Tuesday, 18 April 1865
After more talk near Durham Station, North Carolina, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Federal Major General William T. Sherman signed a "Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement" which called for an armistice by all armies in the field; Confederate forces are to be disbanded and to deposit their arms in the state arsenals; each man was to agree to cease from war and to abide by state and Federal authority; the President of the United States was to recognize the existing state governments when their officials took oaths to the United States; reestablishment of Federal courts would take place; people were to be guaranteed rights of person and property; the United States would not disturb the people of the South as long as they lived in peace; and a general amnesty was granted for Confederates.
The generals recognized that they were not fully empowered to carry out such far-reaching measures and that the necessary authority must be obtained. It was clear, however, that Sherman was going far beyond what Union Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant did at Appomattox Court House by actually entering into a reconstruction policy. He sent the terms to Grant and Major General Henry Halleck, asking for approval by President Andrew Johnson. Sherman also offered to take charge of actually carrying out these terms.
Second report: Generals Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman signed a "Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement" calling for an armistice among all armies. This attempted to answer political questions as well as military ones, and was ultimately deemed unacceptable by new President Andrew Johnson and his cabinet.
Hostilities between the armies of Generals Sherman and of Johnston are suspended, in North Carolina, as a broad agreement is reached that attempts to cross military boundaries and borders on a political plan that will have to be approved by the United States Government.
A nasty skirmish develops at the Double Bridges, over the Flint River, in Georgia, as well as at Pleasant Hill, as Brigadier General James H. Wilson and his Union Cavalry press on.
Skirmishes break out near Taylorsville, Kentucky.
Skirmishing occurs 6 miles from Germantown, Tennessee.
Vice Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, in whom President Lincoln had placed great confidence, wrote to his wife: "All the people in the city are going to see the President in state. I go tomorrow as one of the pall bearers." Meanwhile, the Navy was carrying out Secretary Welles instructions to search "...all vessels going out of the [Potomac] river for the assassins. Detain all suspicious persons. Guard against all crossing of the river and touching of vessels or boats on the Virginia shore."
This evening, President Lincoln's body was taken from the guest-chamber of the White House to the crepe-decorated East Room for tomorrow's funeral services. Some 25,000 people gathered on the White House lawn to mourn the President, a record number.
Union General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler criticized Lincoln's plan to reconstruct Virginia, stating, "...the time has not come for holding any relations with her (Virginia) but that of the conqueror to the conquered." The New York World attacked Butler for denouncing one "...of the noblest acts of the late President..." and "...inflaming excited crowds into senseless cheers for the policy which that Magistrate ever refused to approve..." by "...an unscrupulous general whose cowardice and incapacity always left his enemies unharmed upon the field."
The entourage of carriages and horses of President Jefferson Davis and the remnants of the fleeing Confederate government slowly moved southward to finally arrive at Concord, North Carolina, this evening.
After more talk near Durham Station, North Carolina, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Federal Major General William T. Sherman signed a "Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement" which called for an armistice by all armies in the field; Confederate forces are to be disbanded and to deposit their arms in the state arsenals; each man was to agree to cease from war and to abide by state and Federal authority; the President of the United States was to recognize the existing state governments when their officials took oaths to the United States; reestablishment of Federal courts would take place; people were to be guaranteed rights of person and property; the United States would not disturb the people of the South as long as they lived in peace; and a general amnesty was granted for Confederates.
The generals recognized that they were not fully empowered to carry out such far-reaching measures and that the necessary authority must be obtained. It was clear, however, that Sherman was going far beyond what Union Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant did at Appomattox Court House by actually entering into a reconstruction policy. He sent the terms to Grant and Major General Henry Halleck, asking for approval by President Andrew Johnson. Sherman also offered to take charge of actually carrying out these terms.
Second report: Generals Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman signed a "Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement" calling for an armistice among all armies. This attempted to answer political questions as well as military ones, and was ultimately deemed unacceptable by new President Andrew Johnson and his cabinet.
Hostilities between the armies of Generals Sherman and of Johnston are suspended, in North Carolina, as a broad agreement is reached that attempts to cross military boundaries and borders on a political plan that will have to be approved by the United States Government.
A nasty skirmish develops at the Double Bridges, over the Flint River, in Georgia, as well as at Pleasant Hill, as Brigadier General James H. Wilson and his Union Cavalry press on.
Skirmishes break out near Taylorsville, Kentucky.
Skirmishing occurs 6 miles from Germantown, Tennessee.
Vice Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, in whom President Lincoln had placed great confidence, wrote to his wife: "All the people in the city are going to see the President in state. I go tomorrow as one of the pall bearers." Meanwhile, the Navy was carrying out Secretary Welles instructions to search "...all vessels going out of the [Potomac] river for the assassins. Detain all suspicious persons. Guard against all crossing of the river and touching of vessels or boats on the Virginia shore."
This evening, President Lincoln's body was taken from the guest-chamber of the White House to the crepe-decorated East Room for tomorrow's funeral services. Some 25,000 people gathered on the White House lawn to mourn the President, a record number.
Union General Benjamin F. "Spoons" Butler criticized Lincoln's plan to reconstruct Virginia, stating, "...the time has not come for holding any relations with her (Virginia) but that of the conqueror to the conquered." The New York World attacked Butler for denouncing one "...of the noblest acts of the late President..." and "...inflaming excited crowds into senseless cheers for the policy which that Magistrate ever refused to approve..." by "...an unscrupulous general whose cowardice and incapacity always left his enemies unharmed upon the field."
The entourage of carriages and horses of President Jefferson Davis and the remnants of the fleeing Confederate government slowly moved southward to finally arrive at Concord, North Carolina, this evening.
