January 28, 1865---"The Confederacy Is Safe"

JANUARY 28, 1865:           

      

Robert E. Lee writes angrily to the Confederate Quartermaster and Commissary Corps, lambasting them for their failure to provide adequate food, clothing, and other supplies to the Confederate Army. Desertions are at unprecedented levels. The men who remain are in rags and are dying of malnutrition. Scurvy, Pellagra, Beri-beri, and a host of diseases brought on by failing immune systems are consuming the remaining Confederate soldiers in The Army of Northern Virginia like a brushfire. 

General Sherman’s forces, which have been bogged down in Savannah due to inclement weather, begin to move in force into South Carolina. Robert E. Lee writes to the Governor of South Carolina, saying that “the Confederacy is safe”, as long as the civilian population does not lose heart. As Sherman’s men pour into the Palmetto State, Confederate forces throw down their arms.

Having heard out Preston Blair, Jefferson Davis appoints three Peace Commissioners to meet with Union representatives in an attempt to end the war. Confederate Vice-President Stephens, Confederate President of the Senate, R.M.T. Hunter and former U.S. Supreme Court judge John Campbell are selected for this errand. Davis and Stephens despise each other (Davis believes Stephens to be a Unionist), and Hunter and Davis despise each other (Hunter considers Davis too moderate), while Campbell is an old friend of Lincoln’s. Davis clearly has no hopes of a negotiated peace and intends it to fail.  Having been appointed, the three men set out for Washington D.C.