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Showing posts from April 22, 2012

Saturday, 8 April 1865: Notes are Exchanged

No word from Lee. Tension rises at Union headquarters. Grant has a persistent headache. Mead is suffering nausea. Around noon a reply comes from General Lee. He asks Grant for a discussion concerning “the restoration of peace”. The wording is vague, but it is clearly a request to negotiate a political solution. Grant immediately replies that he has no authority to negotiate a political settlement and his request for Lee’s surrender stands. President Lincoln anticipated this moment. On 3 March 1865 (the evening before he gave his second inaugural address) he sent a letter to General Grant in which he specified that if Lee were to surrender, Grant had no authority other than a military surrender of Lee’s army. Lincoln would retain the power for political negotiations if any were required. This is an important document because it affirms Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution that places the President, a civilian, in command of the armed forces, and thus responsible fo

Friday, 7 April 1865, East of Appomattox

Friday, 7 April 1865. The action yesterday at Saylor’s Creek had cut off a third of Lee’s army, captured 6,000 Confederate soldiers, and destroyed most of the wagon’s in Lee’s supply column. This morning all three columns of the Army of the Potomac continue to advance. General Grant sent a messenger under a flag of truce through the lines with a letter to Lee. Grant asked Lee to surrender immediately. Lee responded by asking what were Grant’s terms? Grant replied that his terms would be the same as he offered at Vicksburg in 1863: parole until exchanged. Lee and Grant both knew that Lee’s surrender would virtually end the war. The offer of parole was a formality. The day passed without a reply from Lee.