Copies of the terms of convention will be furnished Major-Generals Schofield, Gillmore, and Wilson, who are specially charged with the execution of its details, in the Department of North Carolina, Department of the South, and at Macon and Western Georgia. Captain Meyers, Ordnance Department United States Army, is hereby designated to receive the arms, &c., at Greensboro'. Any commanding officer of a post may receive the arms of any detachment, and see that they are properly stored and accounted for. General Schofield will procure at once the necessary blanks, and supply the other army commanders, that uniformity may prevail; and great care must be taken that all the terms and stipulations on our part be fulfilled with the most scrupulous fidelity, while those imposed on our hitherto enemies be received in a spirit becoming a brave and generous army. Army commanders may at once loan to the inhabitants such of the captured mules, horses, wagons, and vehicles as can be spared from immediate use, and the commanding generals of armies may issue provisions, animals, or any public supplies that can be spared to relieve present wants, and to encourage the inhabitants to renew their peaceful pursuits, and to restore the relations of friendship among our fellow-citizens and countrymen. Foraging will forthwith cease, and when necessity or long marches compel the taking of forage, provisions, or any kind of private property, compensation will be made on the spot, or, when the disbursing officers are not provided with funds, vouchers will be given in proper form, payable at the nearest military dépôt. By order of Major-General W. T. SHERMAN: L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General. Campaign of the Carolinas. No. 2. WAR DEPARTMENT, The following communication and report from Major-General Sherman, received at the War Department, May 27th, 1865, are published by order of the Secretary of War. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEAD-QUARTERS, } IN THE FIELD, RALEIGH, N. C., April 28th, 1865. GENERAL:-Since you left me yesterday, I have seen the New York Times of the 24th, containing a budget of military news, authenticated by the signature of the Secretary of War, which is grouped in such a way as to give very erroneous impressions. It embraces a copy of the basis of agreement between myself and General Johnston, of April 18th, with commentaries which it will be time enough to discuss two or three years hence, after the Government has experimented a little more in the machinery by which power reaches the scattered people of the vast area of country known as the South. But, in the mean time, I do think that my rank, if not past services, entitled me at least to the respect of keeping secret what was known to none but the Cabinet, until further inquiry could have been made, instead of giving publicity to documents I never saw, and drawing inferences wide of the truth. I never saw or had furnished me a copy of President Lincoln's dispatch to you of the 3d of March, until after the agreement, nor did Mr. Stanton, or any human being, ever convey to me its substance, or any thing like it. But, on the contrary, I had seen General Weitzel's invitation to the Virginia Legislature, made in Mr. Lincoln's very presence, and had failed to discover any other official hint of a plan of reconstruction, or any ideas calculated to allay the fears of the people of the South, after the destruction of their armies and civil authorities would leave them without any government at all. We should not drive a people into anarchy, and it is simply impossible for our military power to reach all the recesses of their unhappy country. I confess, I did not wish to break General Johnston's army into bands of armed men, roving about without purpose, and capable only of infinite mischief. But you saw, on your arrival, that I had my army so disposed that his escape was only possible in a disorganized shape; and as you did not choose to direct military operations in this quarter, infer you were satisfied with the military situation. At all events, the instant I learned, what was proper enough, the disapproval of the President, I acted in such a manner as to compel the surrender of General Johnston's whole army on the same terms you prescribed to General Lee's army, when you had it surrounded and in your absolute power. Mr. Stanton, in stating that my orders to General Stoneman were likely to result the escape of "Mr. Davis to Mexico or Europe," is in deep error. Stoneman was not at Salisbury then, but had gone back to "Statesville." Davis was supposed to be between us, and therefore Stoneman was beyond him. By turning towards me he was approaching Davis, and had he joined me, as ordered, I would have had a mounted force greatly needed for that and other purposes. But even now I don't know that Mr. Stanton wants Davis caught, and as my official papers, deemed sacred, are hastily published to the world, it will be imprudent for me to state what has been done in that respect. As the editor of the Times has (it may be) logically and fairly drawn from this singular document the conclusion that I am insubordinate, I can only deny the intention. I have never in my life questioned or disobeyed an order, though many and many a time have I risked my life, my health, and reputation, in obeying orders, or even hints, to execute plans and purposes not to my liking. It is not fair to withhold from me plans and policy, if any there be, and expect me to guess at them; for facts and events appear quite different from different stand-points. For four years I have been in camp, dealing with soldiers, and I can assure you that the conclusion at which the Cabinet arrived with such singular unanimity differs from mine. I conferred freely with the best officers in this army as to the points involved in this controversy, and, strange to say, they were singularly unanimous in the other conclusion; and they will learn with pain and amazement that I am deemed insubordinate and wanting in common sense; that I, who, in the complications of last year, worked day and night, summer and winter, for the cause and the Administration, and who have brought an army of seventy thousand men in magnificent condition across a country deemed impossible, and placed it just where it was wanted almost on the day appointed, have brought discredit on our Government. I do not wish to boast of this, but I do say that it entitled me to the courtesy of being consulted before publishing to the world a proposition rightfully submitted to higher authority for proper adjudication, and then accompanied by other statements which invited the press to be let loose upon me. It is true that non-combatants, men who sleep in comfort and security whilst we watch on the distant lines, are better able to judge than we poor soldiers, who rarely see a newspaper, hardly can hear from our families, or stop long enough to get our pay. envy not the task of reconstruction, and am delighted that the Secretary has relieved me of it. As you did not undertake to assume the management of the affairs of this army, I infer that on personal inspection your mind arrived at a different conclusion from that of the Secretary of War. I will, therefore, go on and execute your orders to their conclusion, and, when done, will with intense satisfaction leave to the civil authorities the execution of the task of which they seem to me so jealous. But as an honest man and soldier, I invite them to follow my path, for they may see some things and hear some things that may disturb their philosophy. With sincere respect, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General Commanding. Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, General-in-Chief, Washington, D. C. I P. S.-As Mr. Stanton's singular paper has been published, I demand that this also be made public, though am in no manner responsible to the press, but to the law and my proper superiors. Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War. W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General Commanding. This is the letter of Major-General Sherman, referred to in my note of the 19th instant, asking permission to withdraw the one addressed by him to General Rawlins, Chief of Staff, and forwarded by mistake to the War Department. This has not been before transmitted. HEAD-QUARTERS, CHILL POBYT, 31, 1805PL, } IN THE FIELD, CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, May 9th, 1865. GENERAL:-My last official report brought the history of events, as connected with the armies in the field subject to my immediate command, down to the 1st of April, when the Army of the Ohio, Major-General J. M. Schofield commanding, lay at Goldsboro', with detachments distributed so as to secure and cover our routes of communication and supply, back to the sea at Wilmington and Morehead City; Major-General A. H. Terry, with the Tenth Corps, being at Faison's Dépôt; the Army of the Tennessee, Major-General O. O. Howard commanding, was encamped to the right and front of Goldsboro', and the Army of Georgia, Major-General H. W. Slocum commanding, to its left and front; the cavalry, Brevet Major-General J. Kilpatrick commanding, at Mount Olive. All were busy in repairing the wear and tear of our then recent and hard march from Savannah, and in replenishing clothing and stores necessary for a further progress. I had previously, by letter and in person, notified the Lieutenant-General commanding the Armies of the United States, that the 10th of April would be the earliest possible moment at which I could hope to have all things in readiness, and we were compelled to use our railroads to the very highest possible Imit in order to fulfil that promise. Owing to a mistake in the Railroad Department, in sending locomotives and cars of the five-foot gauge, we were limited to the use of the few locomotives and cars of the four-foot eight and a half inch gauge already in North Carolina, with such of the old stock as was captured by Major-General Terry at Wilmington, and on his way up to Goldsboro'. Yet such judicious use was made of these, and such industry displayed in the railroad management, by Generals Easton and Beckwith, and Colonel Wright and Mr. Van Dyne, that by the 10th of April our men were all reclad, the wagons reloaded, and a fair amount of forage accumulated ahead. In the mean time, Major-General George Stoneman, in command of a division of cavalry operating from East Tennessee, in connection with Major-General George H. Thomas, in pursuance of my orders of January 21st, 1865, had reached the railroad about Greensboro', North Carolina, and had made sad havoc with it, and had pushed along it to Salisbury, destroying en route bridges, culverts, dépôts, and all kinds of rebel supplies, and had extended the break in the railroad down to the Catawba Bridge. This was fatal to the hostile armies of Lee and Johnston, who depended on that road for supplies and as their ultimate line of retreat. Major-General J. H. Wilson, also in command of the cavalry corps organized by himself under Special Field Orders No. of October 24th, 1864, at Gaylesville, Alabama, had started from the neighborhood of Decatur and Florence, Alabama, and moved straight into the heart of Alabama, on a route prescribed for General Thomas, after he had defeated General Hood at Nashville, Tennessee; but the roads being too heavy for infantry, General. Thomas had devolved that duty on that most energetic young cavalry officer,. General Wilson, who, imbued with the proper spirit, has struck one of the best blows of the war at the waning strength of the Confederacy. His route was one, never before touched by our troops, and afforded him abundance of supplies as long VOL. IV.-6 as he was in motion, namely, by Tuscaloosa, Selma, Montgomery, Columbus, and Macon. Though in communication with him, I have not been able to receive as yet his full and detailed reports, which will in due time be published and appreciated. Lieutenant-General Grant, also in immediate command of the armies about Richmond, had taken the initiative in that magnificent campaign which, in less than ten days, compelled the evacuation of Richmond, and resulted in the destruction and surrender of the entire rebel army of Virginia, under command of General Lee. The news of the battles about Petersburg reached me at Goldsboro' on the 6th of April. Up to that time, my purpose was to move rapidly northward, feigning on Raleigh, and striking straight for Burkesville, thereby interposing between Johnston and Lee. But the auspicious events in Virginia had changed the whole military problem, and, in the expressive language of Lieutenant-General Grant, "the Confederate armies of Lee and Johnston " became the "strategic points." General Grant was fully able to take care of the former, and my task was to capture or destroy the latter. Johnston, at that time, April 6th, had his army well in hand about Smithfield, interposing between me and Raleigh. I estimated his infantry and artillery at thirty-five thousand, and his cavalry from six to ten thousand. He was superior to me in cavalry, so that I held General Kilpatrick in reserve at Mount Olive, with orders to recruit his borses, and be ready to make a sudden and rapid march on the 10th of April. At daybreak of the day appointed, all the heads of columns were in motion straight against the enemy, Major-General H. W. Slocum taking the two direct roads for Smithfield; Major-General O. O. Howard making a circuit by the right, and feigning up the Weldon Road to disconcert the enemy's cavalry; Generals Terry and Kilpatrick moving on the west side of the Neuse River, and aiming to reach the rear of the enemy between Smithfield and Raleigh. General Schofield followed General Slocum in support. All the columns met, within six miles of Goldsboro', more or less cavalry, with the usual rail barricades, which were swept before us as chaff, and by ten A. M. of the 11th, the Fourteenth Corps entered Smithfield, the Twentieth Corps close at hand. Johnston had rapidly retreated across the Neuse River, and, having his railroad to lighten up his trains, could retreat faster than we could pursue. The rains had also set in, making the resort to corduroy absolutely necessary to pass even ambulances. The enemy had burned the bridge at Smithfield, and as soon as possible, Major-General Slocum got up his pontoons and crossed over a division of the Fourteenth Corps. We there heard of the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox Court-House, Virginia, which was announced to the armies in orders, and created universal joy. Not an officer or soldier of my armies but expressed a pride and satisfaction that it fell to the lot of the Armies of the Potomac and James so gloriously to overwhelm and capture the entire army that had held them so long in check, and their success gave new impulse to finish up our task. Without a moment's hesitation we dropped our trains and marched rapidly in pursuit to, and through Raleigh, reaching that place at half-past seven A. M. of the 13th, in a heavy rain. The next day the cavalry pushed on through the rain to Durham's Station, the Fifteenth Corps following as far as Morrisville Station, and the Seventeenth Corps to Jones's Station. On the supposition that Johnston was tied to his railroad as a line of retreat, by Hillsboro', Greensboro', Salisbury, Charlotte, &c., I had turned the other columns across the bend of that road towards Ashboro'. (See Special Field Orders, No. 55.) The cavalry, Brevet Major-General J. Kilpatrick commanding, was ordered to keep up a show of pursuit towards the " Company's Shops in Alamance County; Major-General O. Ö. Howard to turn to the left by Hackney's Cross-Roads, Pittsboro', St. Lawrence, and Ashboro'; Major-General H. W. Slocum, to cross Cape Fear River at Aven's Ferry, and move rapidly by Carthage, Caledonia, and Cox's Mills; Major-General J. M. Schofield was to hold Raleigh, and the road back, and with his spare force to follow an intermediate route. By the 15th, though the rains were incessant and the roads almost impracticable, Major-General Slocum had the Fourteenth Corps, Brevet Major-General Davis commanding, near Martha's Vineyard, with a pontoon-bridge laid across Cape Fear River at Aven's Ferry, with the Twentieth Corps, Major-General Mower commanding, in support; and Major-General Howard had the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps stretched out on the roads towards Pittsboro', whilst General Kilpatrick held Durham's Station and Chapel Hill University. Johnston's army was retreating rapidly on the roads from Hillsboro' to Greensboro,' he himself at Greensboro'. Although out of place as to time, I here invite all military critics who study the problems of war, to take their maps and compare the position of my army, on the 15th and 16th of April, with that of General Halleck, about Burkesville and Petersburg, Virginia, on the 26th of April, when, according to his telegram to Secretary Stanton, he offered to relieve me of the task of "cutting off Johnston's retreat.",Major-General Stoneman at the time was at Statesville, and Johnston's only line of retreat was by Salisbury and Charlotte. It may be that General Halleck's troops can outmarch mine, but there is nothing in their past history to show it, or it may be that General Halleck can inspire his troops with more energy of action. I doubt that also, save and except in this single instance, when he knew the enemy was ready to surrender or disperse, as advised by my letter of April 18th, addressed to him when Chief of Staff at Washington City, and delivered at Washington, on the 21st instant, by Major Hitchcock, of my staff. Thus matters stood at the time I received General Johnston's first letter, and made my answer of April 14th, copies of which were sent with all expedition to Lieutenant-General Grant and the Secretary of War, with my letter of April 15th. I agreed to meet General Johnston in person, at a point intermediate between our pickets, on the 17th, at noon, provided the position of the troops remained in statu quo. I was both willing and anxious thus to consume a few days, as it would enable Colonel Wright to finish our railroad to Raleigh. Two bridges had to be built, and twelve miles of new road made. We had no iron except by taking up that on the branch from Goldsboro' to Weldon. Instead of losing by time, I gained in every way, for every hour of delay possible was required to reconstruct the railroad to our rear, and improve the condition of our wagon-roads to the front, so desirable in case the negotiations failed, and we be forced to make the race of near two hundred miles, to head off or catch Johnston's army, then retreating towards Charlotte. At noon of the day appointed, I met General Johnston for the first time in my life, although we had been interchanging shots constantly since May, 1863. Our interview was frank and soldier-like, and he gave me to understand that further war on the part of the Confederate troops was folly, that the cause was lost, and that every life sacrificed after the surrender of Lee's army was "the highest possible crime." He admitted that the terms conceded to General Lee were magnanimous, and all he could ask, but he did want some general concessions that would enable him to allay the natural fears and anxieties of his followers, and enable him to maintain his control over them, until they could be got back to the neighborhood of their homes, thereby saving the State of North Carolina the devastations inevitably to result from turning his men loose and unprovided on the spot, and our pursuit across the State. He also wanted to embrace in the same general proposition the fate of all the Confederate armies that remained in existence. I never made any concession as to his own army, or assumed to deal finally and authoritatively in regard to any other, but it did seem to me that there was presented a chance for peace that might be deemed valuable to the Government of the United States, and was at least worth the few days that would be consumed in reference. To push an army whose commander had so frankly and honestly confessed his inability to cope with me, were cowardly, and unworthy the brave men I led. Inasmuch as General Johnston did not feel authorized to pledge his power over the armies in Texas, we adjourned to meet the next day at noon. I returned to Raleigh and conferred freely with all my general officers, every one of whom urged me to conclude terms that might accomplish so complete and desirable an end. All dreaded the weary and laborious march after a fugitive and dissolving army back towards Georgia, almost over the very country where we had toiled so long. There was but one opinion expressed, and if contrary ones were entertained they were withheld, or indulged in only by that class who shun the fight and the march, but are loudest, bravest, and fiercest when danger is past. I again met General Johnston on the 18th, and we renewed the conversation. He satisfied me then of his power to disband the rebel armies in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, as well as those in his immediate command, namely, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. The points on which he expressed especial solicitude were, lest their States were to be dismembered and denied representation in Congress, or any separate political existence whatever, and that the absolute disarming his men would leave the South powerless, and exposed to depredations by wicked bands of assassins and obbers. |