and by every member of the cabinet.* General Sherman was ordered to resume hostilities immediately, and to take for his guidance a telegram by Mr. Lincoln on the 3d of March to General Grant restricting his action in a conference proposed by General Lee to matters purely military.+

General Grant also immediately set out for Raleigh with orders from the President through the Secretary of War to direct military movements, and arrived early on the morning of the 24th, but did not assume command. Notice was at once sent to General Johnston to terminate the truce, and on the 25th General Sherman received a letter from

The following are the reasons given by Secretary him, asking another interview for the

Stanton for disapproving the proceeding of General

Sherman :

"First-It was an exercise of authority not vested in General Sherman, and on its face shows that both he and Johnston knew that he (General Sherman) had no authority to enter into any such arrangement.

"Second-It was a practical acknowledgment of the rebel government.

"Third-It undertook to re-establish the rebel State Government, that had been overthrown at the sacrifice of many thousand loyal lives and an immense treasure, and

placed arms and munitions of war in the hands of the rebels at their respective capitals, which might be used as

soon as the armies of the United States were disbanded, and used to conquer and subdue the loyal States.

purpose of renewing negotiations. This, with the approval of General Grant, he appointed for the 26th at noon, April the hour which had been fixed for 26. the renewal of hostilities. General Johnston then surrendered his army and all the forces under his command in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, on the basis agreed upon between Generals Grant and Lee for the Army of Northern Virginia. Prob

their respective States, they would be enabled to re- ably his army was forty thousand strong

establish slavery.

66

Fifth-It might furnish a ground of responsibility by the Federal Government to pay the rebel debt, and certainly subjects loyal citizens of the rebel States to the debt consummated by the rebels in the name of the State.

at the time of the surrender; but the number of men actually admitted to parole was only 29,924, some ten thou

"Sixth-It put in dispute the existence of loyal State sand having escaped from camp and

Governments, and the new State of Western Virginia, which had been recognized by every department of the United States Government.

"Seventh-It practically abolishes the confiscation laws, and relieved rebels of every degeee, who had slaughtered our people, from all pains and penalties for their crimes. "Eighth-It gave terms that had been deliberately, repeatedly, and solemnly rejected by President Lincoln, and better terms than the rebels had ever asked in their most prosperous condition.

"Ninth-It formed no basis of true and lasting peace, but relieved rebels from the pressure of our victories and left them in condition to renew their efforts to overthrow the United States Government, and subdue the loyal States, whenever their strength was recruited, and any opportunity should offer."

† 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 inter

view or conference to make an arrangement for terms of
peace. General Grant's telegram was submitted to Mr.
Lincoln, who 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 the 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:

66

"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 and pure military matter. 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."

made off with their arms and horses and a number of mules and wagons.

There was an end of discipline with the rebel troops when it became known that the surrender was actually about to take place, and the want of rations, the antipathy of conscripted men to the service, and a general disgust with the miserable disappointment of all the fine promises which had been made them by the Confederate leaders, induced many to seize the opportunity to hurry back to their homes. A part of Wade Hampton's cavalry corps went off to share the fortunes of Jefferson Davis. One hundred and eight pieces of artillery were parked, with limbers, caissons, etc., complete, and about fifteen thousand small-arms were given up. Very few cavalry horses were captured, and even the mules and wagons were given to Johnston's troops to be used in transporting rations and baggage. Officers owning horses were allowed to retain

There remained now of the Confederate armies only the force under General Kirby Smith, commanding the rebel Trans-Mississippi Department, who on the 31st of April, after hearing of Lee's surrender, but before having heard of those of Johnston and Taylor, issued an order to the troops under his command urging them to stand by their colors and protract the struggle. This order was dated at Shreveport, Louisiana, where on the 26th a mass meeting of soldiers and citizens was held, and attended by Governor Reynolds, Generals Kirby Smith, Price, Buckner, and others, for the purpose of expressing a general determination to caissons, determination to carry on the war. Other meetings were held in various parts of Texas, at which resolutions were passed expressive of an intention never to submit to the United States Government. Measures were, however, promptly taken to put an end to the war in this quarter by setting in motion for Texas a force sufficient On the 4th of May, General Richard to insure an easy triumph over the May Taylor, commanding in the Con- forces under Kirby Smith. General 4. federate Department of Alabama, Sheridan was designated for its comMississippi, and eastern Louisiana, sur-mand, as well as the Military Division rendered all his forces to General Canby, of the Southwest, embracing all the at Citronelle, Alabama, on terms sub-region south of the Arkansas and west stantially the same as those granted to of the Mississippi. Generals Lee and Johnston. This sur- In western Texas occurred the last render included all the remaining rebel battle of the war. On the evening of forces east of the Mississippi. General the 11th of May, Colonel Barrett with Jeff. Thompson, commanding the rebel about five hundred troops marched from May forces in Arkansas, on the 11th of Brazos to seize a rebel camp at Palmetto II. May surrendered, at Chalk Bluff, Ranch, about fifteen miles above, on his army of about seventy-five hundred the Brownsville road. The camp was men on the same terms. captured and burned the next morning,

them.

and some guns and horses were carried
off. But various causes having delayed
the return of the expedition till the
afternoon of the 13th, a superior force
of the enemy, principally Ford's cavalry,
under the command of General Slaugh-
ter, supported by three field-pieces,
made its appearance.
The Federal
troops had no artillery, and a running
fight ensued in the direction of Brazos,
to within a mile of which place the
pursuit was continued by the rebels.
The Federal loss was about fifteen in
killed and wounded, and sixty prisoners.
Kirby Smith's forces in the mean time

began to diminish rapidly by desertion,
making it apparent, especially after the
surrender of all the rebel forces east of
the Mississippi, that resistance would be
useless. Accordingly, before any por-
tion of Sheridan's troops had arrived,
General Smith sent General Brent and
several staff officers to Baton Rouge
to ascertain from General Canby the
terms of surrender.
His messengers
arrived on the 23d, and on the May
26th arrangements for the sur- 26.
render of all the Confederate forces in
the Trans-Mississippi Department were
concluded at New Orleans.

CHAPTER LIX.

Evacuation of Richmond.-Views of the Confederate Government on the Evacuation.-Flight of Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet.-Government set up at Danville.-Value of Confederate Notes.-Effect of the News of Lee's Surrender.-Fli ht of Davis and his Cabinet to Greenboro.-Consultation of Davis, Breckinridge, Beauregard, and Johnston.-Davis and his Cabinet at Charlotte.-Continued Flight after the Surrender of Johnston.-Capture of Davis.Imprisonment in Fortress Monroe.-Put in Irons.-Petition in his Favor.-Disreputable Measures adopted by the Confederate Government.-Treatment of Prisoners.-Libby, Belle Isle, and Andersonville Prisons.-Captain Henry Wirz.-His Execution.

AFTER the last decisive battle before | campaign of the year 1864 had resulted Petersburg on Sunday the 2d of in Federal success; if he had been com1865. April, General Lee sent a dispatch pelled to evacuate Richmond as well as to Richmond informing Jefferson Davis Atlanta, the Confederacy would have of the great reverses and counselling remained as erect and defiant as ever. immediate departure. The Confederate He argued that such an event would government had more than once pro- have changed nothing in the purpose fessed to attach little importance to the of the government, in the indomitable retention of Richmond under their con- valor of the troops, or in the unquenchtrol. Mr. Davis had expressed his able spirit of the people; that the baffled views on the evacuation not only to and disappointed foe would in vain have public assemblies but in messages to scanned the reports of their proceedings Congress. He contended that if the at some new legislative seat for any