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Chapter 2:
The terms at
Appomattox were neither dictated by the
Government, nor suggested by
Mr. Lincoln, nor inspired by any subordinate.
Early in March, 1864, the Administration had positively prohibited
General Grant from attempting to settle or even discuss the conditions of peace; and at the interview between
Mr. Lincoln and the commissioners sent out from
Richmond in February
Grant was not permitted to be present.
There was a determination on the part of
Mr. Lincoln and
Mr. Stanton to exclude the military authorities altogether from the final settlement, after submission should be secured.
During
Mr. Lincoln's stay at
City Point, prior to the final movements of the war, he had many conversations with
Grant, but said nothing to indicate definitely what steps he intended to take at the close.
Those steps were probably uncertain in his own mind, for, like all sagacious statesmen, he left much to be determined by circumstances as they might arise.
Even after the fall of
Petersburg, when the end of the war was evidently at hand, when
Mr. Lincoln came up and conferred for an hour or two with
Grant in the captured town, there was no definite line laid down for the head of the army.
Grant only knew the general magnanimity of the
President's views and his disposition toward clemency.
I make this statement from his own positive declarations.
So, also, it is within my knowledge that no subordinate, however great or however near, either knew or suggested
