What was the most significant event on April 17 during the U.S. Civil War?

Lincoln, and that I was possessed of their views; that with them and the people North there seemed to be no vindictive feeling against the Confederate armies, but there was against Davis and his political adherents; and that the terms that General Grant had given to General Lee’s army were certainly most generous and liberal. All this he admitted, but always recurred to the idea of a universal surrender, embracing his own army, that of Dick Taylor in Louisiana and Texas, and of Maury, Forrest, and others, in Alabama and Georgia….” {[almostchosenpeople.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/april-17-1865-sherman-meets-with-johnston]}
1. Wednesday, April 17, 1861: Virginia Secession Convention approves the wording of a referendum of secession and calls for a popular vote to approve it.
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2. Wednesday, April 17, 1861: Missouri and Tennessee announce refusal to supply troops to the Federal government. Virginia's State Convention votes 88-55 in favor of secession--with a public referendum to be held May 23 to make it official. But Virginia immediately begins to act as a member of the Confederacy from this day.
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3. Thursday, April 17, 1862: On this date, Commander David Dixon Porter, Commodore Farragut’s foster-brother, has finally assembled his mortar flotilla around a bend downriver from Forts Jackson and St. Philip. At Farragut’s order, they open fire, lofting shells into the two forts at frequent intervals.
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4. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- In the city of New Orleans, Gen. Mansfield Lovell, commander of the garrison there, has sworn all white males in the city to an Oath of Allegiance to the Confederacy, in anticipation of an impending Yankee attack. The Confederates know that Flag Officer David G. Farragut has collected a large fleet on the lower river, just downstream from Forts Jackson and St. Philip, which were sited to prevent an enemy incursion upriver from the Gulf. Lovell’s forces had been depleted in recent months by having sent 5,000 men to the defense of Ft. Donelson (and who are now prisoners) and another few brigades to join Johnston’s and Beauregard’s army for the action at Shiloh. Lovell’s naval forces have also been diminished, and what is available is divided amongst three entities: The Confederate State Navy, the State of Louisiana Navy, and the Army. The ironclads CSS Mississippi and CSS Louisiana are nearing completion, however, and promise to be powerful vessels when finished.
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5. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- Pres. Lincoln’s bill for compensated emancipation of all slaves in the District of Columbia becomes law effective today.
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6. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- George Templeton Strong writes in his journal: Lincoln has signed the Emancipation Bill. Has any president, since this country came into being, done so weighty an act? The federal government is now clear of all connection with slaveholding. We are uneasy about McClellan. He is in a tight place, possibly in a trap, and the cabal against him in Washington may embarrass and weaken him. I am sorry to believe that McDowell is privy to it. He knows better, I am sure, but ambition tempts men fearfully.
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7. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- The Daily Journal, a newspaper in Wilmington, North Carolina, publishes this rather skeptical, dubious editorial in response to the Conscription Act just passed in Richmond: These extreme stretches of power can find their justification only in that kind of overruling necessity which permits a man to take a human life in self-defence. However sufficient the justification, the necessity must always be a painful one, and the decision upon its existence, involves a deep responsibility. So in this case. We must look upon the action of the law as merely temporary. like martial law. We must look upon its character as not otherwise reconcilable with our ideas of civil freedom. But as we must submit for a time to many things, from a sense of duty and conviction of their necessity, so we will submit to this, when equally convinced.—We cannot be so with our present knowledge. We cannot say, until we hear more, that the further knowledge will not convince us.
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8. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- John Beauchamp Jones, a senior clerk in the Confederate War Department in Richmond, comments frankly in his journal about the martial law in place in Richmond: To-day Congress passed an act providing for the termination of martial law within thirty days after the meeting of the next session. This was as far as they could venture; for, indeed, a majority seem to be intimidated at the glitter of bayonets in the streets, wielded by the authority of martial law. The press, too, has taken the alarm, and several of the publishers have confessed a fear of having their offices closed, if they dare to speak the sentiments struggling for utterance. It is, indeed, a reign of terror! Every Virginian, and other loyal citizens of the South—members of Congress and all—must now, before obtaining Gen. Winder’s [provost marshal] permission to leave the city for their homes, bow down before the aliens in the Provost Marshal’s office, and subscribe to an oath of allegiance, while a file of bayonets are pointed at his back!
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9. Thursday, April 17, 1862 --- Kate Cumming, a young volunteer nurse at the Confederate Army hospital at Corinth, Mississippi, writes in her journal: I was going round as usual this morning, washing the faces of the men, and had got half through with one before I found out that he was dead. He was lying on the gallery by himself, and had died with no one near him. These are terrible things, and, what is more heart-rending, no one seems to mind them. I thought that my patients were all doing well. Mr. Wasson felt better, and knew that he would soon go home. I asked the surgeon who was attending him about his condition, and was much shocked when I learned that neither he nor Mr. Regan would live to see another day. This was a sad trial to me. I had seen many die, but none of them whom I had attended so closely as these two. I felt toward them as I do toward all the soldiers—as if they were my brothers. I tried to control my feelings before Mr. W., as he was so hopeful of getting well, but it was a hard task. Ho looked at me once and asked me what was the matter; was he going to die? I asked him if he was afraid. He replied no; but he was so young that he would like to live a little longer, and would like to see his father and mother once more. I did what I could to prepare him for the great change which was soon to come over him, but I could not muster courage to tell him that he was going to die.
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10. Friday, April 17, 1863 --- Virginia: Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker is amassing 133,000 Federal troops in the Army of the Potomac against Gen. Robert E. Lee’s 55,000 Confederates, and as Springtime flourishes and develops, thus ensuring the imminent movement of armies and campaigns, both commanders eye each other warily.
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11. Friday, April 17, 1863 --- Gen. Stoneman’s cavalry raid, crucial to Hooker’s plan, has stalled. After getting part of his force over the Rappahannock, Stoneman withdrew them back across the river, after his troopers have been sparring with Fitzhugh Lee’s Rebels. Stuart’s rebel riders keep a close eye on all Yankee movements along the front. The Federal ruse that Stoneman is headed to the Shenandoah Valley fails to entice the Rebels, who are keeping their station and watching Stoneman’s stymied foray.
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12. Friday, April 17, 1863 --- Mississippi River: About 12 noon, Admiral Porter’s squadron arrives at New Carthage, Louisiana. Gen. McClernand, whose troops hold the area, find the burning hulk of the Henry Clay floating by, and three barges, two of which soldiers in small craft are able to recover. They are loaded with coal and camp equipment and rations. When Porter arrives, he cooperates with McClernand in sending the Tuscumbia to shell a Rebel position at Perkins’ Plantation, with McClernand’s troops pursuing by land.
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13. Friday, April 17, 1863 --- John Beauchamp Jones, a clerk in the Confederate War Department, records a journal entry on a variety of issues, gossip, and worries about the scarcity of food in Richmond: From the Northern papers we learn that the defeat at Charleston is called by the enemy a reconnoissance. This causes us much merriment here; McClellan’s defeat was called a “strategical movement,” and “change of base.”
We have some rumors to-day, to the effect that Gen. Hill is likely to take Washington and Newbern, N. C.; Gen. Longstreet, Suffolk; and Gen. Wise, Fort Magruder, and the Peninsula—he has not troops enough.
Gold advanced 7 per cent. in New York when the news of the “reconnoissance” reached that city.
We are planting almost every acre in grain, to the exclusion of cotton and tobacco—resolved never to be starved, nor even feel a scarcity of provisions in future. We shall be cutting wheat in another month in Alabama and other States. . .
The [CSA] President is in a very feeble and nervous condition, and is really threatened with the loss of sight altogether. But he works on; and few or no visitors are admitted. He remains at his dwelling, and has not been in the executive office these ten days. . . .
Pins are so scarce and costly, that it is now a pretty general practice to stoop down and pick up any found in the street. The boarding-houses are breaking up, and rooms, furnished and unfurnished, are rented out to messes. One dollar and fifty cents for beef, leaves no margin for profit, even at $100 per month, which is charged for board, and most of the boarders cannot afford to pay that price. Therefore, they take rooms, and buy their own scanty food. I am inclined to think provisions would not be deficient, to an alarming extent, if they were equally distributed. Wood is no scarcer than before the war, and yet $30 per load (less than a cord) is demanded for it, and obtained.
The other day Wilmington might have been taken, for the troops were sent to Beauregard. Their places have since been filled by a brigade from Longstreet. It is a monstrous undertaking to attempt to subjugate so vast a country as this, even with its disparity of population. We have superior facilities for concentration, while the invader must occupy, or penetrate the outer lines of the circumference. Our danger is from within, not from without. We are distressed more by the extortioners than by the enemy. Eternal infamy on the heads of speculators in articles of prime necessity! After the war, let them be known by the fortunes they have amassed from the sufferings of the patriots and heroes!—the widows and orphans!
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14. Sunday, April 17, 1864 --- The schooner Lily, from England, is captured as a blockade runner by the Federal gunboat USS Owasco, offshore near Velasco, Texas.
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15. Sunday, April 17, 1864 --- Confederate troops under George Pickett (Hoke’s division) attack Fort Gray, near Plymouth, North Carolina, garrisoned by a detachment of the 85th New York Infantry. The attack is called off after several assaults are repulsed.
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A. Wednesday, April 17, 1861: In April 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Texas authorities and the U.S. commander in Texas, Gen. David Twiggs, agreed to a peaceful withdrawal of U.S. troops from Texas. Those on the Rio Grande would depart from Brazos Santiago. Those at San Antonio and inland points would take ship from Indianola.
The first contingent left Indianola on the Daniel Webster while another contingent camped at Green Lake behind Indianola, waiting to board the Star of the West outside the bar at Pass Cavallo off Matagorda Island. On April 17, U.S. troops at Indianola slept on the wharf to be ready to leave first thing in the morning. Two steamers would take them to the Star of the West out in the Gulf. Next day, when they arrived off Pass Cavallo, there was no Star of the West.
The peaceful exodus of U.S. troops from Texas was no longer possible. The bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter meant war had commenced. Confederate Col. Earl Van Dorn, a veteran of the Mexican War, was in command of Confederate troops in Texas. He was on board the Confederate steamer General Rusk, which anchored within hailing distance of the troopship. A voice shouted from the Star of the West: "Ship ahoy! Avast there! You'll run into us! What vessel is that?" The answer came back over the water: "The General Rusk. I have some troops for you. Stand by to catch our line."
Confederate soldiers, concealing their weapons, boarded and captured the ship. The captain of the Star of the West was indignant, swearing that a dirty trick had been played on him. A nearby Union gunboat, Mohawk, was unaware of what was happening. The General Rusk escorted the troopship, a prize of war, to Galveston, where it received a joyous welcome as a symbol of one of the first victories of Confederate arms. The Star of the West was already famous. In January, it had tried to land supplies to the besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and was fired on by Confederate batteries, the first shots fired in the Civil War.
On Matagorda Bay, four steamers from Galveston arrived with 1,000 men to reinforce Van Dorn. U.S. forces at Indianola were blocked from escape and forced to surrender. They gave their parole, promising not to take up arms against the Confederacy, and were allowed to sail to New York aboard three small schooners. Major C.C. Sibley of the Third Infantry said they had a miserable journey with the troops crowded on deck on the open transports.
That was the first action of the war along the western stretch of the Texas coast. That summer, blockading ships of the Navy tacked back and forth off Aransas Pass between Mustang and St. Joseph's islands and Pass Cavallo, the entry into Matagorda Bay. Confederates manned gun batteries on Mustang and Matagorda islands to prevent Union ships from entering the passes and disrupting the increasingly important traffic in the inner bays.
An old earthworks redoubt called Fort Washington, built in 1842 when the Republic of Texas feared an invasion by Mexico, was located by the Matagorda Island Lighthouse. Three artillery companies under the command of Maj. Daniel Shea, with four 24-pounder guns, were stationed there to guard Pass Cavallo.
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B Friday, April 17, 1863: Col. Benjamin Grierson [US] leaves La Grange, Tennessee at the head of a 1,700-man cavalry column heading towards Mississippi to raid the state.
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B + Grierson's Grand Raid: Grierson showed his concern for the welfare of Southern civilians by issuing strict orders: "drive out stragglers, preserve order, and quiet the fears of the people."
After conferring with General William Sooy Smith, commanding at La Grange, Colonel Benjamin Henry Grierson issued orders for "light rations" to his brigade, which now consisted of the Sixth and Seventh Illinois, and the second Iowa. On the beautiful spring morning of April 17, Grierson led the long column of seventeen hundred officers and men out of La Grange and headed south. Grierson himself, carried a small-scale map of plantations and Confederate storehouses, and a jew's harp in his blouse. The command met no opposition on the first day, traveling an easy thirty miles to halt just short of Ripley, Mississippi at the Ellis plantation.
Before Grierson would reach the bridge at New Albany on the 18th, four other diversionary missions were well under way. General Sooy Smith, with fifteen hundred men, marched southwest from La Grange, while five thousand men from Corinth marched east toward Tuscumbia. Another force of thirteen hundred marched out of Memphis towards Panola and Chalmer's forces, while Colonel Abel Streight marched out of Fort Henry for his raid into Alabama. While Smith's expedition was designed as a smokescreen to Grierson's raid, as was the column from Corinth, Streight's purpose was to engage and occupy Forrest far to the east of Grierson. It was obvious that Grant considered Streight's raid secondary to Grierson's, as Streight's men were mounted on mules and cast-off horses, while Grierson's troopers had drawn the best horses available.(GR) All expeditions served their purpose, but Streight's raid ended in disaster. Relentlessly pursued by Forrest, he was forced to fight a continuous rear guard action. Streight, at the point of exhaustion, surrendered to Forrest on May 3, 1863, at Lawrence, Alabama.
When Grierson reached the Tallahatchie, on the afternoon of the 18th, he crossed the river at three points to confuse the Confederates. A battalion of the Seventh encountered slight opposition in crossing the bridge at Albany. The Sixth and Seventh proceeded along the road to Pontotoc, while Colonel Edward Hatch's Second Iowa traveled a route some four miles to the east.
At dawn on April 19, Grierson sent one detachment to contact Hatch, and two others north and west, while the main column moved down the muddy Pontotoc road. When Hatch and the detachment caught up with each other, they united and rode into a surprised Pontotoc. Routing a body of state troops, the captured all of the town's supplies and equipment. Grierson was now seventy miles into enemy territory and had suffered no losses.
On April 20, Grierson formed up his men for inspection, culling out 175 men that were suffering from physical ailment or the usual maladies. Dubbing themselves the "Quinine Brigade," and commanded by Major Hiram Love, they made their way back to La Grange. This force also served to create the impression that the raiders were returning to Tennessee. But Grierson was again on the move, continuing south with two Illinois regiments on the morning of the April 21. Hatch, and the 2nd Iowa, broke off eastward, with orders to cut the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at West Point and destroy roads southward before returning to La Grange.
Hatch's men reached Palo Alto on the afternoon of April 21, where they encountered the Confederate cavalrymen of the 2nd Tennessee, commanded by Lt. Col. C. R. Barteau. Hatch realized he could go no further south and began retreating northward along the railroad. Hatch succeeded in destroying the rails at Okolona and Tupelo before Barteau caught up with him near Birmingham on the April 24. After a two-hour battle, Hatch retreated across Camp Creek, returning to La Grange on April 26. His diversion within a diversion was a great success, having netted him 600 horses and mules, and 100 Confederate casualties, while losing only 10 men himself. He also succeeded in pulling a strong enemy force away from Grierson's flanks.
Since Hatch had dealt with any threatening enemy, Grierson felt his 950 remaining men could gallop southward with little worries or pursuit from the rear. Grierson pushed on towards Starkville, burning government property found in the undefended town. Later in the afternoon, he urged his command towards Louisville, not allowing his command to remain idle for any longer than necessary. But before daybreak on April 22, Grierson detached a battalion on the Seventh Illinois, commanded by Major Graham, with orders to destroy a large tannery and shoe factor at Bankston.
Graham captured a startled Confederate quartermaster, along with large stores of shoes, leather, saddles and bridles destined for Vicksburg and Port Gibson. He then caught up with Grierson as they approached Louisville.
By now, Grierson knew that the Confederates must be in desperate pursuit and he needed another diversion. Again, he detached a small force, Company B of the Seventh Illinois and Captain Henry Forbes, with orders to strike the railroad at Macon, thirty miles east. Forbes was instructed to rejoin as circumstances permitted, while Grierson marched towards the Southern Mississippi Railroad at Newton.
Reaching Louisville late on the afternoon of April 22, Grierson found the townspeople had boarded up their buildings in preparation of his arrival. Again, Grierson showed his concern for the welfare of Southern civilians by issuing strict orders; "drive out stragglers, preserve order, and quiet the fears of the people." (CW) The Federal cavalrymen passed through Louisville without incident, only to strike a dismal swamp where they lost several horses from drowning. On April 23, they moved through Philadelphia, stopping to rest at 10 o'clock that evening.
Grierson, and his main column, reached Newton Station at 6 a.m. on April 24, Colonel Blackburn, and four advance companies of the Seventh, having reached that point an hour ahead of Grierson. At Newton Station, Grierson destroyed two locomotives, 25 freight cars loaded with commissary stores and ammunition (including artillery shells bound for Vicksburg), additional stores and 500 muskets found in the town. In addition, seventy-five prisoners were taken and paroled. A weary but jubilant column of cavalry stopped at the Mackadora Plantation that evening, some fifty miles from Newton Station. Grierson knew that Newton Station had been his primary tactical objective, and from there he had complete discretion as to his route and final destination. For now, his men would receive their first rest in forty hours and nine days into their raid.
When Grierson learned that Pemberton was busy reinforcing Jackson and points eastward, he decided to move southwest, crossing the Pearl River and hitting the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad at Hazlehurst. From there, he would flank Confederate forces and join Grant at Grand Gulf. Grierson's true objective, other than destroying Pemberton's supply lines, was rapidly coming to fruition.
Pemberton, having guessed Grierson's objective, could hardly allow the enemy to freely roam behind his supply lines wreaking havoc, and was forced to divert an almost full division's worth of men to intercept the Union raiders. Pemberton further weakened the force that was soon to contend with Grant, by ordering Maj. Gen. John Bowen to detach seven Mississippi cavalry companies in pursuit of Grierson.
At 6 a.m. on April 26, the raiders set out for Raleigh, crossing the Leaf River. At Raleigh, they captured the county sheriff and confiscated $3,000 in Confederate currency, moving onto Westville, where they stopped for the night. On April 27, Grierson's advance scouting party, dressed in Confederate uniforms and dubbed the "Butternut Guerrillas," moved ahead to seize the ferryboat on the Pearl River. Here, Forbes and his detachment caught up with Grierson and were able to rejoin the column headed for Hazelhurst.
At Hazelhurst, a string of boxcars were burned, but the flames spread to nearby buildings of the town. Grierson set him men to work alongside the townspeople, fighting to save the town of Hazelhurst. Fortunately, a hard rain fell that evening and aided in putting out the fires.
Continuing west on the 28th, a battalion was detached from the Seventh Illinois to double back and destroy rails and telegraph wire. The main column stopped at a plantation near Union Church, where they encountered their first real threat from the enemy.
News of the strike on Hazelhurst had reached Pemberton, who was trying to calm a worried Jefferson Davis; "all the cavalry I can raise is close on their rear." (UW) Pemberton then instructed Bowen to send Colonel Wirt Adam's cavalry--Bowen's only significant mounted troops --to capture the Yankee cavalry. A scouting detachment belonging to Wirt's cavalry stumbled on Grierson's column and a sharp skirmish ensued. Considering the possibility of being overwhelmed by Confederate cavalry, Grierson decided wisely that he should head for Baton Rouge.
With the Confederates now hot on his heels, Grierson ordered Colonel Reuben Loomis and the Sixth Illinois to head westward toward Fayette, and then head southeast for Brookhaven. Upon reaching Brookhaven, Grierson took over two hundred prisoners, including sick soldiers from the local hospital. He then paroled them and fired the depot and several freight cars. Again, his men had to serve as fireman to keep the town buildings from going up in flames.
Temporarily fooled by Grierson's feint toward Fayette, Colonel Adams was now closing in on the Yankee raiders, and Colonel R. V. Richardson's Confederate cavalry was hard pushing for Brookhaven.
On April 30, Grierson resumed his march along the railroad, tearing up tracks and trestles as he went. Passing through Bogue Chitto Station, after burning 15 freight cars and the depot, the proceeded onto Summit, which they reached at sunset. Here, they destroyed 25 freight cars and a large store of government sugar.
On May 1, with Confederate forces closing in on Grierson's weary troopers, he decided it best to make a "straight line for Baton Rouge, and let speed be our safety." (CW) There was still some 76 miles to cover before reaching safety. For this reason, the towns of Magnolia and Osyka were bypassed.
Nearing Wall's Bridge across the Tickfaw River, three companies of the 9th Tennessee gave Grierson's advance scouts resistance. Grierson suffered eight casualties here (accounting for nearly all the battle losses suffered throughout the raid). But Grierson brought up his artillery and shelled the enemies position across the river, resulting in losses among the Confederates.
Captured dispatches warned Grierson that he could not afford to rest his command, and he continued to gallop southward through the night. His exhausted men and animals crossed the Amite River at William's Bridge at midnight, just two hours ahead of a heavy column of infantry and artillery. Little did Grierson know that Grant's troops had crossed the Mississippi on May 1 and were moving up to take Grand Gulf from the rear. Bowen, who had been stripped of his cavalry to pursue Grierson's raiders, would move his remaining troops to Port Gibson to intercept Grant.
In the meantime, Grierson's men reached Sandy Creek at dawn on May 2, capturing an unsuspecting cavalry unit camped there. The camp, 150 tents, guns and ammunition were destroyed before Grierson moved on to the Comite River. At Robert's Ford, 40 more Confederates and horses were captured. But the long hours in the saddle had finally taken their toll and both men and animals could go no further without rest.
Six miles short of Baton Rouge, Grierson called a halt near a plantation house. Here, his men slept alongside the road in the first rest they had had in twenty-eight hours. Possessing great stamina, Grierson found a piano in the nearby plantation house and sat down to play, with the Woodward family in attendance. His playing was abruptly interrupted by an anxious scout informing him that enemy cavalry was approaching. Grierson knew better and personally rode out to meet the advancing force, shaking hands with an astonished Captain J. Franklin Godfrey from Baton Rouge.
Filthy, and bone-weary, Grierson and his troopers were escorted into the city of Baton Rouge at 3 p.m.. Though thoroughly exhausted, Grierson agreed to parade his column around the town square, greeted by cheering civilians and soldiers.
Traveling more than 600 miles in 16 days, with little rest or sleep, Grierson's raiders had captured 500 Confederates, killed or wounded another 100, destroyed more than 50 miles of railroad and telegraph, 3,000 stands of arms and thousands of dollars’ worth of supplies and property. Over 1,000 mules and horses were captured, in addition to tying up all of Pemberton's cavalry, one-third of his infantry and several regiments of artillery. Grierson suffered, including Hatch's losses, total casualties of 36.
A most unlikely warrior, and music teacher turned soldier, suddenly found himself thrust into the role of a hero, writing to his wife; "I, like Byron, have had to wake up one morning and find myself famous." (CW) Grierson's picture was featured on the covers of Harper's Weekly and Leslie's Illustrated. He was breveted to brigadier general and later major general of volunteers.
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Friday, April 17, 1863: Brigadier General John Marmaduke [CS] leaves Arkansas and enters Missouri on a raid.
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C Sunday, April 17, 1864: Ulysses S. Grant ends prisoner exchanges with the South. He felt the practice was '...prolonging the conflict"
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C+ Sunday, April 17, 1864 --- Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, as General-in-Chief, issues orders that all prisoner exchanges will stop, so as to starve the South of its meager manpower.
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C++ Sunday, April 17, 1864: Bread riot in Savannah, Georgia.
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C+++ Sunday, April 17, 1864 --- Civil unrest springs up in cities of the South, due to food shortages. In Savannah, Georgia, a mob of women, armed and angry, rioted in the streets, taking bread and any foodstuffs from wherever they could find it. Only after troops came did the crowd disperse.
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D. Monday, April 17, 1865: General Sherman Meets with General Joseph E. Johnston. In 1865 news traveled slowly outside of areas with operating telegraphs, and so it was that news of Lincoln’s assassination reached General Sherman in North Carolina on April 17, as he was on his way to discuss with General Joseph E. Johnston the surrender of Johnston’s army. Here is the portion of Sherman’s memoirs where he discussed what happened at the meeting: Just as we were entering the car, the telegraph-operator, whose office was up-stairs in the depot-building, ran down to me and said that he was at that instant of time receiving a most important dispatch in cipher from Morehead City, which I ought to see. I held the train for nearly half an hour, when he returned with the message translated and written out. It was from Mr. Stanton, announcing the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the attempt on the life of Mr. Seward and son, and a suspicion that a like fate was designed for General Grant and all the principal officers of the Government. Dreading the effect of such a message at that critical instant of time, I asked the operator if any one besides himself had seen it; he answered No! I then bade him not to reveal the contents by word or look till I came back, which I proposed to do the same afternoon. The train then started, and, as we passed Morris’s Station, General Logan, commanding the Fifteenth Corps, came into my car, and I told him I wanted to see him on my return, as I had something very important to communicate. He knew I was going to meet General Johnston, and volunteered to say that he hoped I would succeed in obtaining his surrender, as the whole army dreaded the long march to Charlotte (one hundred and seventy-five miles), already begun, but which had been interrupted by the receipt of General Johnston’s letter of the 13th. We reached Durham’s, twenty-six miles, about 10 a.m., where General Kilpatrick had a squadron of cavalry drawn up to receive me. We passed into the house in which he had his headquarters, and soon after mounted some led horses, which he had prepared for myself and staff. General Kilpatrick sent a man ahead with a white flag, followed by a small platoon, behind which we rode, and were followed by the rest of the escort. We rode up the Hillsboro’ road for about five miles, when our flag bearer discovered another coming to meet him: They met, and word was passed back to us that General Johnston was near at hand, when we rode forward and met General Johnston on horseback, riding side by side with General Wade Hampton. We shook hands, and introduced our respective attendants. I asked if there was a place convenient where we could be private, and General Johnston said he had passed a small farmhouse a short distance back, when we rode back to it together side by side, our staff-officers and escorts following. We had never met before, though we had been in the regular army together for thirteen years; but it so happened that we had never before come together. He was some twelve or more years my senior; but we knew enough of each other to be well acquainted at once. We soon reached the house of a Mr. Bennett, dismounted, and left our horses with orderlies in the road. Our officers, on foot, passed into the yard, and General Johnston and I entered the small frame-house. We asked the farmer if we could have the use of his house for a few minutes, and he and his wife withdrew into a smaller log-house, which stood close by.
As soon as we were alone together I showed him the dispatch announcing Mr. Lincoln’s assassination, and watched him closely. The perspiration came out in large drops on his forehead, and he did not attempt to conceal his distress. He denounced the act as a disgrace to the age, and hoped I did not charge it to the Confederate Government. I told him I could not believe that he or General Lee, or the officers of the Confederate army, could possibly be privy to acts of assassination; but I would not say as much for Jeff. Davis, George Sanders, and men of that stripe. We talked about the effect of this act on the country at large and on the armies, and he realized that it made my situation extremely delicate. I explained to him that I had not yet revealed the news to my own personal staff or to the army, and that I dreaded the effect when made known in Raleigh. Mr. Lincoln was peculiarly endeared to the soldiers, and I feared that some foolish woman or man in Raleigh might say something or do something that would madden our men, and that a fate worse than that of Columbia would befall the place.
I then told Johnston that he must be convinced that he could not oppose my army, and that, since Lee had surrendered, he could do the same with honor and propriety. He plainly and repeatedly admitted this, and added that any further fighting would be “murder;” but he thought that, instead of surrendering piecemeal, we might arrange terms that would embrace all the Confederate armies. I asked him if he could control other armies than his own; he said, not then, but intimated that he could procure authority from Mr. Davis. I then told him that I had recently had an interview with General Grant and President Lincoln, and that I was possessed of their views; that with them and the people North there seemed to be no vindictive feeling against the Confederate armies, but there was against Davis and his political adherents; and that the terms that General Grant had given to General Lee’s army were certainly most generous and liberal. All this he admitted, but always recurred to the idea of a universal surrender, embracing his own army, that of Dick Taylor in Louisiana and Texas, and of Maury, Forrest, and others, in Alabama and Georgia. General Johnston’s account of our interview in his “Narrative” (page 402, et seq.) is quite accurate and correct, only I do not recall his naming the capitulation of Loeben, to which he refers. Our conversation was very general and extremely cordial, satisfying me that it could have but one result, and that which we all desired, viz., to end the war as quickly as possible; and, being anxious to return to Raleigh before the news of Mr. Lincoln’s assassination could be divulged, on General Johnston’s saying that he thought that, during the night, he could procure authority to act in the name of all the Confederate armies in existence we agreed to meet again the next day at noon at the same place, and parted, he for Hillsboro’ and I for Raleigh.”
Civil War: Johnston & Sherman's April 1865 Meeting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eIhWswmo3M
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FYI CSM Charles Hayden LTC (Join to see) SFC William Farrell SPC Michael Terrell SSG Michael Noll PO2 Marco Monsalve SPC Woody Bullard 1SG Dan Capri SSG Michael Noll SSG Bill McCoy Lt Col Charlie Brown Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen CSM Charles Hayden LTC Greg Henning LTC David Brown LTC (Join to see) SFC Eric Harmon SPC Tarrence Molendyk CPT Richard Trione

Deception has always been a part of successful battle tactics. Doing something on a large scale is great when it works.

Always great history here LTC Stephen F.... Thanks again.