Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 2

General Sherman to General Grant.

General: I had the honor to receive your letter of April 21st, with enclosures yesterday, and was well pleased that you came along, as you must have observed that I held the military control so as to adapt it to any phase the case might assume.

It is but just I should record the fact, that I made my terms with General Johnston under the influence of the liberal terms you extended to the army of General Lee, at Appomattox court-house, on the 9th, and the seeming policy of our government, as evinced by the call of the Virginia legislature and governor back to Richmond, under yours and President Lincoln's very eyes.

It now appears this last act was done without any consultation with you or any knowledge of Mr. Lincoln, but rather in opposition to a previous policy, well considered.

I have not the least desire to interfere in the civil policy of our government, but would shun it as something not to my liking; but occasions do arise when a prompt seizure of results is forced on military commanders not in immediate communication with the proper authority. It is probable that the terms signed by General Johnston and myself were not clear enough on the point, well understood between us, that our negotiations did not apply to any parties outside the officers and men of the Confederate armies, which could easily have been remedied.

No surrender of any army not actually at the mercy of an antagonist was ever made without ‘terms,’ and these always define the military status of the surrendered. Thus you stipulated that the officers and men of Lee's army should not be molested at their homes so long as they obeyed the laws at the place of their residence.

I do not wish to discuss these points involved in our recognition of the state governments in actual existence, but will merely state my conclusions, to await the solution of the future.