CITY POINT, VA., February 1, 1865 — 10.30 p.m.
Hon. EDWIN M.
STANTON, Secretary of War:
Now that the
interview between Major Eckert, under his written instructions, and Mr.
Stephens and party has ended, I will state confidentially, but not officially
to become a matter of record, that I am convinced, upon conversation with Messrs.
Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions are good and their desire sincere to
restore peace and union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express even
views of my own or to account for my reticency. This has placed me in an
awkward position, which I could have avoided by not seeing them in the first
instance. I fear now their going back without any expression from any one in
authority will have a bad influence. At the same time I recognize the
difficulties in the way of receiving these informal commissioners at this time,
and do not know what to recommend. I am sorry, however, that Mr. Lincoln cannot
have an interview with the two named in this dispatch, if not all three now
within our lines. Their letter to me was all that the President's instructions
contemplated, to secure their safe conduct, if they had used the same language
to Major Eckert.
U.S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume
46, Part 2 (Serial No. 96), p. 342-3
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