President Lincoln's Instructions.
MARCH 3, 1865 —
12 p.m.
Lieutenant-General GRANT:
The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to
have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of
General Lee's army or on some minor and purely military matter. He instructs me
to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political
question. 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.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
The orders of General Sherman to General Stoneman to
withdraw from Salisbury and join him will probably open the way for Davis to
escape to Mexico or Europe with his plunder, which is reported to be very
large, including not only the plunder of Richmond banks, but previous
accumulations. A dispatch received by this Department from Richmond says:
It is stated here by respectable
parties that the amount of specie taken south by Jeff. Davis and his partisans
is very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but
previous accumulations. They hope, it is said, to make terms with General
Sherman or some other Southern commander, by which they will be permitted, with
their effects, including this gold plunder, to go to Mexico or Europe.
Johnston's negotiations look to this end.
After the cabinet meeting last night General Grant started
for North Carolina to direct operations against Johnston's army.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
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. 285-6
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