ARMY OPERATIONS. 



69 



"WAR DEPARTMENT, "WASHINGTON, April 21, 1865. 



GENERAL : The memorandum or basis agreed upon 

 between Gen. Sherman and Gen. 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 tele- 

 graph of that date addressed to you, express substan- 

 tially the views of President Andrew Johnson, and 

 will be observed by Gen. Sherman. A copy is here- 

 with appended. 



The President desires that you proceed immediate- 

 ly to the headquarters of Gen. Sherman and direct 

 operations against the enemy. 



Yours truly, 



EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 



To Lieut.-Gen. GRANT. 



COPT OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INSTRUCTIONS. 



WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, March 3, 1865. 

 To Lieut.-Gen. GRANT: 



The President directs me to say to you that he 

 wishes you to have no conference with Gen. Lee, 

 unless it be for the capitulation of Gen. Lee's army, 

 or on some minor and purely military matter. He 

 wishes me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, 

 or confer upon any political question. Such ques- 

 tions the President holds in his own hands, and will 

 submit them to no military conferences or conven- 

 tions. Meantime you are to press to your utmost 

 your military advantages. 



EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 



Perhaps it may not be out of place to insert 

 here the reasons briefly given by Gen. Sherman 

 in. his report, for his proceedings. They are as 

 follows : 



Immediately on my return to Raleigh I despatched 

 one of my staff, Major Hitchcock, to Washington, 

 enjoining him to be most prudent and careful to 

 avoid the spies and informers that would be sure to 

 infest him by the way, and to say nothing to anybody 

 until the President could make known to me his feel- 

 ings and wishes in the matter. 



The news of President Lincoln's assassination, on 

 the 14th of April (wrongly reported to me by tele- 

 graph as having occurred on the llth), reached me 

 on the 17th, and was announced to my command on 

 the same day, in Field Orders No. 56; I was duly in- 

 formed of its horrible atrocity and probable effects 

 on the country. But when the property and interests 

 of millions still living were involved, I saw no good 

 reason why to change my course, but thought rather 

 to manifest real respect for his memory by following 

 after his death that policy, which, if living, I felt cer- 

 tain he would have approved, or at least not rejected 

 with disdain. 



Up to that hour I had never received one word of 

 instruction, advice, or counsel as to the plan of pol- 

 icy of the Government, looking to a restoration of 

 peace on the part of the Rebel States of the South. 

 Whenever asked for an opinion on the points involved, 

 I had always avoided the subject. My letter to the 

 Mayor of Atlanta has been published to the world, 

 and I was not rebuked by the War Department for 



it. My letter to Mr. of Savannah, was shown 



by me to Mr. Stanton, before its publication, and all 

 that my memory retains of his answer is that he said, 

 like my letters generally, it was sufficiently emphatic, 

 and would not be misupderstood. Both these letters 

 asserted my belief that according to Mr. Lincoln's 

 Proclamation and Message, when the people of the 

 South had laid down their arms and submitted to the 

 lawful powers of the United States, ipso facto, the 

 war was over as to them ; and furthermore, that if 

 any State in rebellion would conform to the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, cease war, elect Senators 

 and Representatives to Congress, if admitted (of which 



each House of Congress alone is the judge), that State 

 becomes instanter as much in the Union as New York 

 or Ohio. Nor was I rebuked for these expressions, 

 though it was universally known and commented on 

 at the time. And again Mr. Stanton in person at 

 Savannah, speaking of the terrific expense of the war 

 and difficulty of realizing the money for the daily 

 wants of Government, impressed me most forcibly 

 with the necessity of bringing the war to a close as 

 soon as possible tor financial reasons. 



On the morning of April 24th Gen. Grant 

 arrived at Gen. Sherman's headquarters, and 

 the latter was informed that the memorandum 

 was disapproved, without reasons assigned, and 

 he was ordered to give the forty-eight hours 

 notice, and resume hostilities at the close of that 

 time. Gen. Sherman immediately despatched 

 the following note to Gen. Johnston : 



HEADQ'RS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ) 

 IN THE FIELD, KALEIGH, April 24, 1865. f 

 Gen. Johnston, Commanding Confederate Armies : 



I have replies from Washington to my communica- 

 tions of April 18. I am instructed to limit my opera- 

 tions to your immediate command, and not to at- 

 tempt civil negotiations. I therefore demand the 

 surrender of your army, on the same terms as were 

 given to Gen. Lee, at Appomattox, of April 9, purely 

 and simply. W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen. 



Gen. Grant, although properly in command, 

 left all the further measures to be executed by 

 Gen. Sherman, and the presence of the former < 

 was even unknown to Gen. Johnston, who re- 

 plied as follows : 



[Telegram.'} 



HEADQUARTERS ARMY OP THE TENNESSEE, } 

 Is THE FIELD, April 25, 1865. \ 

 Major-Gen. Sherman, U. S. A. 



Your despatch of yesterday received. I propose 

 a modification of the terms you offered ; such terms 

 for the army as you wrote on the 18th ; they also 

 modified according to change of circumstances, and 

 a further armistice to arrange details and meeting for 

 that purpose. ' JOS. E. JOHNSTON, General. 



HEADQ'RS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ( 

 IN THE FIELD, KALEIQH, April 25, 1865. f 

 Gen Johnston-; I will meet you at the same place 

 as before, to-morrow, at 12 o'clock noon. 



W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 



[Telegram.] 



Major-Gen. W. T. Sherman, Comma* g V. S. Forces: 

 GENERAL : I have had the honor to receive your 

 despatch of yesterday, summoning this army to sur- 

 render on the terms accepted by Gen. Lee at Appa- 

 mattox Court House. I propose, instead of such 

 surrender, terms based on those drawn up by you on 

 the 18th for disbanding this army, and a further 

 armistice and a conference to arrange these terms. 



The disbanding of Gen. Lee's army_ has afflicted 

 this country with numerous bands having no means 

 of subsistence but robbery a knowledge of which 

 w_ould, I am sure, induce you to agree to other con- 

 ditions. Most respectfully, your obedient servant, 

 J. E. JOHNSTON, General. 

 [Telegram.} 



GREENSBORO' April 26. 1S65 2 A. M. 

 Major-Gen. Sherman through Gen. Sutler : 



1 will meet you at the time and place you desig- 

 nate. Is armistice with statu-s quo renewed ? 



J. E. JOHNSTON, General. 



Terms of a Military Convention entered into this twenty- 

 sixth, (1&th) day of April, 1S65, at Bennetts Home, 

 near Durham Station, North Carolina, beticetn Gen- 

 eral Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confed- 

 erate Army, and Major-General W. T. Sherman, com- 

 manding the United States Army in North Carolina, 



All acts of war on the part of the troops under Gen. 



