The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-04-16
NEWS FROM WASHINGTON.
Latter from I.aeutenans. General
sbersuan-The Surrender of Gene.
raj J. +. Johnston.


LETTER from IIeutenans. General
sherYnan-The Surrender OF Gene.
raj j. f.. Johnston.
To the Editor Of the Tribune:
Sir,-In your issue Of yesterday is 8
notice Of Mr.. Healy's picture representing
tho interview between Mr.. Lincoln, Gene
raj Grant, Admiral Porter, and myself,
which repeats substantially the account
nublished some time ago in Wilkes's Spirit
Of the Times explanatory of that inter
riew. and attributing to Mr.. Lincoln him
self the paternity Of the terms TO General
Johnston's army at Durham, in April, 1865.
| an glad you have called public a.ten-
t;on to the picture itself, because ] feel
personal interest that Mr.. Healy should be
appreciated as one Of our very best Ameri-
can artists. But come friends here think
BIZ silence may be construed as willing to
throw off on Mr.. Lincoln the odium of those
terms. If there be any odium, which I
doubt, surely would not be willing that
the least show Of 1t should 60 to Mr.. Lin
coins memory, which | hold in too much
7enera,ion to be stained by anything done
or said By me. understand that the sub
stance of MIR. Wilkes's original article was
compiled by him after railroad CONVERSE
ton with Admiral Porter, who was present
of that interview, IS represented in the pic
ture, and who made a note Of the converse
ton Immediately after we separated. lie
would be more likely to have preserved the
exact words used on the occasion than l,
who made no notes then or since. ! can
not now even pretend to recall more than
the subjects touched upon by the several
parties, and the impression left on my mind
after we parted. The interview was in
March, nearly month before the final ca
tastrophe; and it was my part Of the plan
of operations to move my army, reinforced
by Schofeld, (then at Goldsboro, N. C.,) to
Burkeville, Va, when Lee would have
been forced to surrender in Richmond. The
true move left to him was hasty aban-
donment of Richmond, join his force to
Johnston's, and strike me in the open coun-
try. The only question was, Could sus-
tain this joint attack till Gen. Grant came up
in pursuit. Twas confident | could; but at
the very moment Of our conversation Gen.
Grant was moving General Sheridan's
heavy force OF cavalry to his extreme left
to prevent this very contingency. Mr.. Lin
coin, in hearing Us speak Of final bloody
battle, which then thought would fall on
me near Raleigh, did exclaim more than
once that blood enough had already been
shed, and he hoped that the war would end
without any moro. We spoke of what was
to be done with Davis, other party leaders,
and the rebel army; and he left me under
the impression that ali he asked of us was
TO dissipate these armies, and get the SOL
diers back to their homes anyhow-the
quicker the better-leaviDg him free to ap-
ply the remedy and the restoration Of civil
law. He mir. LincolI) surely left upon
my mind the impression warranted by Ad-
miral Por;er's account, that he had long
thought of his course Of action when the
rebel armies were out of his way, and that
he wanted to get civil governments re-
ct the South-the quicker the bet
ter-and strictly conforming with our gen
eral system.
| had been absent SO long that pre-
sumed, Of course, that Congress had enacted
oil the laws necessary to meet the event Of
pesce, so long expected, and the near ap-
proach Of which must then have been seen
By the most obtuse and all ! aimed to do
was to remit the rebel army surrendering
to NE to the conditions of the laws Of the
as they then existed. At the time
of Johnston's surrender at Durham, drew
up the terms with my own hand. Brock
inridge had nothing at oil to do with them,
more than to discuss their effect; and he
knew they only applied to the military;
and be forthwith proceeded to make his
escape from the country, course that l
believe Mr.. Lincoln wished that MIR. Davis
should have succeeded in etfecting, as we'll
ss al the other leading southern politicians,
against whom public indignation always
turned with feeling far more intense than
against Generals Lee, Johnston, and other
purely military men.
! repeat that, according to my memory,
Mr.. Lincoln did not expressly name any
specific terms of surrender, but he was IL
that kindly and gentle frame Of mind that
would have induced him to approve fully
what did, excepting, probably, he would
have interlined some notifications, such as
his several proclamations ante
,edent, as well as the laws of Congress,
which would have been perfectly right and
acct p.able to me and TO al parties.
/ ulSllhc " ptSn t1Aio W oShSA VIA
question, and do it for the reason stated
viz, lest be construed as throwing off on
Mr.. Lincoln what his friends think should
be properly borne by me alone.
If in the original terms l had, as GER
ainly meant, included the proclamations of
he President. they would have covered the
slavery question and all the real State
,uestiops which caused the war and had
not Mr.. Lincoln been assassinated at that
very moment, / believe those 'terms "
would have taken the usual course Of ap-
prevail, modification, or absolute disap-
prevail, and been returned to me, like hum
ireds of other official acts, without the
newspaper clamor and unpleasant contro-
Versies so unkindly and unpleasantly thrust
upon ne at the time.
am truly yours,
W. r. SIBERIAN, General.
Washington, D. e., April IL, 1869.