Transcripts For CSPAN3 Forgotten Surrenders Of The Civil War

Every guy knows white socks black shoes. Dont do it. Thats probably why in the margin over here the photographer scratched dont use. Look at them constructing that image together. The general doesnt look particularly good in this one so dont use it. Lets stand him up and get one thats even better. Not quite there though, is it . Mover, sir thank you. Just so your head is right in the middle of that cross. The image thats gone around the world. Even this has a little forensic secret. The devil is in the details. Some angry Union Soldiers scratched in the brick there with a chalk or knife, devil. This photograph was made on april 20th. You dont think there was some Union Soldiers in town that felt that way afterbout lee. Sure. Remember 9 11. Fearful, scared, same thing. Thats what lee and brady were conspireing to take on. Its over. You dont have to hurt us anymore. So these images as weve seen time and again its easy to focus on lee, grant. When you look with the eyes, which we can now, you see people that look like us, like you and me. People that have wants and aspirations and dreams and hopes for the future like you and me. All youve got to do is go to the library of congress and look. Thank you all very much. Now [ applause ] no now you can see why i say thats one of coolest war presentations. Lay it on me. Im susan hilliard. We were fortunate enough to see your 3d show at the round table. Its one of the best shows weve ever had. I read the article that patrick was referring to in the Virginia Historical society. Finished it last night. What did you think . I loved it. Absolutely loved it. My question to you did you get your check . Not yet. Not yet. I hear you said it was in the mail though. Take care of that later. My question is you were talking about lincoln coming into the city and the difficulty that they had trying to find place for him to land. You indicated they came into a sand barge. Was that sand barge in any of those pictures . It was not. They were coming up into the city nobody knew where to go or where to land. They put in on this sand bar thats the most humble thing you can imagine. Its photographed. I didnt include it in this show. As you can see theres only so many i can focus on. When i get off the stage come track me down and ill show you what image that is. It really helped you understand when he landed nobody saw him and he crested and everybody saw him. Any other questions . Lincoln or otherwise. I hope you enjoyed it. Its always fun for me to show this stuff off and thank you for coming. Enjoy the rest of it. At 8 00 the battle of sailors creek. Its all wednesday night starting at 8 00 eastern here on cspan 3. This sunday on q and a, Senior Editor for the Weekly Standard Andrew Ferguson on his writing career, the gop president ial candidates for 2016 and what voters are looking for in a candidate. They want somebody who looks like hes stood up for them. Im amazed now to the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment and the sense of being put upon and those people really dont understand us. Here is a guy, hes going to stick it to them. Hillary clinton will give her own version of that kind of thing. I dont think that was actually true 30 years ago. The resentiment has always been part of politics but the degree to which its almost exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q and a. American history tv recently visited Longwood University in farmville, virginia for a seminar on the closing of the civil war in 1865. As well as the closing activities in the transmississippi area. This is about an hour. I want to go ahead and introduce our speaker. Our first speaker for the morning. Robert dunkerly. Hes worked at nine different historic sites. Most recently at Richmond National Battlefield Park and he has written two books that arent specifically listed. Im sure hell be talking a lot about them today. One of them in the for sale bookstores. The final surrenders in North Carolina elsewhere and the other one is the confederate surrender at greensburg. The final days of the army of tennessee. His talk to will been on the forgotten surrender and indian territory. Since i did my dissertation on florida, i hope hell mention florida a few times. Burt dunkerly. [ applause ] thank you. Good morning. I want to thank the organizers for having me. I really appreciate the invitation. Its great to be here with so many people interested in this topic. What id like to do is talk about all the surrenders. I do want to compare the surrenders and talk about how different they are because each of them unfolded in its own way and each of these surrenders happens independently and they each have a fascinating story and talk about how this whole ending of the war is going to set the stage for reconstruction. All right. Were not going to spend a lot of time on appamatix. The couple of points i do want to make is the campaign for all participants is going to be pretty grueling. As the armies move from richmond and petersburg to the west theyre going to be marching and fighting every day. Think about the state of the roads and the armies especially the confederate armies which for the last several months has been pretty static in the trenches around petersburg and richmond. All of a sudden the army has to be mobile and youve got to move horses and wagons artillery pieces and the soldiers themselves pulling them out of earth works, getting them on the road. Just that in and of itself is a challenge and in keeping the army moving, keeping it together. As you all know things will unravel along the way. What confederate soldier wrote day and night blended together. It was just constant action. There will be skirmishing in the few actual battles every day of the campaign. Another confederate soldier wrote that night and day blended together. It was constant marching. If we werent marching, we were fighting. If we werent fighting, we were marching. Even union accounts of the Campaign Talk about the hard marches and the long days on very bad roads. On the map here behind me, its a busy map, you can see the movement of the armies that cover a lot of ground. Its going to be several battles along the way. By the time the armies actually get to appomattox theyve got a good bit of fighting. Theyve been in constant contact. When they arrive theres even going to be a final battle on the day of the surrender. No one knew there was going to be a surrender that day on the morning of april 9th. Here we are at sailors creek. Largest battle of the campaign 8,000 confederate soldiers captured this one day. Eight generals. Its a disaster for the army of Northern Virginia. As the army of nevada drifts into appomattox courthouse, Union Cavalry has gotten in front of the Confederate Army blocking the road they intend to use. I need to point out the goal all along for robert e. Lee is to get the army of Northern Virginia down into North Carolina. That was hit objective upon leaving richmond and petersburg and that never changed. Lee cant make that turn to the south because union forces keep blocking the way. The union armies are pursuing lee behind him but they have also gotten around in front of him by the time they get to appomattox courthouse. This map shows the final battle which takes place on the morning of april 9th. Confederates initially pushed the Union Troopers back but as republican reenforcements arrive they realize they cannot breakthrough and the army surrounded on three sides with the river on the other side. Lee and grant will meet that very afternoon of april 9th. One of the things that makes the appomattox surrender unique is we have this active campaign and right up to the last minute there was fighting. We dont know who the last casualty was. Theres probably no way to know because fighting spread out all around the village. One of the possible candidates is 18yearold William Montgomery montgomery, a soldier if pittsburgh, pennsylvania. Thats his photograph there. As the flags go out around 10 30 and fighting dies down, both sides are going to have a chance the pause and catch their breath. Mentally for the confederates this is the first time theyve had to process things because think about a grueling week. I think weve all been in situations where you push yourself, you have several long days and you start to lose track of things. You start to make bad decisions. Youre fatigued mentally and physically. Thats the state these soldiers are in. When word comes out theres been a flag of troops and general lee is going to meet with general grant, its a shock. It really shakes them to their foundation. Its really hard to accept. Been fighting constantly and all of a sudden their war is going to be over very quickly. The surrender meeting takes place in the mcclain house, private home which was chosen for the occasion with about a dozen witnesses in a room, and, of course, when you have a dozen or so witnesses youre going to get a dozen or so different stories. One of the frustrating things is that a lot of accounts dont agree. They agree on a lot of the general details but not necessarily the order of things and some accounts mention one thing. Other accounts dont. In general we do understand the flow of the conversation and what the generals talked about. The terms that grant is going to offer to general lee were really inspired by president lincoln who wanted to end the war easily and quickly and in his words let the southerners go home. The confederate soldiers will be allowed to return to their homes. They have to turn over their military equipment. That means surrender their rifles, ammunition any military property like cannons wagons. Government property or military property has to be turned over. Then they will be free to go. Those terms are accepted and for most people thats what they think of when they think of appomattox. Thats really just the beginning because now this whole thing has to be put into motion and the surrender will take place over the next couple of days. Here we have the mcclain house, original photograph on the right. The house was torn down later on. Talk about that and today the house that you see in the park is a reconstruction on the original location. One of the things thats going to happen is the confederate soldiers will be issued parole passes. These are very important because when lee surrenders most of you probably know this, the war isnt over. Its just lee surrendering the army of Northern Virginia. As the confederate soldiers go home theyre going to be entering other war zones, places where theres still active fighting. They need some sort of proof that they have surrendered and they have permission to go home. They need that to protect themts themselves from any union troops and any souldldiers that might pick them up. This is the pattern they used. Its called a check pattern. I think you can see why. The parole passes are important for a few other things too. General grant indicated that these passes can be used for transportation on Union Military railroads and on union navy ships. For a lot of the men who live near working railroads or who can get home by ship, the Union Military will transport them and so, for example, a lot of men who lived in the deep south went to norfolk, got on ship, went around the gulf coast and got home that way. The parole passes will be very important for those reasons. They also allowed the soldiers to get food. They can stop at any union supply base and draw rations. They provide protection, rations and transportation if theres transportation where youre going to help them get home. Like i said over the next three days the surrender will be put into motion. The first branch thats going to surrender is the cavalry on april 10th. If youre wondering why the cavalry goes first think about how much food a horse eats every day. Think about the state of the these confederate horses and think about appomattox is a small county and doesnt have a lot of resources. These horses are in bad shape and need to get out of there. The next day april 11th the confederate artillery will surrender their guns. Thats a process of turning over the artillery to Union Officers. They had a good bid of artillery with them. Probably the most famous part of the surrender of these three days would be the infantry which would surrender their weapons on april 12th. This is a sixhour process. Took most of the day for one division at a time of confederate infantry to march into the village and stack their rifles. Lined up along the side of the road is a division of Union Infantry and this was carried out with great deal of formality and ceremony. The Union Officer of the day was general joshua chamberlain. The confederate officer of the day is general john gor dan. Chamberlain order them to salute the men as as they came in by commanding them to shoulder arms. Gordon will have the confederate return the salute shoulder arms as they march into the village. A South Carolina unit recognized some troops from maine in front of them. At the end of the day the Union Soldiers will have stacks of rifles. Some units back in their camps hid their flags, tucked them you should their coats. Some money cut the flags up and divided them as souvenirs. Some units burned their flags. The third arkansas did something unique. Their flag was on a captured union flag staff. When they turned over their flag they left a note on it that said dear mr. Yankee please return this flag staff to the 9th. It was captured in 1864. It was signed big rebel. For the most part this was done with respect on both sides and after the confederates returned to their camp they were issued parole passes and free to start the journey home. The journey home is fascinating topic onto itself. The total for appomattox. The latest total that we have is 28,231 28,231. As youre going to see that is the smallest of the major surrenders. What makes appomattox unique as we talk about the others is both armies are in contact. We had this horrible ceremonies. We had a series of formal surrenders that take place over a couple of days. The two commanders meet facetoface. They have one meeting to get everything settled right there. Everything else is going to be entirely different as youre going to see. After the war, the mcclain house was dismantled in an attempt to move it and put it on display as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the house was not moved. Funds ran out and its exposed to the weather and souvenir hunters so the mcclain house really disent grated in this condition. Grated in this condition. The original house is gone. While this is unfolding and some of these events overlap, president davis and his party are retreating south. Theyve gone to danville to try to set up temporary capital. They keep moving south though. They learn about lee surrender when in greensboro, North Carolina. They will keep moving southwest. Basically following interstate 85. If you know that route down from charlotte, down into upper South Carolina. Along the way various members of the confederate cabinet break off. We have just total breakdown. The cavalry escort a lot of that gets dismissed when they get into georgia and South Carolina. Davis will finally end up just being by himself in a very small escort rejoins his family in georgia georgia. Hes captured on may 10th. Thats whats going on thats sort of the background amid these other events. I know you heard yesterday if you were here about the surrender in North Carolina. Thats going to be the next one that happens. Just to cover that very briefly the Confederate Army in North Carolina is the army of tennessee which fought most of its career in the west. The large mantles of shiloh stones river and so on. The army of tennessee is transferred to North Carolina to defend the state from general cher shermans invasion. They fight some small battles, well not small. Its after that in late march into early april that the army of tennessee is being reorganized. The Army Commander general johnston will get news richmond has fallen and that lee wants to meet him and unit their forces somewhere near the virginiaNorth Carolina border. The west and end up around greensboro which was a Railroad Depot and supply base. The army is going to spread out like you see on the map here various camps around greensboro. H is going to be a very different experience than the men of the army of Northern Virginia. In this case the union army is not in contact with them. Theyre pursuing but not very aggressive aggressively. Its that point that sherman and johnston begin to negotiate and exchange communication. They will finally meet facetoface at the bennett farm which is in durham. Thats johnston, left. Sherman on the right and in the middle the confederate secretary of war john brecken jjridge. They realize its over. The confederacy cannot maintain armies in field. They cant produce anything. They cant transport anything. Armies have penetrated every corner of the confederacy just about. Theyre looking at the big picture and want to try to end this. Again with lincolns vision as quickly and easily as possible. They negotiate a surrender which goes a little bit above what sherman has the short to do. It touches on political matters. For example, it allowed the state governments in the Southern States to keep functions as they were with their current governors and legislatures. Confederate governments in tact. It went into those kind of things. By the time that sherman and johnston met something very important had happened this washington. Lincolns assassination. The Union Soldiers<\/a> scratched in the brick there with a chalk or knife, devil. This photograph was made on april 20th. You dont think there was some Union Soldiers<\/a> in town that felt that way afterbout lee. Sure. Remember 9 11. Fearful, scared, same thing. Thats what lee and brady were conspireing to take on. Its over. You dont have to hurt us anymore. So these images as weve seen time and again its easy to focus on lee, grant. When you look with the eyes, which we can now, you see people that look like us, like you and me. People that have wants and aspirations and dreams and hopes for the future like you and me. All youve got to do is go to the library of congress and look. Thank you all very much. Now [ applause ] no now you can see why i say thats one of coolest war presentations. Lay it on me. Im susan hilliard. We were fortunate enough to see your 3d show at the round table. Its one of the best shows weve ever had. I read the article that patrick was referring to in the Virginia Historical<\/a> society. Finished it last night. What did you think . I loved it. Absolutely loved it. My question to you did you get your check . Not yet. Not yet. I hear you said it was in the mail though. Take care of that later. My question is you were talking about lincoln coming into the city and the difficulty that they had trying to find place for him to land. You indicated they came into a sand barge. Was that sand barge in any of those pictures . It was not. They were coming up into the city nobody knew where to go or where to land. They put in on this sand bar thats the most humble thing you can imagine. Its photographed. I didnt include it in this show. As you can see theres only so many i can focus on. When i get off the stage come track me down and ill show you what image that is. It really helped you understand when he landed nobody saw him and he crested and everybody saw him. Any other questions . Lincoln or otherwise. I hope you enjoyed it. Its always fun for me to show this stuff off and thank you for coming. Enjoy the rest of it. At 8 00 the battle of sailors creek. Its all wednesday night starting at 8 00 eastern here on cspan 3. This sunday on q and a, Senior Editor<\/a> for the Weekly Standard<\/a> Andrew Ferguson<\/a> on his writing career, the gop president ial candidates for 2016 and what voters are looking for in a candidate. They want somebody who looks like hes stood up for them. Im amazed now to the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment and the sense of being put upon and those people really dont understand us. Here is a guy, hes going to stick it to them. Hillary clinton will give her own version of that kind of thing. I dont think that was actually true 30 years ago. The resentiment has always been part of politics but the degree to which its almost exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q and a. American history tv recently visited Longwood University<\/a> in farmville, virginia for a seminar on the closing of the civil war in 1865. As well as the closing activities in the transmississippi area. This is about an hour. I want to go ahead and introduce our speaker. Our first speaker for the morning. Robert dunkerly. Hes worked at nine different historic sites. Most recently at Richmond National<\/a> Battlefield Park<\/a> and he has written two books that arent specifically listed. Im sure hell be talking a lot about them today. One of them in the for sale bookstores. The final surrenders in North Carolina<\/a> elsewhere and the other one is the confederate surrender at greensburg. The final days of the army of tennessee. His talk to will been on the forgotten surrender and indian territory. Since i did my dissertation on florida, i hope hell mention florida a few times. Burt dunkerly. [ applause ] thank you. Good morning. I want to thank the organizers for having me. I really appreciate the invitation. Its great to be here with so many people interested in this topic. What id like to do is talk about all the surrenders. I do want to compare the surrenders and talk about how different they are because each of them unfolded in its own way and each of these surrenders happens independently and they each have a fascinating story and talk about how this whole ending of the war is going to set the stage for reconstruction. All right. Were not going to spend a lot of time on appamatix. The couple of points i do want to make is the campaign for all participants is going to be pretty grueling. As the armies move from richmond and petersburg to the west theyre going to be marching and fighting every day. Think about the state of the roads and the armies especially the confederate armies which for the last several months has been pretty static in the trenches around petersburg and richmond. All of a sudden the army has to be mobile and youve got to move horses and wagons artillery pieces and the soldiers themselves pulling them out of earth works, getting them on the road. Just that in and of itself is a challenge and in keeping the army moving, keeping it together. As you all know things will unravel along the way. What confederate soldier wrote day and night blended together. It was just constant action. There will be skirmishing in the few actual battles every day of the campaign. Another confederate soldier wrote that night and day blended together. It was constant marching. If we werent marching, we were fighting. If we werent fighting, we were marching. Even union accounts of the Campaign Talk<\/a> about the hard marches and the long days on very bad roads. On the map here behind me, its a busy map, you can see the movement of the armies that cover a lot of ground. Its going to be several battles along the way. By the time the armies actually get to appomattox theyve got a good bit of fighting. Theyve been in constant contact. When they arrive theres even going to be a final battle on the day of the surrender. No one knew there was going to be a surrender that day on the morning of april 9th. Here we are at sailors creek. Largest battle of the campaign 8,000 confederate soldiers captured this one day. Eight generals. Its a disaster for the army of Northern Virginia<\/a>. As the army of nevada drifts into appomattox courthouse, Union Cavalry<\/a> has gotten in front of the Confederate Army<\/a> blocking the road they intend to use. I need to point out the goal all along for robert e. Lee is to get the army of Northern Virginia<\/a> down into North Carolina<\/a>. That was hit objective upon leaving richmond and petersburg and that never changed. Lee cant make that turn to the south because union forces keep blocking the way. The union armies are pursuing lee behind him but they have also gotten around in front of him by the time they get to appomattox courthouse. This map shows the final battle which takes place on the morning of april 9th. Confederates initially pushed the Union Troopers<\/a> back but as republican reenforcements arrive they realize they cannot breakthrough and the army surrounded on three sides with the river on the other side. Lee and grant will meet that very afternoon of april 9th. One of the things that makes the appomattox surrender unique is we have this active campaign and right up to the last minute there was fighting. We dont know who the last casualty was. Theres probably no way to know because fighting spread out all around the village. One of the possible candidates is 18yearold William Montgomery<\/a> montgomery, a soldier if pittsburgh, pennsylvania. Thats his photograph there. As the flags go out around 10 30 and fighting dies down, both sides are going to have a chance the pause and catch their breath. Mentally for the confederates this is the first time theyve had to process things because think about a grueling week. I think weve all been in situations where you push yourself, you have several long days and you start to lose track of things. You start to make bad decisions. Youre fatigued mentally and physically. Thats the state these soldiers are in. When word comes out theres been a flag of troops and general lee is going to meet with general grant, its a shock. It really shakes them to their foundation. Its really hard to accept. Been fighting constantly and all of a sudden their war is going to be over very quickly. The surrender meeting takes place in the mcclain house, private home which was chosen for the occasion with about a dozen witnesses in a room, and, of course, when you have a dozen or so witnesses youre going to get a dozen or so different stories. One of the frustrating things is that a lot of accounts dont agree. They agree on a lot of the general details but not necessarily the order of things and some accounts mention one thing. Other accounts dont. In general we do understand the flow of the conversation and what the generals talked about. The terms that grant is going to offer to general lee were really inspired by president lincoln who wanted to end the war easily and quickly and in his words let the southerners go home. The confederate soldiers will be allowed to return to their homes. They have to turn over their military equipment. That means surrender their rifles, ammunition any military property like cannons wagons. Government property or military property has to be turned over. Then they will be free to go. Those terms are accepted and for most people thats what they think of when they think of appomattox. Thats really just the beginning because now this whole thing has to be put into motion and the surrender will take place over the next couple of days. Here we have the mcclain house, original photograph on the right. The house was torn down later on. Talk about that and today the house that you see in the park is a reconstruction on the original location. One of the things thats going to happen is the confederate soldiers will be issued parole passes. These are very important because when lee surrenders most of you probably know this, the war isnt over. Its just lee surrendering the army of Northern Virginia<\/a>. As the confederate soldiers go home theyre going to be entering other war zones, places where theres still active fighting. They need some sort of proof that they have surrendered and they have permission to go home. They need that to protect themts themselves from any union troops and any souldldiers that might pick them up. This is the pattern they used. Its called a check pattern. I think you can see why. The parole passes are important for a few other things too. General grant indicated that these passes can be used for transportation on Union Military<\/a> railroads and on union navy ships. For a lot of the men who live near working railroads or who can get home by ship, the Union Military<\/a> will transport them and so, for example, a lot of men who lived in the deep south went to norfolk, got on ship, went around the gulf coast and got home that way. The parole passes will be very important for those reasons. They also allowed the soldiers to get food. They can stop at any union supply base and draw rations. They provide protection, rations and transportation if theres transportation where youre going to help them get home. Like i said over the next three days the surrender will be put into motion. The first branch thats going to surrender is the cavalry on april 10th. If youre wondering why the cavalry goes first think about how much food a horse eats every day. Think about the state of the these confederate horses and think about appomattox is a small county and doesnt have a lot of resources. These horses are in bad shape and need to get out of there. The next day april 11th the confederate artillery will surrender their guns. Thats a process of turning over the artillery to Union Officer<\/a>s. They had a good bid of artillery with them. Probably the most famous part of the surrender of these three days would be the infantry which would surrender their weapons on april 12th. This is a sixhour process. Took most of the day for one division at a time of confederate infantry to march into the village and stack their rifles. Lined up along the side of the road is a division of Union Infantry<\/a> and this was carried out with great deal of formality and ceremony. The Union Officer<\/a> of the day was general joshua chamberlain. The confederate officer of the day is general john gor dan. Chamberlain order them to salute the men as as they came in by commanding them to shoulder arms. Gordon will have the confederate return the salute shoulder arms as they march into the village. A South Carolina<\/a> unit recognized some troops from maine in front of them. At the end of the day the Union Soldiers<\/a> will have stacks of rifles. Some units back in their camps hid their flags, tucked them you should their coats. Some money cut the flags up and divided them as souvenirs. Some units burned their flags. The third arkansas did something unique. Their flag was on a captured union flag staff. When they turned over their flag they left a note on it that said dear mr. Yankee please return this flag staff to the 9th. It was captured in 1864. It was signed big rebel. For the most part this was done with respect on both sides and after the confederates returned to their camp they were issued parole passes and free to start the journey home. The journey home is fascinating topic onto itself. The total for appomattox. The latest total that we have is 28,231 28,231. As youre going to see that is the smallest of the major surrenders. What makes appomattox unique as we talk about the others is both armies are in contact. We had this horrible ceremonies. We had a series of formal surrenders that take place over a couple of days. The two commanders meet facetoface. They have one meeting to get everything settled right there. Everything else is going to be entirely different as youre going to see. After the war, the mcclain house was dismantled in an attempt to move it and put it on display as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, the house was not moved. Funds ran out and its exposed to the weather and souvenir hunters so the mcclain house really disent grated in this condition. Grated in this condition. The original house is gone. While this is unfolding and some of these events overlap, president davis and his party are retreating south. Theyve gone to danville to try to set up temporary capital. They keep moving south though. They learn about lee surrender when in greensboro, North Carolina<\/a>. They will keep moving southwest. Basically following interstate 85. If you know that route down from charlotte, down into upper South Carolina<\/a>. Along the way various members of the confederate cabinet break off. We have just total breakdown. The cavalry escort a lot of that gets dismissed when they get into georgia and South Carolina<\/a>. Davis will finally end up just being by himself in a very small escort rejoins his family in georgia georgia. Hes captured on may 10th. Thats whats going on thats sort of the background amid these other events. I know you heard yesterday if you were here about the surrender in North Carolina<\/a>. Thats going to be the next one that happens. Just to cover that very briefly the Confederate Army<\/a> in North Carolina<\/a> is the army of tennessee which fought most of its career in the west. The large mantles of shiloh stones river and so on. The army of tennessee is transferred to North Carolina<\/a> to defend the state from general cher shermans invasion. They fight some small battles, well not small. Its after that in late march into early april that the army of tennessee is being reorganized. The Army Commander<\/a> general johnston will get news richmond has fallen and that lee wants to meet him and unit their forces somewhere near the virginiaNorth Carolina<\/a> border. The west and end up around greensboro which was a Railroad Depot<\/a> and supply base. The army is going to spread out like you see on the map here various camps around greensboro. H is going to be a very different experience than the men of the army of Northern Virginia<\/a>. In this case the union army is not in contact with them. Theyre pursuing but not very aggressive aggressively. Its that point that sherman and johnston begin to negotiate and exchange communication. They will finally meet facetoface at the bennett farm which is in durham. Thats johnston, left. Sherman on the right and in the middle the confederate secretary of war john brecken jjridge. They realize its over. The confederacy cannot maintain armies in field. They cant produce anything. They cant transport anything. Armies have penetrated every corner of the confederacy just about. Theyre looking at the big picture and want to try to end this. Again with lincolns vision as quickly and easily as possible. They negotiate a surrender which goes a little bit above what sherman has the short to do. It touches on political matters. For example, it allowed the state governments in the Southern States<\/a> to keep functions as they were with their current governors and legislatures. Confederate governments in tact. It went into those kind of things. By the time that sherman and johnston met something very important had happened this washington. Lincolns assassination. The Northern Congress<\/a> is in no mood to negotiate. Those terms are rejected. In the meantime news has filtered down that were going to be surrender. Were going to get to go home like lee soldiers did. Thats a relief because lee soldiers have been passing through North Carolina<\/a> on their way home. Theyve been passing through the camps of the army of tennessee with their parole passes. Then these soldiers are going to get the news, no, not yet. Fighting is still on. They actually get orders to start to march and possibly engage the enemy. Its at that point that we have a lot of desertion break down in command. Some whole units refuse to obey orders of their officers. Several confederate officers wrote they never saw anything like it. Sherman and johnston will meet again at the bennett farm. Sherman is instructed to offer the identical terms that grant gave lee at appomattox. The con fedsfederates will have to turn over their military equipment. They will get parole passes and they will be free to go. That news will filter down to the common soldiers at camps. Unlike the men and women who with harassed for weeks time, fighting a final battle up to the last minute, the men of the tennessee had a very different more frustrating experience because all this uncertainty waiting, long periods of time this they get conflicting information. The war is off then its on and off again. What we have over several days in midapril is mass desertion. Several thousands of men will desert the army of tennessee. Theyre taking their weapons with them. Were going to have armied men roaming the country side of North Carolina<\/a>. Its very chaotic and dangerous. Heres the interior of the bennett farm. The house is also a reconstruction. The original house burned down in the 20th century. Accidental fire. Its a reconstruction on the original foundation. There is not much in greensboro but there is this nice marker right downtown that talks about the army of tennessee surrender surrendering there. The camps were spread all around the city. Some of them have been built over by the city as its grown. It summarizes the career. There was also a lot of chaos in downtown greensboro itself. Warehouses were looted and stores broken into. Soldier, drifters people who have been displaced, refugees. Right in downtown greensboro some of the last shots fired by confederate soldiers will be other confederate soldiers who were brought in to maintain law and order. The greensboro surrender is very chaotic. Certainly doesnt have that spirit of unification that we think of with appomattox. Now, general johnston commanded not just the army of tennessee but he commanded the department of the geographic region that included carolina and florida. He is surrendering 89,000 troops. Its the largest surrender of the civil war. Some of the key differences is not there. Theyre not in physical contact with each other. The confederates are left to do this on their own, selfpolicing and the men are instructed to stack their weapons in camp. Their issued parole passes and then they are free to go. The parole passes will work the same for them as far as transportation and rations. Its a very different experience. Some units will march home with weapons and flags flying in violation of the terms. In fact, johnston had gotten word from president davis who by this time is down near charlotte that he wanted johnston to not surrender to sherman and pull the army back and keep it in the field. Johnston had a line of retreat. He could have moved away where as lee was surrounded. Thats a key difference. Johnston chose the disobey the orders of his commander and chief and negotiate a surrender. And, of course, unlike appomattox theres no normal ceremony with troops marching in in front of waiting troops. In fact, eventually one regimen is sent in to oversee some of the equipment being turned in. Just one, one regiment in the midst of these confederates. One of those officers said it was a very uneasy feeling being surrounded by 40,000 confederates, many of whom are getting drunk and disorderly at night. The next surrender that i want to move to is alabama. On the left here is general Richard Taylor<\/a> who commands the department of alabama, mississippi and east louisiana. It embraces everything from the mississippi to the Georgia State<\/a> line. Taylor had gotten heard rumors about whats happening in virginia and North Carolina<\/a> and will finally get confirmation about the other surrenders. The Union Commander<\/a> of this department and Union Department<\/a> of mississippi is general edward candy on the right there. Camby will be the only Union General<\/a> who oversees two surrenders. Hes in charge of what happens here and what happens to the transmississippi. I want to point out few things on my map. Down here is mobile. Union army is going to assault the forks protecting mobile on april 9th. While things are happening in appom h appomattox, we have some things happening around mobile. Confederates pull that up to meridian, mississippi. In these towns up here in mississippi and alabama, the army will concentrate. They will capture mobile and start to move into the interior of alabama towards capital montgomery. In late april, having gotten word of whats happened to east, taylor and camby will start to communicate and they will agree to meet between their two armies. The meeting will happen at the big e farm. Just like at appomattox in a private home. It was near the railroad tracks. Thats why they chose it. Theyre going to get there in two different ways. General camby will come up with a 2,000man cavalry escort. He wants to make a very formal occasion. Taylor is going to come down the Railroad Line<\/a> with one aid on a railroad hand car being pushed by two slaves. They will meet at the house and very quickly agree to terms. This is the mcgee house. This is the only original surrender location anywhere. Its the only one that survived. Its the original house in the original location with the original furniture inside. Those are the chairs and the table. Its a private home. It was open as a museum but didnt have enough visitation to keep open. I got to meet the owner and he took me inside. The problem that we have though is just like we sherman and johnston, once news of lincolns a assassination gets out, everything has to stop. The ceasefire will expire. Taylor and camby will have to meet again. Back to my map. The second meeting will take place just a little to the north in the town of citonelle which is also on the Railroad Line<\/a>. This time they get there the opposite way. Taylor comes down on train. Camby leaves mobile on train but the tracks are broken up and they cant get any further. The confederate train will have to go down and pick them up. The union contention will arrive on a confederate train. This second meeting will take place at the surrender oak. Large oak tree with huge spreading branches. Its the only surrender meeting that takes place outside. This is what it looks like today. The oak tree was lost in a 1906 hurricane. For years it was a local landmark and its still source of pride for the town. Its a little roadside stop with this historic marker. In this department, taylor has about 42,000 men and at this second meeting which takes place on may 4th taylor will agree to the same terms as at appomattox. The men are paroled and able to go home, turn over their military weapons and equipment. Just like with the North Carolina<\/a> situation the confederate troops are camped up here. Union army is down here in mobile and is moving into montgomery. Theres no Union Soldiers<\/a> in sight when these men laid down their weapons in camp and began the journey home. To the north in upper mississippi, general nathan lee forest had his cavalry command part of this department and forest will disband his cavalry. Again, theres no union troops in the vicinity but being under general taylor hes instructed to have his men turn their equipment in and get ready to go home. Theres a nice monument here that marks where general forest was camped. Thats may 4th. Lets move a little more to the west, to the transmississippi. The largest Geographic Department<\/a> in the confedaeracy embraces there entire area, arkansas, texas, missouri and the indian territory which today is oklahoma. The commander of this department is general kirby smith. Thats not his picture up there. See him later. This is going to be one of the more chaotic events that unfolds. By 1865 the bulk of the Confederate Army<\/a> of the transmississippi is camped around shreveport louisiana. Union forces are down here in port hudson, bayton rouge and new orleans. Were going to have a situation where the two armies are not in contact and the confederates will do what they want to do without union troops in the vicinity to oversee things. General kirby smith does not want to surrender even though hes getting news about these other events that are going on. The situation is deteriorating rapidly because his men are starting to desert and become disorderly. The confederate troops are from four primary states; texas arkansas, louisiana and missouri. Its the louisiana troop who is are the ones just deserting in droves, large numbers every night because thats where they are and they can get home easily. It seems that the missouri troops are the most loyal or most reliable. On may 21st were going to have large riot break out. Troops will break into warehouses and civilians will join in in plundering looting, a large amount of drinkenunkenness, very disorderly. What he wants to do is move his army further to the west where he can reorganize it and keep it out of use of union forces. Smith wants to move his headquarters to marshall texas. It was an important supply line. It was the capital of the government in exile of arkansas and missouri which are both largely overrun by union forces. Also in marshall you had the governors of texas and louisiana. All these governors are gathered there. The governors are actually going to have a meeting and theyre going to give instructions to smith to make as good of terms as he can and they want the terms to say that there will be no revenge or reprisals for anybody involved in the confederate government. They want the soldiers to be able to go home and they want the government officials to be free of any kind of reprisal. They just want to end the fighting like that. Sort of have everything that they want. Smith never really gets to consider that because as hes in the process of moving from shreveport to marshall things continue to get worse for the army in shreveport. His subordinate has been left in command of the army while hes temporarily away. They realize that theyve got to do something. Buckner will move down to hudson to new orleans where he will meet with general cambys representative on the right. On may 26th buckner and osterhouse will negotiate the surrender the transmississippi. The meeting took place in the Saint Charles<\/a> hotel which you see on the left here in new orleans. It was a city landmark. Its gone today. Its parking lot. Theres not even a historic marker at the location. With we know very little about the meeting. We dont know what they talked about. We dont know the details of the conversation. It just wasnt recorded. They do agree that the Confederate Forces<\/a> will surrender. Same terms as appomattox which means turning over hill tear equipment, getting parole passes an and getting everybody home. Because this was done without the to commanding generals theres going to have to be another meeting. Before i get to that just one interesting fact, general buckner, you might recall, surrendered earlier in the war at fort donaldson in tennessee. He has the honor of surrender confederate armies twice during the same war. Well while that happens in new orleans, general smith arrives in marshall, texas and he learns what has happened. Hes not happy. I just want to briefly read his address to his soldiers. This is general smiths address to his troops. Soldiers, i have left a commander without an army, a general without troops. Youve made your choice. It was unwise and unpatriotic but its final. I pray you may not live to regret it. You have voluntarily destroyed your own organization and thrown away all means of resistance. Not much he can do because by this point as news filters back to the main camp around shreveport, a lot of them dont wait for parole pass. They just start going home. The final or second meeting of the transmississippi surrender is now going to take place in galveston texas. Down here on board a ship. The uss jackson. Thats going be on june 2nd. Now were into early june. Thats where general smith will sign the final paper work officially surrendering the department of transmississippi. I want to talk about this for a minute. On the left is general Jeff Thompson<\/a> who commanded the troops in central arkansas. By 1865, these men have been largely cut off from support. Theyre part of the transmississippi department but they are very isolated. They cant get to the main army even if they wanted to. Union forces are going to start to move into upper arkansas and reach out to general thompson. At a place called chalk bluff which is River Crossing<\/a> there it is, on the arkansasmissouri border, thompson demands to know the exact terms that lee got at appomattox and he wants assurances that his men will get the same terms. He also wants assurances that union forces will not plunder the country side and harass civilians. Once hes reassured of these things hes agreed to surrender. This takes place on may 11th. On the map theres chalk bluff upper corner of arkansas. The confederate troops are concentrated in this area northeast and its in jackson port, right there that about 5,000 confederate troops and theyre all arkansas troops are going to stack their weapons and start to receive parole passes and rations. Some Union Officer<\/a>s will move in and theyll meet with general thompson there. This is going to be about 7,000 total. The final events in jackson port take place on may 25th. Again, thompson is not happy with the way things have unfolded. A lot of his troops had been deserting, not surprisingly and great deal of desertion and lack of discipline among his men. Thompson will stand on board a steam ship as his troops are on the shore in jackson port. This is his address to them. Again, think about order number nine if youre familiar with that. Many of the 8,000 men i now see around me very many you have have been skulking the last three years in the swamps. Those of you who had arms with very few exceptions have left them at home. He goes onto berate them. He does tell them to be good citizens. I warn those of you who have been nothing but sneakingly cowardly, cut throat and thieves that a just retribution awaits you and i hope to god the federal authorities will hang you when ever and where ever they find you, and theyll do it sure. So, thats general thompsons farewell speech. Again, its similar to the other sur surrenders in that the confederates are isolated. They are able to carry out the terms on their own. Its a very chaotic situation in arkansas. The last thing i want to talk about is indian territory of oklahoma. One thing really needs to be made clear the indiana nations do not surrender. They renegotiate because the indian nations saw themselves as independent nations who had renounced their treaties with the United States<\/a> government and allied themselves with the confederate government. The word indian territory is very complex. We could do a whole session just on that. There was a lot of division among the different tribes that wasnt unanimous. Some tribes were very split. Most of them will side with the confederacy. By 1865 a large part of the indian territory has been occupied by union forces and Union Indians<\/a> loyal to the northern cause. Eventually, as news comes out that the transmississippi department has been surrendered which does include this area, the different indian leaders will start to discuss among themselves internally within their tribes and amongst the other leaders of tribes and they will one by one approach Union Officer<\/a>s about ceasefires and ending the fighting. The first to do this is on june 19th is choctaw will announce their aa allegiance. Down here in lower corner of the indian territory is doksville. Near by is fort townsend. It was a trading post. It has been occupied all through the war. We dont know any details. We dont know what they talked about. It wasnt recorded and theres nothing left of it today. The last one is going to be on july 14th. The chicasaw will renegotiate terms of peace with the United States<\/a>. The different indian groups will meet with United States<\/a> representatives at fort smith, arkansas which is and again from the indian point of view, they renounced the confederate treaties and renegotiated treaties from the United States<\/a>. The reason why we focus on that is he was a confederate general. He was the only native american to be general. He is also chief of the cherokee and he is one of many renegotiations and not even the last one. The fight has been brutal and very bitter. Asa matthews is a colonel who sees these indian leaders and doksville, oklahoma is gone. Today its a state historic site, an archaeological site. There a couple of markers. Thats june and july that this is happening. There isolated incidents across the south and i will point out a few. One of the most famous units is the orphan brigade and kentucky troops. They are put off and they will march into augusta, georgia in may and spender to union troops in tennessee. And all across the south, you will have small isolated commands learning about the larger events and finding their way to the nearest union forces to surrender. Near weldon, an isolated artillery unit wandered around for a couple of weeks in late april and early may. One soldier wrote they were avoiding the soldier of an october pus. Finally they realized they had nowhere to go and nothing else to do and they will make their way to surrender. As the kummer unfolds and they will occupy the south and all the fighting dies down whatku soldiers, former military leaders, civilians, slaves, and union Occupying Forces<\/a> all facing very uncertain futures. So many unanswered questions, so much lingering tension and bitterness. And that is a session for another time but think about the chaotic state of things and as things end. What happens at appomattox sets the tone for other surrenders but a lot of the details unfold the other but look at all the twists and turns. Every other surrender had to have two negotiation some in lly fa two places. Lots of scenarios played out. Really fascinating, but it indicates this movement from wartime to peace is going to be challenging. Thank you very much. Do we have time for questions . One or two quiet if you havent done here the last ur nam couple oe f days, come down to the microphone in the aisle, state your name and your question. You cut me off. My name is Darrell Lange<\/a> and along the rio grand the unoffic surrender was unofficial a gentlemens agreement between kirby the north general and i think smith. Im getting down to the battle. On the night of the 12th and o 13th of may Union Colonel<\/a> or nel general branson was up against southern colonel i cant ic remember his name. Anyway, the latter gentlemen had que six cannons. That brings to bear my question that was a french goern region and forces involved in the battle. Derales thats what the French Foreign<\/a> ed. Legion had under the federales that were in mexico that were","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800206.us.archive.org\/29\/items\/CSPAN3_20150408_063700_Forgotten_Surrenders_of_the_Civil_War\/CSPAN3_20150408_063700_Forgotten_Surrenders_of_the_Civil_War.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20150408_063700_Forgotten_Surrenders_of_the_Civil_War_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}