Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-04-29
LETTER PROM GEN. SIBERIAN.
rhe Surrender OF Gen. j. 4. Johnston.
% the Editor of the Tribune.

|
\ The surrendev Of Cen. j. 4. Johnston.
| To the Editor of the Tribune.
SIR: In your issue of yesterday is a
notice of Mr.. Healy's picture, represent
| ing the interview between Mr.. Lincoln,
Gen. Grant, Admiral Porter, and N.Y.
self, which repeats substantially the
account published some time ago in
| Wilkes'Spir of the Times, explanatory
Of that interview, attributing to Mr..
Lincoln himself the paternity of the
terms to Gen. Johnston's army at Dur
| ham, in April, 1865.
am glad you have called public at
tention to tn picture itself, because l
feel personal interest that Mr.. Healy
should be appreciated as one of our very
best American artists. But some friends
here think by silence may be construed
as willing to throw off on Mr.. Lincoln
the odium of those terms. If there be
any odium, which doubt, l surely
would not be willing that the least show
of it should go % Mr.. Lincoln S memory
| which hold in too much veneration TO
be stained by anything done or said 10y
me. l understand that the substance Il
Mr. Wilkes's article was compiled by
him after the railroad conversation with
Admiral Porter, who was pres Mt at
that interview as represented i'll the
picture, and who made note OF. the con-
versation Immediately after weseparat-
ed. He would he more likely to have
preserved the exact words used on the
occasion, than L who made no notes,
then or since. 4 cannot now even pre-
tend to recall more than the subjects
touched upon by the several parties, aud
the impression left on my mind after We
rf s.,fa
nearly a month before the final catastro-
phe; and it was my part of the plans to
move my army, reinforced by Schofield,
then at Goldsbero, n. c., to Burksville,
Va, when Lee would have been forced
to surrender in Richmond. The true
move left to him was hasty abandon
ment of Richmond, join his force to
Johnston's, and strike me in the open
country. The only question was, could
1 sustain this joint attack until Gen.
Grant came up in pursuit? l was con-
fident could but at the very moment
Of our conversation, Gen. Grant was
moving Gen. Sheridan heavy force of
cavalry to his extreme left, to prevent
this very contingency. Mr.. Lincoln, in
hearing us speak ofthe final bloody bat
tie, 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 more. We spoke
of what was to be done with Davis,
and he left me under the impression
that all he asked of us was, to dissipate
these armies, and get the soldiers back to
their homes anyhow, the quicker tho
better, leaving him free to- apply the
remedy, and the restoration of Civil
Law. He (Mr. Lincoln) surely left
upon my mind the impression warranted
by Admiral POrter's account, that ne
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 reorganized at the South,
the quicker the better, and strictly con-
forming with our general system.
1 had been absent SO long that 1 pre-
sumed, of course, that Congress had
enacted all the laws necessary to meet
the event of peace, so long expected,
and the near approach of which must
then have been seen by the most obtuse
and all / aimed to do was to remit the
Rebel army surrendering to me to the
conditions of the laws of the country as
Johnson's surrender at Durham, drew
up the terms with my own hand
Breckenridge had nothing at all to do
with them, more than to discuss their
effect, and he knew they only applied |
to the military; and he forthwith pro-
ceeded to make his escape from the |
country, course that / believe Mr.. !
wished that Mr.. Davis should |
have succeeded in effecting, as well as |
all the other leading Southern politicians |
against whom publicindignatioD always |
turned with a feeling far more intense |
than against Generals Lee, Johnston |
and other purely military men.
l repeat that according to my memory, |
Mr.. Lincoln did not expressly name any I
specific terms of surrender, but he was /
in that kindly and gentle frame of mind
that would have induced him to approve
fully what did, excepting probably he
would have interlined some modifica-
tio..s. such a recognizing his several
antecedent, as well as the
laws of Congress, which would have
been perfectly right and acceptable to
me- and to all parties.
| dislike to open this or any other old
question, and do it for the reason stated,
viz. lest L be construed as throwing off
IN Mr.. Lincoln what his friends think
should be properly borne by me alone.
If in the original terms I ha as I
meant, included the procla-
nations of the President, they would
nave covered the slavery question and
all the real State questions which caused
the war; and had not Mr.. Lincoln been
at that very moment,
believe those terms" would have taken
The usual course of approval, modifica-
.ion, or absolute disapproval, had been
to me, like hundreds of other
official acts, without the newspaper
,lamor and unpleasant controversies so
and unpleasantly thrust upon
ne at the time.
ana truly yours,
w. It. Sherman, General
Washington, d. c., April IL, 1859.
Canada.