The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-05-19

will revive. The cotton which the Con-
| federate government owned believe to be
the rightful property of the United States;
and further, I believe that the people ol
the South should be honest, and turn that
property over to the agents authorized to
receive 1t. One man told me he had some
Confederate cotton on his plantation, and
he intended to burn it before the enemy
should get possession of it. told him be
would be doing very wrong in committing
such an act. On my wifes plantation in
Alabama Ihave some cotton that belonged
to the Confederate government, and which
am well guarding, and will turn it over
whenever the United States agents are
ready to receive it, - 5'a. ID l.'' ~. ,!-
After the Union generals bad conferred
with Gen. Johnston, the gentlemen of the
press were formally presented and intro
duced to the rebel commander, who rose
and received them in the most friendly
manner. ass.I E33.s1.. - yc,G 100 2 5.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOE JOHNSTON. 5l.
During brief period, when the General
was disengaged, I bad private converse
ton with him on subjects pertaining to the
war and the surrender of his army. I read
to him the following: q 1'tt-92 - 'F5'
. WAR DEpARTMENT, WAsHINeros,l :
.s-. r April "a, 1865. is
This department has information that the
Presidents murder was organized in Canada
Csigned) E. NJ. STANTON, .
~ Secretary Of War.
After which ! inquired tA'
General, do you think that Mr.. Davis
had anything to do with the assassina-
ton ?"
81 do not" he replied "When told
President Davis that President Lincoln
had been assassinated, he was very much
grieved indeed. l do .not-in fact, am
sure that President Davis did not In any
way countenance the act. >" a"a ." --'5t-
"Gen. Hampton went away without
being paroled9" d. .sas~.
. eyes; I understand he was ordered by
the President to accompany him., ,4.
Gen. Johnston admitted that one divi-
sion of Wheelers cavalry had gone off with
Davis. Wheeler, it was reported to-day,
had also gone with him. " .'''
Gen. Johnston says that all the rebel
forces in the States of North and South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida are included
in the surrender. ..........
l find that the leading Southern men are
widely divided in sentiment among them
selves. And, what is more, Gen! Sher.
mans course has been the source of much
trouble for the North. By not demanding
an immediate surrender it enabled jeff
Davis to escape with much gold and silver,
and to have it guarded by a strong rebel
cavalry force. t,ig a.. gag re, {
The armistice afforded an opportunity
for the rebel commanders to make speeches
to their commands, and they improved
that opportunity to do 80. One command
er (Gen. Hoke) told his'men that the war
was over, that they'were overpowered,
that he would like to have them remain
with him and be paroled, but if, any of
them wanted to 60 home they could do so.
The consequence was that fully two-thirds
of his command did go home, scattering
throughout the country, some carrying
their arms with them and some not. It is
the same of many other rebel command
ers. -.fraT @t# ysal -'.. Aii. -'a -1yF.
Gen. Johnston says there was no abso-
lutte immediate necessity for the surrender;
that he could have got away from Gen.
Sherman. He said: 1i 1900 s.i ga3E
'sBut / saw that we must come up some.
where. We would certainly have to stop at
the Mississippi so I negotiated as did with
Gen. Sherman, believing 1t criminal to prolong
a hopeless war another day. The fate of the
cohfederacy was decided in Virginia. When
Lee surrendered there was an end to 1t. Had I
rpa rov al 90 T pO,rld hau
it was only dragging Sherman after me. He
would have foraged on the country, and would
have been compelled 10 do the same TIA
country would have been devastated, and we
would have had to come to some terms at last
Judging from Gen. Johnstons CONVERSE
ton, and from what have heard from
those who were present at the conference,
he would have surrendered his army at
once on the terms granted to Lee. E
General Johnsons camp was a very plain
one, scarcely as respectable as a division
GENERALS in the Union army. The tents
were cd, and scattered, about without
much regard to regularity. The Generals
tent was plain wall tent, not much bet
ter than the rest In front of this General
johnson and some FIVE or six officers of
his staff were sitting. On the lid of mess
chest near them was the remains of very
plain frugal supper. Johnston is man of
about five feet nine inches in hight, rather
slight, but muscularly built frame. From
appearance / should take him to be about
fifty. Only that his hair and beard are so
gray you would not think him SO old. He
is evidently man of great reflective pow
ers, schooled into the greatest subservien-
cy, combined with untiring energy. His
conversation is SO natural, digni6ed and
easy that you at once feel at your ease,
though at the same time you are conscious