Both General Grant and myself supposed that one or the other of us

would have to fight one more bloody battle, and that it would be

the last. Mr. Lincoln exclaimed, more than once, that there had

been blood enough shed, and asked us if another battle could not be

avoided. I remember well to have said that we could not control

that event; that this necessarily rested with our enemy; and I

inferred that both Jeff. Davis and General Lee would be forced to

fight one more desperate and bloody battle. I rather supposed it

would fall on me, somewhere near Raleigh; and General Grant added

that, if Lee would only wait a few more days, he would have his

army so disposed that if the enemy should abandon Richmond, and

attempt to make junction with General Jos. Johnston in North

Carolina, he (General Grant) would be on his heels. Mr. Lincoln

more than once expressed uneasiness that I was not with my army at

Goldsboro', when I again assured him that General Schofield was

fully competent to command in my absence; that I was going to start

back that very day, and that Admiral Porter had kindly provided for

me the steamer Bat, which he said was much swifter than my own

vessel, the Russia. During this interview I inquired of the

President if he was all ready for the end of the war. What was to

be done with the rebel armies when defeated? And what should be

done with the political leaders, such as Jeff. Davis, etc.? Should

we allow them to escape, etc.? He said he was all ready; all he

wanted of us was to defeat the opposing armies, and to get the men

composing the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on

their farms and in their shops. As to Jeff. Davis, he was hardly

at liberty to speak his mind fully, but intimated that he ought to

clear out, "escape the country," only it would not do for him to

say so openly. As usual, he illustrated his meaning by a story:

A man once had taken the total-abstinence pledge. When visiting a

friend, he was invited to take a drink, but declined, on the score

of his pledge; when his friend suggested lemonade, which was

accepted. In preparing the lemonade, the friend pointed to the

brandy-bottle, and said the lemonade would be more palatable if he

were to pour in a little brandy; when his guest said, if he could

do so "unbeknown" to him, he would "not object." From which

illustration I inferred that Mr. Lincoln wanted Davis to escape,

"unbeknown" to him.

I made no notes of this conversation at the time, but Admiral

Porter, who was present, did, and in 1866 he furnished me an

account thereof, which I insert below, but the admiral describes

the first visit, of the 27th, whereas my memory puts Admiral

Porter's presence on the following day. Still he may be right, and

he may have been with us the day before, as I write this chiefly

from memory. There were two distinct interviews; the first was

late in the afternoon of March 27th, and the other about noon of

the 28th, both in the after-cabin of the steamer River Queen; on

both occasions Mr. Lincoln was full and frank in his conversation,

assuring me that in his mind he was all ready for the civil

reorganization of affairs at the South as soon as the war was over;

and he distinctly authorized me to assure Governor Vance and the

people of North Carolina that, as soon as the rebel armies laid

down their arms, and resumed their civil pursuits, they would at

once be guaranteed all their rights as citizens of a common

country; and that to avoid anarchy the State governments then in

existence, with their civil functionaries, would be recognized by

him as the government de facto till Congress could provide others.

I know, when I left him, that I was more than ever impressed by his

kindly nature, his deep and earnest sympathy with the afflictions

of the whole people, resulting from the war, and by the march of

hostile armies through the South; and that his earnest desire

seemed to be to end the war speedily, without more bloodshed or

devastation, and to restore all the men of both sections to their

homes. In the language of his second inaugural address, he seemed

to have "charity for all, malice toward none," and, above all, an

absolute faith in the courage, manliness, and integrity of the

armies in the field. When at rest or listening, his legs and arms

seemed to hang almost lifeless, and his face was care-worn and

haggard; but, the moment he began to talk, his face lightened up,

his tall form, as it were, unfolded, and he was the very

impersonation of good-humor and fellowship. The last words I

recall as addressed to me were that he would feel better when I was

back at Goldsboro'. We parted at the gangway of the River Queen,

about noon of March 28th, and I never saw him again. Of all the

men I ever met, he seemed to possess more of the elements of

greatness, combined with goodness, than any other.

ADMIRAL PORTER'S ACCOUNT OF THE INTERVIEW WITH

Mr. LINCOLN.

The day of General Sherman's arrival at City Point (I think the

27th of March, 1866), I accompanied him and General Grant on board

the President's flagship, the Queen, where the President received

us in the upper saloon, no one but ourselves being present.

The President was in an exceedingly pleasant mood, and delighted to

meet General Sherman, whom he cordially greeted.

It seems that this was the first time he had met Sherman, to

remember him, since the beginning of the war, and did not remember

when he had seen him before, until the general reminded him of the

circumstances of their first meeting.

This was rather singular on the part of Mr. Lincoln, who was, I

think, remarkable for remembering people, having that kingly

quality in an eminent degree. Indeed, such was the power of his

memory, that he seemed never to forget the most minute

circumstance.

The conversation soon turned on the events of Sherman's campaign

through the South, with every movement of which the President

seemed familiar.

He laughed over some of the stories Sherman told of his "bummers,"

and told others in return, which illustrated in a striking manner

the ideas he wanted to convey. For example, he would often express

his wishes by telling an apt story, which was quite a habit with

him, and one that I think he adopted to prevent his committing

himself seriously.

The interview between the two generals and the President lasted

about an hour and a half, and, as it was a remarkable one, I jotted

down what I remembered of the conversation, as I have made a

practice of doing during the rebellion, when any thing interesting

occurred.

I don't regret having done so, as circumstances afterward occurred

(Stanton's ill conduct toward Sherman) which tended to cast odium

on General Sherman for allowing such liberal terms to Jos.

Johnston.

Could the conversation that occurred on board the Queen, between

the President and General Sherman, have been known, Sherman would

not, and could not, have been censored. Mr. Lincoln, had he lived,

would have acquitted the general of any blame, for he was only

carrying out the President's wishes.

My opinion is, that Mr. Lincoln came down to City Point with the

most liberal views toward the rebels. He felt confident that we

would be successful, and was willing that the enemy should

capitulate on the most favorable terms.

I don't know what the President would have done had he been left to

himself, and had our army been unsuccessful, but he was than

wrought up to a high state of excitement. He wanted peace on

almost any terms, and there is no knowing what proposals he might

have been willing to listen to. His heart was tenderness

throughout, and, as long as the rebels laid down their arms, he did

not care how it was done. I do not know how far he was influenced

by General Grant, but I presume, from their long conferences, that

they must have understood each other perfectly, and that the terms

given to Lee after his surrender were authorized by Mr. Lincoln. I

know that the latter was delighted when he heard that they had been

given, and exclaimed, a dozen times, "Good!" "All right!"

"Exactly the thing!" and other similar expressions. Indeed, the

President more than once told me what he supposed the terms would

be: if Lee and Johnston surrendered, he considered the war ended,

and that all the other rebel forces world lay down their arms at

once.

In this he proved to be right. Grant and Sherman were both of the

same opinion, and so was everyone else who knew anything about the

matter.

What signified the terms to them, so long as we obtained the actual

surrender of people who only wanted a good opportunity to give up

gracefully? The rebels had fought "to the last ditch," and all

that they had left them was the hope of being handed down in

history as having received honorable terms.

After hearing General Sherman's account of his own position, and

that of Johnston, at that time, the President expressed fears that

the rebel general would escape south again by the railroads, and

that General Sherman would have to chase him anew, over the same

ground; but the general pronounced this to be impracticable. He

remarked: "I have him where he cannot move without breaking up his

army, which, once disbanded, can never again be got together; and I

have destroyed the Southern railroads, so that they cannot be used

again for a long time." General Grant remarked, "What is to

prevent their laying the rails again?" "Why," said General

Sherman, "my bummers don't do things by halves. Every rail, after

having been placed over a hot fire, has been twisted as crooked as

a ram's-horn, and they never can be used again."

This was the only remark made by General Grant during the

interview, as he sat smoking a short distance from the President,

intent, no doubt, on his own plans, which were being brought to a

successful termination.

The conversation between the President and General Sherman, about

the terms of surrender to be allowed Jos. Johnston, continued.

Sherman energetically insisted that he could command his own terms,

and that Johnston would have to yield to his demands; but the

President was very decided about the matter, and insisted that the

surrender of Johnston's army most be obtained on any terms.

General Grant was evidently of the same way of thinking, for,

although he did not join in the conversation to any extent, yet he

made no objections, and I presume had made up his mind to allow the

best terms himself.

He was also anxious that Johnston should not be driven into

Richmond, to reenforce the rebels there, who, from behind their

strong intrenchments, would have given us incalculable trouble.

Sherman, as a subordinate officer, yielded his views to those of

the President, and the terms of capitulation between himself and

Johnston were exactly in accordance with Mr. Lincoln's wishes. He

could not have done any thing which would have pleased the

President better.

Mr. Lincoln did, in fact, arrange the (so considered) liberal terms

offered General Jos. Johnston, and, whatever may have been General

Sherman's private views, I feel sure that he yielded to the wishes

of the President in every respect. It was Mr. Lincoln's policy

that was carried out, and, had he lived long enough, he would have

been but too glad to have acknowledged it. Had Mr. Lincoln lived,

Secretary Stanton would have issued no false telegraphic

dispatches, in the hope of killing off another general in the

regular army, one who by his success had placed himself in the way

of his own succession.

The disbanding of Jos. Johnston's army was so complete, that the

pens and ink used in the discussion of the matter were all wasted.

It was asserted, by the rabid ones, that General Sherman had given

up all that we had been fighting for, had conceded every thing to

Jos. Johnston, and had, as the boys say, "knocked the fat into the

fire;" but sober reflection soon overruled these harsh expressions,

and, with those who knew General Sherman, and appreciated him, he

was still the great soldier, patriot, and gentleman. In future

times this matter will be looked at more calmly and

dispassionately. The bitter animosities that have been engendered

during the rebellion will have died out for want of food on which

to live, and the very course Grant, Sherman, and others pursued, in

granting liberal terms to the defeated rebels, will be applauded.

The fact is, they met an old beggar in the road, whose crutches had

broken from under him: they let him have only the broken crutches

to get home with!

I sent General Sherman back to Newbern, North Carolina, in the

steamer Bat.

While he was absent from his command he was losing no time, for he

was getting his army fully equipped with stores and clothing; and,

when he returned, he had a rested and regenerated army, ready to

swallow up Jos. Johnston and all his ragamuffins.

Johnston was cornered, could not move without leaving every thing

behind him, and could not go to Richmond without bringing on a

famine in that destitute city.

I was with Mr. Lincoln all the time he was at City Point, and until

he left for Washington. He was more than delighted with the

surrender of Lee, and with the terms Grant gave the rebel general;

and would have given Jos. Johnston twice as much, had the latter

asked for it, and could he have been certain that the rebel world

have surrendered without a fight. I again repeat that, had Mr.

Lincoln lived, he would have shouldered all the responsibility.

One thing is certain: had Jos. Johnston escaped and got into

Richmond, and caused a larger list of killed and wounded than we

had, General Sherman would have been blamed. Then why not give him

the full credit of capturing on the best terms the enemy's last

important army and its best general, and putting an end to the

rebellion.

It was a finale worthy of Sherman's great march through the swamps

and deserts of the South, a march not excelled by any thing we read

of in modern military history.

D. D. PORTER, Vice-Admiral.

(Written by the admiral in 1866, at the United States Naval Academy

at Annapolis, Md., and mailed to General Sherman at St. Louis, Mo.)

As soon as possible, I arranged with General Grant for certain

changes in the organization of my army; and the general also

undertook to send to North Carolina some tug-boat and barges to

carry stores from Newbern up as far as Kinston, whence they could

be hauled in wagons to our camps, thus relieving our railroads to

that extent. I undertook to be ready to march north by April 10th,

and then embarked on the steamer Bat, Captain Barnes, for North

Carolina. We steamed down James River, and at Old Point Comfort

took on board my brother, Senator Sherman, and Mr. Edwin Stanton,

son of the Secretary of War, and proceeded at once to our

destination. On our way down the river, Captain Barnes expressed

himself extremely obliged to me for taking his vessel, as it had

relieved him of a most painful dilemma. He explained that he had

been detailed by Admiral Porter to escort the President's unarmed

boat, the River Queen, in which capacity it became his special duty

to look after Mrs. Lincoln. The day before my arrival at City

Point, there had been a grand review of a part of the Army of the

James, then commanded by General Ord. The President rode out from

City Point with General Grant on horseback, accompanied by a

numerous staff, including Captain Barnes and Mrs. Ord; but Mrs.

Lincoln and Mrs. Grant had followed in a carriage.

The cavalcade reached the review-ground some five or six miles out

from City Point, found the troops all ready, drawn up in line, and

after the usual presentation of arms, the President and party,

followed by Mrs. Ord and Captain Barnes on horseback, rode the

lines, and returned to the reviewing stand, which meantime had been

reached by Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Grant in their carriage, which had

been delayed by the driver taking a wrong road. Mrs. Lincoln,

seeing Mrs. Ord and Captain Barnes riding with the retinue, and

supposing that Mrs. Ord had personated her, turned on Captain

Barnes and gave him a fearful scolding; and even indulged in some

pretty sharp upbraidings to Mrs. Ord.

This made Barne's position very unpleasant, so that he felt much

relieved when he was sent with me to North Carolina. The Bat was

very fast, and on the morning of the 29th we were near Cape

Hatteras; Captain Barnes, noticing a propeller coming out of

Hatteras Inlet, made her turn back and pilot us in. We entered

safely, steamed up Pamlico Sound into Neuse River, and the next

morning,--by reason of some derangement of machinery, we anchored

about seven miles below Newbern, whence we went up in Captain

Barnes's barge. As soon as we arrived at Newbern, I telegraphed up

to General Schofield at Goldsboro' the fact of my return, and that

I had arranged with General Grant for the changes made necessary in

the reorganization of the army, and for the boats necessary to

carry up the provisions and stores we needed, prior to the renewal

of our march northward.

These changes amounted to constituting the left wing a distinct

army, under the title of "the Army of Georgia," under command of

General Slocum, with his two corps commanded by General Jeff. C.

Davis and General Joseph A. Mower; the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps

already constituted another army, "of the Ohio," under the command

of Major-General Schofield, and his two corps were commanded by

Generals J. D. Cox and A. H. Terry. These changes were necessary,

because army commanders only could order courts-martial, grant

discharges, and perform many other matters of discipline and

administration which were indispensable; but my chief purpose was

to prepare the whole army for what seemed among the probabilities

of the time--to fight both Lee's and Johnston's armies combined, in

case their junction could be formed before General Grant could

possibly follow Lee to North Carolina.

General George H. Thomas, who still remained at Nashville, was not

pleased with these changes, for the two corps with General Slocum,

viz., the Fourteenth and Twentieth, up to that time, had remained

technically a part of his "Army of the Cumberland;" but he was so

far away, that I had to act to the best advantage with the troops

and general officers actually present. I had specially asked for

General Mower to command the Twentieth Corps, because I regarded

him as one of the boldest and best fighting generals in the whole

army. His predecessor, General A. S. Williams, the senior division

commander present, had commanded the corps well from Atlanta to

Goldsboro', and it may have seemed unjust to replace him at that

precise moment; but I was resolved to be prepared for a most

desperate and, as then expected, a final battle, should it fall on

me.

I returned to Goldsboro' from Newbern by rail the evening of March

30th, and at once addressed myself to the task of reorganization

and replenishment of stores, so as to be ready to march by April

10th, the day agreed on with General Grant.

The army was divided into the usual three parts, right and left

wings, and centre. The tabular statements herewith will give the

exact composition of these separate armies, which by the 10th of

April gave the following effective strength:

Infantry ................... 80,968

Artillery .................. 2,448

Cavalry .................... 5,587

Aggregate ............ 88,948

Total number of guns, 91

The railroads to our rear had also been repaired, so that stores

were arriving very fast, both from Morehead City and Wilmington.

The country was so level that a single locomotive could haul

twenty-five and thirty cars to a train, instead of only ten, as was

the case in Tennessee and Upper Georgia.

By the 5th of April such progress had been made, that I issued the

following Special Field Orders, No. 48, prescribing the time and

manner of the next march

[Special Field Orders, No. 48.]

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, GOLDSBORO', NORTH CAROLINA, April 5, 1865.

Confidential to Army Commanders, Corps Commanders, and Chiefs of

Staff Departments:

The next grand objective is to place this army (with its full

equipment) north of Roanoke River, facing west, with a base for

supplies at Norfolk, and at Winton or Murfreesboro' on the Chowan,

and in full communication with the Army of the Potomac, about

Petersburg; and also to do the enemy as much harm as possible en

route:

1. To accomplish this result the following general plan will be

followed, or modified only by written orders from these

headquarters, should events require a change:

(1.) On Monday, the 10th of April, all preparations are presumed to

be complete, and the outlying detachments will be called in, or

given directions to meet on the next march. All preparations will

also be complete to place the railroad-stock back of Kinston on the

one road, and below the Northeast Branch on the other.

(2.) On Tuesday, the 11th, the columns will draw out on their lines

of march, say, about seven miles, and close up.

(3.) On Wednesday the march will begin in earnest, and will be kept

up at the rate, say, of about twelve miles a day, or according to

the amount of resistance. All the columns will dress to the left

(which is the exposed flank), and commanders will study always to

find roads by which they can, if necessary, perform a general left

wheel, the wagons to be escorted to some place of security on the

direct route of march. Foraging and other details may continue as

heretofore, only more caution and prudence should be observed; and

foragers should not go in advance of the advance-guard, but look

more to our right rear for corn, bacon, and meal.

2. The left wing (Major-General Slocum commanding) will aim

straight for the railroad-bridge near Smithfield; thence along up

the Neuse River to the railroad-bridge over Neuse River, northeast

of Raleigh (Powell's); thence to Warrenton, the general point of

concentration.

The centre (Major-General Schofield commanding) will move to

Whitley's Mill, ready to support the left until it is past

Smithfield, when it will follow up (substantially) Little River to

about Rolesville, ready at all times to move to the support of the

left; after passing Tar River, to move to Warrenton.

The right wing (Major-General Howard commanding), preceded by the

cavalry, will move rapidly on Pikeville and Nahunta, then swing

across to Bulah to Folk's Bridge, ready to make junction with the

other armies in case the enemy offers battle this side of Neuse

River, about Smithfield; thence, in case of no serious opposition

on the left, will work up toward Earpsboro', Andrews, B----, and

Warrenton.

The cavalry (General Kilpatrick commanding), leaving its

encumbrances with the right wing, will push as though straight for

Weldon, until the enemy is across Tar River, and that bridge

burned; then it will deflect toward Nashville and Warrenton,

keeping up communication with general headquarters.

3. As soon as the army starts, the chief-quartermaster and

commissary will prepare a resupply of stores at some point on

Pamlico or Albemarle Sounds, ready to be conveyed to Kinston or

Winton and Murfreesboro', according to developments. As soon as

they have satisfactory information that the army is north of the

Roanoke, they will forthwith establish a depot at Winton, with a

sub-depot at Murfreesboro'. Major-General Schofield will hold, as

heretofore, Wilmington (with the bridge across Northern Branch as

an outpost), Newborn (and Kinston as its outpost), and will be

prepared to hold Winton and Murfreesboro' as soon as the time

arrives for that move. The navy has instructions from Admiral

Porter to cooperate, and any commanding officer is authorized to

call on the navy for assistance and cooperation, always in writing,

setting forth the reasons, of which necessarily the naval

commander must be the judge.

4. The general-in-chief will be with the centre habitually, but

may in person shift to either flank where his presence may be

needed, leaving a staff-officer to receive reports. He requires,

absolutely, a report of each army or grand detachment each night,

whether any thing material has occurred or not, for often the

absence of an enemy is a very important fact in military

prognostication.

By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman,

L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.

But the whole problem became suddenly changed by the news of the

fall of Richmond and Petersburg, which reached as at Goldsboro', on

the 6th of April. The Confederate Government, with Lee's army, had

hastily abandoned Richmond, fled in great disorder toward Danville,

and General Grant's whole army was in close pursuit. Of course, I

inferred that General Lee would succeed in making junction with

General Johnston, with at least a fraction of his army, somewhere

to my front. I at once altered the foregoing orders, and prepared

on the day appointed, viz., April 10th, to move straight on

Raleigh, against the army of General Johnston, known to be at

Smithfield, and supposed to have about thirty-five thousand men.

Wade Hampton's cavalry was on his left front and Wheeler's on his

right front, simply watching us and awaiting our initiative.

Meantime the details of the great victories in Virginia came thick

and fast, and on the 8th I received from General Grant this

communication, in the form of a cipher-dispatch:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

WILSON'S STATION, April 5, 1865

Major-General SHERMAN, Goldsboro', North Carolina:

All indications now are that Lee will attempt to reach Danville

with the remnant of his force. Sheridan, who was up with him last

night, reports all that is left with him--horse, foot, and

dragoons--at twenty thousand, much demoralized. We hope to reduce

this number one-half. I will push on to Burkesville, and, if a

stand is made at Danville, will, in a very few days, go there. If

you can possibly do so, push on from where you are, and let us see

if we cannot finish the job with Lee's and Johnston's armies.

Whether it will be better for you to strike for Greensboro' or

nearer to Danville, you will be better able to judge when you

receive this. Rebel armies now are the only strategic points to

strike at.

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

I answered immediately that we would move on the 10th, prepared to

follow Johnston wherever he might go. Promptly on Monday morning,

April 10th, the army moved straight on Smithfield; the right wing

making a circuit by the right, and the left wing, supported by the

centre, moving on the two direct roads toward Raleigh, distant

fifty miles. General Terry's and General Kilpatrick's troops moved

from their positions on the south or west bank of the Neuse River

in the same general direction, by Cox's Bridge. On the 11th we

reached Smithfield, and found it abandoned by Johnston's army,

which had retreated hastily on Raleigh, burning the bridges. To

restore these consumed the remainder of the day, and during that

night I received a message from General Grant, at Appomattox, that

General Lee had surrendered to him his whole army, which I at once

announced to the troops in orders:

[Special Field Orders, No. 54]

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, SMITHFIELD, NORTH CAROLINA, April 12, 1865.

The general commanding announces to the army that he has official

notice from General Grant that General Lee surrendered to him his

entire army, on the 9th inst., at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia.

Glory to God and our country, and all honor to our comrades in

arms, toward whom we are marching!

A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, the great race

is won, and our Government stands regenerated, after four long

years of war.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

Of course, this created a perfect furore, of rejoicing, and we all

regarded the war as over, for I knew well that General Johnston had

no army with which to oppose mine. So that the only questions that

remained were, would he surrender at Raleigh? or would he allow

his army to disperse into guerrilla bands, to "die in the last

ditch," and entail on his country an indefinite and prolonged

military occupation, and of consequent desolation? I knew well

that Johnston's army could not be caught; the country was too open;

and, without wagons, the men could escape us, disperse, and

assemble again at some place agreed on, and thus the war might be

prolonged indefinitely.

I then remembered Mr. Lincoln's repeated expression that he wanted

the rebel soldiers not only defeated, but "back at their homes,

engaged in their civil pursuits." On the evening of the 12th I was

with the head of Slocum's column, at Gulley's, and General

Kilpatrick's cavalry was still ahead, fighting Wade Hampton's

rear-guard, with orders to push it through Raleigh, while I would

give a more southerly course to the infantry columns, so as, if

possible, to prevent a retreat southward. On the 13th, early, I

entered Raleigh, and ordered the several heads of column toward

Ashville in the direction of Salisbury or Charlotte. Before

reaching Raleigh, a locomotive came down the road to meet me,

passing through both Wade Hampton's and Kilpatrick's cavalry,

bringing four gentlemen, with a letter from Governor Vance to me,

asking protection for the citizens of Raleigh. These gentlemen

were, of course, dreadfully excited at the dangers through which

they had passed. Among them were ex-Senator Graham, Mr. Swain,

president of Chapel Hill University, and a Surgeon Warren, of the

Confederate army. They had come with a flag of truce, to which

they were not entitled; still, in the interest of peace, I

respected it, and permitted them to return to Raleigh with their

locomotive, to assure the Governor and the people that the war was

substantially over, and that I wanted the civil authorities to

remain in the execution of their office till the pleasure of the

President could be ascertained. On reaching Raleigh I found these

same gentlemen, with Messrs. Badger, Bragg, Holden, and others, but

Governor Vance had fled, and could not be prevailed on to return,

because he feared an arrest and imprisonment. From the Raleigh

newspapers of the 10th I learned that General Stoneman, with his

division of cavalry, had come across the mountains from East

Tennessee, had destroyed the railroad at Salisbury, and was then

supposed to be approaching Greensboro'. I also learned that

General Wilson's cavalry corps was "smashing things" down about

Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, and was pushing for Columbus and

Macon, Georgia; and I also had reason to expect that General

Sheridan would come down from Appomattox to join us at Raleigh with

his superb cavalry corps. I needed more cavalry to check

Johnston's retreat, so that I could come up to him with my

infantry, and therefore had good reason to delay. I ordered the

railroad to be finished up to Raleigh, so that I could operate from

it as a base, and then made:

[Special Field Orders, No. 55]

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD,

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 14, 1865.

The next movement will be on Ashboro', to turn the position of the

enemy at the "Company's Shops" in rear of Haw River Bridge, and at

Greensboro', and to cut off his only available line of retreat by

Salisbury and Charlotte:

1. General Kilpatrick will keep up a show of pursuit in the

direction of Hillsboro' and Graham, but be ready to cross Haw River

on General Howard's bridge, near Pittsboro', and thence will

operate toward Greensboro', on the right front of the right wing.

2. The right wing, Major-General Howard commanding, will move out

on the Chapel Hill road, and send a light division up in the

direction of Chapel Hill University to act in connection with the

cavalry; but the main columns and trains will move via Hackney's

Cross-Roads, and Trader's Hill, Pittsboro', St. Lawrence, etc., to

be followed by the cavalry and light division, as soon as the

bridge is laid over Haw River.

8. The centre, Major-General Schofield commanding, will move via

Holly Springs, New Hill, Haywood, and Moffitt's Mills.

4. The left wing, Major-General Slocum commanding, will move

rapidly by the Aven's Ferry road, Carthage, Caledonia, and Cox's

Mills.

5. All the troops will draw well out on the roads designated

during today and to-morrow, and on the following day will move with

all possible rapidity for Ashboro'. No further destruction of

railroads, mills, cotton, and produce, will be made without the

specific orders of an army commander, and the inhabitants will be

dealt with kindly, looking to an early reconciliation. The troops

will be permitted, however, to gather forage and provisions as

heretofore; only more care should be taken not to strip the poorer

classes too closely.

By order of General W. T. Sherman,

L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.

Thus matters stood, when on the morning of the 14th General

Kilpatrick reported from Durham's Station, twenty-six miles up the

railroad toward Hillsboro', that a flag of truce had come in from

the enemy with a package from General Johnston addressed to me.

Taking it for granted that this was preliminary to a surrender, I

ordered the message to be sent me at Raleigh, and on the 14th

received from General Johnston a letter dated April 13, 1865, in

these words:

The results of the recent campaign in Virginia have changed the

relative military condition of the belligerents. I am, therefore,

induced to address you in this form the inquiry whether, to stop

the further effusion of blood and devastation of property, you are

willing to make a temporary suspension of active operations, and to

communicate to Lieutenant-General Grant, commanding the armies of

the United States, the request that he will take like action in

regard to other armies, the object being to permit the civil

authorities to enter into the needful arrangements to terminate the

existing war.

To which I replied as follows:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 14, 1865.

General J. E. JOHNSTON, commanding Confederate Army.

GENERAL: I have this moment received your communication of this

date. I am fully empowered to arrange with you any terms for the

suspension of farther hostilities between the armies commanded by

you and those commanded by myself, and will be willing to confer

with you to that end. I will limit the advance of my main column,

to-morrow, to Morrisville, and the cavalry to the university, and

expect that you will also maintain the present position of your

forces until each has notice of a failure to agree.

That a basis of action may be had, I undertake to abide by the same

terms and conditions as were made by Generals Grant and Lee at

Appomattox Court-House, on the 9th instant, relative to our two

armies; and, furthermore, to obtain from General Grant an order to

suspend the movements of any troops from the direction of Virginia.

General Stoneman is under my command, and my order will suspend any

devastation or destruction contemplated by him. I will add that I

really desire to save the people of North Carolina the damage they

would sustain by the march of this army through the central or

western parts of the State.

I am, with respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

I sent my aide-de-camp, Colonel McCoy, up to Durham's Station with

this letter, with instructions to receive the answer, to telegraph

its contents back to me at Raleigh, and to arrange for an

interview. On the 16th I received a reply from General Johnston,

agreeing to meet me the next day at a point midway between our

advance at Durham and his rear at Hillsboro'. I ordered a car and

locomotive to be prepared to convey me up to Durham's at eight

o'clock of the morning of April 17th. Just as we were entering the

car, the telegraph-operator, whose office was up-stairs in the

depot-building, ran down to me and said that he was at that instant

of time receiving a most important dispatch in cipher from Morehead

City, which I ought to see. I held the train for nearly half an

hour, when he returned with the message translated and written out.

It was from Mr. Stanton, announcing the assassination of Mr.

Lincoln, the attempt on the life of Mr. Seward and son, and a

suspicion that a like fate was designed for General Grant and all

the principal officers of the Government. Dreading the effect of

such a message at that critical instant of time, I asked the

operator if any one besides himself had seen it; he answered No!

I then bade him not to reveal the contents by word or look till I

came back, which I proposed to do the same afternoon. The train

then started, and, as we passed Morris's Station, General Logan,

commanding the Fifteenth Corps, came into my car, and I told him I

wanted to see him on my return, as I had something very important

to communicate. He knew I was going to meet General Johnston, and

volunteered to say that he hoped I would succeed in obtaining his

surrender, as the whole army dreaded the long march to Charlotte

(one hundred and seventy-five miles), already begun, but which had

been interrupted by the receipt of General Johnston's letter of the

13th. We reached Durham's, twenty-six miles, about 10 a.m., where

General Kilpatrick had a squadron of cavalry drawn up to receive

me. We passed into the house in which he had his headquarters, and

soon after mounted some led horses, which he had prepared for

myself and staff. General Kilpatrick sent a man ahead with a white

flag, followed by a small platoon, behind which we rode, and were

followed by the rest of the escort. We rode up the Hillsboro' road

for about five miles, when our flag bearer discovered another

coming to meet him: They met, and word was passed back to us that

General Johnston was near at hand, when we rode forward and met

General Johnston on horseback, riding side by side with General

Wade Hampton. We shook hands, and introduced our respective

attendants. I asked if there was a place convenient where we could

be private, and General Johnston said he had passed a small

farmhouse a short distance back, when we rode back to it together

side by side, our staff-officers and escorts following. We had

never met before, though we had been in the regular army together

for thirteen years; but it so happened that we had never before

come

together. He was some twelve or more years my senior; but we knew

enough of each other to be well acquainted at once. We soon

reached the house of a Mr. Bennett, dismounted, and left our horses

with orderlies in the road. Our officers, on foot, passed into the

yard, and General Johnston and I entered the small frame-house. We

asked the farmer if we could have the use of his house for a few

minutes, and he and his wife withdrew into a smaller log-house,

which stood close by.

As soon as we were alone together I showed him the dispatch

announcing Mr. Lincoln's assassination, and watched him closely.

The perspiration came out in large drops on his forehead, and he

did not attempt to conceal his distress. He denounced the act as a

disgrace to the age, and hoped I did not charge it to the

Confederate Government. I told him I could not believe that he or

General Lee, or the officers of the Confederate army, could

possibly be privy to acts of assassination; but I would not say as

much for Jeff. Davis, George Sanders, and men of that stripe. We

talked about the effect of this act on the country at large and on

the armies, and he realized that it made my situation extremely

delicate. I explained to him that I had not yet revealed the news

to my own personal staff or to the army, and that I dreaded the

effect when made known in Raleigh. Mr. Lincoln was peculiarly

endeared to the soldiers, and I feared that some foolish woman or

man in Raleigh might say something or do something that would

madden our men, and that a fate worse than that of Columbia would

befall the place.

I then told Johnston that he must be convinced that he could not

oppose my army, and that, since Lee had surrendered, he could do

the same with honor and propriety. He plainly and repeatedly

admitted this, and added that any further fighting would be

"murder;" but he thought that, instead of surrendering piecemeal,

we might arrange terms that would embrace all the Confederate

armies. I asked him if he could control other armies than his own;

he said, not then, but intimated that he could procure authority

from Mr. Davis. I then told him that I had recently had an

interview with General Grant and President Lincoln, and that I was

possessed of their views; that with them and the people North there

seemed to be no vindictive feeling against the Confederate armies,

but there was against Davis and his political adherents; and that

the terms that General Grant had given to General Lee's army were

certainly most generous and liberal. All this he admitted, but

always recurred to the idea of a universal surrender, embracing his

own army, that of Dick Taylor in Louisiana and Texas, and of Maury,

Forrest, and others, in Alabama and Georgia. General Johnston's

account of our interview in his "Narrative" (page 402, et seq.) is

quite accurate and correct, only I do not recall his naming the

capitulation of Loeben, to which he refers. Our conversation was

very general and extremely cordial, satisfying me that it could

have but one result, and that which we all desired, viz., to end

the war as quickly as possible; and, being anxious to return to

Raleigh before the news of Mr. Lincoln's assassination could be

divulged, on General Johnston's saying that he thought that, during

the night, he could procure authority to act in the name of all the

Confederate armies in existence we agreed to meet again the next

day at noon at the same place, and parted, he for Hillsboro' and I

for Raleigh.

We rode back to Durham's Station in the order we had come, and then

I showed the dispatch announcing Mr. Lincoln's death. I cautioned

the officers to watch the soldiers closely, to prevent any violent

retaliation by them, leaving that to the Government at Washington;

and on our way back to Raleigh in the cars I showed the same

dispatch to General Logan and to several of the officers of the

Fifteenth Corps that were posted at Morrisville and Jones's

Station, all of whom were deeply impressed by it; but all gave

their opinion that this sad news should not change our general

course of action.

As soon as I reached Raleigh I published the following orders to

the army, announcing the assassination of the President, and I

doubt if, in the whole land, there were more sincere mourners over

his sad fate than were then in and about Raleigh. I watched the

effect closely, and was gratified that there was no single act of

retaliation; though I saw and felt that one single word by me would

have laid the city in ashes, and turned its whole population

houseless upon the country, if not worse:

[Special Field Orders, No. 56.]

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 17, 1865.

The general commanding announces, with pain and sorrow, that on the

evening of the 14th instant, at the theatre in Washington city, his

Excellency the President of the United States, Mr. Lincoln, was

assassinated by one who uttered the State motto of Virginia. At

the same time, the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, while suffering

from a broken arm, was also stabbed by another murderer in his own

house, but still survives, and his son was wounded, supposed

fatally. It is believed, by persons capable of judging, that other

high officers were designed to share the same fate. Thus it seems

that our enemy, despairing of meeting us in open, manly warfare,

begins to resort to the assassin's tools.

Your general does not wish you to infer that this is universal, for

he knows that the great mass of the Confederate army world scorn to

sanction each acts, but he believes it the legitimate consequence

of rebellion against rightful authority.

We have met every phase which this war has assumed, and must now be

prepared for it in its last and worst shape, that of assassins and

guerrillas; but woe onto the people who seek to expend their wild

passions in such a manner, for there is but one dread result!

By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman,

L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.

During the evening of the 17th and morning of the 18th I saw nearly

all the general officers of the army (Schofield, Slocum, Howard,

Logan, Blair), and we talked over the matter of the conference at

Bennett's house of the day before, and, without exception, all

advised me to agree to some terms, for they all dreaded the long

and harassing march in pursuit of a dissolving and fleeing army--

a march that might carry us back again over the thousand miles that

we had just accomplished. We all knew that if we could bring

Johnston's army to bay, we could destroy it in an hour, but that

was simply impossible in the country in which we found ourselves.

We discussed all the probabilities, among which was, whether, if

Johnston made a point of it, I should assent to the escape from the

country of Jeff. Davis and his fugitive cabinet; and some one of my

general officers, either Logan or Blair, insisted that, if asked

for, we should even provide a vessel to carry them to Nassau from

Charleston.

The next morning I again started in the cars to Durham's Station,

accompanied by most of my personal staff, and by Generals Blair,

Barry, Howard, etc., and, reaching General Kilpatrick's

headquarters at Durham's, we again mounted, and rode, with the same

escort of the day, before, to Bennett's house, reaching there

punctually at noon. General Johnston had not yet arrived, but a

courier shortly came, and reported him as on the way. It must have

been nearly 2 p.m. when he arrived, as before, with General Wade

Hampton. He had halted his escort out of sight, and we again

entered Bennett's house, and I closed the door. General Johnston

then assured me that he had authority over all the Confederate

armies, so that they would obey his orders to surrender on the same

terms with his own, but he argued that, to obtain so cheaply this

desirable result, I ought to give his men and officers some

assurance of their political rights after their surrender. I

explained to him that Mr. Lincoln's proclamation of amnesty, of

December 8, 1863, still in force; enabled every Confederate soldier

and officer, below the rank of colonel, to obtain an absolute

pardon, by simply laying down his arms, and taking the common oath

of allegiance, and that General Grant, in accepting the surrender

of General Lee's army, had extended the same principle to all the

officers, General Lee included; such a pardon, I understood, would

restore to them all their rights of citizenship. But he insisted

that the officers and men of the Confederate army were

unnecessarily alarmed about this matter, as a sort of bugbear. He

then said that Mr. Breckenridge was near at hand, and he thought

that it would be well for him to be present. I objected, on the

score that he was then in Davis's cabinet, and our negotiations

should be confined strictly to belligerents. He then said

Breckenridge was a major-general in the Confederate army, and might

sink his character of Secretary of War. I consented, and he sent

one of his staff-officers back, who soon returned with

Breckenridge, and he entered the room. General Johnston and I then

again went over the whole ground, and Breckenridge confirmed what

he had said as to the uneasiness of the Southern officers and

soldiers about their political rights in case of surrender. While

we were in consultation, a messenger came with a parcel of papers,

which General Johnston said were from Mr. Reagan,

Postmaster-General. He and Breckenridge looked over them, and,

after some side conversation, he handed one of the papers to me.

It was in Reagan's handwriting, and began with a long preamble and

terms, so general and verbose, that I said they were inadmissible.

Then recalling the conversation of Mr. Lincoln, at City Point, I

sat down at the table, and wrote off the terms, which I thought

concisely expressed his views and wishes, and explained that I was

willing to submit these terms to the new President, Mr. Johnson,

provided that both armies should remain in statu quo until the

truce therein declared should expire. I had full faith that

General Johnston would religiously respect the truce, which he did;

and that I would be the gainer, for in the few days it would take

to send the papers to Washington, and receive an answer, I could

finish the railroad up to Raleigh, and be the better prepared for a

long chase.

Neither Mr. Breckenridge nor General Johnston wrote one word of

that paper. I wrote it myself, and announced it as the best I

could do, and they readily assented.

While copies of this paper were being made for signature, the

officers of our staffs commingled in the yard at Bennett's house,

and were all presented to Generals Johnston and Breckenridge. All

without exception were rejoiced that the war was over, and that in

a very few days we could turn our faces toward home. I remember

telling Breckenridge that he had better get away, as the feeling of

our people was utterly hostile to the political element of the

South, and to him especially, because he was the Vice-President of

the United States, who had as such announced Mr. Lincoln, of

Illinois, duly and properly elected the President of the United

States, and yet that he had afterward openly rebelled and taken up

arms against the Government. He answered me that he surely would

give us no more trouble, and intimated that he would speedily leave

the country forever. I may have also advised him that Mr. Davis

too should get abroad as soon as possible.

The papers were duly signed; we parted about dark, and my party

returned to Raleigh. Early the next morning, April 19th, I

dispatched by telegraph to Morehead City to prepare a fleet-steamer

to carry a messenger to Washington, and sent Major Henry Hitchcock

down by rail, bearing the following letters, and agreement with

General Johnston, with instructions to be very careful to let

nothing escape him to the greedy newspaper correspondents, but to

submit his papers to General Halleck, General Grant, or the

Secretary of War, and to bring me back with all expedition their

orders and instructions.

On their face they recited that I had no authority to make final

terms involving civil or political questions, but that I submitted

them to the proper quarter in Washington for their action; and the

letters fully explained that the military situation was such that

the delay was an advantage to us. I cared little whether they were

approved, modified, or disapproved in toto; only I wanted

instructions. Many of my general officers, among whom, I am almost

positive, were Generals Logan and Blair, urged me to accept the

"terms," without reference at all to Washington, but I preferred

the latter course:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 18, 1886.

General H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C.

GENERAL: I received your dispatch describing the man Clark,

detailed to assassinate me. He had better be in a hurry, or he

will be too late.

The news of Mr. Lincoln's death produced a most intense effect on

our troops. At first I feared it would lead to excesses; but now

it has softened down, and can easily be guided. None evinced more

feeling than General Johnston, who admitted that the act was

calculated to stain his cause with a dark hue; and he contended

that the loss was most serious to the South, who had begun to

realize that Mr. Lincoln was the best friend they had.

I cannot believe that even Mr. Davis was privy to the diabolical

plot, but think it the emanation of a set of young men of the

South, who are very devils. I want to throw upon the South the

care of this class of men, who will soon be as obnoxious to their

industrial classes as to us.

Had I pushed Johnston's army to an extremity, it would have

dispersed, and done infinite mischief. Johnston informed me that

General Stoneman had been at Salisbury, and was now at Statesville.

I have sent him orders to come to me.

General Johnston also informed me that General Wilson was at

Columbia, Georgia, and he wanted me to arrest his progress. I leave

that to you.

Indeed, if the President sanctions my agreement with Johnston, our

interest is to cease all destruction.

Please give all orders necessary according to the views the

Executive may take, and influence him, if possible, not to vary the

terms at all, for I have considered every thing, and believe that,

the Confederate armies once dispersed, we can adjust all else

fairly and well. I am, yours, etc.,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 18, 1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, or Major-General HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.

GENERAL: I inclose herewith a copy of an agreement made this day

between General Joseph E. Johnston and myself, which, if approved

by the President of the United States, will produce peace from the

Potomac to the Rio Grande. Mr. Breckenridge was present at our

conference, in the capacity of major-general, and satisfied me of

the ability of General Johnston to carry out to their full extent

the terms of this agreement; and if you will get the President to

simply indorse the copy, and commission me to carry out the terms,

I will follow them to the conclusion.

You will observe that it is an absolute submission of the enemy to

the lawful authority of the United States, and disperses his armies

absolutely; and the point to which I attach most importance is,

that the dispersion and disbandment of these armies is done in such

a manner as to prevent their breaking up into guerrilla bands. On

the other hand, we can retain just as much of an army as we please.

I agreed to the mode and manner of the surrender of arms set forth,

as it gives the States the means of repressing guerrillas, which we

could not expect them to do if we stripped them of all arms.

Both Generals Johnston and Breckenridge admitted that slavery was

dead, and I could not insist on embracing it in such a paper,

because it can be made with the States in detail. I know that all

the men of substance South sincerely want peace, and I do not

believe they will resort to war again during this century. I have

no doubt that they will in the future be perfectly subordinate to

the laws of the United States. The moment my action in this matter

is approved, I can spare five corps, and will ask for orders to

leave General Schofield here with the Tenth Corps, and to march

myself with the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth, and

Twenty-third Corps via Burkesville and Gordonsville to Frederick or

Hagerstown, Maryland, there to be paid and mustered out.

The question of finance is now the chief one, and every soldier and

officer not needed should be got home at work. I would like to be

able to begin the march north by May 1st.

I urge, on the part of the President, speedy action, as it is

important to get the Confederate armies to their homes as well as

our own.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

Memorandum, or Basis of agreement, made this 18th day of April, A.

D. 1865, near Durham's Station, in the State of North Carolina, by

and between General Joseph E. JOHNSTON, commanding the Confederate

Army, and Major-General William T. SHERMAN, commanding the army of

the United States in North Carolina, both present:

1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the statu

quo until notice is given by the commanding general of any one to

its opponent, and reasonable time--say, forty-eight hours--allowed.

2. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and

conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their

arms and public property in the State Arsenal; and each officer and

man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and

to abide the action of the State and Federal authority. The number

of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of

Ordnance at Washington City, subject to the future action of the

Congress of the United States, and, in the mean time, to be needed

solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States

respectively.

3. The recognition, by the Executive of the United States, of the

several State governments, on their officers and Legislatures

taking the oaths prescribed by the Constitution of the United

States, and, where conflicting State governments have resulted from

the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme

Court of the United States.

4. The reestablishment of all the Federal Courts in the several

States, with powers as defined by the Constitution of the United

States and of the States respectively.

5. The people and inhabitants of all the States to be guaranteed,

so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises,

as well as their rights of person sad property, as defined by the

Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.

6. The Executive authority of the Government of the United States

not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long

as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed

hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their

residence.

7. In general terms--the war to cease; a general amnesty, so far

as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of

the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of the

arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and

men hitherto composing said armies.

Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill

these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to

promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above

programme.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General,

Commanding Army of the United States in North Carolina.

J. E. JOHNSTON, General,

Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina.

Major Hitchcock got off on the morning of the 20th, and I reckoned

that it would take him four or five days to go to Washington and

back. During that time the repairs on all the railroads and

telegraph-lines were pushed with energy, and we also got possession

of the railroad and telegraph from Raleigh to Weldon, in the

direction of Norfolk. Meantime the troops remained statu quo, our

cavalry occupying Durham's Station and Chapel Hill. General

Slocum's head of column was at Aven's Ferry on Cape Fear River, and

General Howard's was strung along the railroad toward Hillsboro';

the rest of the army was in and about Raleigh.

On the 20th I reviewed the Tenth Corps, and was much pleased at the

appearance of General Paines's division of black troops, the first

I had ever seen as a part of an organized army; and on the 21st I

reviewed the Twenty-third Corps, which had been with me to Atlanta,

but had returned to Nashville had formed an essential part of the

army which fought at Franklin, and with which General Thomas had

defeated General Hood in Tennessee. It had then been transferred

rapidly by rail to Baltimore and Washington by General Grant's

orders, and thence by sea to North Carolina. Nothing of interest

happened at Raleigh till the evening of April 23d, when Major

Hitchcock reported by telegraph his return to Morehead City, and

that he would come up by rail during the night. He arrived at 6

a.m., April 24th, accompanied by General Grant and one or two

officers of his staff, who had not telegraphed the fact of their

being on the train, for prudential reasons. Of course, I was both

surprised and pleased to see the general, soon learned that my

terms with Johnston had been disapproved, was instructed by him to

give the forty-eight hours' notice required by the terms of the

truce, and afterward to proceed to attack or follow him. I

immediately telegraphed to General Kilpatrick, at Durham's, to have

a mounted courier ready to carry the following message, then on its

way up by rail, to the rebel lines:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 24, 1865 6 A.M.

General JOHNSTON, commanding Confederate Army, Greensboro':

You will take notice that the truce or suspension of hostilities

agreed to between us will cease in forty-eight hours after this is

received at your lines, under the first of the articles of

agreement.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

At the same time I wrote another short note to General Johnston, of

the same date:

I have replies from Washington to my communications of April 18th.

I am instructed to limit my operations to your immediate command,

and not to attempt civil negotiations. I therefore demand the

surrender of your army on the same terms as were given to General

Lee at Appomattox, April 9th instant, purely and simply.

Of course, both these papers were shown to General Grant at the

time, before they were sent, and he approved of them.

At the same time orders were sent to all parts of the army to be

ready to resume the pursuit of the enemy on the expiration of the

forty-eight hours' truce, and messages were sent to General

Gillmore (at Hilton Head) to the same effect, with instructions to

get a similar message through to General Wilson, at Macon, by some

means.

General Grant had brought with him, from Washington, written

answers from the Secretary of War, and of himself, to my

communications of the 18th, which I still possess, and here give

the originals. They embrace the copy of a dispatch made by Mr.

Stanton to General Grant, when he was pressing Lee at Appomattox,

which dispatch, if sent me at the same time (as should have been

done), would have saved a world of trouble. I did not understand

that General Grant had come down to supersede me in command, nor

did he intimate it, nor did I receive these communications as a

serious reproof, but promptly acted on them, as is already shown;

and in this connection I give my answer made to General Grant, at

Raleigh, before I had received any answer from General Johnston to

the demand for the surrender of his own army, as well as my answer

to Mr. Stanton's letter, of the same date, both written on the

supposition that I might have to start suddenly in pursuit of

Johnston, and have no other chance to explain.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, April 21, 1865.

Lieutenant-General GRANT.

GENERAL: The memorandum or basis agreed upon between General

Sherman and General Johnston having been submitted to the

President, they are disapproved. You will give notice of the

disapproval to General Sherman, and direct him to resume

hostilities at the earliest moment.

The instructions given to you by the late President, Abraham

Lincoln, on the 3d of March, by my telegraph of that date,

addressed to you, express substantially the views of President

Andrew Johnson, and will be observed by General Sherman. A copy is

herewith appended.

The President desires that you proceed immediately to the

headquarters of Major-General Sherman, and direct operations

against the enemy.

Yours truly,

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

The following telegram was received 2 p.m., City Point, March 4,

1865 (from Washington, 12 M., March 3,1865)

[CIPHER]

OFFICE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH,

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have

no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation

of Lee's army or on solely minor and purely military matters.

He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or

confer upon any political question; such questions the President

holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military

conferences or conventions.

Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

WASHINGTON, D.C. April 21, 1865.

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of the

Mississippi.

GENERAL: The basis of agreement entered into between yourself and

General J. E. Johnston, for the disbandment of the Southern army,

and the extension of the authority of the General Government over

all the territory belonging to it, sent for the approval of the

President, is received.

I read it carefully myself before submitting it to the President

and Secretary of War, and felt satisfied that it could not possibly

be approved. My reason for these views I will give you at another

time, in a more extended letter.

Your agreement touches upon questions of such vital importance

that, as soon as read, I addressed a note to the Secretary of War,

notifying him of their receipt, and the importance of immediate

action by the President; and suggested, in view of their

importance, that the entire Cabinet be called together, that all

might give an expression of their opinions upon the matter. The

result was a disapproval by the President of the basis laid down; a

disapproval of the negotiations altogether except for the surrender

of the army commanded by General Johnston, and directions to me to

notify you of this decision. I cannot do no better than by sending

you the inclosed copy of a dispatch (penned by the late President,

though signed by the Secretary of War) in answer to me, on sending

a letter received from General Lee, proposing to meet me for the

purpose of submitting the question of peace to a convention of

officers.

Please notify General Johnston, immediately on receipt of this, of

the termination of the truce, and resume hostilities against his

army at the earliest moment you can, acting in good faith.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 25, 1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, present.

GENERAL: I had the honor to receive your letter of April 21st, with

inclosures, yesterday, and was well pleased that you came along, as

you must have observed that I held the military control so as to

adapt it to any phase the case might assume.

It is but just I should record the fact that I made my terms with

General Johnston under the influence of the liberal terms you

extended to the army of General Lee at Appomattox Court-House on

the 9th, and the seeming policy of our Government, as evinced by

the call of the Virginia Legislature and Governor back to Richmond,

under yours and President Lincoln's very eyes.

It now appears this last act was done without any consultation with

you or any knowledge of Mr. Lincoln, but rather in opposition to a

previous policy well considered.

I have not the least desire to interfere in the civil policy of our

Government, but would shun it as something not to my liking; but

occasions do arise when a prompt seizure of results is forced on

military commanders not in immediate communication with the proper

authority. It is probable that the terms signed by General

Johnston and myself were not clear enough on the point, well

understood between us, that our negotiations did not apply to any

parties outside the officers and men of the Confederate armies,

which could easily have been remedied.

No surrender of any army not actually at the mercy of an antagonist

was ever made without "terms," and these always define the military

status of the surrendered. Thus you stipulated that the officers

and men of Lee's army should not be molested at their homes so long

as they obeyed the laws at the place of their residence.

I do not wish to discuss these points involved in our recognition

of the State governments in actual existence, but will merely state

my conclusions, to await the solution of the future.

Such action on our part in no manner recognizes for a moment the

so-called Confederate Government, or makes us liable for its debts

or acts.

The laws and acts done by the several States during the period of

rebellion are void, because done without the oath prescribed by our

Constitution of the United States, which is a "condition

precedent."

We have a right to, use any sort of machinery to produce military

results; and it is the commonest thing for military commanders to

use the civil governments in actual existence as a means to an end.

I do believe we could and can use the present State governments

lawfully, constitutionally, and as the very best possible means to

produce the object desired, viz., entire and complete submission to

the lawful authority of the United States.

As to punishment for past crimes, that is for the judiciary, and

can in no manner of way be disturbed by our acts; and, so far as I

can, I will use my influence that rebels shall suffer all the

personal punishment prescribed by law, as also the civil

liabilities arising from their past acts.

What we now want is the new form of law by which common men may

regain the positions of industry, so long disturbed by the war.

I now apprehend that the rebel armies will disperse; and, instead

of dealing with six or seven States, we will have to deal with

numberless bands of desperadoes, headed by such men as Mosby,

Forrest, Red Jackson, and others, who know not and care not for

danger and its consequences.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 25, 1865.

Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington.

DEAR SIR: I have been furnished a copy of your letter of April 21st

to General Grant, signifying your disapproval of the terms on which

General Johnston proposed to disarm and disperse the insurgents, on

condition of amnesty, etc. I admit my folly in embracing in a

military convention any civil matters; but, unfortunately, such is

the nature of our situation that they seem inextricably united, and

I understood from you at Savannah that the financial state of the

country demanded military success, and would warrant a little

bending to policy.

When I had my conference with General Johnston I had the public

examples before me of General Grant's terms to Lee's army, and

General Weitzel's invitation to the Virginia Legislature to

assemble at Richmond.

I still believe the General Government of the United States has

made a mistake; but that is none of my business--mine is a

different task; and I had flattered myself that, by four years of

patient, unremitting, and successful labor, I deserved no reminder

such as is contained in the last paragraph of your letter to

General Grant. You may assure the President that I heed his

suggestion. I am truly, etc.,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

On the same day, but later, I received an answer from General

Johnston, agreeing to meet me again at Bennett's house the next

day, April 26th, at noon. He did not even know that General Grant

was in Raleigh.

General Grant advised me to meet him, and to accept his surrender

on the same terms as his with General Lee; and on the 26th I again

went up to Durham's Station by rail, and rode out to Bennett's

house, where we again met, and General Johnston, without

hesitation, agreed to, and we executed, the following final terms:

Terms of a Military Convention, entered into this 26th day of

April, 1865, at Bennett's House, near Durham's Station., North

Carolina, between General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, commanding the

Confederate Army, and Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding the

United States Army in North Carolina:

1. All acts of war on the part of the troops under General

Johnston's command to cease from this date.

2. All arms and public property to be deposited at Greensboro',

and delivered to an ordnance-officer of the United States Army.

3. Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate; one

copy to be retained by the commander of the troops, and the other

to be given to an officer to be designated by General Sherman.

Each officer and man to give his individual obligation in writing

not to take up arms against the Government of the United States,

until properly released from this obligation.

4. The side-arms of officers, and their private horses and

baggage, to be retained by them.

5. This being done, all the officers and men will be permitted to

return to their homes, not to be disturbed by the United States

authorities, so long as they observe their obligation and the laws

in force where they may reside.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General,

Commanding United States Forces in North Carolina.

J. E. JOHNSTON, General,

Commanding Confederate States Forces in North Carolina.

Approved:

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

I returned to Raleigh the same evening, and, at my request, General

Grant wrote on these terms his approval, and then I thought the

matter was surely at an end. He took the original copy, on the

27th returned to Newbern, and thence went back to Washington.

I immediately made all the orders necessary to carry into effect

the terms of this convention, devolving on General Schofield the

details of granting the parole and making the muster-rolls of

prisoners, inventories of property, etc., of General Johnston's

army at and about Greensboro', North Carolina, and on General

Wilson the same duties in Georgia; but, thus far, I had been

compelled to communicate with the latter through rebel sources, and

General Wilson was necessarily confused by the conflict of orders

and information. I deemed it of the utmost importance to establish

for him a more reliable base of information and supply, and

accordingly resolved to go in person to Savannah for that purpose.

But, before starting, I received a New York Times, of April 24th,

containing the following extraordinary communications:

[First Bulletin]

WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, April 22, 1885.

Yesterday evening a bearer of dispatches arrived from General

Sherman. An agreement for a suspension of hostilities, and a

memorandum of what is called a basis for peace, had been entered

into on the 18th inst. by General Sherman, with the rebel General

Johnston. Brigadier-General Breckenridge was present at the

conference.

A cabinet meeting was held at eight o'clock in the evening, at

which the action of General Sherman was disapproved by the

President, by the Secretary of War, by General Grant, and by every

member of the cabinet. General Sherman was ordered to resume

hostilities immediately, and was directed that the instructions

given by the late President, in the following telegram, which was

penned by Mr. Lincoln himself, at the Capitol, on the night of the

3d of March, were approved by President Andrew Johnson, and were

reiterated to govern the action of military commanders.

On the night of the 3d of March, while President Lincoln and his

cabinet were at the Capitol, a telegram from General Grant was

brought to the Secretary of War, informing him that General Lee had

requested an interview or conference, to make an arrangement for

terms of peace. The letter of General Lee was published in a

letter to Davis and to the rebel Congress. General Grant's

telegram was submitted to Mr. Lincoln, who, after pondering a few

minutes, took up his pen and wrote with his own hand the following

reply, which he submitted to the Secretary of State and Secretary

of War. It was then dated, addressed, and signed, by the Secretary

of War, and telegraphed to General Grant:

WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865-12 P.M.

Lieutenant-General GRANT:

The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have

no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation

of General Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military matter.

He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or

confer upon any political questions. Such questions the President

holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military

conferences or conventions.

Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

The orders of General Sherman to General Stoneman to withdraw from

Salisbury and join him will probably open the way for Davis to

escape to Mexico or Europe with his plunder, which is reported to

be very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond

banks, but previous accumulations.

A dispatch received by this department from Richmond says: "It is

stated here, by respectable parties, that the amount of specie

taken south by Jeff. Davis and his partisans is very large,

including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous

accumulations. They hope, it is said, to make terms with General

Sherman, or some other commander, by which they will be permitted,

with their effects, including this gold plunder, to go to Mexico or

Europe. Johnston's negotiations look to this end."

After the cabinet meeting last night, General Grant started for

North Carolina, to direct operations against Johnston's army.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

Here followed the terms, and Mr. Stanton's ten reasons for

rejecting them.

The publication of this bulletin by authority was an outrage on me,

for Mr. Stanton had failed to communicate to me in advance, as was

his duty, the purpose of the Administration to limit our

negotiations to purely military matters; but, on the contrary, at

Savannah he had authorized me to control all matters, civil and

military.

By this bulletin, he implied that I had previously been furnished

with a copy of his dispatch of March 3d to General Grant, which was

not so; and he gave warrant to the impression, which was sown

broadcast, that I might be bribed by banker's gold to permit Davis

to escape. Under the influence of this, I wrote General Grant the

following letter of April 28th, which has been published in the

Proceedings of the Committee on the Conduct of the War.

I regarded this bulletin of Mr. Stanton as a personal and official

insult, which I afterward publicly resented.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 28,1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, General-in-Chief, Washington, D. C.

GENERAL: Since you left me yesterday, I have seen the New York

Times of the 24th, containing a budget of military news,

authenticated by the signature of the Secretary of War, Hon. E. M.

Stanton, which is grouped in such a way as to give the public very

erroneous impressions. It embraces a copy of the basis of

agreement between myself and General Johnston, of April 18th, with

comments, which it will be time enough to discuss two or three

years hence, after the Government has experimented a little more in

the machinery by which power reaches the scattered people of the

vast country known as the "South."

In the mean time, however, I did think that my rank (if not past

services) entitled me at least to trust that the Secretary of War

would keep secret what was communicated for the use of none but the

cabinet, until further inquiry could be made, instead of giving

publicity to it along with documents which I never saw, and drawing

therefrom inferences wide of the truth. I never saw or had

furnished me a copy of President Lincoln's dispatch to you of the

3d of March, nor did Mr. Stanton or any human being ever convey to

me its substance, or any thing like it. On the contrary, I had

seen General Weitzel's invitation to the Virginia Legislature, made

in Mr. Lincoln's very presence, and failed to discover any other

official hint of a plan of reconstruction, or any ideas calculated

to allay the fears of the people of the South, after the

destruction of their armies and civil authorities would leave them

without any government whatever.

We should not drive a people into anarchy, and it is simply

impossible for our military power to reach all the masses of their

unhappy country.

I confess I did not desire to drive General Johnston's army into

bands of armed men, going about without purpose, and capable only

of infinite mischief. But you saw, on your arrival here, that I

had my army so disposed that his escape was only possible in a

disorganized shape; and as you did not choose to "direct military

operations in this quarter," I inferred that you were satisfied

with the military situation; at all events, the instant I learned

what was proper enough, the disapproval of the President, I acted

in such a manner as to compel the surrender of General Johnston's

whole army on the same terms which you had prescribed to General

Lee's army, when you had it surrounded and in your absolute power.

Mr. Stanton, in stating that my orders to General Stoneman were

likely to result in the escape of "Mr. Davis to Mexico or Europe,"

is in deep error. General Stoneman was not at "Salisbury," but had

gone back to "Statesville." Davis was between us, and therefore

Stoneman was beyond him. By turning toward me he was approaching

Davis, and, had he joined me as ordered, I would have had a mounted

force greatly needed for Davis's capture, and for other purposes.

Even now I don't know that Mr. Stanton wants Davis caught, and as

my official papers, deemed sacred, are hastily published to the

world, it will be imprudent for me to state what has been done in

that regard.

As the editor of the Times has (it may be) logically and fairly

drawn from this singular document the conclusion that I am

insubordinate, I can only deny the intention.

I have never in my life questioned or disobeyed an order, though

many and many a time have I risked my life, health, and reputation,

in obeying orders, or even hints to execute plans and purposes, not

to my liking. It is not fair to withhold from me the plans and

policy of Government (if any there be), and expect me to guess at

them; for facts and events appear quite different from different

stand-points. For four years I have been in camp dealing with

soldiers, and I can assure you that the conclusion at which the

cabinet arrived with such singular unanimity differs from mine.

I conferred freely with the best officers in this army as to the

points involved in this controversy, and, strange to say, they were

singularly unanimous in the other conclusion. They will learn with

pain and amazement that I am deemed insubordinate, and wanting in

commonsense; that I, who for four years have labored day and night,

winter and summer, who have brought an army of seventy thousand men

in magnificent condition across a country hitherto deemed

impassable, and placed it just where it was wanted, on the day

appointed, have brought discredit on our Government! I do not wish

to boast of this, but I do say that it entitled me to the courtesy

of being consulted, before publishing to the world a proposition

rightfully submitted to higher authority for adjudication, and then

accompanied by statements which invited the dogs of the press to be

let loose upon me. It is true that non-combatants, men who sleep

in comfort and security while we watch on the distant lines, are

better able to judge than we poor soldiers, who rarely see a

newspaper, hardly hear from our families, or stop long enough to

draw our pay. I envy not the task of "reconstruction," and am

delighted that the Secretary of War has relieved me of it.

As you did not undertake to assume the management of the affairs of

this army, I infer that, on personal inspection, your mind arrived

at a different conclusion from that of the Secretary of War. I

will therefore go on to execute your orders to the conclusion, and,

when done, will with intense satisfaction leave to the civil

authorities the execution of the task of which they seem so

jealous. But, as an honest man and soldier, I invite them to go

back to Nashville and follow my path, for they will see some things

and hear some things that may disturb their philosophy.

With sincere respect,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

P. S.--As Mr. Stanton's most singular paper has been published, I

demand that this also be made public, though I am in no manner

responsible to the press, but to the law, and my proper superiors.

W. T. S., Major-General.

On the 28th I summoned all the army and corps commanders together

at my quarters in the Governor's mansion at Raleigh, where every

thing was explained to them, and all orders for the future were

completed. Generals Schofield, Terry, and Kilpatrick, were to

remain on duty in the Department of North Carolina, already

commanded by General Schofield, and the right and left wings were

ordered to march under their respective commanding generals North

by easy stages to Richmond, Virginia, there to await my return

from the South.

On the 29th of April, with a part of my personal staff, I proceeded

by rail to Wilmington, North Carolina, where I found Generals

Hawley and Potter, and the little steamer Russia, Captain Smith,

awaiting me. After a short pause in Wilmington, we embarked, and

proceeded down the coast to Port Royal and the Savannah River,

which we reached on the 1st of May. There Captain Hoses, who had

just come from General Wilson at Macon, met us, bearing letters for

me and General Grant, in which General Wilson gave a brief summary

of his operations up to date. He had marched from Eastport,

Mississippi, five hundred miles in thirty days, took six thousand

three hundred prisoners, twenty-three colors, and one hundred and

fifty-six guns, defeating Forrest, scattering the militia, and

destroying every railroad, iron establishment, and factory, in

North Alabama and Georgia.

He spoke in the highest terms of his cavalry, as "cavalry,"

claiming that it could not be excelled, and he regarded his corps

as a model for modern cavalry in organization, armament, and

discipline. Its strength was given at thirteen thousand five

hundred men and horses on reaching Macon. Of course I was

extremely gratified at his just confidence, and saw that all he

wanted for efficient action was a sure base of supply, so that he

need no longer depend for clothing, ammunition, food, and forage,

on the country, which, now that war had ceased, it was our solemn

duty to protect, instead of plunder. I accordingly ordered the

captured steamer Jeff. Davis to be loaded with stores, to proceed

at once up the Savannah River to Augusta, with a small detachment

of troops to occupy the arsenal, and to open communication with

General Wilson at Macon; and on the next day, May 2d, this steamer

was followed by another with a fall cargo of clothing, sugar,

coffee, and bread, sent from Hilton Head by the department

commander, General Gillmore, with a stronger guard commanded by

General Molineux. Leaving to General Gillmore, who was present,

and in whose department General Wilson was, to keep up the supplies

at Augusta, and to facilitate as far as possible General Wilson's

operations inland, I began my return on the 2d of May. We went

into Charleston Harbor, passing the ruins of old Forts Moultrie and

Sumter without landing. We reached the city of Charleston, which

was held by part of the division of General John P. Hatch, the

same that we had left at Pocotaligo. We walked the old familiar

streets--Broad, King, Meeting, etc.--but desolation and ruin were

everywhere. The heart of the city had been burned during the

bombardment, and the rebel garrison at the time of its final

evacuation had fired the railroad-depots, which fire had spread,

and was only subdued by our troops after they had reached the city.

I inquired for many of my old friends, but they were dead or gone,

and of them all I only saw a part of the family of Mrs. Pettigru.

I doubt whether any city was ever more terribly punished than

Charleston, but, as her people had for years been agitating for war

and discord, and had finally inaugurated the civil war by an attack

on the small and devoted garrison of Major Anderson, sent there by

the General Government to defend them, the judgment of the world

will be, that Charleston deserved the fate that befell her.

Resuming our voyage, we passed into Cape Fear River by its mouth at

Fort Caswell and Smithville, and out by the new channel at Fort

Fisher, and reached Morehead City on the 4th of May. We found

there the revenue-cutter Wayanda, on board of which were the Chief-

Justice, Mr. Chase, and his daughter Nettie, now Mrs. Hoyt. The

Chief-Justice at that moment was absent on a visit to Newbern, but

came back the next day. Meantime, by means of the telegraph, I was

again in correspondence with General Schofield at Raleigh. He had

made great progress in paroling the officers and men of Johnston's

army at Greensboro', but was embarrassed by the utter confusion and

anarchy that had resulted from a want of understanding on many

minor points, and on the political questions that had to be met at

the instant. In order to facilitate the return to their homes of

the Confederate officers and men, he had been forced to make with

General Johnston the following supplemental terms, which were of

course ratified and approved:

MILITARY CONVENTION OF APRIL 26, 1865.

SUPPLEMENTAL TERMS.

1. The field transportation to be loaned to the troops for their

march to their homes, and for subsequent use in their industrial

pursuits. Artillery-horses may be used in field-transportation, if

necessary.

2. Each brigade or separate body to retain a number of arms equal

to one-seventh of its effective strength, which, when the troops

reach the capitals of their states, will be disposed of as the

general commanding the department may direct.

3. Private horses, and other private property of both officers and

men, to be retained by them.

4. The commanding general of the Military Division of West

Mississippi, Major-General Canby, will be requested to give

transportation by water, from Mobile or New Orleans, to the troops

from Arkansas and Texas.

5. The obligations of officers and soldiers to be signed by their

immediate commanders.

6. Naval forces within the limits of General Johnston's command to

be included in the terms of this convention.

J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General,

Commanding United States Forces in North Carolina.

J. E. JOHNSTON, General,

Commanding Confederate States Forces in North Carolina.

The total number of prisoners of war parolled by

General Schofield, at Greensboro', North Carolina,

as afterward officially reported, amounted to ........ 38,817

And the total number who surrendered in Georgia

and Florida, as reported by General J. H. Wilson,

was .................................................. 52,458

Aggregate surrendered under the capitulation of

General J. E. Johnston ............................... 89,270

On the morning of the 5th I also received from General Schofield

this dispatch:

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, May 5, 1866.

To Major-General W: T. SHERMAN, Morehead City:

When General Grant was here, as you doubtless recollect, he said

the lines (for trade and intercourse) had been extended to embrace

this and other States south. The order, it seems, has been

modified so as to include only Virginia and Tennessee. I think it

would be an act of wisdom to open this State to trade at once.

I hope the Government will make known its policy as to the organs

of State government without delay. Affairs must necessarily be in

a very unsettled state until that is done. The people are now in a

mood to accept almost anything which promises a definite

settlement. "What is to be done with the freedmen?" is the

question of all, and it is the all important question. It requires

prompt and wise notion to prevent the negroes from becoming a huge

elephant on our hands. If I am to govern this State, it is

important for me to know it at once. If another is to be sent

here, it cannot be done too soon, for he probably will undo the

most that I shall have done. I shall be glad to hear from you

fully, when you have time to write. I will send your message to

General Wilson at once.

J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.

I was utterly without instructions from any source on the points of

General Schofield's inquiry, and under the existing state of facts

could not even advise him, for by this time I was in possession of

the second bulletin of Mr. Stanton, published in all the Northern

papers, with comments that assumed that I was a common traitor and

a public enemy; and high officials had even instructed my own

subordinates to disobey my lawful orders. General Halleck, who had

so long been in Washington as the chief of staff, had been sent on

the 21st of April to Richmond, to command the armies of the Potomac

and James, in place of General Grant, who had transferred his

headquarters to the national capital, and he (General Halleck) was

therefore in supreme command in Virginia, while my command over

North Carolina had never been revoked or modified.

[Second Bulletin.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 27 9.30 a.m.

To Major-General DIX:

The department has received the following dispatch from Major-

General Halleck, commanding the Military Division of the James.

Generals Canby and Thomas were instructed some days ago that

Sherman's arrangements with Johnston were disapproved by the

President, and they were ordered to disregard it and push the enemy

in every direction.

E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, April 26-9.30 p.m.

HON. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

Generals Meade, Sheridan, and Wright, are acting under orders to

pay no regard to any truce or orders of General Sherman respecting

hostilities, on the ground that Sherman's agreement could bind his

command only, and no other.

They are directed to push forward, regardless of orders from any

one except from General Grant, and cut off Johnston's retreat.

Beauregard has telegraphed to Danville that a new arrangement has

been made with Sherman, and that the advance of the Sixth Corps was

to be suspended until further orders.

I have telegraphed back to obey no orders of Sherman, but to push

forward as rapidly as possible.

The bankers here have information to-day that Jeff. Davis's specie

is moving south from Goldsboro', in wagons, as fast as possible.

I suggest that orders be telegraphed, through General Thomas, that

Wilson obey no orders from Sherman, and notifying him and Canby,

and all commanders on the Mississippi, to take measures to

intercept the rebel chiefs and their plunder.

The specie taken with them is estimated here at from six to

thirteen million dollars.

H. W. HALLECK, Major-General commanding.

Subsequently, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, in

Washington, on the 22d of May, I testified fully on this whole

matter, and will abide the judgment of the country on the

patriotism and wisdom of my public conduct in this connection.

General Halleck's measures to capture General Johnston's army,

actually surrendered to me at the time, at Greensboro', on the 26th

of April, simply excited my contempt for a judgment such as he was

supposed to possess. The assertion that Jeff. Davis's specie-

train, of six to thirteen million dollars, was reported to be

moving south from Goldsboro' in wagons as fast as possible, found

plenty of willing ears, though my army of eighty thousand men had

been at Goldsboro' from March 22d to the date of his dispatch,

April 26th; and such a train would have been composed of from

fifteen to thirty-two six-mule teams to have hauled this specie,

even if it all were in gold. I suppose the exact amount of

treasure which Davis had with him is now known to a cent; some of

it was paid to his escort, when it disbanded at and near

Washington, Georgia, and at the time of his capture he had a small

parcel of gold and silver coin, not to exceed ten thousand dollars,

which is now retained in the United States Treasury-vault at

Washington, and shown to the curious.

The thirteen millions of treasure, with which Jeff. Davis was to

corrupt our armies and buy his escape, dwindled down to the

contents of a hand-valise!

To say that I was merely angry at the tone and substance of these

published bulletins of the War Department, would hardly express the

state of my feelings. I was outraged beyond measure, and was

resolved to resent the insult, cost what it might. I went to the

Wayanda and showed them to Mr. Chase, with whom I had a long and

frank conversation, during which he explained to me the confusion

caused in Washington by the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the

sudden accession to power of Mr. Johnson, who was then supposed to

be bitter and vindictive in his feelings toward the South, and the

wild pressure of every class of politicians to enforce on the new

President their pet schemes. He showed me a letter of his own,

which was in print, dated Baltimore, April 11th, and another of

April 12th, addressed to the President, urging him to recognize the

freedmen as equal in all respects to the whites. He was the first

man, of any authority or station, who ever informed me that the

Government of the United States would insist on extending to the

former slaves of the South the elective franchise, and he gave as a

reason the fact that the slaves, grateful for their freedom, for

which they were indebted to the armies and Government of the North,

would, by their votes, offset the disaffected and rebel element of

the white population of the South. At that time quite a storm was

prevailing at sea, outside, and our two vessels lay snug at the

wharf at Morehead City. I saw a good deal of Mr. Chase, and

several notes passed between us, of which I have the originals yet.

Always claiming that the South had herself freed all her slaves by

rebellion, and that Mr. Lincoln's proclamation of freedom (of

September 22, 1862) was binding on all officers of the General

Government, I doubted the wisdom of at once clothing them with the

elective franchise, without some previous preparation and

qualification; and then realized the national loss in the death at

that critical moment of Mr. Lincoln, who had long pondered over the

difficult questions involved, who, at all events, would have been

honest and frank, and would not have withheld from his army

commanders at least a hint that would have been to them a guide.

It was plain to me, therefore, that the manner of his assassination

had stampeded the civil authorities in Washington, had unnerved

them, and that they were then undecided as to the measures

indispensably necessary to prevent anarchy at the South.

On the 7th of May the storm subsided, and we put to sea, Mr. Chase

to the south, on his proposed tour as far as New Orleans, and I for

James River. I reached Fortress Monroe on the 8th, and thence

telegraphed my arrival to General Grant, asking for orders. I

found at Fortress Monroe a dispatch from General Halleck,

professing great friendship, and inviting me to accept his

hospitality at Richmond. I answered by a cipher-dispatch that I

had seen his dispatch to Mr. Stanton, of April 26th, embraced in

the second bulletin, which I regarded as insulting, declined his

hospitality, and added that I preferred we should not meet as I

passed through Richmond. I thence proceeded to City Point in the

Russia, and on to Manchester, opposite Richmond, via Petersburg, by

rail. I found that both wings of the army had arrived from

Raleigh, and were in camp in and around Manchester, whence I again

telegraphed General Grant, an the 9th of May, for orders, and also

reported my arrival to General Halleck by letter. I found that

General Halleck had ordered General Davis's corps (the Fourteenth)

for review by himself. This I forbade. All the army knew of the

insult that had been made me by the Secretary of War and General

Halleck, and watched me closely to see if I would tamely submit.

During the 9th I made a full and complete report of all these

events, from the last report made at Goldsboro' up to date, and the

next day received orders to continue the march to Alexandria, near

Washington.

On the morning of the 11th we crossed the pontoon-bridge at

Richmond, marched through that city, and out on the Hanover

Court House road, General Slocum's left wing leading. The right wing

(General Logan) followed the next day, viz., the 12th. Meantime,

General O. O. Howard had been summoned to Washington to take charge

of the new Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and,

from that time till the army was finally disbanded, General John A.

Logan was in command of the right wing, and of the Army of the

Tennessee. The left wing marched through Hanover Court House, and

thence took roads well to the left by Chilesburg; the Fourteenth

Corps by New Market and Culpepper, Manassas, etc.; the Twentieth

Corps by Spotsylvania Court-House and Chancellorsville. The right

wing followed the more direct road by Fredericksburg. On my way

north I endeavored to see as much of the battle-fields of the Army

of the Potomac as I could, and therefore shifted from one column to

the other, visiting en route Hanover Court-House, Spotsylvania,

Fredericksburg, Dumfries, etc., reaching Alexandria during the

afternoon of May 19th, and pitched my camp by the road side, about

half-way between Alexandria and the Long Bridge. During the same

and next day the whole army reached Alexandria, and camped round

about it; General Meade's Army of the Potomac had possession of the

camps above, opposite Washington and Georgetown. The next day (by

invitation) I went over to Washington and met many friends--among

them General Grant and President Johnson. The latter occupied

rooms in the house on the corner of Fifteenth and H Streets,

belonging to Mr. Hooper. He was extremely cordial to me, and

knowing that I was chafing under the censures of the War

Department, especially of the two war bulletins of Mr. Stanton, he

volunteered to say that he knew of neither of them till seen in the

newspapers, and that Mr. Stanton had shown neither to him nor to

any of his associates in the cabinet till they were published.

Nearly all the members of the cabinet made similar assurances to me

afterward, and, as Mr. Stanton made no friendly advances, and

offered no word of explanation or apology, I declined General

Grant's friendly offices for a reconciliation, but, on the

contrary, resolved to resent what I considered an insult, as

publicly as it was made. My brother, Senator Sherman, who was Mr.

Stanton's neighbor, always insisted that Mr. Stanton had been

frightened by the intended assassination of himself, and had become

embittered thereby. At all events, I found strong military guards

around his house, as well as all the houses occupied by the cabinet

and by the principal officers of Government; and a sense of

insecurity pervaded Washington, for which no reason existed.

On the 19th I received a copy of War Department Special Order No.

239, Adjutant-General's office, of May 18th, ordering a grand

review, by the President and cabinet, of all the armies then near

Washington; General Meade's to occur on Tuesday, May 23d, mine on

Wednesday, the 24th; and on the 20th I made the necessary orders

for my part. Meantime I had also arranged (with General Grant's

approval) to remove after the review, my armies from the south side

of the Potomac to the north; both for convenience and because our

men had found that the grounds assigned them had been used so long

for camps that they were foul and unfit.

By invitation I was on the reviewing-stand, and witnessed the

review of the Army of the Potomac (on the 23d), commanded by

General Meade in person. The day was beautiful, and the pageant

was superb. Washington was full of strangers, who filled the

streets in holiday-dress, and every house was decorated with flags.

The army marched by divisions in close column around the Capitol,

down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the President and cabinet, who

occupied a large stand prepared for the occasion, directly in front

of the White House.

I had telegraphed to Lancaster for Mrs. Sherman, who arrived that

day, accompanied by her father, the Hon. Thomas Ewing, and my son

Tom, then eight years old.

During the afternoon and night of the 23d, the Fifteenth, Seventeenth,

and Twentieth Corps, crossed Long Bridge, bivouacked in the

streets about the Capitol, and the Fourteenth Corps closed up to

the bridge. The morning of the 24th was extremely beautiful, and

the ground was in splendid order for our review. The streets were

filled with people to see the pageant, armed with bouquets of

flowers for their favorite regiments or heroes, and every thing was

propitious. Punctually at 9 A.M. the signal-gun was fired, when in

person, attended by General Howard and all my staff, I rode slowly

down Pennsylvania Avenue, the crowds of men, women, and children,

densely lining the sidewalks, and almost obstructing the way. We

were followed close by General Logan and the head of the Fifteenth

Corps. When I reached the Treasury-building, and looked back, the

sight was simply magnificent. The column was compact, and the

glittering muskets looked like a solid mass of steel, moving with

the regularity of a pendulum. We passed the Treasury building, in

front of which and of the White House was an immense throng of

people, for whom extensive stands had been prepared on both sides

of the avenue. As I neared the brick-house opposite the lower

corner of Lafayette Square, some one asked me to notice Mr. Seward,

who, still feeble and bandaged for his wounds, had been removed

there that he might behold the troops. I moved in that direction

and took off my hat to Mr. Seward, who sat at an upper window. He

recognized the salute, returned it, and then we rode on steadily

past the President, saluting with our swords. All on his stand

arose and acknowledged the salute. Then, turning into the gate of

the presidential grounds, we left our horses with orderlies, and

went upon the stand, where I found Mrs. Sherman, with her father

and son. Passing them, I shook hands with the President, General

Grant, and each member of the cabinet. As I approached Mr.

Stanton, he offered me his hand, but I declined it publicly, and

the fact was universally noticed. I then took my post on the left

of the President, and for six hours and a half stood, while the

army passed in the order of the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth,

and Fourteenth Corps. It was, in my judgment, the most magnificent

army in existence--sixty-five thousand men, in splendid physique,

who had just completed a march of nearly two thousand miles in a

hostile country, in good drill, and who realized that they were

being closely scrutinized by thousands of their fellow-countrymen

and by foreigners. Division after division passed, each commander

of an army corps or division coming on the stand during the passage

of his command, to be presented to the President, cabinet, and

spectators. The steadiness and firmness of the tread, the careful

dress on the guides, the uniform intervals between the companies,

all eyes directly to the front, and the tattered and bullet-ridden

flags, festooned with flowers, all attracted universal notice.

Many good people, up to that time, had looked upon our Western army

as a sort of mob; but the world then saw, and recognized the fact,

that it was an army in the proper sense, well organized, well

commanded and disciplined; and there was no wonder that it had

swept through the South like a tornado. For six hours and a half

that strong tread of the Army of the West resounded along

Pennsylvania Avenue; not a soul of that vast crowd of spectators

left his place; and, when the rear of the column had passed by,

thousands of the spectators still lingered to express their sense

of confidence in the strength of a Government which could claim

such an army.