The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-22
WHEN DO WARS zNDr
Two Dates of Ending of War With
 Spain and the Civil War.

 "When did the war with Spain end?" is a question upon which the Navy and the War Departments seem at variance. Re- cently the Acting Secretary of the Navy decided that the Spanish War ended on December 10, 1898. the date of the signing of the treaty of peace. The War Depart ment had previously ruled that the war did not officially end until April Il, 1899. the date of the exchange of notifications of the treaty. However, the Spanish War is not the only one upon which the au- thorities have disagreed. for there are re- ally two dates as official. of the ending of the Civil War. In a war between two nations treaty of peace usually fur nishes the historical date for the conclu- sion of hostilities but there was no treaty making power at the South. end more than a year passed before the Bst Con- federate troops disbanded before the for mal official announcement was made that the Civil War had endeds
 The Civil War is often referred to as the American Rebellion of 1ssl-65." but 1t was really a five years war. Tpe hostilities began in April, 1861, but the Richmond, the Confederate capital, by the Union forces on the morning of April 5. 1885, Hostilities went on with vigor in Virginia and elsewhere until April 9, when the rebel army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox. A few days later Mobile was evacuated and Gran gers forces occupied the city. On April IS came the last combat of the war east of the Mississippi when General Wilson captured Columbus and West Point and five days later Macon was surrendered. JOhnston's rebel force had been trying to escape, and being hemmed in he offered to surrender on April IS, but President Lincoln rejected the terms and the final agreement was not signed until April 26 But even this surrender left many Con- federates still in the field. and guerilla operations and irregular warfare were continued for time west of the Mssis- sippi "Jeff' Thompson's troops surren- dered on May Ii, but 1t was not until June that the last man of the 7.454 was paroled.. Lieutenant General Dick Tay- lor's much larger army surrendered on May {. Commodore Farand's squadron of Confederate vessels was surrendered on the Tombigbee River on May 9. and on the following day Jones's army, 5000 strong, in Florida. surrendered. On May the citizens of Fort Bend. Texas, re- solved that fin no event will we ever consent to reconstruction" and they kept their pledge for several months.
 Meanwhile there had been threats of se- rious resistance to the Federal Govern
  which expected to be joined by Jefferson Davis, then a fugitive in Georgia. and for whom an unremittfng search had been kept up by the leading Confederate off, cers until his capture at Irwinsville on May 10. Gen. Kirby Smith. General liar deman and other Confederate command CTS issued orders announcing Lees surren- der and declaring that the war would go on just the same. On May B the Con- federates defeated Barrett's forces near Brazos, Texas. and as this was really the last engagement of the Civil Waar, it Is significant fact that the last combat was Confederate victory. The Union loss was about seventy or eighty killed, wounded and missing. However, in spite of all the threats and pledges to carry on the war, wiser counsels prevailed. and on May 26 Kirby Smith surrendered his force.
 These historical notes show the diffl- cultY of fixing on any specific day as marking the end of the war. hence it is not surprising that many of the official documents of 1865 included these words the duration of hostilities." The Con- federate Government had its fall, but the Southern States continued to act inde- pendently of one another. hence the pro- cess of practical reconstruction was pro- l longed. But. by degrees. Congress legis- | lation referred to the war as "the late | insurrection," until at length President Johnston issued a proclamation in Au- gust. 1s66 fixing the date of the end of | the war. Subsequently official record was made using this expression: "The su- preme Court of the United States has | decided that the War nf the Rebellion l closed on August 20, 1S66 the date on | which the President issued his proclama- tion declaring the instruction at an end.
 Then when Robert T. Lincoln was Sec retary of War in communication to the Senate Committee on Military Af- fairs, he said: "The Supreme Court of 1 the United States. in the case of the Pro- | tector, 12 Wall, TOO. held that the war ended In all the United States, except Texas, on April 2, 1866. and in Texas on August 20, 1866" Hence there are two l dates for the end of the Civil War.