President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward met Alexander H.
Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, on February 2nd, 1865, on
the River Queen, at Fortress Monroe. Stephens was enveloped in overcoats
and shawls, and had the appearance of a fair-sized man. He began to take
off one wrapping after another, until the small, shriveled old man stood
before them.
Lincoln quietly said to Seward: “This is the largest shucking for so
small a nubbin that I ever saw.”
President Lincoln had a friendly conference, but presented his ultimatum
that the one and only condition of peace was that Confederates “must
cease their resistance.”