The Civil War ended this month 156 years ago. The final days wound down in North Carolina, so I’m sharing a passage from Galvanized in today’s blog:
“When Sherman entered North Carolina, he ordered restraint from the men, unlike the devastation that had been wreaked on the rest of the South. Fayetteville, home of the arsenal that was seized at the beginning of hostilities, was burned, but things were different. “Our men seemed to understand that they were entering a state which has suffered for its Union sentiment, and whose inhabitants would greatly embrace the old flag again if they can have the opportunity,” wrote one of Sherman’s staff officers …
“After General Sherman and General Johnston clashed in a bloody meeting at Bentonville in Johnston County, about fifty miles south of Raleigh on April 11, Johnston retreated north, passing through Raleigh and Durham’s Station (at the time, just a rail stop between Raleigh and Greensboro; later it became Durham, one of the state’s largest cities) as he headed to Greensboro. Governor Zebulon Vance hadn’t committed to a surrender but sent a flag of truce to Sherman to try and save Raleigh. Many historians believe that North Carolina’s “disloyal reputation” saved the capital and the state from the mass destruction wrought by Sherman on his campaign …
“Sherman was met at the train station in Raleigh by Union troops who urged him not to accept Johnston’s surrender. A few thousand marched to the city and had to be stopped by Gen. John A. Logan. They wanted to continue to punish the Confederates. When Sherman told Johnston about the assassination, Johnston went into a panic, fearing Sherman would blame the Confederate government, and Johnston called Booth’s act “a disgrace to the age.” Johnston wanted to surrender his army and all the rest of the troops in the CSA …
“On April 17 they sat down at the 350-acre farm of James Bennett in Durham to discuss terms of surrender that would end the war … Sherman was generous, and although he’d told his superiors he would offer the same terms Grant gave Lee at Appomattox, he attempted to end the war on conciliatory terms … President Andrew Johnson and the cabinet were furious and rejected the deal. Secretary of War Stanton sent Grant to Durham to refuse the surrender, relieve Sherman, and continue the fight if necessary.”
Eventually, the generals signed two different documents to take care of all the politics and mostly ended the war on April 26, 1865.
Source:
Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate by Michael K. Brantley