want. it -- won't hear of it. they are eager to get back to their headquarters. sherman wants to try to control his men who he is sure who will be burning with anger over lincoln's assassination. while johnston is eager to get back where hampton has made his headquarters, he immediately summons secretary of war breckenridge and john h reagan because he will need davis 'authorization. once the men arrived at the dixon house around midnight on april 18 they begin to discuss terms. then postmaster general reagan decides to write out the terms and as he is scribbling, don

steyn announces it is time to return to the bennett plays for the second day of negotiations. reagan says he will send the terms forward. sherman and johnston reached the bennett place around noon. johnston probably tells sherman that he has official authorization for this all-encompassing surrender. he would like to bring breckenridge into the discussion. sherman says he doesn't know about that. johnston replies yes but breckenridge is also a major general in its confederate army. sherman says, ok. at that point reagan's basis of pacification arrives and johnston begins to lead it -- read it aloud and sherman looks disapproving and johnson points

out the only thing we disagreed on is amnesty for davis and the. otherwise, -- and the cabinet. otherwise, we have a basis of agreement. sherman waves it off. he gets out and and paper and begins to write his memorandum for a basis of agreement. it troops to be twice as long. he ends up giving the confederates more than they asked for. the confederates get to keep their arms. they take them back to their respective state capitals to deposit them into their arsenals to maintain law and order. second, they get to keep their governments. even the state of west virginia is open to debate. third, the southerners personal,

political, property rights will be respected. sherman knew all too well that property rights include rights to slaves but he said he thought it would be does respectful not -- to include that in the document if johnston and breckenridge and already conceded that slavery was dead. it would be like rubbing it in so he left it out. the lawyers in davis'cabinet will have a field day. sherman offers all confederates amnesty without exception. he was probably writing so quickly he hardly realized what he was doing. you can imagine just how quickly johnston wanted to sign that document before sherman can do his senses. sherman was euphoric. he believed this would end the war, reduce -- produce peace.

but, when those terms reach washington a few days later grant relies is the growing concern -- realizes the growing concern. he schedules a special meeting with president andrew johnson. they unanimously reject the sherman agreement. keep in mind, lincoln's body is still lying in the capital at this point. as sherman finds out, there is not a lot of warm and fuzzy feeling up north about southerners. secretary of war conducts grant to go to north carolina to take over from sherman. grant and sherman being, grant will not subject is friend to that -- his friend to that

deletion. he heads south and tells sherman that the deal is alice -- off. in accordance, a he has to give johnston 48 hours notice that hostility will resume unless johnston accepts appomattox terms. sherman decides that is just the way it has to be. he sent a message to johnston. sherman's message arrives at headquarters one hour after davis'telegram accepting the terms. now there is nothing left for the men to do. they have to meet again at the bennett house on april 26. now they have to hammer out an agreement based on the appomattox terms. initially, johnston says he does not -- it does not offer his men

enough will stop the soldiers are flooding to north carolina robyn, pillaging. they don't have enough to live on. my men have to have more than these terms. sherman brings along his second in command schofield ifa clever fellow. he makes a proposal. he says, for the authorities in washington, we give them the appomattox terms. then, we draft a second agreement that we send a few days later, a supplemental agreement, giving general johnston what he wants. that includes 1 in 7 confederates get to keep their weapons. they also get to keep their wagons and horses. and, confederates will also get river and relatives petition

wherever possible -- rail transportation wherever possible. sherman also offers a johnston a quarter million russians from his warehouses. johnston replies that his generosity reconciles empty what he considers the great misfortune of his life, that of having to face him in the field. sherman and johnston make their agreement. it results in the largest troop surrender of the war. almost 90,000 confederates. in the process, the two generals become good friends. according to sources, sometimes they would meet and a spread out the maps on the floor and start refighting their old battles and campaigns. it was in february of 8091 that

your men died and johnston was invited to be an honorary pallbearer. johnston is 84 years old by this time. he removes his act. the person standing next to johnston says, put your hat back on. johnston replies, sherman was standing in my place, he would not put his hat back on his head. soon that cold johnston caught developed into pneumonia and johnston passed away on march 21, 1891 the 26th anniversary of bentonville. thank you. [applause]

>> we do have time for a few questions. step up to the microphone and let mark know any questions you have. dr. bradley. you had a picture of fort fisher when you started. it has been a few years since i have been back. what is the status, the remaining slice? >> that is a good description of what remains. it is just a slice. the sea face has been reclaimed by the ocean and a portion of the land is still intact but there is another of the land space that you can get an idea of the scale of the fort. it is still impressive even in

its current form. >> chris victim -- bingham. we heard about the maclean's and how they were affected. can you elaborate on what happened to the bennett family? >> i was reminded by ron wilson's inventory of all of the stolen items from the maclean house that the bennett's underwent a similar pilferage. it was so bad that james bennett applied for restitution from the governor of north carolina, william holden. not just once but twice to recover his stone artifacts. that included the table that the surrender documents were written and signed on. james then at and william maclean would have a lot to talk about if they ever got together.