ARMY OPERATIONS. 



darkness put an end to the pursuit. Had not our 

 artillery horses broken down, we would, doubtless, 

 hare captured the whole command. 



I cannot speak too highly of the sagacity of Colonel 

 Ford and the gallantry of his command. Our" loss 

 was four or five severefy wounded. We did not have 

 three hundred in the fight, large numbers not having 

 arrived. 



J. E. SLAUGHTER, Brigadier-General Com. 

 Official: L. G. ALDHICH, Ass't Adjutant-General. 



But the surrenders of Gens. Johnston and 

 Taylor decided the course of events in the Trans- 

 Mississippi Department. On the 23d of May, 

 Brig.-Geu. Brent and several staff officers 

 reached Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to consult 

 with Gen. Canby on the terms of the surrender 

 of Gen. Kirby Smith's army. The terms were 

 arranged, and the surrender made on the 26th. 

 They were as follows : 



Terms of a military convention, entered into this 

 26th day of May, 1865, at New Orleans, La., between 

 Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Confederate States army, com- 

 manding the Department of Trans-Mississippi, and 

 Major-General E. R. S. Canby, United. States army, 

 commanding army and division of West Mississippi, 

 for the surrender of the troops and public property 

 of the military and naval authorities of the Trans- 

 Mississippi Department: 



1. All acts of war and resistance against the United 

 States, on the part of the troops under Gen. Smith, 

 shall cease from this date. 



2. The officers and men to be paroled until duly 

 exchanged, or otherwise released from the obligation 

 of their parole by the authority of the Government 

 of the United States. Duplicate rolls of all officers 

 and men paroled to be retained by such officers as 

 may be designated by the parties hereto officers 

 giving their individual paroles, and commanders of 

 regiments, battalions, companies, and detachments 

 signing a like parole for the men of their respective 

 commands. 



8. Artillery, small arms, ammunition, and other 

 property of the Confederate States, including gun- 

 boats and transports, to be turned over to the officers 

 appointed to receive the same on the part of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States ; duplicate inventories 

 of the property to be surrendered to be prepared, one 

 copy to be returned by the officer delivering, and 

 the other by the officer receiving it, for the informa- 

 tion of their respective commanders. 



4. The officers and men paroled under this agree- 

 ment will be allowed to return to their homes, with 

 the assurance that they will not be disturbed by the 

 authorities of the United States as long as they con- 

 tinue to observe the conditions of their parole and 

 the laws in force where they reside ; except that per- 

 sons resident in the Northern States, and not excepted 

 in the amnesty proclamation of the President, may 

 return to their homes on taking the oath of allegiance 

 to the United States. 



6. The surrender of property will not include the 

 side-arms, or private horses, or baggage of officers. 



6. All horses which are, in good faith, the private 

 property of enlisted men, will not be taken from 

 them ; the men will be permitted to take such with 

 them to their homes, to be used for private pur- 

 poses only. 



1. The time, mode, and place of paroling and sur- 

 render of property will be fixed by the respective 

 commanders, and it will be carried out by commis- 

 sioners appointed by them. 



8. The terms and conditions of this convention to 

 extend to all officers and men of the army and navy 

 of the Confederate States, or any of them, being in 

 or belonging to the Trans-Mississippi Department. 



9. Transportation and subsistence to be furnished 

 at public cost for the officers and men (after being 



paroled) to the nearest practicable point to theif 

 homes. S. B. BUCKNER, 



Lieuteuant-Geueral and Chief of StaflV 

 for General E. KIRBY SMITH. 



P. JOS. OSTERHAUS, 

 Major-General Volunteers and Chief-of-Staff. 



for Maior-Gtmeral E. R. S. CANBY, 

 Commanding Military Division West. Mississippi. 

 J. N. GALLEHEW, Assistant Adjutant-General. 



Additional terms were made later in the day 

 for the rendezvous of the paroled troops in the 

 trans-Mississippi Department near their homes, 

 and also for the surrender of the Confederate 

 navy under Capt. Carter. 



The surrender of these armies left the military 

 occupation of the rebellious States by the Fed- 

 eral forces unresisted and complete. The plan 

 now adopted by the Government was, to retain 

 in each State a sufficient military force to pre- 

 serve peace, and to put down any opposition 

 which might arise, and to disband the remainder 

 of its armies, and to restore to civil rights all 

 citizens who should take the oath prescribed in 

 the amnesty proclamation of President Lincoln, 

 which may be found on a subsequent page. The 

 effect of this was to oblige the person taking it 

 to sustain the Federal Government and all its 

 past acts relative to the emancipation of slaves. 



The Army of the Potomac and the army under 

 Gen. Sherman, with the exception of a com- 

 paratively small force retained in Virginia and 

 North Carolina, were marched to the neighbor- 

 hood of "Washington, for a grand review and 

 final dispersion. The review took place on the 

 22d and 23d of May. The mustering out of ser- 

 vice was then commenced, and completed in 

 the manner stated below. Gen. Sherman took 

 leave of his troops by issuing the following 

 order : 



Special Orders No. 67. 



HEADQ'RS MIDDLE DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ( 

 IN THE FIELD, WASHINGTON, D. C. May 80. 1865. ) 



The General Commanding announces to the Armies 

 of the Tennessee and Georgia that the time has come 

 for us to part. Our work is done, and armed enemies 

 no longer defy us. Some of you will be retained in 

 service until further orders. And now that we are 

 about to separate, to mingle with the civil world, it 

 becomes a pleasing duty to recall to mind the situa- 

 tion of national affairs when, but a little more than a 

 year ago, we were gathered about the twining cliffs 

 of LooKout Mountain, and all the future was wrapped 

 in doubt and uncertainty. Three armies had co_me 

 together from distant fields, with separate histories, 

 yet bound by one common cause the union of our 

 country and the perpetuation of the Government of 

 our inheritance. There is no need to recall to your 

 memories Tunnel Hill, with its Rocky Face Mountain, 

 and Buzzard Roost Gap, with the ugly forts of Dalton 

 behind. We were in earnest, and paused not for 

 danger and difficulty, but dashed through Snake 

 Creek Gap. and fell on Resaca, then on to the Etowah, 

 to Dallas, Kenesaw : and the heats of summer found 

 us on the banks of the Chattahoochee, far from homo 

 and dependent on a single road for supplies. Again 

 we were not to be held back by any obstacle, and 

 crossed over and fought four heavy battles for the 

 possession of the citadel of Atlanta. That was the 

 crisis of our history. A doubt still clouded our future; 

 but we solved the problem, and destroyed Atlanta, 

 struck boldly across the State of Georgia, secured all 

 the main arteries of life to our enemy, and Christmas 

 found us at Savannah. Waiting there only long 



