BENNETT PLACE
★ ★ ★
The End of War
CAROLINAS CAMPAIGN
The Cacinas Canpagn began on Fetvuary 1, 1865. when Union Gen. WBam T. Sherman led hb
агпц
north
from Savannah, Georgia, after the ‘Ward) to the Sea." Sherman's objective ns to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia
to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northevn Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces cortsoidated in Noth Caroina
the Confederacy's logistical Heine, «here Shaman defeated Got. Joseph L Jdinston’s last-ditch attack at
Bentomile. After 9iaman «as reinfaced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston san the futity of farther resistance
and surendered on Apri 26, essentialy endig the Cml War.
On April 17, 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E.
Johnston and Union Gen. William T. Sherman
met under a flag of truce midway between their
lines on Hillsborough Road, seven miles west
of Durham Station, to discuss surrender terms.
Johnston suggested that they use this nearby
farmhouse — the home of James and Nancy Ben¬
nett — for privacy.
Inside the Ben¬
nett house, Sherman
informed Johnston
of President Abraham
Lincoln’s assassina-
Interior of James Bennett’s House, . . T T . r* j i
Scene of Johnston s Su, Tender. tl0n- Uncertain of the
April 26, 1866 (Johnston resting consequences of this
his elbow on the table while Sher¬
man faces the clock). murder, the generals
began negotiations, with Sherman offering terms
similar to those that Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had
given Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court
House, Virginia, on April 9. Johnston countered
with a plan for “a permanent peace,” including
political terms. At their second meeting on April
18, Sherman submitted a “basis for agreement”:
disbanding remaining Confederate armies, recog¬
nizing existing state governments, establishing
federal courts, restoring political and civil rights
to former Confederates, and a general amnesty.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis approved
the agreement, but U.S. Secretary of War Edwin
M. Stanton rejected it summarily. U.S. general-in¬
chief Grant ordered Sherman to meet again with
Johnston and offer him the Appomattox terms.
On April 26, Sherman and Johnston met
here for the last time, and Johnston accepted
the terms, surrendering the armies under his
command including those in the Carolinas, Geor¬
gia, and Florida — some 89,270 Confederates. It
was the largest surrender of troops in the war.
“Janies Bennett’s House, Where Johnston Surrendered,” Harper fc Weekly ,
wood engraving, 1865.
Gen. William T. Sherman
Courtesy of Library of Congress
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston
Courtesy of Library of Congress
