Longstreet A negotiation with the Union Army.

[Rebforever]

(Longstreet's request.)

(Copies to Major-General Grant same date.)

[Inclosure No. 1.] HDQRS. CONFEDERATE FORCES EAST TENNESSEE, January 3, 1864.

COMMANDING GENERAL U. S. FORCES EAST TENNESSEE:

SIR: I find the proclamation of President Lincoln of the 8th of December last in circulation in handbills amongst our soldiers.* The immediate object of this circulation appears to be induce our soldiers to quit our ranks and take the oath of allegiance to the United States Government. I presume, however, that the great object and end in view is to hasten the day of peace.

I respectfully suggest for your consideration the property of communicating any views that your Government may have upon this subject through me, rather than by handbills circulated amongst our soldiers.

The few men who may desert under the promise held out in the proclamation cannot be men of character or standing. If they desert their cause, they disgrace themselves in the eyes of God and of men. They can do your cause no good nor can they injure ours. As a great Nation you can accept none but an Honorable peace; as a noble people you could have us accept nothing less.

I submit, therefore, whether the mode that I suggest would not be more likely to lead to an Honorable end than such a circulation of a partial promise of pardon.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

J. LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/125/0050

 

[Rebforever]

(Union response.)

[Inclosure No. 2.] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, Knoxville, East Tenn., January 7, 1864.

Lieutenant General J. LONGSTREET,

Commanding Confederate Forces in East Tennessee:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated January 3, 1864.

You are correct in the supposition that the great object in view in the circulation of the President's proclamation is to induce those now in rebellion against the Government to lay aside their arms and return to their allegiance as citizens of the United States, thus securing the reunion of States now arrayed in hostility against one another and restoration of peace. The immediate effect of the circulation may be to cause many men to leave your ranks to return home, or come within our lines, and, in view of this latter course, it has been thought proper to issue an order announcing the favorable terms on which deserters will be received. I accept, however, your suggestion that it would have been more courteous to have sent these documents to you for circulation, and I embrace, with pleasure, the opportunity thus afforded to inclose to you twenty copies of each of these documents, and rely upon your generosity and desire for peace to give publicity to the same among your officers and men.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,

Major-General, Commanding.

https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/125/0051

 

[Rebforever]

(Longstreet response.)

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE,

January 11, 1864.

Major General J. G. FOSTER,

Commanding Department of the Ohio:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th of January, with its enclosures, & c.

The disingenuous manner in which you have misconstrued my letter of the 3rd instant has disappointed me. The suggestion which you claim to have adopted is in words as follows, viz:

I presume, however, that the great object and end in view is to hasten the day of peace. I respectfully suggest for your consideration the propriety of communicating any views that your Government may have on that subject through me, rather than by handbills circulated amongst our soldiers.

This sentence repudiates, in its own terms, the construction which you have forced upon it. Let me remind you, too, that the spirit and tone of my letter were to meet Honorable sentiments.

The absolute want of pretext for your construction of the letter induces me to admonish you against trifling over the events of this great war. You cannot pretend to have answered my letter in the spirit of frankness due to a soldier. And yet, it is hard to believe that an officer commanding an army of veteran soldiers, on whose shoulders rests, in no small part, the destiny of empires, could so far forget the height of this great argument at arms; could be so lost in levity, and so betray the dignity of his high station, as to fall into a contest of jests and jibes.

I have read your "order announcing the favorable terms on which deserters will be received." Step by step you have gone on in the violation of the rules of civilized warfare. Our farms have been destroyed, our women and children have been robbed, and our houses have been pillaged and burnt.

You have laid your plans and worked diligently to produce wholesale murder by servile insurrection. And now, the most ignoble of all, you propose to degrade the human race by inducing soldiers to dishonor anelves. Soldiers who have met your own upon so many Honorable fields, who have breasted the storm of battle in defense of their honor, their families, and their homes for three long years, have a right to expect more of honor, even in their adversaries.

I beg leave to return the copies of the proclamation and your order. I have the honor to renew to you the assurance of great respect.

Your most obedient servant,

Leutenant-General, Commanding.

https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/125/0052

 

[Rebforever]

(Foster response.)

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,

Knoxville, Tenn., January 17, 1864.

Lieutenant General J. LONGSTREET,

Commanding Confederate Forces in East Tennessee:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your letter of the 11th instant.
The admonition which you give me against trifling over the events of this great war does not carry with it that weight of authority with which you seek to impress me. I am, nevertheless, ready to respond in plain terms to the suggestions conveyed in your first letter, and which you quote in your second dispatch, that I communicate through you any views which the United States Government may entertain, having for their object the speedy restoration of peace throughout the land.
These views, so far as they can be interpreted from the policy laid down by the Government and sustained by the people at their elections are as follows:
First. The restoration of the rights of citizenship to all those now in rebellion against the Government who may lay down their arms and return to their allegiance.
Second. The prosecution of the war until every attempt at armed resistance to the Government shall have been overcome.
I avail myself of this opportunity to forward an order publishing the proceedings, findings, and sentence in the case of Private E. S. Dodd, Eighth Texas Confederate Cavalry, who was tried, condemned, and executed as a spy.
I also inclose a copy of an order which I have found it necessary to issue, in regard to the wearing of the U. S. uniform by Confederate soldiers.*

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,

Major-General, Commanding."

https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/125/0053