April 11, 1865. |
April 14. |
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justice, and humanity, had the moral courage to do his duty according to the dictates of conscience.
He not only refused to fight any more in a hopeless cause, but indignantly spurned the base proposition to desert his army, leave the soldiers far away from their homes, and unprovided for, and subject the people in the region where the army would be dispersed, to the sore evils of plunder which lawless bands of starving men would engage in. He did more.
He stated frankly to the people of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, included within his military department, that “war could not be longer continued by them, except as robbers,” and that he should take measures to stop it, save both the army and the people from further evil, as far as possible, and “to avoid the crime of waging a hopeless war.”
1
When Sherman arrived
at Smithfield, he found the bridges that had spanned the Neuse destroyed, and his antagonist in full retreat through Raleigh, toward Hillsboroa.
There he heard of the surrender of Lee. He at once dropped his trains, and pushed on after Johnston as rapidly as possible, in heavy rain, taking formal possession of deserted Raleigh on his way.2 His right wing was directed to follow the line of retreat, while his left should take a more southerly route by Pittsboroa and Asheboroa, with the expectation that Johnston would follow the line of the railroad southwestward, from Greensboroa to Salisbury.
The Nationals were pressing on in pursuit with great vigor, when Sherman received a note
from Johnston, inquiring whether, “in order to stop the further effusion of blood, and devastation of property,” he was “willing to make a temporary suspension of active operations, and to communicate to General Grant the request that he would 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.”
3 Sherman made a prompt response to this communication, in which
1 The “Rebel staff officer,” just mentioned, speaking of a personal interview between Davis, Johnston, and other leaders, on a hill near Greensboroa, said: “Mr. Davis felt much concerned, and rather showed it. He distrusted Johnston, but relied on Breckinridge to foil him in an untimely move. Johnston was instructed to fight. He did not approve the order, and disputed, not only its wisdom, but its power over his actions.”
2 When the Commissioners, appointed by Governor Vance (see note 8, below) to carry a message to General Sherman, returned, as they approached Raleigh, they saw the railway station in flames. The city was deserted by the Governor and State officers, and by nearly all of the inhabitants, who had been scared away by Sherman's approach. The Confederate cavalry, under Wheeler, were in possession of the city. These had plundered and fired the station house. The Commissioners found a single servant in the Governor's room at the State-House, who had been intrusted by Vance with the keys, to deliver them. Vance had also left with the Mayor, W. B. Harrison, authority to surrender the city to Sherman, in the form of a letter to the General, begging him to extend the favor of his protection to the citizens, the charitable institutions, and the precious documents and other property in the State Capitol. President Swain alone was at the State-House when the National officers arrived to hoist the Union flag over it. They took quiet possession, after Mayor Harrison had formally surrendered the place. No doubt, the arrival of Swain and Graham saved the city of Raleigh and the State archives from destruction, for some of Wheeler's cavalry were there, breaking open and plundering stores on Fayetteville Street. Swain, joined by a leading citizen, begged them to desist, the former telling them that he was just from Sherman, who had promised that, if no resistance should be offered, the town should be protected. “Damn Sherman, and the town, too; we care for neither!” was their reply. The appearance of the head of Kilpatrick's column was an efficient argument. They then left in haste, excepting a single trooper, who waited until Kilpatrick's advance was within a hundred yards of him, when he discharged his revolver at them, six times in rapid succession. He then turned and fled, was pursued, caught, and hung in a grove, in the suburbs of the city.
3 The incipient steps in the direction of a conference to bring about a suspension of hostilities, had been taken by ex-Governor David L. Swain, one of the best and most distinguished men of the State, who had been for thirty years President of the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. So early as the 8th of April, when news of the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg had caused universal gloom, President Swain addressed a note to ex-Governor William A. Graham who was a member of the Confederate Congress, proposing action on the part of the people of North Carolina, independent of the Confederate Government, looking to a termination of the war. Graham agreed with Swain, and said, in a letter to him in reply:--“I left Richmond thoroughly convinced that (1) Independence for the Southern Confederacy was perfectly hopeless; (2) that through the administration of Mr. Davis, we could expect no peace, so long as he shall be supplied with the resources of war; and that (3) it was the duty of the State Government immediately to move for the purpose of effecting an adjustment of the quarrel with the United States.”
These two gentlemen held a consultation with Governor Vance, at Raleigh.April 9. |
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