HDQRS. MILITARY
DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field,
Raleigh, N.C., April 14, 1865.
General J. E. JOHNSTON,
Commanding Confederate Army:
GENERAL: I have this moment received your communication of this date. I am fully empowered to arrange with you any terms for the
suspension of further hostilities as between the armies commanded by you and
those commanded by myself, and will be willing to confer with you to that end.
I will limit the advance of my main column to-morrow to Morrisville, and the
cavalry to the University, and expect that you will also maintain the present
position of your forces until each has notice of a failure to agree. That a
basis of action may be had, I undertake to abide by the same terms and conditions
as were made by Generals Grant and Lee at Appomattox Court-House, on the 9th
instant, relative to our two armies; and, furthermore, to obtain from General
Grant an order to suspend the movement of any troops from the direction of
Virginia. General Stoneman is under my command, and my order will suspend any
devastation or destruction contemplated by him. I will add that I really desire
to save the people of North Carolina the damage they would sustain by the march
of this army through the central or western parts of the State.
I am, with respect,
your obedient servant,
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major-General.
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. 207
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