April 18, 1865---"That's the best I can do"

APRIL 18, 1865:        

“That’s the best I can do” --- General William Tecumseh Sherman

I

The never-entirely-Confederate Richmond Whig, having renumbered itself “Volume I” dedicates its entire coverage to the President’s death. 

II

Joseph E. Johnston sent a messenger to Jefferson Davis’ latest “capital city,” Charlotte, North Carolina, advising Davis of the death of Abraham Lincoln.

No one really knows what Davis said when Johnston told him of Lincoln’s death. Some sources say that Davis “expressed sympathy.” Others say he was “unsympathetic.” Still others say he was “sad” to hear the news. Then there are those who claim he felt “satisfaction.”

Damning evidence from Jefferson Davis’ subsequent treason trial reads as follows:

Well, General, I don't know, if it were to be done at all, it were better that it were well done; and if the same had been done to Andy Johnson, the beast, and to Secretary Stanton, the job would then be complete.

However, Davis in his own defense, stated that the testifying witness was not present when he was first told of Lincoln’s death. Davis claimed he said:

I certainly have no regard for Mr. Lincoln but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our people, and I regret it deeply . . . His successor is a worse man . . .

 

In his memoirs he wrote:

Next to the destruction of the Confederacy, the death of Abraham Lincoln was the darkest day the South has ever known.

Perhaps his actual comment was closer to an amalgam of the two ---

I certainly have no regard for Mr. Lincoln; but if it were to be done at all, it were better that it were well done, and done to Andy Johnson or Stanton; but this I fear will be disastrous to our people

--- for Davis had been impressed with Lincoln’s magnanimity at Appomattox, but clearly feared the bullish Stanton, now unyoked.  And if he feared Stanton, then he despised Andrew Johnson, his former Senate colleague. A Southerner who stayed with the Union, Johnson was a laborer by birth, a man who hated the Southern Planter class of which Davis was representative.

Johnson believed that the Planters were the driving force behind the war, and he meant to punish them and anyone who’d followed them out of the Union. Davis knew Johnson as a volcanic man of limited patience, given to filibusters and diatribes in the Senate.  Johnson was likely to hold grudges, just as he now now held the reins of power.

Neither Stanton nor Johnson were bound to negotiate the peace. Whatever Davis had thought of Lincoln, he knew now that he was dealing with lesser, far more vindictive men.

Davis believed that with Lincoln gone and Seward incapacitated the Union had no grand visionaries who would be able to bring an end to the war without resorting to the gallows. Davis, for one, along with his Cabinet had no intention of swinging under a tree. 

Davis’ icy mind saw a way out. For a time Johnson would be uncertain of his authority and Stanton would be distracted. The Confederate President believed he had a brief time within which he could manipulate the confused Union Government, perhaps prolong the war, and maybe even wrest something worthwhile from the wrack --- something like a form of southern autonomy. 

Jefferson Davis, who was a lifelong political gamesman, made more than his share of mistakes during the Civil War. And what he would do next would turn out to be one of them. For though the visionaries were indeed blinded, for though Johnson was unsure of himself, and Stanton was distracted, and for though the North was torn with grief, anger had loaded the dice. And Jefferson Davis was about to make his final, dubious, throw.

Davis ordered John C. Breckinridge to accompany General Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A. back to Bennett Place to continue the negotiations with William Tecumseh Sherman. He granted Breckinridge --- the former U.S. Vice-President, U.S. Presidential candidate, Confederate General, and current Confederate Secretary of War --- plenary powers to settle all matters, military and political, with Sherman.

In part, Breckinridge was sent to Bennett Place to forestall Joe Johnston from offering an outright surrender. Davis knew that the politically canny Breckinridge was "a slick operator" who would be able to wring concessions out of Sherman, willy-nilly.

The interior of the Bennett farmhouse

Davis was looking for a win-win. He presumed that anything that Sherman agreed to would be rejected by the Yankees and that this rejection would give him a free hand to continue the war. Or, alternately, they could agree to such terms as Breckinridge might manage to procure from Sherman, and then “Reconstruction” would effectively become an optional program for the Southern States.

If Davis could create such a scenario for the South, the South would continue to dominate American politics as it had always done since the days of the Founders. But for the loss of life and destruction of property, it could be as if the war never happened. And Davis himself would emerge triumphant from what seemed to have been a disaster.

He nearly got his win.     

The restored Bennett Place. The family name was spelled "Bennitt" in 1865, and some contemporary accounts reflect this

After six hours of negotiation, cajolery, and the ever-present threat of a resumption of hostilities, all of which ended with the rueful explanation, "That's the best that I can do," Sherman finalized what he entitled a “Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement”:

Memorandum, or Basis of Agreement

made this 18th day of April A.D. 1865, near Durham Station, in the State of North Carolina,

by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army, and Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina, both present:

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

·  2.   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 from acts of war, and to abide by the action of the 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 mean time, to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively.

·   3.   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.

·  4.   The re-establishment of all Federal Courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively.

· 5.   The people and inhabitants of all the 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.

·  6.   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.

·   7.   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 the arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by the officers and men hitherto composing said armies.

·  Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme.

W. T. Sherman, Major-General,

Commanding Army of the United States in North Carolina

J. E. Johnston, General,

Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina

The meeting between Sherman, Johnston and Breckinridge had none of the grandeur of Appomattox. The three men were simply scriveners. After the “Basis of Agreement” was written, Sherman and Johnston reconfirmed to each other that their cease-fire would continue until Sherman’s terms were approved --- or disapproved --- by the Federal Government.

Sherman rode off thinking he had ended the war. Johnston and Breckinridge rode off remarking on the extreme liberality of the terms.  

When Jefferson Davis read what had been penned, he was ecstatic. Even if the "Memorandum" means the war is over, the former Confederates will be given a free hand in the South. And if the war goes on (as Davis believed it would), so much the better.

 III

The Capitol being draped in black

President Lincoln remains lying in state in the East Room of the White House. Mary Lincoln is distraught beyond words, and is kept sedated much of the time. Robert and Tad Lincoln ask that President Johnson’s move into the White House be delayed until after their father’s interment in Springfield. Edwin Stanton agrees without consulting the new President.

The East Room is opened to the public between 9:00 A.M. and 7:30 P.M. Almost 30,000 people pass through on this day alone.

Journalist Noah Brooks wrote:

The great room was draped with crape and black cloth, relieved only here and there by white flowers and green leaves. The catafalque upon which the casket lay was about fifteen feet high, and consisted of an elevated platform resting on a dais and covered with a domed canopy of black cloth which was supported by four pillars, and was lined beneath with fluted white silk. In those days the custom of sending 'floral tributes' on funeral occasions was not common, but the funeral of Lincoln was remarkable for the unusual abundance and beauty of the devices in flowers that were sent by individuals and public bodies. From the time the body had been made ready for burial until the last services in the house, it was watched night and day by a guard of honor, the members of which were one major-general, one brigadier-general, two field officers, and four line officers of the army and four of the navy. Before the public were admitted to view the face of the dead, the scene in the darkened room - a sort of chapelle ardente - was most impressive. At the head and foot and on each side of the casket of their dead chief stood the motionless figures of his armed warriors.

When the funeral exercises took place, the floor of the East Room had been transformed into something like an amphitheatre by the erection of an inclined platform, broken into steps, and filling all but the entrance side of the apartment and the area about the catafalque. This platform was covered with black cloth, and upon it stood the various persons designated as participants in the ceremonies, no seats being provided . . .

IV

The “size” of the world in 1865 can be measured in simple facts:  News of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9th did not reach London until April 15th, the day Lincoln died, and news of Lincoln’s death did not reach St. Petersburg, Russia until April 26th, the day of Johnston’s final surrender. Communications in 19^th Century America are equally slow, especially in the South where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

And so, fighting continues to erupt sporadically throughout the United States. There are no major battles, but there are nameless skirmishes and raids by anonymous Confederate irregulars and leaderless bands facing Union troops on patrol.

However, as word of Lee’s surrender and Lincoln’s assassination begins filtering through to even the most isolated areas of the country, the resulting Union reaction to even the slightest provocation by Southern soldiers or civilians is overwhelming, and many who resist are brutalized, whether before, after, or in place of death. Most Southerners, already pushed to the edge of endurance, simply give up the Confederate cause. Peace comes, but it is an uneasy quiet full of resentments and unmet desires for vengeance.

V

Colonel L.C. Baker, a wealthy member of Edwin Stanton’s staff, offers a $30,000.00 reward for the missing John Wilkes Booth.

The Booth family, America’s favorite acting clan, is rendered personae non grata literally overnight. Besides being placed under constant surveillance, the family sees its engagement calendar cancelled, its agents quit, and its friends and relations vanish. “If they condoled with us, they did so in secret. None ventured near,” remembered John Wilkes’ sister, Asia. Junius Booth is nearly lynched in Boston. Edwin Booth cancels all his appearances and vows never to set foot on a stage again. No one encourages him to do otherwise.

Of all the Booths, Edwin takes the President’s assassination the hardest. The most popular of the Booths (though he himself considered John Wilkes the better actor), unbeknownst to most, he had acted as Lincoln’s secret courier to Jefferson Davis when the two Presidents had communicated through backchannels. He admired Lincoln and considered himself a friend of the President’s. And he had only recently saved Robert Todd Lincoln’s life during a mishap on a train platform. What “J.W.” has done is beyond Edwin’s comprehension.

While Edwin Booth tries to reconcile himself to the assassination, the assassin remains hidden in the woods of southern Maryland with David Herold. Only Samuel Cox and his brother, Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate secret agent, know where Booth is. Jones brings Booth and Herold the daily newspapers and a little food. The food is appreciated. The newspapers are not. John Wilkes Booth is mystified. Expecting a Confederate rising after Lincoln’s death, he is horrified to find himself described as “a fiend” even in the Southern press. He discovers that most of his co-conspirators are under arrest. The tremendous manhunt and the proffered reward make Booth nervous. What is to stop Cox or Jones (or even Herold, who goes off to hunt each day) from turning him in?

The bed at the Mudd house in which Booth slept away the daylight hours of April 15th

The thought has already occurred to Dr. Samuel Mudd, who approaches the authorities with his tale of setting the leg of a “lame man” who passed through on the night of the 14^th. Thinking he might collect the reward, Mudd (who was questioned previously about his associations with John Wilkes Booth, and denied knowing him) now claims that he did not at the time he was questioned make the connection between Booth and the man under suspicion. He also claims to have known nothing about the President’s murder on the fifteenth while Booth slept in his house.  

Mudd’s story begins to fall apart at that point. The Federal authorities already know that Mudd is a member of the Confederate Underground, they already know that he met Booth more than once before, and they know --- most damning --- that Mudd was in Bryantown, Maryland buying groceries on the 15th. They simply don’t believe that Mudd heard nothing about the assassination while in town. During a search of Mudd’s house, John Wilkes Booth’s slit boot is found hidden away. Mudd is arrested on suspicion of aiding Booth’s escape.

Mudd’s descendants have argued in his defense for the last 150 years that he was merely acting as a good Samaritan who was innocent of wrongdoing. However, all attempts at obtaining a posthumous Presidential pardon for Mudd have failed to date.

John Wilkes Booth's riding boot as cut off his broken leg by Dr. Mudd