Stacking Arms: Sherman Botches the Bennett Farm Surrender

The late April 1865 surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate forces to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman at the Bennett Farm is far less known than the earlier surrender at Appomattox Court House. Yet at the time, Sherman’s conduct while compelling the surrender of far more troops than Ulysses S. Grant took from Robert E. Lee was hugely controversial. Grant was hailed as a hero. Sherman was branded a traitor who might have been bribed with Confederate gold. Grant returned to Washington in triumph. Sherman was hauled before a Congressional hearing. Whether from naivete or arrogance, Sherman botched what should have been his own triumphal moment. How did this happen?

Sherman As Great Peacemaker

On April 17, Sherman met with Johnston at the James Bennett farmhouse, west of Durham, North Carolina.[1] Sherman’s goal was the surrender of Johnston’s Army of Tennessee. Sherman offered the same generous terms that Grant had provided Lee. Johnston, however, had grander plans.[2] He dangled before Sherman an offer to give up all Southern armies. To establish his authority for such a deal, the next day Johnston reappeared with Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckenridge. The discussion strayed from the purely military matter of surrender into politics. Johnston wanted an amnesty, and “some assurance of [soldiers’] political rights after their surrender.”[3]

Only days before, upon receiving Johnston’s initial meeting request, Sherman had assured both Grant and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that he would “grant the same terms Gen. Grant gave Gen. Lee, and be careful not to complicate any points of civil policy.”[4] Yet now, presented with the opportunity to be the man who ended the Civil War, Sherman embraced the role. In a decision that soon came to haunt him, and without consulting Washington, Sherman drew up his own peace terms.[5] The Confederates—including Jefferson Davis—promptly accepted.[6]

Of course they did. Sherman gave Johnston everything he had wanted, and more.  Further, the terms not only went far beyond what even the magnanimous Abraham Lincoln ever had offered the South, but risked unraveling the fruits of victory.

Sherman’s remarkable April 18 agreement with Johnston read as follows:

“Memorandum or basis of agreement made this 18th day of April, A.D. 1865, near Durham’s Station, in the State of North Carolina, by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army, and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, commanding the army of the United States in North Carolina, both present.”

“First. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo until notice is given by the commanding general of any one to its opponent, and reasonable time, say forty-eight hours, allowed.”

“Second. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and conducted to their several state capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal, and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease acts of war and to abide the action of both State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordinance at Washington City, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and in the meantime to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States, respectively.”

“Third. The recognition by the Executive of the United States of the several state governments on their officers and legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, and where conflicting State governments have resulted from the war the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.”

“Fourth. The re-establishment of all Federal courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution and laws of Congress.”

“Fifth. The people and inhabitants of all States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.”

“Sixth. The Executive authority of the Government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war so long as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence.”

“Seventh. In general terms, the war to cease, a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and men hitherto composing said armies.”

“Not being fully empowered by our respective principles to fulfill these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority and to carry out the above program.”[7]

Where to begin in condemning Sherman’s “peace treaty”?

Most egregiously, his agreement preserved slavery. Sherman’s paper expressly guaranteed Southerners “their rights of …  property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.” As of April 18, 1865, both the Constitution and Southern state laws protected slavery. Nor did Sherman mention Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, let alone demand that the Confederate States accept it.[8]

Sherman’s agreement recognized all rebellious state governments as politically legitimate and ready to assume their prior place in the Union. This would make unlikely the passage of the newly enacted Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, since the Constitution requires ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Sherman also put into serious question the continued existence of Union governments in several states where rival Confederate state governments existed.[9]  Sherman even put in doubt the very existence of the new state of West Virginia.[10]

No protection was afforded for loyal Unionists in Confederate states.

Sherman made theoretically possible the payment of the Confederate war debt.[11]

Southern land that had been seized during the war for settlement by the former enslaved would be returned to its owners.

Finally, Sherman granted complete and total amnesty.

No one would be held to account for the bloodiest and most devastating conflict in American history. There would be no reconstruction period, no provision for the rights of the freedmen. The seceded states and their rebel leaders would immediately resume their place, and power, in national affairs. The enslaved would go back into the fields. Such was Sherman’s peace.

The Reaction

Northern reaction was swift and overwhelmingly hostile. First, President Andrew Johnson and his cabinet immediately rejected Sherman’s agreement. Their outrage was such that Grant was ordered to North Carolina to supersede Sherman and personally oversee the resumption of hostilities.[12]

Stanton next set out to smear Sherman. Using documents provided by Stanton, the New York Times condemned Sherman’s “ignoble instrument,” observing “one is at a loss to know which side agreed to surrender.” The Times charged that Sherman had deliberately disobeyed an order (unknown to Sherman) that Lincoln had issued to Grant back on March 3 that Grant was not to touch political issues in any discussions with Confederates. The paper also implied that Sherman had been bribed by Confederate gold to help Davis escape.[13]

Further conveying the message that Sherman could not be trusted, Stanton had Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck issue orders to multiple field commanders “to pay no regard to any truce or orders of General Sherman…” but to push forward as rapidly as possible to “cut off Johnston’s retreat.” Davis’s gold was again prominently mentioned.[14]

The mistrust of Sherman was so fevered that one Cabinet member expressed concern that Sherman would “arrest Grant when Grant arrived at Raleigh,” place himself at the head of the army, and take over the government.[15]

Second and Final Peace Terms

Grant arrived at Sherman’s headquarters on April 24. Grant ordered Sherman to inform Johnston that his army would surrender on the same terms as granted Lee.[16] Johnston promptly did so. Johnston surrendered almost 90,000 Confederate soldiers.[17] To put that number in perspective, 26,018 of Lee’s men were paroled at Appomattox.[18]

Then Sherman received a package of Northern newspapers and learned of the reaction to his conduct. Sherman became apoplectic. He fumed that Stanton and his newspaper allies “assumed that I was a common traitor and a public enemy.”[19]

Sherman’s Revenge?

Sherman took what revenge that he could on his tormentors. While marching his troops back to Washington through Richmond, he warned Halleck (recently transferred there) to stay out of sight, or Sherman’s troops might take action against him.[20] Sherman publicly refused to shake Stanton’s hand on the reviewing stand for the Grand Review.[21] Called to testify on May 22 by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Sherman vented his spleen, suggesting that Halleck could have been executed under military law for refusing to honor his truce with Johnston, while giving a series of contradictory, and in some instances, nonsensical excuses for the initial terms he had offered Johnston.[22]

Of course, the furor died down. Sherman today is known as one of the key architects of Union victory. Yet for a period, Sherman’s ill-advised foray into peacemaking darkened his reputation. Johnston’s forces ultimately stacked their arms, but Sherman generated far too much drama in getting them to do so.

Part of a series.

[1] William T. Sherman, The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII (D. Appleton & Co., New York, NY, 1876), pp. 348-349.

[2] John G. Barrett, Sherman’s March Through the Carolinas (The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC, 1956), p. 233; Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War (DaCapo Paperback Edition, New York, NY, 1990), p. 402.

[3] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 352 (emphasis supplied).

[4] See Sherman’s May 22, 1865 testimony before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, from June 1, 1865 New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/1865/06/01/archives/gen-sherman-his-testimony-before-the-committee-on-the-conduct-of.html, p. 2 (April 15, 1865 telegram to Grant and Stanton).

[5] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 353.

[6] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 353; Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Thomas Yoseloff, New York & London, England, 1958), Vol. II, pp. 685-686, 688-689.

[7] Eric J. Wittenberg, We Ride A Whirlwind: Sherman and Johnston At Bennett Place (Fox Run Publishing, Burlington, NC, 2017), pp. 78-80, quoting text as published in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Ser. I, Pt. III, XLVII, pp. 243-244 (Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880-1901), https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924079575324&view=1up&seq=252.

[8] Even Sherman’s own brother, Senator John Sherman, rebuked him for not insisting upon recognition of the Proclamation, adding that Sherman’s “stipulation to secure to the rebels their property was construed to mean slaves…” John Sherman to W.T. Sherman, May 2 and May 16, 1865, found in, Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman From 1837 to 1891 (Sampson, Low, Marston & Company, Limited, London, 1894), pp. 248-249, 251, http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/louisiana_anthology/00_finishing_folder/102-018–02–sherman–letters/shermletterscorr00sheriala.pdf.

[9] Barrett, p. 242 & n. 83.

[10] A history of the Reorganized (or “Restored”) Government and its consent to the creation of West Virginia is provided in Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 39 (1871), Richard Nelson Current, Lincoln’s Loyalists: Union Soldiers from the Confederacy (Northeastern University Press, Boston, MA, 1992), pp. 14-15, 20 and Sara B. Bearss, “Restored and Vindicated: The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1864,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 122, No. 2 (Virginia Historical Society Richmond, VA 2014), pp. 156-181.

[11] In his Sherman’s March Through the Carolinas, p. 242 & n. 81, John G. Barrett noted that Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan (still with Davis) saw this opening, telling Davis that he could “endeavor to secure provisions for the auditing of the debt of the Confederacy, and for its payment in common with the war debt of the United States.”

[12] Wittenberg, pp. 89, 99-103; Gideon Welles, Edgar T. Welles, Editor, The Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson (Houghton Mifflin Company Boston & New York, 1911), Vol. 2, pp. 294-295.

[13] “Sherman’s Army. Gen. Sherman Negotiating with Gen. Johnston. His Action Repudiated by the President and the Cabinet. Hostilities to Commence at Once.  President Lincoln’s Instructions to be Carried Out. Lieut. Gen. Grant Hastens to the Scene of Action. Sherman’s Order Suspending Hostilities. Great Dissatisfaction Created by it in the Army,” NewYork Times, p. 5, April 24, 1865,  https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/24/archives/shermans-army-gen-sherman-negotiating-with-gen-johnston-his-action.html; “Gen. Sherman’s Extraordinary Negotiation for Peace,” New York Times, p. 4, April 24, 1865, https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/24/archives/gen-shermans-extraordinary-negotiation-for-peace.html.

In his Memoirs Sherman commented that it “would have saved a world of trouble” had he been sent a copy of Lincoln’s order at the time it was issued. Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, pp. 358-359.

[14] “Sherman’s Armistice. Generals Thomas and Canby Ordered to Disobey Sherman’s Orders. The Rebels to be Pushed in Every Direction. The Plunder of Jeff. Davis and Cabinet Moving South from Greensboro. The Quantity of Specie Estimated from Six to Thirteen Millions,” New York Herald, April 28, 1865, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030313/1865-04-28/ed-1/?q=april+28,+1865&sp=5&r=-0.014,0.293,0.531,0.314,0; Wittenberg, p. 108; Stephen E. Ambrose, Halleck: Lincoln’s Chief of Staff (Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA, 1996), p. 200.

[15] Welles, Vol. 2, pp. 295-297 (recounting conversations with Attorney General James Speed).

[16] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, pp. 357-358; Ulysses S. Grant, Eds. John F. Marszalek, David S. Nolen and Louie P. Gallo, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2017), p. 740.

[17] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 370; Wittenberg, p. 126. The total paroled at Greensboro was 36,817. General James H. Wilson accepted the surrender of 52,543 more in Georgia and Florida. Thus, Johnston’s action resulted in the surrender of 89,270 men.  Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 370.

[18] Clifford Downey & Louis H. Manarin, Editors, The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee (DaCapo, New York, NY, 1961), Doc. No. 1006, pp. 939 (Lee to Davis, April 20, 1865).  This number included thousands of stragglers who came in to be paroled after the surrender. Id. at 938-939.

[19] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, p. 371. Grant referred to Halleck’s action as “the last outrage” inflicted upon Sherman, who he said “very justly felt indignant.” Grant, p. 748.

[20] Ambrose, pp. 199-202.

[21] Sherman, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII, pp. 376-377.  One newspaper reported the snub as “deliberately and ostentatiously” made. Wittenberg, pp. 157-158, citing Charlotte Western Democrat (itself quoting the May 29 New York Times), http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020712/1865-06-06/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1865&index=0&rows=20&words=Sherman+Stanton&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&proxdistance=5&date2=1865&proxtext=sherman+and+stanton&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1.

[22] For those interested in a deeper discussion of the subjects of this article, especially Sherman’s Congressional testimony, see Kevin C. Donovan, “A Better General Than Witness: Sherman’s Bennett Farm Surrender Testimony Before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War,” North & South, Series II, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Mar. 2024).