HEADQUARTERS,
In the Field, April 14, 1865.*
Maj. Gen. W. T. SHERMAN,
Commanding U.S. Forces:
GENERAL: The results of the recent campaign in Virginia have
changed the relative military condition of the belligerents. I am therefore
induced to address you in this form the inquiry, whether, in order to stop the
further effusion of blood and devastation of property, you are willing to make
a temporary suspension of active operations, and to communicate to
Lieutenant-General Grant, commanding the Armies of the United States, the
request that he will take like action in regard to other armies; the object
being to permit the civil authorities to enter into the needful arrangements to
terminate the existing war.
I have the honor to
be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. E. JOHNSTON,
General.
[Indorsement in General Sherman's
handwriting.]
Received April 14, 12 night. Answered same hour.
_______________
* Another copy of this communication, in General Johnston's
handwriting, is dateil April 13, 1865. Both papers are signed by General
Johnston, but the text of the one here printed is by a different hand.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume
47, Part 3 (Serial No. 100), p. 206-7
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