TRUCE CHAPTER XXVII END OF THE WAR. OUT OF GOLDSBORO-SMITHFIELD-NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER-JOHNSTON'S POSITION— -THE STRATEGIC POINTS-SHERMAN SUMS UP-CORRESPONDENCE- -SHERMAN'S STATEMENT-INTERVIEW-AGREEMENT-DISAPPROVED-GRANT VISITS SHERMAN-SUSPENDED-FIGHTING ORDER-PROPOSITION TO SURRENDER-ACCEPTEDMARCH FOR RICHMOND-WASHINGTON-GRAND REVIEW-STANTON AND SHERMANFOUR NEEDED MEN-SURRENDER OF TAYLOR AND KIRBY SMITH-THE END-SHERMAN'S FAREWELL-TROOPS HOMEWARD-APRIL TO SEPTEMBEr-Doxology oF PEACE. O UR brave men under Sherman and his subordinates moved from men e Goldsboro on the 11th of April, and camped ten miles out on the Smithfield road. There was skirmishing with rebel cavalry and the loss of some twenty men. Smithfield, near which the halt was made, was an old Southern municipality. The enemy made a show of resistance, fighting behind street barricades, but they were driven out by the 14th corps. From there the army moved for Raleigh, the right wing crossing the Neuse at Battle's Bridge, fifteen miles above Smithfield, where the center and left crossed. On the morning of the 13th the news of Lee's surrender was received. The excitement is beyond description. In this army were Grant's old soldiers of Shiloh, Vicksburg and Mission Ridge, and they were exultant that their former leader had crushed Lee, the Napoleon of the rebellion. Cheers for the Army of the Potomac rang along the line; shout succeeded shout, then came yells, peals of laughter, and sobs of joy! The rebellion was broken and the soldiers of the West saw peace coming. Home was in the background of the picture that spread before them-home with its unutterable joys! The bands of music vied in expressing exultant triumph, the bullet-torn flags, smoked and grimed, seemed to feel the inspiration in their dumb folds and their stars to glow with new luster. Never will that morning be forgotten by the soldiers of the grand army of the Southwest, but the soldiers will tell it to their children and they to the children that shall come after them, "for it was a day long to be remembered.” Johnston was between Smithfield and Raleigh. His infantry and artillery were estimated at 35,000, and his cavalry from 6,000 to 10,000 strong, much superior to ours in numbers, but Kilpatrick had been in reserve at Mount Olive, recruiting his horses and was ready for a rapid march as early as the 10th and was now in full co-operation with the commander-in-chief. Grant had said to Sherman in their recent interview that hereafter "the Confederate armies of Lee and Johnston become the strategic points" and every private saw as clearly as the Commanding Generals that Johnston must be pushed. Sherman's theory was that the line of the Confederate retreat must, per force, be the railway via Hillsboro, Greensboro, Salisbury, Charlotte, &c., and he arranged his forces accordingly. All were in light order, trains were dropped and Raleigh was entered on the morning of the 13th at 7.30. The rain was falling but the cavalry rode to Durham's Station with the indomitable 15th Army Corps in full pursuit, and that night it résted at Jones' Station; the other columns were turned across the bend of the railway toward Ashboro. Kilpatrick was to make a show of pursuit toward the "Company's Shops" in Almond County; Howard was to turn to the left by Hackney's Cross Roads, Pittsboro, St. Lawrence and Ashboro; Slocum was to cross Cape Fear River at Aven's Ferry and move rapidly by Carthage, Caledonia and Cox's Mills; Schofield was to hold Raleigh and the road in the rear and throw forward his spare force by an intermediate route. General Sherman thus sums up the position on the morning of the 15th: "By the 15th, though the rains were incessant and the roads almost impracticable, Major-General Slocum had the 14th corps, Brevet Major-General Davis commanding, near Martha's Vineyard, with a pontoon bridge laid across Cape Fear River, at Aven's Ferry, with the 20th corps, Major-General Mower commanding, in support, and Major-General Howard had the 15th and 17th corps stretched out on the roads toward Pittsboro', while General Kilpatrick held Durham's Station and Chapel Hill University. "Johnston's army was retreating rapidly on the roads from Hillsboro' to Greensboro', he himself at Greensboro'. Although out of place as to time, I here invite all military critics who study the problems of war, to take their maps and compare the position of my army on the 15th and 16th of April with that of General Halleck about Burkesville and Petersburg, Virginia, on the 26th of April, when, according to his telegram to Secretary Stanton, he offered to relieve me of the task of 'cutting off Johnston's retreat.' Major-General Stoneman at the time was at Statesville, and Johnston's only line of retreat was by Salisbury and Charlotte. It may be that General Halleck's troops can outmarch mine, but there is nothing in their past history to show it; or it may be that General Halleck can inspire his troops with more energy of action. of action. I doubt that also, save and except in this single instance, when he knew the enemy was ready to surrender or disperse, as advised by my letter of April 18th, addressed to him when chief of staff at Washington City, and delivered at Washington on the 21st instant, by Major Hitchcock, of my staff." It was at this juncture that Johnston sent Sherman a note, proposing a conference, with the hope of terminating hostilities. The events which followed produced much excitement and discussion throughout the country. We append General Sherman's statement made to the Committee on the Conduct of the War, Washington, May 22, 1865: 66 ઃઃ Major-General Sherman being sworn and examined: By the Chairman-Q. What is your rank in the army? A. I am major-general in the regular army. "Q. As your negotiation with the rebel General Johnston, in relation to his surrender, has been the subject of much public comment, the Committee desire you to state all the facts and circumstances in regard to it, or which you wish the public to know. A. On the 15th day of April last I was at Raleigh, in command of three armies: the Army of the Ohio, the Army of the Cumberland, and the Army of the Tennessee; my enemy was General Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Army, who commanded 50,000 men, retreating along the railroad from Raleigh by Hillsboro', Greensboro', Salisbury and Charlotte; I commenced pursuit by crossing the curve of that road in the direction of Ashboro' and Charlotte; after the head of my column had crossed the Cape Fear River at Aven's Ferry, I received a communication from General Johnston, and answered it, copies of which I most promptly sent to the War Department, with a letter addressed to the Secretary of War, as follows: "HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, "GENERAL U. S. GRANT AND SECRETARY OF WAR:-I send copies of a corres pondence to you with General Johnston, which I think will be followed by terms of capitulation. I will grant the same terms General Grant gave General Lee, and be careful not to complicate any points of civil policy. If any cavalry has retreated toward me, caution them to be prepared to find our work done. It is now raining in torrents, and I shall await General Johnston's reply here, and will prepare to meet him in person at Chapel Hill. “'I have invited Governor Vance to return to Raleigh, with the civil officers of his state. I have met ex-Governor Graham, Messrs. Badger, Moore, Holden, and others, all of whom agree that the war is over, and that the states of the South must resume their allegiance, subject to the Constitution and laws of Congress, and must submit to the national arms. This great fact was admitted, and the details are of easy arrangement. W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.'" "I met General Johnston in person at a house five miles from Durham Station, under a flag of truce. After a few preliminary remarks he said to me, since Lee had surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, of which he had just been advised, he looked upon farther opposition by him as the greatest possible of crimes; that he wanted to know whether I could make him any general concessions; any thing by which he could maintain his hold and control of his army, and prevent its scattering; any thing to satisfy the great yearning of their people; if so, he thought he could arrange terms satisfactory to both parties. He wanted to embrace the condition and fate of all the armics of the Southern Confederacy to the Rio Grande, to make one job of it, as he termed it. . "I asked him what his powers were-whether he could command and control the fate of all the armies to the Rio Grande. He answered that he thought he could obtain the power, but he did not possess it at that moment; he did not know where Mr. Davis was, but he thought if I could give him the time he could find Mr. Breckinridge, whose orders would be obeyed everywhere, and he could pledge to me his personal faith that whatever he undertook to do would be done. "I had had frequent correspondence with the late President of the United States, with the Secretary of War, with General Halleck, and with General Grant, and the general impression left upon my mind, that if a settlement could be made, consistent with the Constitution of the United States, the laws of Congress, and the proclamation of the President, they would not only be willing, but pleased to terminate the war by one single stroke of the pen. "I needed time to finish the railroad from the Neuse Bridge up to Raleigh, and thought I could put in four or five days of good time in making repairs to my road, even if I had to send propositions to Washington; I therefore consented to delay twenty-four hours, to enable General Johnston to procure what would satisfy me as to his authority and ability as a military man, to do what he undertook to do; I therefore consented to meet him the next day, the 17th, at twelve noon, at the same place. "We did meet again; after a general interchange of courtesies, he remarked that he was then prepared to satisfy me that he could fulfill the terms of our conversation of the day before. He then asked me what I was willing to do; I told him, in the first place, I could not deal with any body except men recognized by us as 'belligerents,' because no military man could go beyond that fact. The Attorney General has since so decided, and any man of common sense so understood it before; there was no difference upon that point as to the men and officers accompanying the Confederate armies. I told him that the President of the United States, by a published proclamation, had enabled every man in the Southern Confederate army, of the rank of Colonel and under, to procure and obtain amnesty, by simply taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and agreeing to go to his home and live in peace. The terms of General Grant to General Lee extended the same principles to the officers of the rank of Brigadier-General and upward, including the highest officer in the Confederate army, viz., General Lee, the Commander-in-Chief. I was therefore willing to proceed with him upon the same principles. "Then a conversation arose as to what form of government they were to have in the South? Were the states there to be dissevered, and were the people to be denied representation in Congress? Were the people there to be, in the common language of the people of the South, slaves to the people of the North? Of course, I said 'No; we desire that you shall regain your position as citizens of the United States, free and equal to us in all respects, and with representation upon the condition of submission to the lawful authority of the United States as defined by the Constitution, the United States courts, and the authorities of the United States supported by those courts.' He then remarked to me that General Breckinridge, a Major-General in the Confederate army, was near by, and, if I had no objection, he would like to have him present. I called his atten |