General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Army of the James, about February 20th, attempted to inaugurate another peace conference to be conducted through military channels, aided by the wives of certain officers of the two armies. To this end he secured, on a trivial pretext, an interview with General James Longstreet, then commanding the Confederate forces immediately north of Richmond. Ord, in the interview, referred to the Hampton Roads' conference, stating (according to Longstreet) that the politicians North were afraid to touch the question of peace; that there was no way to open the subject save through officers of the armies; that on the Union side the war had gone on long enough, and that the army officers "should come together as former comrades and friends and talk a little." Ord is reported as saying that the "work as belligerents" should cease; Grant and Lee should have a talk; that Longstreet's wife with a retinue of Confederate officers should first visit Mrs. Grant within the Union lines; that then Mrs. Grant should return the call at Richmond under escort of Union officers, and that thus the ladies could aid Generals Grant and Lee in fixing up peace on terms honorable to both sides. Longstreet took kindly to Ord's talk. Lee met Longstreet at President Davis' house in Richmond. Breckinridge (then Secretary of War) was present. At this meeting it was decided that Longstreet was to seek a further interview with Ord and see how the subject could be opened between Grant and Lee. Longstreet summoned his wife from Lynchburg to Richmond by telegraph. About the last day of February, Ord and Longstreet had another meeting at which Ord suggested that if Lee would write Grant a letter, the latter was prepared to receive it, and thus a military convention could be brought about. Longstreet reported the result of the talk with Ord, and Lee, March 1st, wrote Grant that he was informed that Ord, in a conversation relating to "the possibility of arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy difficulties by means of a military convention," had stated that if Lee desired an interview with Grant on the subject, the latter would not decline, provided Lee had authority to act. Lee, in his letter, said he was fully authorized in the premises, and proposed a meeting at the place proposed by Ord and Longstreet, on Monday the 6th. Accompanying Lee's letters was the usual "by-play" letter on an immaterial subject. Grant, on receiving Lee's communication, wired its substance to Secretary Stanton, who laid the matter before President Lincoln at his room at the Capitol whither he had gone to sign bills the last night of a session of Congress. Mr. Lincoln, without advice from any person, took his pen, and with his usual precision wrote:
"The President directs me to say that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee unless it be for capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political questions. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages."
This perfectly explicit dispatch was shown to Mr. Seward, then handed to Mr. Stanton, who signed and sent it the night of March 3, 1865. Grant, the next day, answered Lee in the light of the dispatch, saying:
"In regard to meeting you, I would state that I have no authority to accede to your proposition for a conference on the subject proposed. Such authority is vested in the President of the United States alone."(13)
Thus ended the Ord-Longstreet attempt to patch up a peace.
There was one more remarkable attempt made (before Lee surrendered) to bring about a peace in part of the Confederacy. General Lew Wallace was ordered, January 22, 1865, "to visit the Rio Grande and Western Texas on a tour of inspection." Shortly after his arrival at Brazos Santiago, by correspondence with the Confederate General J. E. Slaughter, commanding the West District of Texas, and a Colonel Ford, he arranged for a meeting with them at Point Isabel (General Wallace to furnish the refreshments), nominally to discuss matters relating to the rendition of criminals, but really to talk about peace. The conference took place March 12th. General Wallace assumed only to negotiate a peace for States west of the Mississippi. He did not profess to have any authority from Washington, nor did he offer to make the terms final. He must have been wholly ignorant of the President's dispatch to Grant of March 3d. Wallace's plan was, at Slaughter and Ford's instance, reduced to writing, and addressed to them, to be submitted to the Confederate General J. G. Walker, commanding the Department of Texas. Here it is:
"_Proposition.
"I. That the Confederate military authorities of the Trans- Mississippi States and Territories agree voluntarily to cease opposition, armed and otherwise, to the re-establishment of the authority of the United States Government over all the region above designated.
"II. The proper authorities of the United States on their part guarantee as follows:
"1. That the officers and soldiers at present actually comprising the Confederate Army proper, including its bona fide attaches and employees, shall have, each and all of them, a full release from and against actions, prosecutions, liabilities, and legal proceedings of every kind, so far as the government of the United States is concerned: Provided, That if any of such persons choose to remain within the limits of the United States, they shall first take an oath of allegiance to the same. If, however, they or any of them prefer to go abroad for residence in a foreign country, all such shall be at liberty to do so without obligating themselves by an oath of allegiance, taking with them their families and property, with privileges of preparation for such departure.