This Date 1865 with the Army of Tennessee (new stuff)

[larry_cockerham]

April 20, 1865 City of Macon, Georgia captured by Gen. James Harrison Wilson. Two armies. One road. Records of 2nd Indiana Cavalry.

[larry_cockerham]

April 21, 1865

HDQRS. MILILTARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI
In the Field, Raleigh, NC April 21, 1865

GENERAL JAMES H. WILSON
Commanding Cavalry Division of the Mississippi, Macon, GA
(Through General J.E. Johnston)

GENERAL: A suspension of hostilities was agreed on between General Johnston and myself on Tuesday, April 18 at 12 noon. I want that agreement religiously observed, and you may release the generals captured at Macon, occupy ground convenient, and contract for supplies for your command, and forbear any act of hostility until you hear or have reason to believe hostilities are resumed. In the meantime, it is also agreed the position of the enemy’s forces must not be altered to our prejudice. You know by this time that General Lee has surrendered to General Grant the rebel Army of Northern Virginia and that I only await the sanction of the President to conclude terms of peace coextensive with the boundaries of the United States. You will shape your conduct on this knowledge unless you have overwhelming proof to the contrary.

W. T. Sherman, Major-General, Commanding.

[samgrant]

That just about wraps it up!

[ole]

Start over!
Ole

[larry_cockerham]

Hold your britches, yanks. Two of our best generals, N.B. Forrest and Stand Watie ain't packed it in yet!

[samgrant]

While your goofball 'president', and the assassin of Lincoln were still on the lam.

[larry_cockerham]

While THE goofball president was on the lam. My earlier post should not have included Forrest who had turned in his papers earlier to Edward Hatch and rode his last remaining horse back to Memphis. Even I ain't perfect? Chief Watie was still hanging in there.

[larry_cockerham]

April 23, 1865

Cheatham’s Corps near Greensboro, North Carolina

[larry_cockerham]

April 24, 1865

General Grant reached Sherman's headquarters in Raleigh and brought with him the news that President Johnson had disapproved Shermans agreement with Johnston. Sherman was ordered to give forty--eight hours notice and then resume hostilities if there was no surrender. Sherman was incensed both by the disapproval and the large amount of material on the subject in the New York papers including the dispatch of March 3, 1865 from Lincoln to Grant stating the generals should accept nothing but surrender and should not negotiate peace. Sherman said he never received the message. The fiery general soon raged against Stanton and Halleck, claiming he had not gone beyond Lincoln's wishes. While historians differ, it does seem that Sherman had gone beyond military obligations, and that he did try to make a peace agreement. Grant was now under orders to direct military movements and left Sherman to carry them out. General Johnston was ordered to suspend the truce at once. President Davis approved Johnston's agreement with Sherman, not knowing it had been rejected by the Union.

[larry_cockerham]

Shortly afterward on April 26, 1865 Johnston “laid down Confederate arms on Sherman’s terms at the Bennett Place near Durham in the largest troop surrender of the American Civil War” as per Mark A. Moore in his Historical Guide to the Battle of Bentonville, DeCapo Press 1997. Note: Whitfield Monroe Parker married first to Sinah Mariah Holt on 25 Oct 1865 and raised eight children. He married a second time to Nancy Snyder 30 Aug 1894 in Washington County, Virginia and raised two more daughters. A carpenter, he died 1 Nov 1923 at Wyndale, Washington County, Virginia in his 79th year. While attending a Parker family reunion in Abingdon, Virginia in August of 2004, I was able to locate the community of Wyndale and the house that Whitfield Parker built prior to 1900. Details on the existing house match the 1906 photograph on the front of this document. The gentleman in the photo is not Whit, but rather his son John Henry Parker with grandson Clyde Raymond Parker. John Henry was my great grandfather, Clyde, my great uncle. Three of my Parker cousins accompanied me to the grave of Whitfield Monroe Parker, located next to his second wife Nannie L. Snyder in the Wyndale church cemetery. Whit’s grave in 2004 was unmarked. A dedication ceremony is planned for the new VA marker on August 4, 2007. Thanks to the help of Irene Parker and Commander David Roberts of the SCV Camp in Bristol, that mission has been accomplished.