OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR, AT THE SECOND SESSION THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. SHERMAN-JOHNSTON. MASSACRE OF THE CHEYENNE INDIANS. ICE CONTRACTS. ROSECRANS'S CAMPAIGNS. MISCELLANEOUS. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1865. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 20, 1865. Resolved by the Senate of the United States, (the House of Representatives concurring,) That in order to enable the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to complete their investigations of certain important matters now before them, and which they have not been able to complete, by reason of inability to obtain important witnesses, they be authorized to continue their sessions for thirty days after the close of the present Congress, and to place their testimony and reports in the hands of the Secretary of the Senate. Resolved further, That the Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed to cause to be printed of the reports and accompanying testimony of the Committee on the Conduct of the War five thousand copies for the use of the Senate and ten thousand copies for the use of the House of Representatives. Attest: J. W. FORNEY, Secretary. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, March 1, 1865. Resolved, That this House do concur in the foregoing resolution with the following amendment: Strike out the words "thirty days" and insert the words ninety days in lieu thereof. Attest: EDWARD MCPHERSON, Clerk, By CLINTON LLOYD, Chief Clerk. SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, March 2, 1865. Resolved, That the Senate agree to the foregoing amendment of the House of Representatives. J. W. FORNEY, Secretary. I certify the foregoing to be a true copy of the original resolution and the amendment of the House thereto. and the concurrence of the Senate therein. J. W. FORNEY, Secretary of the Senate of the United States. SHERMAN-JOHNSTON. Testimony of Major General William T. Sherman. WASHINGTON, May 22, 1865. Major General W. T. SHERMAN sworn and examined. By the chairman : Question. What is your rank in the army? Answer. I am a major general in the regular army. Question. As your negotiation with the rebel general Johnston, in relation to his surrender, has been the subject of much public comment, the committee desire you to state all the facts and circumstances in regard to it that you deem of public interest, or which you wish the public to know. Answer. On the 15th day of April last I was at Raleigh, in command of an army composed of three armies-the army of the Ohio, the army of the Cumberland, and the army of the Tennessee. My enemy was General Joseph E. Johnston, of the confederate army, who commanded about 50,000 men retreating along the railroad from Raleigh, by Hillsborough, Greensborough, Salisbury, and Charlotte. I commenced pursuit by crossing the curve of that road in the direction of Ashborough and Charlotte. After the head of my column had crossed the Cape Fear river at Aven's ferry, I received a communication from General Johnston and answered it; copies of which I sent promptly to the War Department, with a letter addressed to the Secretary of War, as follows: " HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, “In the Field, Raleigh, North Carolina, April 15, 1865. "I send copies of a correspondence begun with General Johnston, which, I think, will be followed by terms of capitulation. I will grant the same terms as General Grant gave General Lee, and be careful not to complicate any points of civil policy. "If any cavalry has started towards me, caution them that they must be prepared to find our work done. It is now raining in torrents, and I shall await General Johnston's reply here, and will prepare to meet him in person at Chapel Hill. "I have invited Governor Vance to return to Raleigh with the civil officers of his State. I have met ex-Governor Graham, Mr. Badger, Moore, Holden, and others, all of whom agree that the war is over, and that the States of the south must resume their allegiance subject to the Constitution and laws of Congress, and must submit to the national arms. This great fact once admitted, all the details are easy of arrangement. "General U. S. GRANT and Secretary of War.” "W. T. SHERMAN, Major General, I met General Johnston, in person, at a house five miles from Durham Station, under a flag of truce. After a few preliminary remarks, he said to me that, since Lee had surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, of which he had just been advised, he looked upon further opposition by him as the greatest possible of crimes; that he wanted to know whether I could make him any general concessions-anything by which he could maintain his hold and control of his army, and prevent its scattering; anything to satisfy the great yearning of their people; if so, he thought we could arrange terms satisfactory to both parties. He wanted to embrace the condition and fate of all the armies of the southern confederacy to the Rio Grande; to make one job of it, as he termed it. I asked him where his powers were; whether he could command and control the fate of all the armies to the Rio Grande? He answered that he thought he could obtain the power, but he did not possess it at that moment. He did not know where Mr. Davis was, but he thought if I could give him time he could find Mr. Breckinridge, whose orders would be obeyed everywhere, and he could pledge to me his personal faith that whatever he undertook to do would be done. I had had frequent correspondence with the late President of the United States, with the Secretary of War, with General Halleck, and with General Grant; and the general impression left upon my mind was that if a settlement could be made consistent with the Constitution of the United States, the laws of Congress, and the proclamation of the President, they would be not only willing but pleased thus to terminate the war by one single stroke of the pen. I needed time to finish the railroad from the Neuse bridge up to Raleigh, and thought I could put in four or five days' good time in making repairs to my road, even if I had to send the propositions to Washington. I therefore consented to delay twenty-four hours to enable General Johnston to procure what would satisfy me as to his authority and ability, as a military man, to do what he undertook to do. I therefore consented to meet him the next day, the 17th, at 12, noon, at the same place. We did meet again. After a general interchange of courtesies he remarked that he was then prepared to satisfy me that he could fulfil the terms of our conversation of the day before. He then asked me what I was willing to do. I told him, in the first place, that I could not deal with anybody except men recognized by us as "belligerents," because no military man could go beyond that fact. The Attorney General has since so decided, and every man of common sense so understood it before; there was no difference of opinion on that point. As to the men and officers composing the confederate armies, I told him that the President of the United States, by a published proclamation, had enabled every man in the southern confederate army of the rank of colonel and under to procure and obtain amnesty by simply taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and agreeing to go to his home and live in peace. The terms of General Grant to General Lee extended the same principles to officers of the rank of brigadier general and upwards, including the highest officer in the confederate army, viz., General Lee, the commander-in-chief. I was, therefore, willing to proceed with him upon the same principles. Then a conversation arose as to what form of government they were to have in the south. Were the States there to be dissevered; and were the people to be denied representation in Congress? Were the people there to be, in the common language of the people of the south, slaves to the people of the north? Of course I said "No; we desire that you shall regain your position as citizens of the United States, free and equal to us in all respects, and with representation, upon the condition of submission to the lawful authority of the United States as defined by the Constitution, the United States courts, and the authorities of the United States supported by those courts." He then remarked to me that General Breckinridge, a major general in the confederate army, was near by, and if I had no objection he would like to have him present. I recalled his attention to the fact that I had on the day before explained to him that any negotiations between us must be confined to belligerents. He replied that he understood that perfectly. "But," said he, “Breckinridge, whom you do not know, save by public rumor, as the Secretary of War, is, in fact, a major general; I give you my word for that. Have you any objection to his being present as a major general?" I replied, "I have no objection to any military officer you desire being present as a part of your personal staff.” I, myself, had my own officers near me at call. Breckinridge came, a stranger to me, whom I had never spoken to in my life, and he joined in the conversation. Whilst that conversation was being carried on, a courier arrived and handed General Johnston a package of papers. He and Breckinridge sat down and looked over them for some time, and put them away in their pockets. What they were I know not; but one was a slip of paper, written, as General Johnston told me, by Mr. Reagan, postmaster general of the southern confederacy. They seemed to talk about it sotto voce, and finally handed it to me; I glanced over it. It was preceded by a preamble, and closed with a few general terms. I rejected it at once. We then discussed matters-talked about slavery-talked about everything. There was a universal assent that slavery was as dead as anything could be; that it was one of the issues of the war, long since determined; and even General Johnston laughed at the folly of the confederate government in raising negro soldiers, whereby they gave us all the points of the case. I told them that slavery had been treated by us as a dead institution; first by one class of men from the initiation of the war, and then from the date of the emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln, and finally by the assent of all the parties. As to reconstruction, I told them I did not know what the views of the administration were. Mr. Lincoln up to that time had, in letters and by telegrams to me, encouraged me, by all the words that could be used in general terms, to believe in not only his willingness but his desire that I should make terms with civil authorities, governors, and legislatures, even as far back as 1863. It then occurred to me that I might write off some general propositions, meaning little or meaning much, according to the construction of parties, what I would term "glittering generalities," and send them to Washington, which I could do in four days. That would enable the new President to give me a clue to his policy in the important juncture which was then upon us; for the war was over-the highest military authorities of the southern confederacy so confessed to me openly, unconcealedly, and repeatedly. if I therefore drew up that memorandum (which has been published to the world) for the purpose of referring it to the proper executive authority of the United States, and enabling him to define to me what I might promise, simply to cover the pride of the southern men, who thereby became subordinate to the laws of the United States, civil and military. I made no concessions to General Johnston's army, or the troops under his direction and immediate control. And any concessions were made in those general terms, they were made because I then believed, and I now believe, they would have delivered into the hands of the United States the absolute control of every confederate officer and soldier, all their muster-rolls, and all their arms. It would save us all the incidental expenses resulting from the military occupation of that country by provost marshals, provost guards, military governors, and all the machinery by which alone military power can reach the people of a civilized country. It would have surrendered to us the armies of Dick Taylor and Kirby Smith, both of them capable of doing infinite mischief to us by exhausting the resources of the whole country upon which we were to depend for the future extinguishment of our debt, forced upon us by their wrongful and rebellious conduct. I never designed to shelter a human being from any liability incurred in consequence of past acts to the civil tribunals of our country. And I do not believe a fair and manly interpretation of my terms can so construe them, for the words " United States courts," "United States authorities," "limitations of executive power" occur in every paragraph. And if they seemingly yield terms better than the public would desire to be given to the southern people, if studied clearly and well it will be found that there is an absolute submission on their part to the government of the United States, either through its executive, legislative, or judicial authorities. Every step in the progress of those negotiations was reported punctually, |