SURRENDER OF JO JOHNSTON AND COLLAPSE OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
In the exchange of views which followed, the great soldier, Sherman, was outwitted by Johnston and the Confederate president and cabinet, who were behind him. They secured his agreement to a restoration, so far as he could bring it about, of the respective State governments in the South as they were before the war, with immunity for the secession leaders from punishment, and other privileges, which, if granted, would have been throwing away most of the fruits of the stupendous struggle. Sherman thus took upon himself the disposition of civil matters with which he had nothing to do. The more sagacious Grant saw the mistake of his old friend, and, visiting his camp, April 24th, told him his memorandum was disapproved, and notice was to be sent Johnston of the resumption of hostilities. Two days later, Sherman and Johnston again met, and the Confederate commander promptly agreed to surrender his army on the same conditions that were given to Lee.
THE DESPERATE EXTREMITY OF THE CONFEDERATES AT THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR.
General J.H. Wilson and his cavalry captured Macon, Georgia, April 21st, and, on the 4th of May, General Dick Taylor surrendered the remainder of the Confederate forces east of the Mississippi, at which time also Admiral Farrand surrendered to Admiral Thatcher all the naval forces of the Confederacy that were blockaded in the Tombigbee River. At that time, Kirby Smith was on the other side of the Mississippi, loudly declaring that he would keep up the fight until independence or better terms were secured, but his followers did not share his views, and deserted so fast that he, Magruder, and others made their way to Mexico, where, after remaining awhile, they returned to the United States and became peaceful and law-abiding citizens. The troops left by them passed under the command of General Brent, who, on the 26th of May, surrendered to General Canby, when it may be said the War for the Union was ended.
After the surrender of Johnston, Jefferson Davis and the members of his cabinet became fugitives, under the escort of a few paroled soldiers. It was feared they might join Kirby Smith and encourage him to continue his resistance, while others believed he was striving to get beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.
The party hurried through the dismal wastes of Georgia, in continual fear that the Union cavalry would burst from cover upon them and make all prisoners. In the early morning light of May 10th, Mr. Davis, while asleep in his tent, near Irwinsville, Wilkinson County, Georgia, was aroused by the alarming news that the camp was surrounded by Union cavalry. He leaped to his feet and ran for his horse, but the animal was already in the possession of a Federal trooper. His wife threw a shawl over his shoulders, and he attempted to escape from the camp without being recognized, but he was identified and made prisoner. He had been captured by a squad of General J.H. Wilson's cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard of the Fourth Michigan. His fellow-prisoners were his wife and children, his private secretary, Burton Harrison, his aide-de-camp, and Postmaster-General Reagan, all of whom were taken to Macon, and thence to Fort Monroe, Virginia.
It was a serious problem, now that the president of the defunct Confederacy was captured, what should be done with him. He was kept in Fort Monroe until his health was impaired, when he was released on bail; Horace Greeley, the well-known editor of the New York Tribune, being one of his bondsmen. He had been indicted for treason in 1866, being released the following year, but his trial was dropped on the 6th of February, 1869. He passed the remainder of his life in Memphis, and later at Beauvoir, Mississippi, dying in New Orleans, December 6, 1889, in the eighty-second year of his age.
STATISTICS OF THE WAR.