The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-13
GRANT IN PEACE.
BIZ GENERAL ADAM BADEAU.


The Terms at Appomattox.
~ ritten for the Journai-Copyrighted 1886.
The terms at Appomattox were neither die
Gated by the government. nor suggested by Mr.
1incoln, nor inspired by any subordinate Early
IN March. 1864, the administration had positively
prohibited General Grant from attempting to
settle or even discuss the conditions OF peace;
and ut the interview between Mr. Lin
coin and the commissioners sent out
from Richmond in February. Grant was
not permitted to be present. There was deter
animation on the part of Mr.. Lincoln and Mr..
Stanton to exclude the military authorities alto
gether from the final settlement after submis-
sion should be secured. During Mr.. Lincoln's
stay at City Point, prior to the final movements
of the war, he had many conversations with
Grant, but said nothing to indicate definitely
what steps ne intended to take at the
cloeA Those steps were probably I'M
certain in his own mind for, like all saga
cieas statesmen, he left much to be determined
by circumstances as they might arise. Even
mfksr the fall of Petersburg. when the end of the
var was evidently at hand, when Mr.. Lincoln
cADs up and conferred for an hour or two with
Grant in the captured town, there was no definite
linz laid down for the head of the army. Grant
only knew the general magnanimity of the Presi-
dsats views and his disposition toward Glenn
ency. / make this statement from his own posi-
xiEs declarations
So also, 1t 10 within my knowledge that no
Bnbefainate. however great or however near,
sifhsr knew or suggested in advance the terms
that Grant would impose on Lee. This fact he
has repeatedly stated to me- Matters of such
Consequence he never decided until the moment
FOR decision came, and he never In his life
arranged the details of any matter until it was
prsssnted to him for actual determination
Thns, until he knew that he had the remains of
Khs army of Lee within his grasp, he did not re-
dsss to form, even in his own mind, the exact
conditions upon which he would allow 1t to sur
render. He had indeed long felt that when the
war was ended there should be vindictive
pa3iey toward the vanquished, and he informed
Lea as once, when they met, that he meant to
aenBpt paroles; but the important final provision,
Ehaa which gives all its peculiar character the
CaEisalation, was unstudied. and its language
npeDsaneous. Yet the language is as precise as
words can make it, and enunciates policy which
has done as much as victory itself to secure the
Eesnlts of the war. Each officer and man will
be allowed to return to his home, not to be dis
fur3sd by United States authority so long as
l4hsy observe their paroles and the laws in force
where they reside
Tbs terms, however, were not in the least the
reszIt of chance. carelessness. or indifference
They were the legitimate outgrowth of Grants
Judgment and feeling; the consequence Of all
that had gone before embodied then for the first
TINA. because then for the first time the necessi-
1zy for the embodiment had arrived. In this way
iGrsns always did his greatest things. It may be
lstraage or inexplicable but he could not often
sxpaain his methods, nor, indeed. always his
Feasens,
/ He had at this moment no defined, large views
Hbous separating the military from the civil
power far less any intent of encroaching on the
domain or prerogative Of politics. He did not
Gwen. like Sherman, take into consideration the
Fate or condition Of other forces of the enemy,
nathoagh he was General lin. chief. He confined
himself strictly to the business before him-the
Bisbanding and dispersion Of Lees army. He
wanted to secure that neither that army nor any
II I'm members could ever again resist or
confront the national authority; and when
Ehis was determined he was unwilling to intiict
On cae of those members a single unnecessary
humiiistion or suffering He was, I am sure,
naeeaseious Of any special magnaminty in this
eoarsa He thought nothing of himself and Lit
DO NJ yet Of she far-reaching effect of his terms