Monday, April 18, 2011

The Big Surrender

Confederate General Joseph E Johnston was on his second day of negotiating the surrender of his army April 18th 1865.


After Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered on April 9th 1865 at Appomattox Court House, General Joseph E Johnston agreed to meet with Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. They met at the Bennett Place, a small farm located between their lines near Durham, North Carolina. The negotiations began on April 17th which was when Johnston first learned of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, and continued again on April 18th 1865. After two days peace terms were settled on. The terms of this peace were rejected by officials in Washington, DC, as they were looking to punish the south. However, on April 26th 1865 another agreement was worked out and Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee, and all active Confederate forces in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Sherman had 10 days of rations issued to the Confederate soldiers. Johnston would be paroled May 2nd 1865. Confederate President Jefferson Davis accused Johnston of having committed an act of treachery in having surrendered his 89,000 soldiers without having been defeated.

A good web site to look at if you like more information about this surrender is The Carolinas Campaign Johnston's Surrender
at Bennett Place on Hillsboro Road

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