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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (3/28/2015 5:03:14 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At City Point, Virginia, the war's last great conference of Union commanders took place.

Early the next day, March 28th, all the principal officers of the army and navy called to see me, Generals Meade, Ord, Ingalls, etc., and Admiral Porter. At this time the River Queen was at anchor out in the river, abreast of the wharf, and we again started to visit Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. Admiral Porter accompanied us. We took a small, tug at the wharf, which conveyed us on board, where we were again received most courteously by the President, who conducted us to the after-cabin. After the general compliments, General Grant inquired after Mrs. Lincoln, when the President went to her state- room, returned, and begged us to excuse her, as she was not well. We then again entered upon a general conversation, during which General Grant explained to the President that at that very instant of time General Sheridan was crossing James River from the north, by a pontoon-bridge below City Point; that he had a large, well-appointed force of cavalry, with which he proposed to strike the Southside and Danville Railroads, by which alone General Lee, in Richmond, supplied his army; and that, in his judgment, matters were drawing to a crisis, his only apprehension being that General Lee would not wait long enough.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

It was agreed that the one possible risk was if Robert E. Lee and his army could slip away from Petersburg, unite with Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina, and attack Sherman's force. Sherman declared that he had no fear of even this, for his army of over 80,000 men could hold off Lee's army (now below 50,000 men) and Johnston's army (now below 20,000 men). Grant would come up behind with his combined force of 130,000 men. And then, said Sherman, they would have the Confederates "between our thumb and forefinger".

This moment in the council of war was the subject of the painting, "The Peacemakers" by George Peter Alexander Healy, in 1868. Grant, Sherman, and Admiral Porter sat for Healy, but of course Lincoln had to be painted from memory.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/9AB0CE395E184381958ACDA25121D945.jpg[/image]

The discussion then turned to what would come after the war had been concluded:

During this interview I inquired of the President if he was all ready for the end of the war. What was to be done with the rebel armies when defeated? And what should be done with the political leaders, such as Jeff. Davis, etc.? Should we allow them to escape, etc.? He said he was all ready; all he wanted of us was to defeat the opposing armies, and to get the men composing the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on their farms and in their shops. As to Jeff. Davis, he was hardly at liberty to speak his mind fully, but intimated that he ought to clear out, "escape the country," only it would not do for him to say so openly. As usual, he illustrated his meaning by a story:

A man had once taken the total abstinence pledge. When visiting a friend, he was invited to take a drink, but declined, on the score of his pledge; when his friend suggested lemonade, which was accepted. In preparing the lemonade, the friend pointed to the brandy-bottle, and said the lemonade would be more palatable if he were to pour in a little brandy; when his guest said, if he could do so "unbeknown" to him, he would "not object." From which illustration I inferred that Mr. Lincoln wanted Davis to escape, "unbeknown" to him.

[...]

Mr. Lincoln was full and frank in his conversation, assuring me that in his mind he was all ready for the civil reorganization of affairs at the South as soon as the war was over; and he distinctly authorized me to assure Governor Vance and the people of North Carolina that, as soon as the rebel armies laid down their arms, and resumed their civil pursuits, they would at once be guaranteed all their rights as citizens of a common country; and that to avoid anarchy the State governments then in existence, with their civil functionaries, would be recognized by him as the government de facto till Congress could provide others.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

This was somewhat different than the message to Grant from Secretary of War Stanton, which had stated that all political questions were to be decided by the President alone. But Sherman apparently never received Stanton's instructions, and so he left that evening to return to his army, believing he had some leeway.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (3/30/2015 3:19:07 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The proverbial axe fell on Jubal Early. Of the corps commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia after Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet, Early is considered to have been the best. But his defeats at the hands of Philip Sheridan, though all but inevitable given the odds, had made the Confederate soldiers lose confidence in him. As General-in-Chief, Robert E. Lee had the responsibility to relieve him or keep him, and on this date he made the painful decision:

We then returned to Abingdon, and while I was engaged in endeavoring to organize the small force in that section, so as to meet the enemy in the best way we could, I received, on the 30th of March, a telegraphic despatch from General Lee, directing me to turn over the command in Southwestern Virginia to General Echols, and in the Valley to General Lomax, and informing me that he would address a letter to me at my home. I complied at once with this order and thus terminated my military career.

--Jubal Early, Autobiographical Sketch and Narrative of the War Between the States

Early would never receive another assignment.


W. T. Sherman had returned to his command at Goldsborough, North Carolina, which he admitted in a letter was "decidedly mixed". He continued the job of reorganization, putting the reinforcements he had received into a right wing and a left wing. It was clear that the job of replacing the worn-out draft animals and expended ammunition (there had been rather more fighting in the Carolinas than in Georgia) would take a little longer. He wired to Grant that he would be ready to move around April 10.

Grant was not willing to wait that long. Philip Sheridan's force was back from the Shenandoah Valley, and recovered from the march. Originally Grant had planned to send Sheridan and his cavalry to Sherman, much to Sheridan's unhappiness. But Lee's army had been weakend by the battle of Fort Stedman, and Grant believed the time was right for a counter-stroke. He decided to try once more to get around the left of the Rebel lines and attack the Southside Railroad, whose loss would make it impossible to feed the Confederate army around Petersburg. According to his memoirs, he did not expect to achieve surprise, but counted on Lee rushing so many troops to defend the railroad that an attack straight into the center of the lines could be successful.

The Federals did indeed fail to catch Lee napping. The rains had paused for a few days, allowing the movement to begin, but then the weather turned again:

It soon set in raining again however, and in a very short time the roads became practically impassable for teams, and almost so for cavalry. Sometimes a horse or mule would be standing apparently on firm ground, when all at once one foot would sink, and as he commenced scrambling to catch himself all his feet would sink and he would have to be drawn by hand out of the quicksands so common in that part of Virginia and other southern States. It became necessary therefore to build corduroy roads every foot of the way as we advanced, to move our artillery upon. The army had become so accustomed to this kind of work, and were so well prepared for it, that it was done very rapidly.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

However, in the meantime Lee had realized what was going on, and sent nearly about five brigades of troops to the area. Strangely, to command them he selected George Pickett, one of the few generals in his army who disliked Lee (because of the disastrous Pickett's Charge).



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (3/31/2015 3:19:57 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In Alabama, James Wilson's massive cavalry force was making contact with the Rebels under Nathan Bedford Forrest at the town of Montevallo. As had happened once or twice before, the Confederate high command had taken away most of Forrest's veteran troopers. Granted, they were desperately needed in the Eastern theater against Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, but it still left Forrest with inexperienced men, and not enough of them. On this date, the unprecedented happened: Forrest's force was routed from the battlefield. To add to the woes of the Southerners, Forrest's own headquarters was overrun. He himself managed to escape, but there was not time to destroy all of the documents, which fell into Yankee hands.


South and west of Petersburg, the Union infantry advanced to White Oak Road, while the cavalry attempted to capture the key crossroad of Five Forks. Philip Sheridan moved his cavalry out promptly, but had difficulty for two reasons. First, the roads were not yet dry, and second, his opponent George Pickett now proved himself a competent battlefield commander:

On the 31st, the rain having ceased, directions were given at an early hour to both Merritt and Crook to make reconnoissances preparatory to securing Five Forks, and about 9 o'clock Merritt started for the crossroads, Davies's brigade supporting him. His march was necessarily slow because of the mud, and the enemy's pickets resisted with obstinacy also, but the coveted crossroads fell to Merritt without much trouble, as the bulk of the enemy was just then bent on other things. At the same hour that Merritt started, Crook moved Smith's brigade out northwest from Dinwiddie to Fitzgerald's crossing of Chamberlain's Creek, to cover Merritt's left, supporting Smith by placing Gregg to his right and rear. The occupation of this ford was timely, for Pickett, now in command of both the cavalry and infantry, was already marching to get in Merritt's rear by crossing Chamberlain's Creek. To hold on to Fitzgerald's ford Smith had to make a sharp fight, but Mumford's cavalry attacking Devin, the enemy's infantry succeeded in getting over Chamberlain's Creek at a point higher up than Fitzgerald's ford, and assailing Davies, forced him back in a northeasterly direction toward the Dinwiddie and Five Forks road in company with Devin. The retreat of Davies permitted Pickett to pass between Crook and Merritt, which he promptly did, effectually separating them and cutting off both Davies and Devin from the road to Dinwiddie. . .

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
[image]local://upfiles/4250/85A9C9FC1A9C462B942E2F09EDD60F4E.jpg[/image]

In the meantime, the Union infantry were also being roughly handled at White Oak Road. Because the Federal movements were not coordinated, just four brigades of Rebels managed to drive back two divisions of Yankees, a brigade at a time. It might have turned into a complete rout had the last Northern brigade (under a Colonel) made a fighting retreat across Gravelly Run creek while V Corps commander Gouverneur Warren personally rallied his broken regiments.

Warren then called upon the hero of Little Round Top, Joshua Chamberlain, who was now a Brigadier General. Chamberlain had been wounded the day before, but he went with his men back across the Gravelly Run, followed by Warren's recovered units. Now it was the Yankees' turn to push back the Rebels, but only as far back as the Confederates' main line of fortifications. It was far enough, however, to cut White Oak Road. Then the Southerners discovered they had another problem. Sheridan and his cavalry were not yet ready to give up:

. . . Merritt assailed fiercely, compelling Pickett to halt and face a new foe, thus interrupting an advance that would finally have carried Pickett into the rear of Warren's corps. It was now about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and we were in a critical situation, but having ordered Merritt to bring Devin and Davies to Dinwiddie by the Boydton road, staff-officers were sent to hurry Custer to the same point, for with its several diverging roads the Court House was of vital importance, and I determined to stay there at all hazards.

[...]

When halted by the attack of Gregg and Gibbs, Pickett, desisting from his pursuit of Devin, as already stated, turned his undivided attention to this unexpected force, and with his preponderating infantry pressed it back on the Five Forks road toward Dinwiddie, though our men, fighting dismounted behind barricades at different points, displayed such obstinacy as to make Pickett's progress slow, and thus give me time to look out a line for defending the Court House. I selected a place about three-fourths of a mile northwest of the crossroads, and Custer coming up quickly with Capehart's brigade, took position on the left of the road to Five Forks in some open ground along the crest of a gentle ridge . . . By this time our horse-artillery, which for two days had been stuck in the mud, was all up, and every gun was posted in this line. It was now near sunset, and the enemy's cavalry thinking the day was theirs, made a dash at Smith, but just as the assailants appeared in the open fields, Capehart's men opened so suddenly on their left flank as to cause it to recoil in astonishment, which permitted Smith to connect his brigade with Custer unmolested. We were now in good shape behind the familiar barricades, and having a continuous line, excepting only the gap to be filled with Pennington, that covered Dinwiddie and the Boydton Road. My left rested in the woods about half a mile west of the Court House, and the barricades extended from this flank in a semicircle through the open fields in a northeasterly direction, to a piece-of thick timber on the right, near the Boydton Road. A little before the sun went down the Confederate infantry was formed for the attack, and, fortunately for us, Pennington's brigade came up and filled the space to which it was assigned between Capehart and Gibbs, just as Pickett moved out across the cleared fields in front of Custer, in deep lines that plainly told how greatly we were outnumbered. Accompanied by Generals Merritt and Custer and my staff, I now rode along the barricades to encourage the men. Our enthusiastic reception showed that they were determined to stay. The cavalcade drew the enemy's fire, which emptied several of the saddles—among others Mr. Theodore Wilson, correspondent of the New York Herald, being wounded. In reply our horse-artillery opened on the advancing Confederates, but the men behind the barricades lay still till Pickett's troops were within short range. Then they opened, Custer's repeating rifles pouring out such a shower of lead that nothing could stand up against it. The repulse was very quick...
--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

It is generally agreed that the actions of March 31 amounted to a Confederate victory. They had halted the Northern attack, and inflicted more casualties than they had sustained. But the Yankees, Philip Sheridan especially, had no intention of leaving things as they stood. A cavalry assault against infantry had been unsuccessful, as it generally was in the Civil War. The next day they would try a combined cavalry and infantry attack. Sheridan and George Meade wired a request to Grant to move up Gouvernor Warren's V Corps, and received Grant's full authorization, even though Warren was technically senior to Sheridan:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, DABNEY'S MILLS, March 31, 1865. 10:15 P. M.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Commanding Army of the Potomac.
Let Warren move in the way you propose, and urge him not to stop for anything. Let Griffin go on as he was first directed.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut. General.

Meade passed this order on, and added to Warren, "You must be very prompt in this movement ... Don't encumber yourself with anything that will impede your progress." But Warren would not move quickly enough to satisfy his superiors.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/1/2015 3:34:34 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Five Forks, Virginia, George Pickett apparently believed he had successfully driven off the Union attacks of the day before. He and cavalry commander Fitzhugh Lee left his headquarters to enjoy a lunch of baked shad. But it was indeed April Fool's Day; the cutting of White Oak Road had left his forces isolated from the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia. And the Yankees were coming back.

With daylight came a slight fog, but it lifted almost immediately, and Merritt moved Custer and Devin forward. As these divisions advanced the enemy's infantry fell back on the Five Forks road, Devin pressing him along the road, while Custer extended on the left over toward Chamberlain's Run, Crook being held in watch along Stony Creek, meanwhile, to be utilized as circumstances might require when Warren attacked.

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army
[image]local://upfiles/4250/147E8DA1A74A439F848DF21890C8D915.gif[/image]
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

But Gouverneur Warren did not attack for quite some time. The early part of the battle was done by Sheridan's cavalry, which could not deliver the knock-out blow that Sheridan wanted.

That we had accomplished nothing but to oblige our foe to retreat was to me bitterly disappointing, but still feeling sure that he would not give up the Five Forks crossroads without a fight, I pressed him back there with Merritt's cavalry, Custer advancing on the Scott road, while Devin drove the rearguard along that leading from J.[G] Boisseau's to Five Forks. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon Merritt had forced the enemy inside his intrenchments, which began with a short return about three-quarters of a mile east of the Forks and ran along the south side of the White Oak road to a point about a mile west of the Forks.

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

Finally, units of Warren's V Corps, along with Warren himself, began to arrive. Sheridan explained his plan, hoping for prompt execution. It didn't happen:

General Warren seemed to understand me clearly, and then left to join his command, while I turned my attention to the cavalry, instructing Merritt to begin by making demonstrations as though to turn the enemy's right, and to assault the front of the works with his dismounted cavalry as soon as Warren became engaged. Afterward I rode around to Gravelly Run Church, and found the head of Warren's column just appearing, while he was sitting under a tree making a rough sketch of the ground. I was disappointed that more of the corps was not already up, and as the precious minutes went by without any apparent effort to hurry the troops on to the field, this disappointment grew into disgust. At last I expressed to Warren my fears that the cavalry might expend all their ammunition before the attack could be made, that the sun would go down before the battle could be begun, or that troops from Lee's right, which, be it remembered, was less than three miles away from my right, might, by striking my rear, or even by threatening it, prevent the attack on Pickett. Warren did not seem to me to be at all solicitous; his manner exhibited decided apathy, and he remarked with indifference that "Bobby Lee was always getting people into trouble."

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

There was much confusion in the Union ranks, with one division temporarily marching away from the front instead of towards it. This, however, was something that Sheridan had dealt with before. Riding back and forth among the Federal columns, with much energy and profanity he straightened out traffic jams and got the bluecoats to the front. Time had almost run out, but there was just enough daylight to mount the charges against the Confederate lines. And then:

The charge was repeated, but held in check until Crawford’s division found a way under cover of a woodland beyond the Confederate works, and marched to that advantage. Ransom drew his brigade from the intrenched line to meet that march, but it was one brigade against three—and those supported by part of Griffin’s division. Ransom’s horse was killed, falling on him; his adjutant-general, Captain Gee, was killed, and the brigade was forced back. This formidable move by open field to Pickett’s rear made his position untenable. Feeling this, the veteran soldiers of the left brigades realized that their battle was irretrievable. Those who could find escape from that end of the works fell back in broken ranks, while many others, finding the enemy closing in on their rear, thought it more soldierly to surrender to Ayres’s brave assaulting columns, and not a few were the captives of Crawford’s division. It was not until that period that General Pickett knew, by the noise of battle, that it was on. He rode through the fire to his command, but his cavalry chief, riding later, was cut off from the field and failed to take part in the action. When Pickett got to the Forks, Colonel Pegram, of the artillery, had been mortally wounded, the battery commander was killed, and many of the cannoneers killed or wounded.

--James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of The Civil War in America

The Confederate defenses had collapsed completely. As had happened the third day of Gettysburg, George Pickett was left with a decimated and broken force.

. . . night came to cover the disastrous field. The remnants of the command were collected as soon and as well as they could be in the dead of night and marched towards Exeter Mills, where Pickett proposed to cross the Appomattox and return to the army, but early movements of the next morning changed the face of the military zodiac. The position was not of General Pickett’s choosing, but of his orders, and from his orders he assumed that he would be reinforced. His execution was all that a skilful commander could apply. He reported as to his position and the movements of the enemy threatening to cut his command from the army, but no force came to guard his right. The reinforcements joined him after night, when his battle had been lost and his command disorganized.

--James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of The Civil War in America

It was a bad day for Union General Warren as well as for Pickett. U. S. Grant had given Sheridan the authority to relieve Warren as commander of V Corps "and if his removal was necessary to success, not to hesitate." That evening Sheridan used it -- but after the victory had been won. Warren would spend nearly two decades trying to clear his name, and finally a court of inquiry would find in his favor.

Five Forks has sometimes been called "The Waterloo of the Confederacy". It certainly did not compare in scale with Napoleon’s disaster (whose 200th anniversary will be in June), for the 65,000 casualties of Waterloo were an order of magnitude greater than those of Five Forks. Modern estimates believe that a number of Confederates managed to evade capture in the confusion of the battlefield and make their way back to the Southern army, so that the total losses were only about 3,000 instead of the 5,000 to 6,000 estimated by the Northerners at the time. (Union casualties were 830 in all.)

Nonetheless, Five Forks was decisive. However many the losses were, they were more than the Confederacy could afford. There were not enough troops remaining to hold the extended lines against the massive Union forces. Grant shrewdly guessed it, ordering a general attack early the next morning.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/2/2015 3:42:19 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Ulysses S. Grant had wanted his general assault to begin as early as possible. But it was still pitch-dark at 4:00, and so the advance had to wait for another half-hour. When it came, however, it was with more determination than the Army of the Potomac had shown since before Cold Harbor. The Rebels fought desperately, and in a few places managed to bring the Northerners to a halt. In other places, however, the defenders were driven back, and near the Boydton Plank road the VI Corps achieved a major break-through.

Before the first rays of morning we found general head-quarters. Some members of the staff were up and dressed, but the general was yet on his couch. When told of my presence, he called me to a seat at his bedside, and gave orders for our march to support the broken forces about Five Forks. He had no censure for any one, but mentioned the great numbers of the enemy and the superior repeating rifles of his cavalry. He was ill, suffering from the rheumatic ailment that he had been afflicted with for years, but keener trouble of mind made him in a measure superior to the shooting pains of his disease. From the line gained by the Sixth Corps on the 25th it was a run of but two or three minutes across to the Confederate works. At 4.45, General Wright advanced as the signal for general assault. General Lee was not through with his instructions for our march when a staff-officer came in and reported that the lines in front of his head-quarters were broken. Drawing his wrapper about him, he walked with me to the front door and saw, as far as the eye could cover the field, a line of skirmishers in quiet march towards us. It was hardly light enough to distinguish the blue from the gray.

-- James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox; Memoirs of The Civil War in America

Lee withdrew from his headquarters to a safer place. One of his corps commanders wasn't as prudent: A. P. Hill, accompanied by a single aide, rode forward to try to reform his units. The two encountered an advance pair of Union skirmishers. The Confederates tried to bluff the Northerners into surrender, but they opened fire, and Hill was shot through the heart.

During a few moments of quiet, General Lee despatched to Richmond of affairs at Petersburg, and to advise that our troops must abandon their lines and march in retreat as soon as night could cover the move.

[...]

It was eleven o’clock of the morning when the despatch reached Richmond. It was the Sabbath-day. The city was at profound worship. The President was at St. Paul’s Church. My wife was there (rest her spirit!) and heard the pastor, Mr. Minnegerode, read, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” The full congregation rose, and the air whispered silence. The solemnity was broken as a swift despatch-bearer entered the portals and walked with quiet but rapid steps up the aisle to the chancel. He handed the President a sealed envelope. After reading, the President took his hat and walked with dignity down the aisle. Service was resumed, but presently came another messenger for some of the ladies, then another, and still another, and in a few moments the congregation, followed by the minister, giving up the sacred service, passed out and to their homes to prepare, in silent resignation, for whatever was to come. The tragic scenes of the south side, in a different way, were as impressive as these.

-- James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox; Memoirs of The Civil War in America

According to the accounts, Davis did not speak a word. But his expression, the fact that he left before the service was over, and the arrival of other messengers told the congregation what was about to happen. The news quickly spread through Richmond. Those who could buy or borrow transport tried to escape the city, but the horses were mostly being used by the military, and the trains were reserved to members of the government.

In the afternoon, the President and most of his cabinet embarked on a train heading west. (Secretary of War Breckenridge stayed behind to supervise the destruction of anything militarily useful, though he took care to try to preserve the archives.) Naturally, they had taken the coin and bullion from the Confederate Treasury with them. Rumors, which have continued to this day, started that it amounted to a fabulous sum, but the best estimates from the records are that it was worth only a little over half a million Union dollars.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/D8B1187B00F54A9181AD7BB2BEDBF9C5.gif[/image]
"Petersburg Apr2" by Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW.

Lee made frantic efforts to recover at least part of the lost ground. Parke on our right was repeatedly assaulted, but repulsed every effort. Before noon Longstreet was ordered up from the north side of the James River thus bringing the bulk of Lee's army around to the support of his extreme right. As soon as I learned this I notified Weitzel and directed him to keep up close to the enemy and to have Hartsuff, commanding the Bermuda Hundred front, to do the same thing, and if they found any break to go in;

[. . .]

The enemy had in addition to their intrenched line close up to Petersburg, two enclosed works outside of it, Fort Gregg and Fort Whitworth. We thought it had now become necessary to carry them by assault. About one o'clock in the day, Fort Gregg was assaulted by Foster's division of the 24th corps (Gibbon's), supported by two brigades from Ord's command. The battle was desperate and the National troops were repulsed several times; but it was finally carried, and immediately the troops in Fort Whitworth evacuated the place. The guns of Fort Gregg were turned upon the retreating enemy, and the commanding officer with some sixty of the men of Fort Whitworth surrendered.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

However, the two forts had bought the time for the remnants of Lee's army to assemble and begin the march to the west. The pursuit along the Appomattox River was about to begin. Casualties for the day are estimated at 3,500 for the Union and 4,250 for the Confederates. The Army of Northern Virginia had been sharply reduced from what it had been just a week ago; probably to less than 40,000 men.



At Selma, Alabama, Nathan Bedford Forrest had scraped together a force of about 4,000 men to man the hastily-built fortifications of the city. But most of them were militia rather than the troopers Forrest was used to leading. Union commander James Wilson had 9,000 cavalry on the scene, and he meant to take the city.

As a general rule, cavalry do not do well attacking fortifications, but on this date there was an exception. Many of the Yankees dismounted and swarmed the barricades, using their repeating Spencers at first and then fighting hand-to-hand. General Wilson spotted an unfinished portion of the Southern lines and personally led a mounted charge against it. Elsewhere, the inexperienced Rebel militiamen broke and ran, and the defenses collapsed. Forrest managed to escape, though he was wounded, but 2,700 of his 4,000 men were killed or taken prisoner.The Northerners would spend some time in Selma, destroying ironworks and military facilities.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/3/2015 4:00:27 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Those who had fled Richmond the evening before turned out to be wise. There were three ironclads under construction at the docks, and the Southerners were determined not to let the Yankees capture them. (Though it is hard to imagine what difference it would have made at that point in the war.) The warships were set on fire, apparently in the belief that the magazines would go up in single large explosions, and the remains of the ships would go to the bottom of the James. But for at least one of them, it didn't work out that way. The initial explosion did not immediately detonate all of the shells, many of which were sent arcing across the riverfront, to start fires where they landed. It is also reported that stores of tobacco were put to the torch, and the wind spread burning tobacco leaves. Sunrise revealed a fair part of Richmond billowing smoke and flames.

By this time the fire appeared to be general. Some magazine or depot for the manufacture of ordnance stores was on fire about the center of the city; it was marked by the peculiar blackness of smoke; from the middle of it would come the roar of bursting shells and boxes of fixed ammunition, with flashes that gave the appearance of a thunder cloud of huge proportions with lightning playing through it. On our right was the navy yard, at which were several steamers and gunboats on fire, and burning in the river, from which the cannon were thundering as the fire reached them. The old war-scarred city seemed to prefer annihilation to conquest -- a useless sacrifice, as it afterwards proved, however much it may have added to the grandeur of the closing scene; but such is war.

--Edward M. Boykin, The Falling Flag

[image]local://upfiles/4250/B5411424E8B64030AD13421E75428EFF.jpg[/image]
It is estimated that there were 750,000 artillery shells stored in the Richmond Arsenal and the navy yard. Explosion after explosion erupted, and a number of people were killed by the blasts or burned in the houses that were set alight. The authorities had been wise enough to order all of the liquor they could find dumped into the gutters, but this did not stop more than a few men from dipping their hands into the rivulets running down the streets, and getting drunk. Since order had broken down completely, the Mayor hurried to the Union lines to surrender the city: the Northern troops were now the only body of men organized enough to fight the fires. Major General Godfrey Weitzel (below) had the honor of accepting the surrender of the Confederate capital. His XXV Corps, including some "colored" units, promptly went to work putting out the fires and restoring order.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/9FCB0E754D5845D6B02F17BD2754D10A.jpg[/image]

In contrast, the streets of Petersburg were empty except for the evacuating Confederates:

General Meade and I entered Petersburg on the morning of the 3d and took a position under cover of a house which protected us from the enemy's musketry which was flying thick and fast there. As we would occasionally look around the corner we could see the streets and the Appomattox bottom, presumably near the bridge, packed with the Confederate army. I did not have artillery brought up, because I was sure Lee was trying to make his escape, and I wanted to push immediately in pursuit. At all events I had not the heart to turn the artillery upon such a mass of defeated and fleeing men, and I hoped to capture them soon.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

But it would not be an easy chase. The Rebels were traveling lighter, and had a night's head start on the bulk of Grant's forces. Still, the Federals had the ever-aggressive Philip Sheridan:

I notified Sheridan and directed him to move out on the Danville Railroad to the south side of the Appomattox River as speedily as possible. He replied that he already had some of his command nine miles out. I then ordered the rest of the Army of the Potomac under Meade to follow the same road in the morning. Parke's corps followed by the same road, and the Army of the James was directed to follow the road which ran alongside of the South Side Railroad to Burke's Station, and to repair the railroad and telegraph as they proceeded. That road was a 5 feet gauge, while our rolling stock was all of the 4 feet 8 1/2 inches gauge; consequently the rail on one side of the track had to be taken up throughout the whole length and relaid so as to conform to the gauge of our cars and locomotives.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

[image]local://upfiles/4250/94602B0121F347DE81C1C11EEF3CC7E4.gif[/image]
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

There was just time for President Lincoln to ride out to Petersburg and congratulate Grant on his victory. Then Lincoln returned to the headquarters at City Point, and told Admiral David Porter, "Thank God I have lived to see this. It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four years, and now the nightmare is gone. I want to see Richmond."




Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/4/2015 3:51:23 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

It was not surprising that Lincoln would not want to wait long before entering the Confederate capital, but it was still a great worry for the senior Union officers in the area. To have the President killed while under their responsibility would be a major setback for the Union cause, as well as a personal dishonor. Few troops could be spared from those fighting fires and suppressing looting, so it was a party of just ten sailors hastily put together that served as the Commander-in-chief's bodyguard.

On the Richmond streets, the men of the guard detail were understandably anxious that they would be mobbed. Their worries were half right: in minutes they were surrounded by a shouting crowd. But the shouts were of joy, and the crowd was made up of the part of Richmond’s population that truly could not have been happier to see Lincoln -- the newly freed ex-slaves. For them, Lincoln's presence was the final proof of their emancipation. Several insisted on touching him to assure themselves, and one old woman shouted, "I know I am free, for I have seen Father Abraham and felt him."
[image]local://upfiles/4250/18890B093C124E7EB20DD39A139FF02E.jpg[/image]

The first stop was the recently vacated office of Jefferson Davis. It was not quite 40 hours since the President of the Confederate States had quitted his desk, when the President of the United States sat down at it. He asked for a glass of water, which was quickly provided (along with some whiskey), for Mrs. Davis had instructed that the house be left in good order.

That was not quite the case in the Confederate Capitol building. There was every sign of hurried departure: desks overturned and papers scattered. But one reporter for the Philadelphia Press found an upright desk and used it to compose his report to his newspaper. He was T. Morris Chester, a black man.


Having reached Danville by train, Jefferson Davis was still not willing to admit defeat. He put out a statement announcing that the Confederate forces were now "relieved from the necessity of guarding cities" and "nothing is now needed to render our triumph certain but . . . our own unquenchable resolve."


South and west of the fallen Southern capital, the marching duel of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac was in full swing. The Union cavalry harried the retreating Confederates, and they leaked stragglers by hundreds, but this wasn't enough for Grant. He wanted to bag the entire army, and Lee as well. He knew, and so did almost everyone else, that for practical purposes it would be the end of the war.

As a general rule, Confederate armies were able to march faster than Union ones during most of the war. During his campaigns, Stonewall Jackson had been able to move his troops so rapidly that they referred to themselves as "foot cavalry". But now the difference between men who had decent meals and good footwear, and men who had neither, showed itself. Nor were the famished Southern horses and mules able to keep ahead of the Yankees' draft animals in pulling equipment wagons and artillery. Grant knew his soldiers were gaining when he spotted Confederate cannons abandoned by the side of the road, their weight too much for the horses.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/5/2015 3:34:27 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In Virginia, the retreating Confederates needed a natural barrier such as a major river or a line of hills to stop the massive Northern force. But above all they needed food: with every passing hour there were fewer men able to effectively fight, and more who could only put one foot in front of the other. They were having no luck with either.

On this date, the Confederates had reached the railroad station at Amelia Court House, where they were met by a train. But there had been a mix-up, not surprising since the Confederate government was still disrupted from having to flee Richmond. The train carried no rations, but only cannon, ammunition, and caissons. This was useless to Lee and his troops, for their horses were already having trouble pulling the ordnance they had.

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
[image]local://upfiles/4250/30E856F59A684D09A1260E8ACC291666.gif[/image]

But Lee decided his men and horses must have more food. He halted the main body of his army and sent out foragers to gather what they could from the countryside. It was a major mistake. There had not been enough time since the end of winter for much to grow. Some foragers returned with only handfuls, and others did not return at all. A crucial day of marching had been lost, and the Federals took good advantage of it. Sheridan's cavalry arrived at Jetersville, cutting off the Richmond and Danville Railroad for the Southerners. They were now compelled to continue west instead of swinging to the south. Some of Lee's defenders maintain that the Rebels had no choice but to pause, because it took a day for the nearly exhausted draft animals to bring up the pontoons and other bridging material.


In Washington, Secretary of State William Seward had a nearly fatal carriage accident. The horses began to run away, and he attempted to leap clear. But he landed badly on the pavement, breaking his jaw and dislocating his shoulder. His daughter Fanny was horrified to see him in his bed, for his faced was so bruised he was almost unrecognizable. The normally stern Secretary of War Stanton rushed to Seward's bedside to comfort his fellow Cabinet member, then sent a telegram requesting that Lincoln return to Washington.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/6/2015 3:23:53 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The next action was a place now called Sayler's Creek, but marked as Sailor's Creek on the maps of the time -- when maps were in hand, which was not always. Farmville was the next place were rations could be had for the fleeing Confederates, but the route was not clear. Advance divisions under Richard Anderson and Richard Ewell found themselves separated from the rest of Lee's army, and then faced with disaster from the pursuing Northerners:

Just after crossing Sailor's Greek, a favorable opportunity offering, both Merritt and Crook attacked vigorously, gained the Rice's Station road, destroyed several hundred wagons, made many prisoners, and captured sixteen pieces of artillery. This was important, but more valuable still was the fact that we were astride the enemy's line of retreat, and had cut off from joining Longstreet, waiting at Rice's Station, a corps of Confederate infantry under General Ewell, composed of Anderson's, Kershaw's, and Custis Lee's divisions. Stagg's brigade and Miller's battery, which, as I have said, had been left at the forks of the Deatonsville road, had meanwhile broken in between the rear of Ewell's column and the head of Gordon's, forcing Gordon to abandon his march for Rice's Station, and to take the right-hand road at the forks, on which he was pursued by General Humphreys. The complete isolation of Ewell from Longstreet in his front and Gordon in his rear led to the battle of Sailor's Creek, one of the severest conflicts of the war, for the enemy fought with desperation to escape capture, and we, bent on his destruction, were no less eager and determined.

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com
[image]local://upfiles/4250/673690F5031E4D17B0D118677FB67E35.gif[/image]
On the Confederate side, James Longstreet agreed that the combat had been furious, but the Yankees had too many advantages:

Anderson crossed Sailor’s Creek, closely followed by Ewell. The route by which they were to march was by High Bridge, but they were on strange ground, without maps, or instructions, or commander. In the absence of orders Anderson thought to march for the noise of battle, at Rice’s Station. They had no artillery or cavalry. The chief of cavalry was there, but his troopers were elsewhere, and he rode away, advising the force to follow him. The rear-guard came up rapidly and essayed to deploy for defence, but the close pursuit of Humphreys’s corps forced its continued march for High Bridge, letting the pursuit in upon Ewell’s rear. As Anderson marched he found Merritt’s cavalry square across his route. Humphreys was close upon Ewell, but the former awaited battle for the arrival of the Sixth Corps. There was yet a way of escape from the closing clutches of the enemy by filing to their right and marching to the rear of the command at Rice’s Station; but they were true soldiers, and decided to fight, even to sacrifice their commands if necessary, to break or delay the pursuit until the trains and rear-guard could find safety beyond High Bridge.

[...]

Ewell received the assaults with resolute coolness, and at one moment pushed his fight to aggressive return, but the enemy, finding that there was no artillery with the Confederates, dashed their batteries into closer range, putting in artillery and infantry fire, front and flanks, until the Confederate rear was crushed to fragments. General Ewell surrendered; so also did General G. W. C. Lee with his division. General Kershaw advised such of his men as could to make their escape, and surrendered with his division. General Anderson got away with the greater part of B. R. Johnson’s division, and Pickett with six hundred men. Generals Corse and Hunton and others of Pickett’s men were captured. About two hundred of Kershaw’s division got away.

[...]

General Mahone writes of the scenes that he witnessed as follows: “As we were moving up in line of battle, General Lee riding with me and remonstrating about the severity of my note in respect to Colonel Marshall’s interference with my division the night before, up rode Colonel Venable, of General Lee’s staff, and wanted to know if he, General Lee, had received his message. General Lee replied ‘No,’ when Colonel Venable informed him that the enemy had captured the wagon-trains at Sailor’s Creek. General Lee exclaimed, ‘Where is Anderson? Where is Ewell? It is strange I can’t hear from them.’ Then turning to me, he said, ‘General Mahone, I have no other troops, will you take your division to Sailor’s Creek?’ and I promptly gave the order by the left flank, and off we were for Sailor’s Creek, where the disaster had occurred. General Lee rode with me, Colonel Venable a little in the rear. On reaching the south crest of the high ground at the crossing of the river road overlooking Sailor’s Creek, the disaster which had overtaken our army was in full view, and the scene beggars description,—hurrying teamsters with their teams and dangling traces (no wagons), retreating infantry without guns, many without hats, a harmless mob, with the massive columns of the enemy moving orderly on. At this spectacle General Lee straightened himself in his saddle, and, looking more the soldier than ever, exclaimed, as if talking to himself, ‘My God! has the army dissolved?’

-- James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox; Memoirs of The Civil War in America

The victory cost the Union a total of 1,148 casualties. In return, they captured at least 7,700 Confederates including at least six general officers. An additional but unknown number were killed or wounded. It amounted to a fourth of the remaining Army of Northern Virginia.

Near midnight I sent a despatch giving the names of the generals captured. These were Ewell, Kershaw, Barton, Corse, Dubose, and Custis Lee. In the same despatch I wrote: "If the thing is pressed, I think that Lee will surrender." When Mr. Lincoln, at City Point, received this word from General Grant, who was transmitting every item of news to the President, he telegraphed Grant the laconic message: "Let the thing be pressed."

--Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/7/2015 2:49:53 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Jefferson Davis had spoken of "our unquenchable resolve". But throughout the South, more and more people were seeing their cause as lost:

April 7th. - Richmond has fallen and I have no heart to write about it. Grant broke through our lines and Sherman cut through them. Stoneman is this side of Danville. They are too many for us. Everything is lost in Richmond, even our archives. Blue black is our horizon. Hood says we shall all be obliged to go West - to Texas, I mean, for our own part of the country will be overrun.
Yes, a solitude and a wild waste it may become, but, as to that, we can rough it in the bush at home.
De Fontaine, in his newspaper, continues the old cry. "Now Richmond is given up," he says, "it was too heavy a load to carry, and we are stronger than ever." "Stronger than ever?" Nine-tenths of our army are under ground and where is another army to come from? Will they wait until we grow one?

-- Mary Boykin Chesnut, A Diary From Dixie

In the Army of Northern Virginia, men continued to drop out, some because they could go no further, and others because they had had enough:

Lee's army was rapidly crumbling. Many of his soldiers had enlisted from that part of the State where they now were, and were continually dropping out of the ranks and going to their homes. I know that I occupied a hotel almost destitute of furniture at Farmville, which had probably been used as a Confederate hospital. The next morning when I came out I found a Confederate colonel there, who reported to me and said that he was the proprietor of that house, and that he was a colonel of a regiment that had been raised in that neighborhood. He said that when he came along past home, he found that he was the only man of the regiment remaining with Lee's army, so he just dropped out, and now wanted to surrender himself. I told him to stay there and he would not be molested.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

Even among the higher officers, there was dissention. Lee talked to Major General Henry A. Wise, who had once been Governor of Virginia and an ardent secessionist, and got an earful:

... Gen. Lee inquired what he thought of the situation. “Situation?” said the bold old man. “There is no situation. Nothing remains, Gen. Lee, but to put your poor men on your poor mules and send them home in time for the spring ploughing. This army is hopelessly whipped, and is fast becoming demoralized. These men have already endured more than I believed flesh and blood could stand, and I say to you, Sir, emphatically, that to prolong the struggle is murder, and the blood of every man who is killed from this time forth is on your head, Gen. Lee.” This last expression seemed to cause Gen. Lee great pain. With a gesture of remonstrance, and even of impatience, he protested. “Oh, General, do not talk so wildly. My burdens are heavy enough! What would the country think of me, if I did what you suggest?” “Country be d—d,” was the quick reply. “There is no country. There has been no country, General, for a year or more. You are the country to these men. They have fought for you. They have shivered through a long winter for you. Without pay or clothes or care of any sort their devotion to you and faith in you have been the only things that have held this army together. If you demand the sacrifice, there are still left thousands of us who will die for you. You know the game is desperate beyond redemption, and that, if you so announce, no man, or government, or people will gainsay your decision. That is why I repeat that the blood of any man killed hereafter is on your head.” Gen. Lee stood for some time at an open window looking out at the throng now surging by upon the roads and in the fields, and made no response.

--Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate

General Wise was indeed a "bold old man", for Confederate military regulations forbade any junior officer to suggest surrender to a superior. The penalty could be the firing squad.
Knowing the Confederate desertion rate, and having been informed of the Confederate debacle at Sailor's Creek, Grant believed the time had come to start surrender negotiations. He wrote out a quick message for Lee. But the Confederate commander and his chief lieutenant Longstreet were not as convinced of the end as Grant was:

Head-quarters Armies of the United States, 5 P.M., April 7, 1865.
General R. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Army:


General,—The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General, Commanding Armies of the United States.

I was sitting at his side when the note was delivered. He read it and handed it to me without referring to its contents. After reading it I gave it back, saying, “Not yet.”
-- James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox; Memoirs of The Civil War in America

Lee promptly wrote a reply, opening the possibility, but not committing himself:

April 7, 1865.
LIEUT.-GENERAL U. S. GRANT, Commanding Armies of the U. S.


GENERAL: I have received your note of this day. Though not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.

R. E. LEE, General.


Also on this date, the "reconstructed" (in other words, Union-installed) state legislature of Tennessee approved the 13th amendment. The total now stood at 20, with 7 more needed.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/8/2015 3:07:17 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Mobile, Alabama, the Union besiegers finally made a breach in Spanish Fort. The outnumbered Confederates rapidly evacuated it, some escaping to the second defensive point, Fort Blakely. However, the Yankees had also begun operations against Blakely, so the majority of the Rebel garrison fled to Mobile.


In Virginia, the pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia would reach a climax. However, the day seemed to start off without combat, which gave time for another heated discussion about surrender:

The road was clear at eleven o’clock, and we marched at twelve. The enemy left us to a quiet day’s march on the 8th, nothing disturbing the rear-guard, and our left flank being but little annoyed, but our animals were worn and reduced in strength by the heavy haul through rain and mud during the march from Petersburg, and the troops of our broken columns were troubled and faint of heart. We passed abandoned wagons in flames, and limbers and caissons of artillery burning sometimes in the middle of the road. One of my battery commanders reported his horses too weak to haul his guns. He was ordered to bury the guns and cover their burial-places with old leaves and brushwood. Many weary soldiers were picked up, and many came to the column from the woodlands, some with, many without, arms,—all asking for food.

[...]

In the forenoon, General Pendleton came to me and reported the proceedings of the self-constituted council of war of the night before, and stated that he had been requested to make the report and ask to have me bear it to General Lee, in the name of the members of the council. Much surprised, I turned and asked if he did not know that the Articles of War provided that officers or soldiers who asked commanding officers to surrender should be shot, and said,— “If General Lee doesn’t know when to surrender until I tell him, he will never know.” It seems that General Pendleton then went to General Lee and made the report. General Long’s account of the interview, as reported by Pendleton, is as follows: “General Lee was lying on the ground. No others heard the conversation between him and myself. He received my communication with the reply, ‘Oh, no, I trust that it has not come to that,’ and added, ‘General, we have yet too many bold men to think of laying down our arms. The enemy do not fight with spirit, while our boys still do. Besides, if I were to say a word to the Federal commander, he would regard it as such a confession of weakness as to make it the condition of demanding an unconditional surrender, a proposal to which I will never listen...'

--James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of The Civil War in America

Since Grant had been nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, it was not surprising that the correspondence between Grant and Lee was not going well. Grant knew perfectly well that Lee had not conceded anything in his reply to the first note. Still, he "regarded it as deserving another letter", and wrote back:

April 8, 1865.
GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. A.


Your note of last evening in reply to mine of same date, asking the condition on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia is just received. In reply I would say that, peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon, namely: that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

But late in the afternoon, another disaster befell the Confederates, which changed the situation. The Southerners had be aiming for Lynchburg, where they expected to get supplies. Since it was still some distance, and Lee's army was in desperate condition, several train-loads of provisions had been sent ahead to Appomattox Station. But the Yankees got there first:

Although Sheridan had been marching all day, his troops moved with alacrity and without any straggling. They began to see the end of what they had been fighting four years for. Nothing seemed to fatigue them. They were ready to move without rations and travel without rest until the end. Straggling had entirely ceased, and every man was now a rival for the front. The infantry marched about as rapidly as the cavalry could. Sheridan sent Custer with his division to move south of Appomattox Station, which is about five miles south-west of the Court House, to get west of the trains and destroy the roads to the rear. They got there the night of the 8th, and succeeded partially; but some of the train men had just discovered the movement of our troops and succeeded in running off three of the trains. The other four were held by Custer.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

[image]local://upfiles/4250/C060750C1076423CA91D03862E453DA9.gif[/image]
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

Naturally, the Southerners made an effort to get the trains back, but as it happened the units closest to the scene were artillery and engineers. Thus, the Battle of Appomattox Station was unusual in that neither side had significant numbers of infantry. It was cavalry on the Union side, and artillery on the Confederate side, ironic considering artillery had generally been the Southerners' weak point and cavalry had been the Northerners' weak point for the first two years of the war. Although the Federals were commanded by the notoriously aggressive George Custer, their first few charges were not coordinated or energetic. Few troopers wanted to be shredded by Rebel grapeshot.

After almost five hours of engagement, Custer put together a concerted charge as darkness began to fall. This one was successful, with the Yankees capturing nearly 1,000 Confederates and as many as 30 guns. Appomattox Station and its trains of rations were in the grip of the Northerners, and it would take a major assault to get them back.

However, Grant had not yet heard the good news, and he had reasons to be in a less than positive mood:

On the 8th I had followed the Army of the Potomac in rear of Lee. I was suffering very severely with a sick headache, and stopped at a farmhouse on the road some distance in rear of the main body of the army. I spent the night in bathing my feet in hot water and mustard, and putting mustard plasters on my wrists and the back part of my neck, hoping to be cured by morning.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

Close to midnight, Grant received Lee's second reply. If anything, it was even less promising than the first:

April 8, 1865
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT.


GENERAL:--I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day. In mine of yesterday I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army; but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia; but as far as your proposal may affect the Confederate States forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at ten A.M. to-morrow on the old stage-road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies.

R. E. LEE, General.

Since Lee was the General-in-Chief of the Confederacy, the "forces under my command" could amount to all the Southern armies. This meant something more like a peace treaty than the surrender of an individual force, and Grant had been explicitly told that political questions were out of his hands, and to be resolved by the President.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/9/2015 2:59:45 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In the early hours of the morning, Ulysses S. Grant drafted his reply to Robert E. Lee:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S.,
April 9, 1865.

GENERAL R. E. LEE,
Commanding C. S. A.

Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for ten A.M. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc.,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

I proceeded at an early hour in the morning, still suffering with the headache, to get to the head of the column. I was not more than two or three miles from Appomattox Court House at the time, but to go direct I would have to pass through Lee's army, or a portion of it. I had therefore to move south in order to get upon a road coming up from another direction.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

At dawn, the Confederates made one last try to break through the Union cavalry and regain their supply trains. An assault using John B. Gordon’s badly depleted corps and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry went forward. At first, the advance seemed to prosper. The Northern cavalry men gave ground, and the Rebels took the first ridge in their front. But as they topped the ridge, they discovered that the Yankees had also brought up more men during the night. Facing them were the bulk of two Union infantry corps, the V and the XXIV, which had just had time to get into line of battle. The Confederate advance stopped immediately; their forces were no match for what was before them.

The bad news went back to Lee:

. . . our advance made no progress, and the increased fire told of large forces already in our front. Lee was up at an early hour and sent Col. Venable to Gordon to inquire how he progressed. Gordon’s answer was:— ‘Tell Gen. Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet’s corps.’ When Lee received this message, he exclaimed: — ‘Then there is nothing left me but to go and see Gen. Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.’

--Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate

Alexander had thought of one other thing left to do: that the Army of Northern Virginia should scatter and become guerrillas. But Lee, to his great credit, realized the consequences. The atrocities already done in Kansas, Missouri, eastern Tennessee, and elsewhere would be visited throughout Virginia, and likely to much of the remainder of the South as thousands of desperate men spread across the land.

. . . I hastened to lay my plan before him. I said:— ‘Then we have only choice of two courses. Either to surrender, or to take to the woods and bushes, with orders, either to rally on Johnston, or perhaps better, on the Governors of the respective States. If we surrender this army, it is the end of the Confederacy. I think our best course would be to order each man to go to the Governor of his own State with his arms.’ ‘What would you hope to accomplish by that?’ said he. ‘In the first place,’ said I, ‘to stand the chances. If we surrender this army, every other army will have to follow suit. All will go like a row of bricks, and if the rumors of help from France have any foundation, the news of our surrender will put an end to them. But the one thing which may be possible in our present situation is to get some sort of terms. None of our armies are likely to be able to get them, and that is why we should try with the different States. Already it has been said that Vance can make terms for N. C., and Jo Brown for Ga. Let the Governor of each State make some sort of a show of force and then surrender on terms which may save us from trials for treason and confiscations. . .
[...]
His first words were: — ‘If I should take your advice, how many men do you suppose would get away?’ ‘Two-thirds of us,’ I answered. ‘We would be like rabbits and partridges in the bushes, and they could not scatter to follow us.’ He said: ‘I have not over 15,000 muskets left. Two-thirds of them divided among the States, even if all could be collected, would be too small a force to accomplish anything. All could not be collected. Their homes have been overrun, and many would go to look after their families. Then, General, you and I as Christian men have no right to consider only how this would affect us. We must consider its effect on the country as a whole. Already it is demoralized by the four years of war. If I took your advice, the men would be without rations and under no control of officers. They would be compelled to rob and steal in order to live. They would become mere bands of marauders, and the enemy’s cavalry would pursue them and overrun many wide sections they may never have occasion to visit. We would bring on a state of affairs it would take the country years to recover from. And, as for myself, you young fellows might go to bushwhacking, but the only dignified course for me would be, to go to Gen. Grant and surrender myself and take the consequences of my acts. ’ He paused for only a moment and then went on. ‘But I can tell you one thing for your comfort. Grant will not demand an unconditional surrender. He will give us as good terms as this army has the right to demand, and I am going to meet him in the rear at 10 A. M. and surrender the army on the condition of not fighting again until exchanged.’ I had not a single word to say in reply. He had answered my suggestion from a plane so far above it, that I was ashamed of having made it.

--Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate

And so, Lee sent another message to Grant:

April 9, 1865.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT Commanding U. S. Armies.


GENERAL: I received your note of this morning on the picket-line whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose.

R. E. LEE, General.

Since Grant was traveling on a different road than expected, it took extra time for the note to reach him. But it was worth the wait:

When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache, but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured. I wrote the following note in reply and hastened on:

April 9, 1865.
GENERAL R. E. LEE, Commanding C. S. Armies.


Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing about four miles west of Walker's Church and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

I was conducted at once to where Sheridan was located with his troops drawn up in line of battle facing the Confederate army near by. They were very much excited, and expressed their view that this was all a ruse employed to enable the Confederates to get away. They said they believed that Johnston was marching up from North Carolina now, and Lee was moving to join him; and they would whip the rebels where they now were in five minutes if I would only let them go in. But I had no doubt about the good faith of Lee . . .

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

Grant had generously allowed his adversary to pick the meeting place. Lee's staff, after rejecting one house, selected the house of Wilmer McLean, who had owned the farm on Bull Run, and whose house had been used as a Confederate headquarters before the first major battle of the war. McLean could say with some truth that the Civil War had started in his back yard and ended in his front parlor.

"Mcleanhouse parlor 2008 08 21" by Rolfmueller - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
[image]local://upfiles/4250/BB612B2CBDA24410B8ADB35D342C30F7.jpg[/image]


When I had left camp that morning I had not expected so soon the result that was then taking place, and consequently was in rough garb. I was without a sword, as I usually was when on horseback on the field, and wore a soldier's blouse for a coat, with the shoulder straps of my rank to indicate to the army who I was. When I went into the house I found General Lee. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats. . .
. . . What General Lee's feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly . . .
. . . General Lee was dressed in a full uniform which was entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value, very likely the sword which had been presented by the State of Virginia; at all events, it was an entirely different sword from the one that would ordinarily be worn in the field. In my rough traveling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high...
... We soon fell into a conversation about old army times. He remarked that he remembered me very well in the old army; and I told him that as a matter of course I remembered him perfectly, but from the difference in our rank and years (there being about sixteen years' difference in our ages), I had thought it very likely that I had not attracted his attention sufficiently to be remembered by him after such a long interval. Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood my letter...
...we gradually fell off again into conversation about matters foreign to the subject which had brought us together. This continued for some little time, when General Lee again interrupted the course of the conversation by suggesting that the terms I proposed to give his army ought to be written out. I called to General Parker, secretary on my staff, for writing materials, and commenced writing out the following terms:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
Appomattox C. H., Va., April 9, 1865.

GENERAL R. E. LEE,
Commanding C. S. Army:

General: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side arms of the officers nor the private horses or baggage. This done each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.

Very respectfully,
U. S. Grant, Lt.-Gen.

If Lee had spared the country the nightmare of guerrilla warriors, Grant had performed a great service as well. Not only were the men of the Army of Northern Virginia not to be imprisoned, they were essentially granted immunity from prosecution for treason. There would be no mass executions of Rebel soldiers. Grant also allowed the Confederates to keep much of their property:

When he read over that part of the terms about side arms, horses and private property of the officers, he remarked, with some feeling, I thought, that this would have a happy effect upon his army.
[...]
I said further I took it that most of the men in the ranks were small farmers. The whole country had been so raided by the two armies that it was doubtful whether they would be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter""without the aid of the horses they were then riding. The United States did not want them and I would, therefore, instruct the officers I left behind to receive the paroles of his troops to let every man of the Confederate army who claimed to own a horse or mule take the animal to his home. Lee remarked again that this would have a happy effect.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

Grant finished by ordering 25,000 rations to be sent to Lee's hungry men. (The Northerners could afford to, for most of the provisions were from the Confederate trains they had captured the day before.)
Lee wrote his acceptance on a separate piece of paper:

Headquarters Army of Northern Va., April 9, 1865.
Lt.-Gen. U. S. Grant.


General: I received your note of this date containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulation into effect.

R. E. Lee, Gen.

Grant had written out the original terms in his own hand, but his adjutant now made more formal copies. The adjutant, Ely S. Parker (below on left), was a Native American (of the Seneca nation). Noticing this, Lee remarked, "I am glad to see one real American here." Parker replied, "We are all Americans."
[image]local://upfiles/4250/1CF472CB8B1B4FB59DE298A06A8966F8.jpg[/image]


Immediately upon his return to Washington, President Lincoln hurried to visit the injured William Seward. The Secretary of State could barely speak because of his broken jaw, but he managed, "You are back from Richmond?" Lincoln answered, "Yes, and I think we are near the end, at last." (It is possible that the surrender conference between Lee and Grant was going on at that same time.) Lincoln continued to tell Seward of his trip to City Point and Richmond until Seward fell asleep.
Seward was in need of the rest, for his injuries were still painful, and sleep was hard to come by. But when the news of Lee's surrender came, Secretary of War Stanton guessed that Seward would want to hear the once-in-a-lifetime news, and hurried over to Seward's house to wake him up and share the message.


The surrender at Appomattox was not the end of the war; Lee surrendered about 28,000 men, with 175,000 still in the ranks at other places in the South. But as Edward Porter Alexander had predicted, the other armies went down "like a row of bricks". There was still to be some fighting, of course. In Alabama, Fort Blakely did not last as long as Spanish Fort had done, falling to a massive assault of 16,000 Federals under Edward Canby. This apparently happened a few hours after the meeting at Appomattox Court House, but there had not been time to get the word out.



Lecivius -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/9/2015 7:24:34 PM)

Not to far off topic.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/photos/the-civil-war-in-color-photos/ss-AA8Eh6X

Colorized pics of this conflict.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/10/2015 3:10:10 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Appomattox Court House, peace was now the word. Soon Union and Confederate officers were fraternizing, not surprising since many had known each other in the U. S. Army before the Civil War. Meanwhile, the certificates of parole were busily being written out. They would effectively serve as passes through Union lines for the Rebels, but the actual means of transportation was up to them. Many would simply walk home, however far that might be.

Some Southern writers after the war, trying to report the odds against them as high as possible, claimed only 8,000 men were surrendered. In truth, 28,356 paroles were written out and issued to the men of the Army of Northern Virginia. It is probable that the figure of 8,000 was all the men still able to fight effectively.


In North Carolina, Sherman was as good as his word, and resumed the advance of his army on the date he had promised Grant. Since he now had over 80,000 men, the movement was hard to disguise, and was promptly reported by Southern cavalry. Joseph Johnston gave orders to assemble his army (now reduced by desertions) at the state capital of Raleigh. Neither commander had yet learned of the surrender at Appomattox Court House.


In Washington D. C., celebrations erupted. A spontaneous holiday was declared for all government employees, and Secretary of War Stanton ordered a 500-gun salute. A crowd came to the White House asking Lincoln to give a speech, but he promised to deliver one he was already working on the following day. In the meantime, he requested a nearby band to play "Dixie", saying "I presented the question to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize." (And indeed the composer, Daniel Decatur Emmett, was born and died in Mount Vernon, Ohio.) Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote, "The nation seems delirious with joy. Guns are firing, bells ringing, flags flying, men laughing, children cheering -- all, all jubilant. This surrender of the great Rebel captain and the most formidable and reliable army of the Secessionists virtually terminates the Rebellion."

[image]local://upfiles/4250/3400D194D6B94AD3A0D71CD3F960C92C.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/11/2015 3:01:09 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

As he had promised, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech to a waiting crowd on the White House lawn. He started by touching on the recent victories:

We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He from whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.

Then he turned to the subject of what was to happen when the war was over. His primary objective had always been to restore the Union, but exactly how were the Rebel states to be brought back? He focused on the "reconstructed" government of Louisiana, which some people claimed was illegitimate because it had been formed under incomplete occupation, and with just 12,000 recognized voters. And in his remarks he also opened the door to the question of what would be the status of the former slaves:

The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all, if it contained fifty, thirty, or even twenty thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, "Will it be wiser to take it as it is, and help to improve it; or to reject, and disperse it?" "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining, or by discarding her new State government?"

Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave-state of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State government, adopted a free-state constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man.

[...]

Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps toward it, than by running backward over them? Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it?

(The full text of the speech can be read at: http://www.abraham-lincoln-history.org/last-speech/ )

It was a time when second-class citizenship was not only a lawful reality, but approved of by many. Forbidding blacks to be enslaved was one thing, but it was quite another to grant them the vote. Giving them a say in government was a step too far for a number of people, and even more, it opened the way for blacks to be elected to office themselves. For at least one member of the audience, the idea was not merely repugnant: it was intolerable. John Wilkes Booth is reported as saying to a fellow Southern sympathizer: "Now, by God, I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever give."



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/12/2015 4:21:09 AM)

I owe my readers an apology: I made an error in dates. The issuing of parole certificates was done on April 10, but the actual surrender of arms was on April 12:

150 Years Ago Today:

At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, the formal surrendering of arms took place. Unit by unit, the Confederates marched to the designated places and stacked their arms. To help the process of reconciliation, Grant had forbidden cheering or firing of cannon, and discouraged the bands from playing Northern songs. Instead, the Northerners gave their opponents a silent salute:

Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing before us now, thin, worn, and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond;—was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured? Instructions had been given; and when the head of each division column comes opposite our group, our bugle sounds the signal and instantly our whole line from right to left, regiment by regiment in succession, gives the soldier's salutation, from the "order arms" to the old "carry"—the marching salute. Gordon at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, catches the sound of shifting arms, looks up, and, taking the meaning, wheels superbly, making with himself and his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he drops the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, gives word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position of the manual,—honor answering honor. On our part not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order, but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!

— Joshua L. Chamberlain, The Passing of the Armies

This sign of respect from soldiers to soldiers caused much lessening of resentment between Northerners and Southerners -- for all too brief a time.


In North Carolina, Joseph Johnston had received the word of Lee's surrender. He had also been summoned to meet with President Davis and the Confederate Cabinet, who were now in Greensborough. Since he would not be present for the imminent contact with Sherman's army, he gave orders to evacuate Raleigh, the state capital, and retire to the northwest along the railroad, which he himself took advantage of:

Taking the first train, about midnight, I reached Greensboroa about eight o’clock in the morning, on the 12th, and was General Beauregard’s guest. His quarters were a burden-car near, and in sight of those of the President. The General and myself were summoned to the President’s office in an hour or two, and found Messrs. Benjamin, Mallory, and Reagan, with him. We had supposed that we were to be questioned concerning the military resources of our department, in connection with the question of continuing or terminating the war. But the President’s object seemed to be to give, not to obtain information; for, addressing the party, he said that in two or three weeks he would have a large army in the field by bringing back into the ranks those who had abandoned them in less desperate circumstances, and by calling out the enrolled men whom the conscript bureau with its forces had been unable to bring into the army.

-- Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations during the Civil War

Johnston was understandably dismayed. He had decided months before that the Southern cause was doomed, and that continued fighting would bring nothing but more death and destruction. P.G.T. Beauregard shared his opinion, but also shared in being under Davis' considerable displeasure. Both generals retired for the evening, marshalling their facts and arguments to persuade Davis to change his mind the next day.


The Union army under Edward Canby marched into Mobile, Alabama, with no resistance from the scattered Confederates in the area. This now gave the Federal gunboats access up the Alabama River. A year and a half ago, when the move had first been proposed by U. S. Grant, it would have been an invaluable victory. Now, however, it was almost meaningless, for the Union already had free movement into the state. The point was made clear when, on the same date, the cavalry force under James Wilson took the city of Montgomery, the original capital of the Confederacy.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/13/2015 3:56:50 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Greensborough, Joseph Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard made their case to President Davis, and were more successful than on the previous day:

General Beauregard and myself were summoned to the President’s office an hour or two after the meeting of his cabinet there, next morning. Being desired by the President to do it, we compared the military forces of the two parties to the war: ours, an army of about twenty thousand infantry and artillery, and five thousand mounted troops; those of the United States, three armies that could be combined against ours, which was insignificant compared with either . . . I represented that under such circumstances it would be the greatest of human crimes for us to attempt to continue the war; for, having neither money nor credit, nor arms but those in the hands of our soldiers, nor ammunition but that in their cartridge-boxes, nor shops for repairing arms or fixing ammunition, the effect of our keeping the field would be, not to harm the enemy, but to complete the devastation of our country and ruin of its people. I therefore urged that the President should exercise at once the only function of government still in his possession, and open negotiations for peace. The members of the cabinet present were then desired by the President to express their opinions on the important question. General Breckenridge, Mr. Mallory, and Mr. Reagan, thought that the war was decided against us; and that it was absolutely necessary to make peace. Mr. Benjamin [the Secretary of State] expressed the contrary opinion.

[...]

Mr. Davis reverted to the first suggestion, that he should offer terms to the Government of the United States—which he had put aside; and sketched a letter appropriate to be sent by me to General Sherman, proposing a meeting to arrange the terms of an armistice to enable the civil authorities to agree upon terms of peace.

-- Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations during the Civil War

Johnston promptly wrote out a note to Sherman, reading: “The results of the recent campaign in Virginia have changed the relative military condition of the belligerents. I am therefore induced to address you, in this form, the inquiry whether, in order to stop the further effusion of blood and devastation of property, you are willing to make a temporary suspension of active operations, and to communicate to Lieutenant-General Grant, commanding the armies of the United States, the request that he will take like action in regard to other armies — the object being, to permit the civil authorities to enter into the needful arrangements to terminate the existing war.” He sent it off at once, although not it could not be soon enough to prevent Sherman's army from adding a fourth state capital to its list of conquests.

On the 13th, early, I entered Raleigh, and ordered the several heads of column toward Ashville in the direction of Salisbury or Charlotte. Before reaching Raleigh, a locomotive came down the road to meet me, passing through both Wade Hampton's and Kilpatrick's cavalry, bringing four gentlemen, with a letter from Governor Vance to me, asking protection for the citizens of Raleigh. These gentlemen were, of course, dreadfully excited at the dangers through which they had passed. Among them were ex-Senator Graham, Mr. Swain, president of Chapel Hill University, and a Surgeon Warren, of the Confederate army.

[ . . . ]

On reaching Raleigh I found these same gentlemen, with Messrs. Badger, Bragg, Holden, and others, but Governor Vance had fled, and could not be prevailed on to return, because he feared an arrest and imprisonment. From the Raleigh newspapers of the 10th I learned that General Stoneman, with his division of cavalry, had come across the mountains from East Tennessee, had destroyed the railroad at Salisbury, and was then supposed to be approaching Greensboro'. I also learned that General Wilson's cavalry corps was "smashing things" down about Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, and was pushing for Columbus and Macon, Georgia; and I also had reason to expect that General Sheridan would come down from Appomattox to join us at Raleigh with his superb cavalry corps. I needed more cavalry to check Johnston's retreat, so that I could come up to him with my infantry, and therefore had good reason to delay.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Nine out of the eleven Confederate state capitals had now been overrun by the Federals (although not always permanently), sparing only Texas and Florida.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/14/2015 3:30:18 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In the morning of Good Friday, April 14th, it seemed to be a happy day for Abraham Lincoln. He had breakfast with his eldest son Robert, just returned from serving on Grant's staff. Grant himself was also in the city, having traveled north to help the War Department issue orders to stop recruiting men and purchasing more arms. With peace breaking out, they were no longer needed, and the then-astronomical costs of the war effort had to be reduced as soon as possible.


Robert Anderson, the man who had commanded Fort Sumter when the war was begun there, now returned to it. Much had changed: he was now a general instead of a major, though in semi-retirement because of poor health. On this date, the four-year anniversary of Sumter's surrender, he helped to raise the very same flag he had had to lower, to a hundred-gun salute and other festivities. Note that it was no longer an official United States flag, for two states had since been added to the Union, and that meant two more stars.


In Arkansas, the "reconstructed" state legislature approved the 13th Amendment, bringing the total to 21. Just six more were required.


In Raleigh, North Carolina, W. T. Sherman was already in a more peaceful frame of mind. Early in the day, he issued orders to reduce the wrecking of infrastructure, with a view to allowing the Southern economy to recover. He wrote, "No further destruction of railroads, mills, cotton, and produce, will be made without the specific orders of an army commander, and the inhabitants will be dealt with kindly, looking to an early reconciliation. The troops will be permitted, however, to gather forage and provisions as heretofore; only more care should be taken not to strip the poorer classes too closely."

A short time later, he received Joseph Johnston's note proposing a truce and talks. Sherman readily agreed; he had not been looking forward to a "stern chase" against Johnston, whose skill at retreating he knew well from the Atlanta campaign. In his reply, Sherman offered the same terms that Grant had given to Lee. He did not realize that Johnston wanted something more; essentially, a peace treaty for the entire South.


But around noon in Washington, the course of American history began to turn toward a darker path. John Wilkes Booth stopped by Ford's Theater, which he used as a place to receive mail, since he was often traveling and had no fixed address. While there, he looked at the seating plan for that night's performance of "Our American Cousin", and learned that President Lincoln would be attending. He left to gather his group of co-conspirators.

The President and First Lady had invited Grant and his wife to the play with them, but Julia Grant was insistent on visiting their children in New Jersey. Eventually, Clara Harris, who was the daughter of Senator Ira Harris and a family friend, pus Clara's fiance Major Henry Rathbone, were invited as the Presidential couple's guests.

At 7:00 p.m., Booth met with his band of Southern sympathizers in their usual gathering place: the boarding house of Mary Surratt. (This would eventually cause Mary Surratt to be hanged as a co-conspirator, though there is no real evidence she was in on the assassination plot.) What came out of the meeting was beyond the murder of the President. In modern terms, it would be a "decapitation strike", a plan to disrupt the Federal government by additionally killing the Vice President and the Secretary of State. Booth took Lincoln as his target, assigned Lewis Powell to kill William Seward, and George Atzerodt to kill Andrew Johnson. Each man was to arm himself with a pistol and a dagger, and carry out the deed as close to 10:00 p.m. the next day as they could manage, so that the alarm would not have time to spread before all three assassinations were accomplished.

(It is interesting to note that there was no plan to kill Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was probably the sternest enemy of the South in Lincoln's cabinet.)

Guided by David Herold, Lewis Powell reached the Secretary of State's house and managed to talk his way into the by saying he was delivering a package of medicine. Seward's son Frederick became suspicious and intercepted Powell on the stairs. The would-be killer pulled out his pistol and attempted to shoot the younger Seward, but the revolver misfired. Using it as a club, Powell downed his opponent, fracturing his skull.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/C64F53F4496A4D869A116999A72C374E.jpg[/image]
The situation in the house erupted as Powell stormed into William Seward's bedroom, stabbing with his knife. It is likely that the splint on Seward's jaw saved his life, for it protected his jugular vein. The force of the blows sent Seward tumbling off the far side of the bed, for the moment out of the would-be assassin’s reach. Powell had other things to worry about, however, for Seward's daughter Fanny, son Gus and his bodyguard were fighting him as best they could. Powell was a big and very strong man, so Gus ran to get a pistol. Powell immediately took that as his cue to leave (his own gun was now hopelessly broken) and dashed down the stairs and out the door, stabbing a State Department messenger on the way.

Outside, hearing the commotion, David Herold's courage failed and he fled from in front of Seward's house, abandoning Powell, who did not know the escape route. Herold's running away would do him little good, for he was captured and hanged alongside three co-conspirators. Lewis Powell had left a number of stabbed and bludgeoned people behind him, though none were dead. It was feared that both William Seward and his son Frederick would die of their injuries, but the two would recover. However, the fear for the lives of her husband and son was apparently too great for Frances Seward; she died of a heart attack two months later. William Seward would make sure that all subsequent photographs and portraits of himself were of his left side, for the right side of his face carried the deep scar from Powell's knife from then on.

In contrast, the attempt on Vice-President Johnson came to nothing. Though he was in the same hotel, George Atzerodt apparently lost his nerve fifteen minutes before he was supposed to strike, and left first the building, and the city a few hours later. He also would be captured, tried, and hanged.

At Ford's Theater, John Wilkes Booth simply presented his card to the footman at the entrance to the Presidential box, and the footman let him in. Booth waited in the small passage, blocking the door behind him. At one of the noisiest moments of the play, he fired his derringer pistol into the back of Lincoln's head. Major Rathbone jumped up and attempted to seize Booth, but the actor slashed Rathbone with his dagger, then instead of retreating, went forward and leaped over the railing of the box onto the stage. He landed badly, fracturing a leg. (One eyewitness stated that he caught a spur in the American flag draped on the front of the box.) Though in pain, Booth could not resist delivering a line, which most reports give as "Sic semper tyrannis!" ("Thus always to tyrants", the State motto of Virginia.)

He then managed to stagger across the stage to an exit, and from there got on his horse and headed out of the city. Behind him there was near-chaos as the audience realized it was not part of the play, and the call went out for a doctor. Twenty-three-year-old Dr. Charles Leale was the closest, but when he found the entry wound at the back of the President's head, he knew he could do very little; the wound was mortal. Another doctor soon arrived and confirmed the situation.

It was decided that the President had to get to a bed. The White House was not far away but the route was over cobblestone streets, and a bumpy trip might kill Lincoln immediately. He was carried across the street to the Petersen boarding house, where he had to be placed diagonally across the available bed because he was too tall for it. The remaining members of the Cabinet gathered in the small room and began the deathwatch for the first U. S. President to be assassinated.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/21A1D5AFBB234F7F9B02545F1914AF14.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/15/2015 4:30:12 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At the Petersen house in Washington, Abraham Lincoln's breathing became slower and slower after 7:00 a.am. At 7:22, it ceased altogether, and the President was pronounced dead. Edwin Stanton said either "Now he belongs to the ages" or "Now he belongs to the angels", but the former is the most famous line. Regardless, the thoughts of the Cabinet members present swiftly turned from places in the hereafter or history, to vengeance. There were killers to catch.

About three hours later, Andrew Johnson was sworn in by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase as the 17th President of the United States. It was ironic that in less than two months, Chase had administered the oath twice, whereas he still hoped to be on the receiving end of that particular ceremony some day.

It is also ironic that John Wilkes Booth's plot to disrupt the Federal government had mainly succeeded in its targets, but ultimately failed. Lincoln was dead, Seward was incapacitated, and Johnson would prove to be a less than effective Chief Executive. (Many historians rate him as one of the five worst American Presidents.) But the government was still running effectively, because the most powerful man in the Union was now Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. He had already essentially taken charge during the night, dispatching a series of messengers with orders from the room where he watched the dying Lincoln.

It was clear there had been an organized conspiracy, and the Northerners did not know who might be the next target. Stanton declared martial law in the city, and the War Department took charge of the unprecedented manhunt. Booth's fame had gotten him into the Presidential box, but it also meant his guilt was immediately known. The alert was sent out, and the trail quickly led to the Surratt boarding house, and the names of several of his co-conspirators.


In the South, what was left of the Confederate government decided it had to re-locate again to somewhere safer from Union troops. The families of President Davis and Senator Louis Wigfall boarded trains:

April 15th.-What a week it has been - madness, sadness, anxiety, turmoil, ceaseless excitement. The Wigfalls passed through on their way to Texas. We did not see them. Louly told Hood they were bound for the Rio Grande, and intended to shake hands with Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico. Yankees were expected here every minute. Mrs. Davis came. We went down to the cars at daylight to receive her. She dined with me. Lovely Winnie, the baby, came, too. Buck and Hood were here, and that queen of women, Mary Darby. Clay behaved like a trump. He was as devoted to Mrs. Davis in her adversity as if they had never quarreled in her prosperity. People sent me things for Mrs. Davis, as they did in Columbia for Mr. Davis. It was a luncheon or breakfast only she stayed for here. Mrs. Brown prepared a dinner for her at the station.
I went down with her. She left here at five o'clock. My heart was like lead, but we did not give way. She was as calm and smiling as ever. It was but a brief glimpse of my dear Mrs. Davis, and under altered skies.

-- Mary Boykin Chesnut, A Diary From Dixie



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/16/2015 3:44:15 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Having stormed through the heart of Alabama, James Wilson's cavalry now entered Georgia. He detached part of his force to seize the key rail hub of West Point (not to be confused with the military academy in New York), while the main body proceeded to attack the city of Columbus, which interestingly had a navy yard on the Chattahoochee River.

West Point was defended by an earthwork fortification named Fort Tyler, manned by roughly 200 men under Brigadier General Robert C. Tyler. The Yankees had a full brigade of 3,700 troopers. The Confederates fought surprisingly well given that they were mostly militia, but the fort was not sited to fully cover the bridge into town. A headlong charge by the Federals seized the bridge before it could be burned, and the fort was soon effectively surrounded. Trying to rally his men, General Tyler was fatally wounded by a Northern sharpshooter. He became the last general officer to be killed in the Civil War.

The Northerners then dismounted a number of their men, and using long planks to cross the ditch in front of the fort, made a determined charge that brought them over the walls. Facing massive odds and with their commanding officer down, the Confederates immediately surrendered. Union losses were 7 killed and 29 wounded, while the Confederate losses were 19 killed, 28 wounded, and the remainder of the garrison captured.


Just a little later on the same day, Easter Sunday, the other 10,000 Northerners reached Columbus. It was more strongly defended by about 3,500 Rebel militia and last-minute volunteers led by Major General Howell Cobb, who had been Speaker of the U. S. House and then Secretary of the Treasury just before the outbreak of the war.

There were two bridges across the Chattahoochee River. The Confederates cleverly laid a trap on the southern span, removing the planks from the last section of the bridge so it was not possible to cross all the way. Fortunately for the Yankees, the leader of the charge across the bridge spotted the gap and turned his men back before the turpentine-soaked bridge could be set on fire. The northern bridge was more heavily defended, with soldiers guarding the entrance and grapeshot-filled cannon ready to sweep the bridge should the Northerners force their way across.

But James Wilson was determined. He waited until after nightfall, then launched a brigade against the defenders. After an intense close-up fight that was one of the few times that the cavalry used its sabers, the Southerners broke and ran back across the bridge. The Northerners, eager to seize the bridge before it could be torched, pursued so closely they were running side-by-side with their opponents. The Confederate cannoneers held their fire, knowing they would slaughter their own men as well as the Yankees if they opened up. Once across, the Federals withstood a Rebel counter-charge, and then the fighting died down: by that time it was almost midnight, and the Union advantage in numbers was clear.

The Northerners had lost about 60 casualties in total, while the Southerners had lost 80. The Battle of Columbus is considered by the majority of historians to have been the last significant action of the Civil War. There would be a clash at Palmito Ranch in Texas in May, but it was more of a skirmish (each side had less than 1,000 men) and by that time the Confederacy would no longer really exist.

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/17/2015 4:03:05 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In North Carolina, W. T. Sherman prepared for a train ride to meet with Joseph Johnston to discuss terms. But at the last minute, there was unwelcome news:

Just as we were entering the car, the telegraph-operator, whose office was up-stairs in the depot-building, ran down to me and said that he was at that instant of time receiving a most important dispatch in cipher from Morehead City, which I ought to see. I held the train for nearly half an hour, when he returned with the message translated and written out. It was from Mr. Stanton, announcing the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the attempt on the life of Mr. Seward and son, and a suspicion that a like fate was designed for General Grant and all the principal officers of the Government. Dreading the effect of such a message at that critical instant of time, I asked the operator if any one besides himself had seen it; he answered No! I then bade him not to reveal the contents by word or look till I came back, which I proposed to do the same afternoon.
[ . . . ]
We rode up the Hillsboro' road for about five miles, when our flag bearer discovered another coming to meet him: They met, and word was passed back to us that General Johnston was near at hand, when we rode forward and met General Johnston on horseback, riding side by side with General Wade Hampton. We shook hands, and introduced our respective attendants. I asked if there was a place convenient where we could be private, and General Johnston said he had passed a small farmhouse a short distance back, when we rode back to it together side by side, our staff-officers and escorts following. We had never met before, though we had been in the regular army together for thirteen years; but it so happened that we had never before come together. He was some twelve or more years my senior; but we knew enough of each other to be well acquainted at once. We soon reached the house of a Mr. Bennett. . .

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman


General Sherman met me at the time and place appointed — the house being that of a Mr. Bennett. As soon as we were without witnesses in the room assigned to us, General Sherman showed me a telegram from Mr. Stanton, announcing the assassination of the President of the United States. A courier, he told me, had overtaken him with it, after he left the railroad-station from which he had ridden. After reading the dispatch, I told General Sherman that, in my opinion, the event was the greatest possible calamity to the South. When General Sherman understood what seemed to have escaped him in reading my letter, that my object was to make such an armistice as would give opportunity for negotiation between the “civil authorities” of the two countries, he said that such negotiations were impossible-because the Government of the United States did not acknowledge the existence of a Southern Confederacy; nor, consequently, its civil authorities as such. Therefore he could not receive, for transmission, any proposition addressed to the Government of the United States by those claiming to be the civil authorities of a Southern Confederacy. He added, in a manner that carried conviction of sincerity, expressions of a wish to divert from the South such devastation as the continuance of the war would make inevitable; and, as a means of accomplishing that object, so far as the armies we commanded were concerned, he offered me such terms as those given to General Lee. I replied that our relative positions were too different from those of the armies in Virginia to justify me in such a capitulation, but suggested that we might do more than he proposed: that, instead of a partial suspension of hostilities, we might, as other generals had done, arrange the terms of a permanent peace. . .

-- Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations during the Civil War

Johnston had the weaker hand, but he was playing it well. The "relative positions" were that his army still had an escape route, and he could retreat faster than Sherman could advance. Sherman was very much aware of this, and he also wanted to make as wide-ranging an agreement as possible. He asked if Johnston could get all of the remaining Confederate armies to surrender. Johnston replied that he could likely get such authority, but he would need some assurance that "political rights" would be maintained. In other words, the Southerners would not be governed entirely by the North. This was exactly where Lincoln's assasaination was a problem. Lincoln had stated to Sherman that he was willing to allow generous terms, but what Andrew Johnson would permit was a different matter. The two generals departed for their respective camps, with Johnston promising to negotiate with Jefferson Davis.

Sherman now had the task of announcing Lincoln's murder to his army, and keeping the soldiers from reacting violently:

I watched the effect closely, and was gratified that there was no single act of reliation; though I saw and felt that one single word from me would have laid the city in ashes, and turned its whole population houseless upon the country, if not worse...
--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman


By this date, John Wilkes Booth and most of his fellow conspirators had managed to flee from Washington, D. C. The most important exception was Lewis Powell, who had depended on someone else to guide him, but was now alone. After hiding in various places for three days, Powell returned to the only place he could think of to get help: Mary Surratt's boarding house. Unfortunately for him, by this time the house was occupied by detectives searching for evidence and questioning everyone there. Powell claimed to be a worker there to dig a ditch, and Mary Surratt claimed not to know him. The police quickly saw through both statements, and arrested the two.

To make sure that no Confederate agents could rescue Powell while he was being questioned, he was held on board a Union ironclad on the Potomac.

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/18/2015 3:33:56 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In Augusta, Georgia, the Confederate Powderworks was closed. It would be seized by the U. S. government, and most of the buildings demolished (after removing the 35 tons of surplus gunpowder). Eventually it would become the Sibley Mill , manufacturing cotton cloth for over a century.


In North Carolina, Joseph Johnston again met with William T. Sherman. Johnston had not obtained full authority to surrender all the Southern forces, but he had brought along Confederate Secretary of War Breckenridge, who would have that authority unless overruled by Jefferson Davis.

. . . we again mounted, and rode, with the same escort of the day, before, to Bennett's house, reaching there punctually at noon. General Johnston had not yet arrived, but a courier shortly came, and reported him as on the way. It must have been nearly 2 p.m. when he arrived, as before, with General Wade Hampton. He had halted his escort out of sight, and we again entered Bennett's house, and I closed the door. General Johnston then assured me that he had authority over all the Confederate armies, so that they would obey his orders to surrender on the same terms with his own, but he argued that, to obtain so cheaply this desirable result, I ought to give his men and officers some assurance of their political rights after their surrender. I explained to him that Mr. Lincoln's proclamation of amnesty, of December 8, 1863, still in force; enabled every Confederate soldier and officer, below the rank of colonel, to obtain an absolute pardon, by simply laying down his arms, and taking the common oath of allegiance, and that General Grant, in accepting the surrender of General Lee's army, had extended the same principle to all the officers, General Lee included; such a pardon, I understood, would restore to them all their rights of citizenship. But he insisted that the officers and men of the Confederate army were unnecessarily alarmed about this matter, as a sort of bugbear. He then said that Mr. Breckenridge was near at hand, and he thought that it would be well for him to be present. I objected, on the score that he was then in Davis's cabinet, and our negotiations should be confined strictly to belligerents. He then said Breckenridge was a major-general in the Confederate army. . .

. . . he entered the room. General Johnston and I then again went over the whole ground, and Breckenridge confirmed what he had said as to the uneasiness of the Southern officers and soldiers about their political rights in case of surrender.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Sherman sat down and wrote out what he believed would be acceptable terms for all the Confederate armies. He went considerably beyond the already generous terms that U. S. Grant had accorded to Lee. Partly, this was the result of bad information: he had been told that Lincoln had permitted the state legislature of Virginia to re-convene. Actually Lincoln had only given permission for it do do one thing, to recall Virginia troops from the armies of the Confederacy. Appomattox had removed the need for that, so Lincoln had canceled his permission -- but Sherman did not know that. He therefore wrote that the existing Confederate state legislatures could continue:

Memorandum, or basis of agreement, made this 18th day of April, A. D. 1865, near Durham’s Station, in the State of North Carolina, by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army, and Major-General William T. Sherman, commanding the army of the United States in North Carolina, both present.

1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo until notice is given by the commanding general of any one to its opponent, and reasonable time--say forty-eight (48) hours--allowed.
2. The Confederate armies, now in existence, to be disbanded and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal; and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and to abide the action of the State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordnance at Washington City, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and, in the mean time, to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively.
3. The recognition, by the Executive of the United States, of the several State governments, on their officers and Legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, and, where conflicting State governments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.
4. The reestablishment of all the Federal courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution and laws of Congress.
5. The people and inhabitants of all the States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.
6. The Executive authority of the Government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence.
7. In general terms — the war to cease; a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of the arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and men hitherto composing said armies. Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme.

J. E. Johnston, General commanding Confederate States Army in N. C.
W. T. Sherman, Major-General commanding Army of the United States in N. C.

I remember telling Breckenridge that he had better get away, as the feeling of our people was utterly hostile to the political element of the South, and to him especially, because he was the Vice-President of the United States, who had as such announced Mr. Lincoln, of Illinois, duly and properly elected the President of the United States, and yet that he had afterward openly rebelled and taken up arms against the Government. He answered me that he surely would give us no more trouble, and intimated that he would speedily leave the country forever.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Johnston and Sherman again returned to their respective camps to get the approval of their presidents. Sherman sent the memorandum by telegraph to Washington and urged speedy acceptance, pointing out that the agreement would "produce peace from the Potomac to the Rio Grande". What would actually result would be considerable trouble for William T. Sherman.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/20/2015 7:31:41 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Of the three assassins and one guide who had struck on the night of the 14th, all save Lewis Powell had escaped Washington into Maryland. David Herold, the guide, had met up with the injured John Wilkes Booth, and both were trying to cross the Potomac into Virginia. George Atzerodt, who had abandoned the planned killing of Andrew johnson, had made it to a cousin's house in Germantown, Maryland. There he had foolishly stayed, while the Federal authorities had learned the names of all involved in the plot from Mary Surratt and other witnesses at her boarding house. On this date, Atzerodt was arrested without a struggle.

But no one in the North would be satisfied until Booth himself had been caught, least of all Edwin Stanton. Also on this date, Stanton increased the intensity of what was already the greatest manhunt in American history by offering what was then a colossal reward:

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/21/2015 3:10:36 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

John Singleton Mosby had run an extraordinarily successful guerrilla campaign in northern Virginia. He and his irregular 43rd Virginia Cavalry, better known as "Mosby's Rangers", proved so difficult for the Union to defeat or capture that Mosby came to be called "The Grey Ghost". At first, the Union refused to offer Mosby and his men the surrender terms given to the Army of Northern Virginia, claiming that they were not regular soldiers (which was fairly accurate). Grant personally reversed the decision, wanting to get as many bloodless surrenders as possible. Winfield S. Hancock, the Northern commander in the region, also declared that he would devastate "Mosby's Confederacy", the area where the Rangers operated, as Sheridan had devastated the southern Shenandoah Valley. Faced with this carrot and stick, Mosby chose to disband his organization rather than formally surrender, and had the following order read to his men:

Fauquier, April 21st 65

Soldiers! I have summoned you together for the last time. The vision we [have] cherished of a free & independent country has vanished and that country is now the spoil of a conqueror. I disband your organization in preference to our surrendering it to our enemies. I am no longer your commander. After an association of more than two eventful years. I part from you with a just pride in the fame of your achievements & grateful recollections of your generous kindness to myself. And now, at this moment of bidding you a final adieu, accept this assurance of my unchanging confidence & regard. Farewell!

Jno. S Mosby
Colonel

Astonishingly, Mosby would become a Republican after the war, and even a campaign manager for U. S. Grant's run for the presidency.

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/22/2015 2:34:43 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The memorandum between Sherman and Johnston had not been well received in Washington, to put it mildly. Unlike Sherman, Grant had instructions not to deal with political questions, and he immediately saw that Sherman's terms did just that. The memorandum was forwarded to President Johnson and the Cabinet, where Secretary of War Stanton's legal mind found more loopholes. For one thing, the Southerners' arms were to be collected in the state arsenals, exactly where many of them had been seized at the start of the war. The recognition of Southern state legislatures was unacceptable to the Republicans, who regarded the Confederate politicians as traitors and were determined to install governments of their own choosing. Also, the terms made no mention of slavery, but upheld the Southerners' "rights of property". This was troubling, since the Southerners had insisted before the war that their slaves were "property". Lastly, the Republicans were in no mood to grant a general amnesty, for many were convinced that Jefferson Davis and other members of the Confederate government had had a hand in Lincoln's assassination.

Johnson and Stanton were so incensed by the memorandum that they considered Sherman as having attempted something "akin to treason". Not only were the terms disapproved, but Grant was ordered to go to Sherman's headquarters to essentially take over from him and direct an offensive against the Rebels if they would not surrender under purely military terms.

Grant left Washington for North Carolina on this date. He generally agreed with Stanton that the memorandum was going too far. However, Grant and Sherman were close friends, and Grant determined to soften the blow as much as he could by staying behind the scenes while Sherman obtained the surrender. Therefore, he told as few people in the army as possible of his journey, even keeping it from Sherman himself until he arrived.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/24/2015 2:51:45 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In North Carolina, Sherman received a pleasant surprise, but it was quickly followed by unpleasant news:

. . . General Grant and one or two officers of his staff, who had not telegraphed the fact of their being on the train, for prudential reasons. Of course, I was both surprised and pleased to see the general, soon learned that my terms with Johnston had been disapproved, was instructed by him to give the forty-eight hours' notice required by the terms of the truce, and afterward to proceed to attack or follow him. I immediately telegraphed to General Kilpatrick, at Durham's, to have a mounted courier ready to carry the following message, then on its way up by rail, to the rebel lines:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, April 24, 1865 6 A.M.

General JOHNSTON, commanding Confederate Army, Greensboro':
You will take notice that the truce or suspension of hostilities agreed to between us will cease in forty-eight hours after this is received at your lines, under the first of the articles of agreement.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

At the same time I wrote another short note to General Johnston, of the same date:

I have replies from Washington to my communications of April 18th. I am instructed to limit my operations to your immediate command, and not to attempt civil negotiations. I therefore demand the surrender of your army on the same terms as were given to General Lee at Appomattox, April 9th instant, purely and simply.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Matters were successfully kept at low key in North Carolina. However, Washington D.C. has always been a town where secrets are prone to leak. On this date, the New York Times published a memorandum from Edwin Stanton, essentially accusing Sherman of betrayal and hinting that he had been bribed:

Yesterday evening a bearer of dispatches arrived from General Sherman. An agreement for a suspension of hostilities, and a memorandum of what is called a basis for peace, had been entered into on the 18th inst. by General Sherman, with the rebel General Johnston. Brigadier-General Breckenridge was present at the conference. A cabinet meeting was held at eight o'clock in the evening, at which the action of General Sherman was disapproved by the President, by the Secretary of War, by General Grant, and by every member of the cabinet. General Sherman was ordered to resume hostilities immediately, and was directed that the instructions given by the late President, in the following telegram, which was penned by Mr. Lincoln himself, at the Capitol, on the night of the 3d of March, were approved by President Andrew Johnson, and were reiterated to govern the action of military commanders. 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 interview or conference, to make an arrangement for terms of peace. The letter of General Lee was published in a letter to Davis and to the rebel Congress. General Grant's telegram was submitted to Mr. Lincoln, who, after 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 Secretary of War. It was then dated, addressed, and signed, by the Secretary of War.

[...]

The orders of General Sherman to General Stoneman to withdraw from Salisbury and join him will probably open the way for Davis to escape to Mexico or Europe with his plunder, which is reported to be very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous accumulations. A dispatch received by this department from Richmond says: "It is stated here, by respectable parties, that the amount of specie taken south by Jeff. Davis and his partisans is very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous accumulations. They hope, it is said, to make terms with General Sherman, or some other commander, by which they will be permitted, with their effects, including this gold plunder, to go to Mexico or Europe. Johnston's negotiations look to this end." After the cabinet meeting last night, General Grant started for North Carolina, to direct operations against Johnston's army.

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

It should be noted that as of this date, Sherman had still not seen the telegram of March 3rd.


The river steamboat Sultana pulled away from the docks at Vicksburg, and headed north. She was packed with over 2,400 passengers, the great majority of them Union soldiers recently freed from Confederate prisons and on their way home. (Her legal capacity was only 376.) The government was paying five dollars per man to transport the former POW's, so when one of her boilers developed a leak, the boat’s captain, J. Cass Mason, convinced the mechanic to hastily patch the area.

The Mississippi River at that date was running strongly from the spring rains. To make headway against the current, the engines were run at full power.


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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/25/2015 3:23:04 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The Confederate Cabinet also recognized the memorandum worked out between Sherman and Johnston as a very good deal for the South. After some debate, even Jefferson Davis was talked into acceptance, and a telegram was sent to Johnston to accept. But when the news came that Sherman was authorized to discuss a military surrender only, giving no guarantees to the civilian Confederate government, Davis reverted to his unyielding attitude. His new idea was for all the cavalry and whatever infantry could be loaded on wagons to be sent to him, so that he could force his way west and re-establish a new capital on the far side of the Mississippi. Those foot-soldiers who could not be carried by wagons were to disband and make their way individually to a rendezvous point, to be re-formed into another army. How they were to do that without food (or in many cases, without shoes) was left unanswered.

But Johnston wasn't having it. While Sherman was being unfairly accused of refusing to do his duty, Johnston actually did commit something rather like mutiny:

The reply, dated eleven o'clock P. M., was received early in the morning of the 25th; it suggested that the infantry might be disbanded, with instructions to meet at some appointed place, and directed me to bring off the cavalry, and all other soldiers who could be mounted by taking serviceable beasts from the trains, and a few light field-pieces. I objected, immediately, that this order provided for the performance of but one of the three great duties then devolving upon us — that of securing the safety of the high civil officers of the Confederate Government; but neglected the other two--the safety of the people, and that of the army. I also advised the immediate flight of the high civil functionaries under proper escort. The belief that impelled me to urge the civil authorities of the Confederacy to make peace, that it would be a great crime to prolong the war, prompted me to disobey these instructions — the last that I received from the Confederate Government. They would have given the President an escort too heavy for flight, and not strong enough to force a way for him; and would have spread ruin over all the South, by leading the three great invading armies in pursuit. In that belief, I determined to do all in my power to bring about a termination of hostilities. I therefore proposed to General Sherman another armistice and conference, for that purpose, suggesting, as a basis, the clause of the recent convention relating to the army.

-- Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations during the Civil War


John Wilkes Booth and David Herold had managed to cross the Potomac River into Virginia, but they were no safer. Union cavalry were combing the area, and with surrender of Lee's army, there was no force in Virginia to protect them. More, detectives had found the boat and boatman that had ferried them across, so there was now a trail to follow. By this date, the fugitive pair had reached the farm of one Richard Garrett, who had not heard of Lincoln's assassination. Booth and Herold gave a fictitious story with false names, and Garrett and his family agreed to put them up in his tobacco barn for a few nights. But on the night of this date, Northern soldiers surrounded the farm.

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fodder -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/25/2015 7:59:24 AM)

bump



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/26/2015 3:29:25 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Richard Garrett's farm in Virginia, the Union soldiers hunting John Wilkes Booth were not willing to wait until daylight. Surrounding the tobacco barn, they called for him to come out and give himself up. David Herold went out quietly, but Booth called back that he was armed and would fight. He was not bluffing about weapons; he had abandoned the single-shot derringer he had used to kill Lincoln and equipped himself with two revolvers.

Rather than enter the barn and give Booth a chance to shoot them, the Northerners decided to "smoke him out" and set fire to the barn. This gave enough light so that Sergeant Thomas "Boston" Corbett (below) saw Booth and shot him through a chink in the barn wall (although the orders were to take Booth alive if at all possible). The bullet hit Booth in the neck and immediately paralyzed him. The soldiers went into the barn and dragged Booth out, but the wound was fatal and he died three hours later.
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In North Carolina, with only hours to go before the truce expired, Sherman and Johnston worked out military terms as Sherman had been ordered:

. . .on the 26th I again went up to Durham's Station by rail, and rode out to Bennett's house, where we again met, and General Johnston, without hesitation, agreed to, and we executed, the following final terms:

Terms of a Military Convention, entered into this 26th day of April, 1865, at Bennett's House, near Durham's Station., North Carolina, between General JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, commanding the Confederate Army, and Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding the United States Army in North Carolina:

1. All acts of war on the part of the troops under General Johnston's command to cease from this date.
2. All arms and public property to be deposited at Greensboro', and delivered to an ordnance-officer of the United States Army.
3. Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate; one copy to be retained by the commander of the troops, and the other to be given to an officer to be designated by General Sherman. Each officer and man to give his individual obligation in writing not to take up arms against the Government of the United States, until properly released from this obligation.
4. The side-arms of officers, and their private horses and baggage, to be retained by them.
5. This being done, all the officers and men will be permitted to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities, so long as they observe their obligation and the laws in force where they may reside.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding United States Forces in North Carolina.
J. E. JOHNSTON, General, Commanding Confederate States Forces in North Carolina.

Approved: U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

I returned to Raleigh the same evening, and, at my request, General Grant wrote on these terms his approval, and then I thought the matter was surely at an end.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Sherman also copied Grant's generosity of providing rations to a Confederate army much in need of them:

Before the Confederate army came to Greensboroa, much of the provisions in depot there had been consumed or wasted by fugitives from the Army of Virginia; still, enough was left for the subsistence of the troops until the end of April. In making the last agreement with General Sherman, I relied upon the depots recently established in South Carolina, for the subsistence of the troops on the way to their homes. A few days before they marched, however, Colonel Moore informed me that those depots had all been plundered by the crowd of fugitives and country-people, who thought, apparently, that, as there was no longer a government, they might assume the division of this property. That at Charlotte had either been consumed by our cavalry in the neighborhood or appropriated by individuals. So we had no other means of supplying the troops on their homeward march, than a stock of cotton yarn, and a little cloth, to be used as money by the quartermasters and commissaries. But this was entirely inadequate; and great suffering would have ensued, both of the troops and the people on their routes, if General Sherman, when informed of our condition, had not given us two hundred and fifty thousand rations. . .

-- Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations during the Civil War

Wanting to get the protection of parole for as many men as possible, Johnston had gone considerably beyond what Robert E. Lee had done. The "troops under General Johnston's command" meant not only the army on the spot, but all Confederate soldiers in his department, the Department of the South. This covered over 89,000 men, the largest surrender of the war. It also effectively surrendered four entire states: Georgia, Florida, and North and South Carolina. Jefferson Davis would be outraged when he received the news. Johnston had surrendered thousands of men not yet threatened by Union forces, and he had also deprived Davis and his cabinet of military protection. The remnants of the Confederate government were now fugitives, and needed to reach Alabama, Mississippi, or better yet Texas, to find safety.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (4/27/2015 3:37:46 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In North Carolina, after Johnston's surrender, Grant and Sherman assumed the task was done there. Grant began the trip back north, having arranged to move his headquarters to Washington. But on the way he learned that the controversy over Sherman's first set of terms was not over:

At Goldsboro', on my way back, I met a mail, containing the last newspapers, and I found in them indications of great excitement in the North over the terms Sherman had given Johnston; and harsh orders that had been promulgated by the President and Secretary of War. I knew that Sherman must see these papers, and I fully realized what great indignation they would cause him, though I do not think his feelings could have been more excited than were my own.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

In addition to the unfair implications of the New York Times article, Secretary of War Stanton had attempted to relieve Sherman of command in all but name, issuing directives that his troops were not to obey his orders or be bound by any terms he entered into. Fortunately, General-in-Chief Grant had approved the surrender terms for Johnston's forces, making them binding. In any case, the directives would be largely ignored, for "Uncle Billy" Sherman's officers and men were entirely loyal to him. But Sherman never forgave Stanton, and from then on ignored him whenever they met in public.


At two hours after midnight, the river steamboat Sultana was making slow progress going upstream on the Mississippi River, reaching a point about seven miles (11 km) north of Memphis, Tennessee. She would go no farther north, for one of her boilers exploded, followed by two more. This did not sink the vessel outright, but it might have been more merciful if it had: wooden decking fell into the now-exposed fireboxes, and soon the Sultana became a floating inferno. It was death to remain aboard, but almost as fatal to go into the river. The water temperature was cold from spring rains, and most of the men were too weak from their time in Confederate prisons to swim for long.

About an hour after the explosion, help began to arrive. The river was wider than normal, but some men had swum to the tops of trees sticking out of the flood waters, and others had found floating wreckage to cling to. Eventually, something like 500 men were rescued. It is estimated that 1,700 people lost their lives, the worst maritime disaster in American waters and a greater death toll than the Titanic. No one was ever put on trial, for Captain Mason and his officers were among the dead.


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