The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South
Alexander Kelly McClure, Ed.

[567] day before I had been advised of this, through General Thomas, I received from General Sherman a dispatch, in cipher, informing me of the formal termination of hostilities by the surrender of General Johnston, and all the forces under his command east of the Chattahoochee. This was on the 27th of April. Immediately afterward, I disposed of my troops for the purpose of taking possession of the important points in Georgia, and paroling the rebel prisoners, who might have to pass through them in order to reach their homes. I felt certain, from what I could learn, that Davis and his Cabinet would endeavor to escape to the west side of the Mississippi river, notwithstanding the armistice and capitulation; and, therefore, gave instructions to the different detachments of the corps to look out for and capture him, and all other persons of rank or authority with whom they might come in contact.

On the 28th of April, General Upton was ordered, with a detachment of his division, to proceed by rail to Augusta, while the rest of the division, under General Winslow, was ordered to march by the most direct route to Atlanta, a regiment under Colonel Eggleston having been sent by rail to that place immediately after the receipt of the telegram just mentioned from General Sherman. General E. M. McCook, with a detachment of seven hundred men, was directed to proceed by rail to. Albany, Georgia, and march thence by the most direct route to Tallahassee, Florida, while General Croxton, with the remainder of this division, was held at Macon, with orders issued subsequently to watch the line of the Ocmulgee river from the mouth of Yellow creek to Macon. General Minty, commanding the Second Division--general Long having been wounded at Selma — was directed, about the same time, to send detachments to Cuthbert and Eufaula, and to watch the line of the Ocmulgee, from the right of the First Division to Abbeville, and as much of the Flint and Chattahoochee, to the rear, as practicable. The ostensible object of this disposition of troops was to secure prisoners and military stores, and to take possession of the important strategic points and lines of communication; but the different commanders were directed to keep a vigilant watch for Davis and other members of the rebel government.

The first direct information of Davis' movements reached me on the 23d of April, from a citizen, now a prominent lawyer and politician in Georgia, who had seen him at Charlotte, North Carolina, only three or four days before, and had learned that he was on his way, with a train and an escort of cavalry, to the South, intending, as was then understood, to go to the Trans-Mississippi Department.