Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-23

rifE suNRsspsn or GENERAL !. Il. JOHN
,'t eToN.
To The Edition Of The Tribune !:

SIn: In your issue Of yesterday is q
notice Of Mr.. IIealy's picture, representing q
the interview between Mr.. Lincoln, Gen II
-ral Grant, Admiral Porter aud myself, {
which. ,epsats substantially the account
rnL!i he'd some time ago in Wilkes Spirit
of The Times explanatory Of that inter- y
view, aud al,ribuling to Mr.. Lincoln him v
se!r Il paternity Of the terms to General i
Johnston's army at Durham, in April, I
1865. {
lam glad you have called public atten'
ton to the picture itself, because feel a
personal ine,es. that Mr.. Heal should be
appreciated as one of our very bes. Ameri-
can artists But sume friends he,e think
by silence | may be c: Instrned as willing
to throw off on Mr.. Lincoln the odium Of
hose terms. II there lie any od:um,
which doubt, I surely would not be vii |
ing that the least show Of it should 60 to
Mr.. Lincoln's memory, which L hold in
too much veneratiou to be stained by any
lhing done or said by me. / underst and
that the ,ubs,ance Of Mr. Wilkes original
article was compiled Ivy Inn after a railroad
conversation with Admiral Porter, who
, was present at that interview, ,as represcnie cd
, in the picture, and who made a note OF
, the conversation Immediately after. we
, separated. lie would be moro likely to.
have preserved the exact words used on
! ,ha, occasion than |; who made no notes.
!. then or since. l cannot now even preteud
+ to recall more than the subjects touched
upon by the several parties, and the i'm
j preston ell OH my mind after We parted.
=! The interview WAS in March, nearly a
II mouth before the final catastrophe, aud it
MAS my pa't OF the plan Of operations to
move my army, reinforced by Schoield,
then at GuId>boro, n. c., to BurkesviIlc,
l. Va, " hen Leo would have been forced to
n surrender Richmond. The true move left
h to him was ha,ty abandonment of Rich
u mund, JON his force to Juhnston's, and
II strike me in the open country. The only
Il question was, could sustain. this joint al
~ la,k Till General Grant came up in pur
, ;, suit? was confident l could but at til.
very moment of our conversation Genera
Grant was moving Grneral Sheridan:
heavy force oil cavalry to his extreme left
in 10 prevent this very contingency. Mr.
IN Lincoln, in hearing US speak Of fin"
Mt bloody battle, which then thought wouIt
to all on he near Raleigh, did cxcIaiu, NOR
It. than once, that blood enough had uiread.
IS been sbeh, aud he hoped That the VIA
re would cnd without any mere. We spok
so OF What WAS to bu doro with Davis, oihe
p party leaders, and the rebel arny and Ii
lc- lett me under the impression that all II
asked of us was 10 dissipale these arnlie
and get the soldiers back 10 their home
~ anyhow, The quicker the better, leaving ht
reeto apply the remedy and the restoraLio
> Of civsl law. liz (Mr. L;cul") surely Ie
" upon my mi.,d lhe impression warrante
Ao by Admiral Purters account, lha: lie h;.
long thought OF his course Of action whe
tho rebel armies were out of his way, an
~ that he wanted 10 get civil governments re
Ib- o,gan,zed at the South, the quicker til
in better, and st,icliy CONFORMING with o,
no general system.
ch bad been absent so long that pre-
sumed, OF course, that Congress had enacte
all the laws necessary TO meet the event
peace, so long expected, aud the near q
al proacb OF which must then have been see
rk by the mos, obtus" and all aimed 10 {
WAS to remit the rebel army surrendelil
lg- to me to the conditions Of The laws Of u
country as they then existed. Atthe tin
OF Jobnsion's surrender ut Durham,
r. drew up the terms with my own han
L. Breckenridge had nollr'ng a, all to do vii
them, more than to discuss their effect, al
lie knew they only applied to the n'ililar!
and he forthwith proceeded to- make b
. escape from the country, course that
, believe Mr.. Lincoln wished that Mr.. Da,
should have succeeded in eff citing, as W.
as all the other leading Southern poll
~ " clans, against whom public indigua.it
always turned with a feeling far mo
-, intense than against G.neraIs Lee ar
~ Johnston, and other purely military men
=, repeat that, according to my memor
So Mr., Lincoln did not expressly name q!
specific terms of surrender, but he WAS
:. j. that kindly and gentle frsme of mind th
no. would have induced him to approve ful
J.. what l did, excepting. probably, he won
FIJI have interlined some notifications, such
lin recognizing bis several proclamalions al AM
lin, cedsnt, ss:fw ell as the laws Of Congrs
a;, which would have been perfectly right. a
ne. acceptable to nae apd 70 ALL parties. x,
;hs1 l dislike to open This or any other Q
., question, and do it for the, reason stat
80, ys: les. / be construed as throwing IF
5 ,Gs,, NJ, Lincoln what his friends tbink sshor
-. be properly borne by ME sIone. f,...ss, i,