communication from his adversary, in reference to terms of
capitulation. At noon, on the 17th, the two commanders met.
Says General Sherman: “Our interview was frank and soldier-like, and he
gave me to understand that further war on the part of the Confederate
troops was folly; that the ‘cause’ was lost, and that every life
sacrificed after the surrender of Lee’s army was the highest possible
crime. He admitted that the terms conceded to General Lee were
magnanimous, and all he could ask; but he did want some general
concessions that would enable him to allay the natural fears and
anxieties of his followers, and enable him to maintain his control over
them until they could be got back to the neighborhood of their homes,
thereby saving the State of North Carolina the devastation which would
result from turning his men loose and unprovided on the spot, and our
pursuit across the State.
“He also wanted to embrace in the same general proposition the fate of
all the Confederate armies that remained in existence. I never made any
concession as to his own army, or assumed to deal finally and
authoritatively in regard to any other; but it did seem to me that there
was presented a chance for peace that might be deemed valuable to the
government of the United States, and was at least worth the few days
that would be consumed in reference. To push an enemy whose commander
had so frankly and honestly confessed his inability to cope with me,
were cowardly, and unworthy the brave men I led.”
On the 18th, the two Generals again met, and agreed upon a basis of
terms for capitulation of the rebel army, to be referred to the
President of the United States; and, in the mean time, a truce was
declared between the belligerents. General Sherman improved the delay by
rushing on the work on the railroad to Raleigh, and thus strengthening
himself for battle—if battle should come. On the 23d, General Sherman
learned that the government—President Lincoln being dead—disapproved of
his basis for Johnston’s capitulation, and ordered the truce to end. He
immediately notified his opponent, to that effect, and that the truce
would end at noon on the 26th. On the night of the 25th, General Sherman
received a letter from General Johnston, asking for another interview.
By this time General Grant had arrived at Raleigh, and was in
communication with General Sherman. The interview was granted; and, on
the 26th of April, at 2 o’clock, Generals Sherman and Johnston met, and
signed the articles of capitulation, by which the latter surrendered his
whole army to the former.
General Sherman’s conduct, at this stage of the war, has been made the
subject of adverse criticism by official persons of high station. These
pages, however, have not space enough for the details of this
controversy. Yet it should be said, in justice to one of the greatest
warriors of history, that, throughout all his negotiations, and down to
the close of his connection with the war, General Sherman’s conduct was
that of a patriot, a soldier, and a gentleman. The terms finally allowed
to General Johnston were the same that had previously been allowed to
General Lee.
The following is General Sherman’s farewell address to his army:—
“HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, }
“In the Field, Washington, D. C., May 30, 1865. }
“The general commanding announces to the Armies of the Tennessee and
Georgia that the time has come for us to part. Our work is done, and
armed enemies no longer defy us. Some of you will be retained in
service until further orders. And now that we are about to separate,
to mingle with the civil world, it becomes a pleasing duty to recall
to mind the situation of National affairs when, but a little more than
a year ago, we were gathered about the twining cliffs of Lookout
Mountain, and all the future was wrapped in doubt and uncertainty.
Three armies had come together from distant fields, with separate
histories, yet bound by one common cause—the union of our country and
the perpetuation of the government of our inheritance. There is no
need to recall to your memories Tunnel Hill, with its Rocky Face
Mountain, and Buzzard Roost Gap, with the ugly forts of Dalton behind.
We were in earnest, and paused not for danger and difficulty, but
dashed through Snake Creek Gap, and fell on Resaca, then on to the
Etowah, to Dallas, Kenesaw; and the heats of summer found us on the
banks of the Chattahoochie, far from home and dependent on a single
road for supplies. Again we were not to be held back by any obstacle,
and crossed over and fought four heavy battles for the possession of
the citadel of Atlanta. That was the crisis of our history. A doubt
still clouded our future; but we solved the problem, and destroyed
Atlanta, struck boldly across the State of Georgia, secured all the
main arteries of life to our enemy, and Christmas found us at
Savannah. Waiting there only long enough to fill our wagons, we again
began a march, which for peril, labor, and results, will compare with
any ever made by an organized army. The floods of the Savannah, the
swamps of the Combahee and Edisto, the high hills and rocks of the
Santee, the flat quagmires of the Pedee and Cape Fear rivers, were all
passed in midwinter, with its floods and rains, in the face of an
accumulating enemy; and, after the battles of Averasboro’ and
Bentonville, we once more came out of the wilderness to meet our
friends at Goldsboro’. Even then we paused only long enough to get new
clothing, to reload our wagons, and again pushed on to Raleigh, and
beyond, until we met our enemy, sueing for peace instead of war, and
offering to submit to the injured laws of his and our country. As long
as that enemy was defiant, nor mountains, nor rivers, nor swamps, nor
hunger, nor cold had checked us; but when he who had fought us hard
and persistently offered submission, your general thought it wrong to
pursue him further, and negotiations followed which resulted, as you
all know, in his surrender. How far the operations of the army have
contributed to the overthrow of the Confederacy, of the peace which
now dawns on us, must be judged by others, not by us. But that you
have done all that men could do has been admitted by those in
authority; and we have a right to join in the universal joy that fills
our land because the war is over, and our government stands vindicated
before the world by the joint action of the volunteer armies of the
United States.
“To such as remain in the military service, your general need only
remind you that successes in the past are due to hard work and
discipline, and that the same work and discipline are equally
important in the future. To such as go home, he will only say, that
our favored country is so grand, so extensive, so diversified in
climate, soil, and productions, that every man may surely find a home
and occupation suited to his taste; and none should yield to the
natural impotence sure to result from our past life of excitement and
adventure. You will be invited to seek new adventure abroad; but do
not yield to the temptation, for it will lead only to death and
disappointment.
“Your general now bids you all farewell, with the full belief that, as
in war you have been good soldiers, so in peace you will make good
citizens; and if, unfortunately, new war should arise in our country,
Sherman’s army will be the first to buckle on the old armor and come
forth to defend and maintain the government of our inheritance and
choice.
“By order of
“Major-General W. T. SHERMAN.
“L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.”
THE BIRKENHEAD RAMS.
During the war the United States consuls in various parts of the world
often rendered important services to the country by detecting the
ungenerous attempts made by European nations to aid the Confederacy by
blockade runners, and by secretly fitting out iron-clads and other
efficient craft for the use of the rebels.
Mr. Hammond, Consul to Dublin in the early part of the war, rendered
efficient service in this respect, having prevented several vessels from
being sent out as blockaders. But perhaps the most important service
rendered by any consul was that which prevented the Birkenhead rams, two
formidable iron-clads, from performing the rebel work for which they
were intended. These rams were supposed for a long time to have been
building in Egypt, for the Pacha of Egypt. That they were not completed
and allowed to depredate on our commerce, is owing exclusively to the
tact and energy of our Consul-General of Egypt, at the time residing in
Alexandria. The history of this unwritten and hitherto unacknowledged
service is this:
Said Pacha, late Viceroy of Egypt, during his European trip in 1862,
visited the shipyard of Messrs. Laird & Co., Birkenhead, England, and
being highly pleased with the works of these great ship-builders, gave
an order on his return home to Mr. Broway, a French merchant widely
known in the East for his extensive business connections with the
Egyptian government, for two iron clads, which were to be constructed by
the Messrs. Laird. Broway conveyed the order, as directed, and the rams
were commenced. While the building of these iron-clads was in progress
the Viceroy died, and his successor, Ismael Pacha, the present ruler of
Egypt, was called upon by Monsieur Broway for the necessary payments,
which that potentate declined giving. But Monsieur Broway being strongly
backed by the Count De Morney, a near relative of the French Emperor,
compelled Ismael Pacha to come to terms. Through this powerful
influence, an arrangement was made, by which the Pacha was released from
all further obligations regarding the same by a payment of two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars to Broway, who for that sum took the contract
on his own shoulders. It was, however, understood between the Viceroy
and Monsieur Broway that this arrangement should be kept secret, and the
same continue to be known as the Viceroy’s property until the vessels
were completed and disposed of.
Early in September, 1863, telegrams from the Federal Minister at London
and the Consul at Liverpool were sent to the United States
Consul-General at Alexandria, stating that the two iron clads were ready
for sea and would sail as Egyptian property unless satisfactory evidence
of their real ownership and destination could be produced, as this alone
would enable the United States Minister at London to stop them.
To procure that evidence was a delicate and difficult task, as it could
only be obtained from the Viceroy himself. Great tact and a refinement
of diplomacy was necessary even in approaching the Viceroy, who was
bound to secrecy by his agreement with Broway. Still the evidence could
be obtained from no other source.
The Consul-General, Mr. Thayers, had previously sailed for Europe on
leave, entrusting the affairs of his mission to Francis Dainese, Esq.,
of Washington City, a gentleman of fine capacity, who possessed great
experience in the language and customs of the Orient. The diplomatic
talent of this gentleman had been tested in various responsible
positions which he had held under the government, and being placed on
terms of easy communication with the Viceroy, both by position and a
thorough knowledge of the Turkish language, he was, perhaps, the only
person at that time in Egypt who could have approached that potentate
with any hope of success. With quiet tact Mr. Dainese obtained an
interview with the Pacha, and enlightened him regarding the subtle and
skilful designs which were carried on against the United States under
his name. For the first time Ismael Pacha understood clearly that these
rams were to be delivered under his name, and as his property, to the
enemies of the United States. So vividly and earnestly did Mr. Dainese
represent to His Highness the dangerous position in which this fraud
would place himself and his government, that he obtained from the Pacha
an official denial of his ownership in these rams, or that the Egyptian
government was in any way connected with them.
On the 11th of September, 1863, Mr. Dainese telegraphed to Mr. Adams in
London, that the Egyptian Government officially denied having any
ownership, or being in any way concerned with the iron-clads of
Birkenhead. By the steamer of the 13th of September, a certified copy of
the document itself was forwarded to Mr. Adams.
The telegram reached London on the 12th of September, 1863, and the two
rams were shortly after seized by the British Government, at the urgent
request of our Minister, founded entirely on the intelligence obtained
by Mr. Dainese. This transaction made a good deal of excitement at the
time, both in England and this country, and great credit was certainly
deserved by Mr. Dainese for his timely interference, which saved our
commerce from fresh depredations. There was a degree of boldness in his
action worthy of all praise, for he promptly undertook and accomplished
this important affair, without instructions from Washington, and the
result was communicated by him to the Secretary of State, in whose
department the diplomatic correspondence is now on file. Perhaps this
record will be the first ever made of a transaction so important to the
country, but in a war like that which has swept over our land, all
events bearing upon it should be matters of public history, and the man
who serves his country as a diplomat can be no more overlooked, in
strict justice, than the general who leads its armies to the field.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
JANUARY 1, 1863.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by
the President of the United States, containing among other things the
following, to wit:
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any
State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be
in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforth and
forever free, and the Executive Government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to
repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
their actual freedom.
“That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which
the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the
United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall
on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United
States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the
qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive
evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in
rebellion against the United States.”
Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States in time of actual armed Rebellion against the
authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and
necessary war measure for suppressing said Rebellion, do, on this first
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly
proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first
above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States
wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion
against the United States, the following, to wit: ARKANSAS, TEXAS,
LOUISIANA (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson,
St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne,
Lafourche, St. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New
Orleans), MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, NORTH
CAROLINA, and VIRGINIA (except the forty-eight counties designated as
West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton,
Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of
Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the present,
left precisely as if this Proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and
declare that ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES within said designated States
and parts of States ARE, AND HENCEFORWARD SHALL BE FREE: and that the
Executive Government of the United States, including the Military and
Naval Authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of
said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain
from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and I recommend to
them that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faithfully for
reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable
condition will be received into the armed service of the United States
to garrison forts, positions, stations and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted
by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate
judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name, and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[Sidenote: [L. S.]]
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President—WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.
PROCLAMATION.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
_To All to Whom these Presents May Come, Greeting_:
_Know ye_, that, whereas, the Congress of the United States, on the 1st
of February last, passed a resolution, which is in the words following,
namely:
“A resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a
proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States:
“_Resolved_, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses
concurring, that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures
of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures,
shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of said
Constitution, namely:
“ARTICLE XIII.
“SECTION 1. _Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their
jurisdiction._
“SECTION 2. _Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation._”
And, whereas, it appears from official documents on file in this
department that the Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
proposed as aforesaid has been ratified by the Legislatures of the
States of Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, West
Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio,
Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina,
Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia, in all twenty-seven States;
And whereas, the whole number of States in the United States is
thirty-six;
And whereas, the before specially named States, whose Legislatures have
ratified the said proposed amendment, constitute three-fourths of the
whole number of States in the United States;
Now, therefore, be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of
State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second
section of the act of Congress approved the 20th of April, 1818,
entitled “An Act to provide for the publication of the laws of the
United States and for other purposes,” do hereby certify that the
amendment aforesaid HAS BECOME VALID TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES AS A
PART OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the Department of State to be affixed. Done at the City of
Washington, this 18th day of December, in the year of our Lord
1865, and of the Independence of the United States of America the
90th.
WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
LIST OF FEDERAL VESSELS CAPTURED BY THE CONFEDERATE NAVY.
BY THE ALABAMA.