University of South Carolina Libraries
THE SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY By M. M. Buford, Newberry, S. C. By M. ML Buford, Newwberry, S. C. With the annual recurrence of the day marking the surrender of the * most gallant army that ever battled v.iriit and iustice, the old Con ate soldier likes to recai his eXp?riences in the great struggle; so j*a,n moved to write of the surrender the army under Gen. Joseph E. j0>nston, in the preliminaries of wjjch I was an actor. 1 was a member of the 5th South Carolina Cavalry. Our last battle was fought at Bentonville, N. C., where two of our company were killed?D. C. Eison of Union county and C. C. Casev of Laurens county, S. C. On March 24, 1865, Gen. E. v M. Law, now living in Florida, had been put in command of that portion of the cavalry including our regiment near Smitfrfield, N. C. There were ^ Yankee marauders not far away. General Law sent a portion of our _regiment, including my company, to - TI7 n. stop their depredations. >?c several hundred of them in a woody place, and there was a little skirmish, during which I noticed a Yankee jump from his horse and take deliberate aim at some one in my direction. I heard the bullet strike with a dull thud near me and turned to see that Lieut. Berry Richards, my nearest comrade, who was in command of the company, had been hit. He told me he h&d been mortally wounded and asked me to take him to his brother, John C. Richards, and for his brother to carry his body ' ^>ack home for burial. I put my arm around him and held him on his horse, and we had gone but a short distance when we met his brother. The wounded man died three days later, on March 27, and his brother carried Hr*mp. as reauested. -illO WVUJ ** W...?, After leaving Raleigh my command fell back toward (j^reensboro, tired and hungry and depending on their own exertions to get something to eat. As an illustration of the .straits to which we were put for food, I will relate this little incident: While out foraging a great big husky fellow and I were chasing the same chicken, and we caught it at J " the same time. I weighed only . about 120, but was holding on to L * the chicken with all my might, when I * he said, and he meant it too, "D?n /. w T>11 kill you, 11 you uun i ?,v/> ~.. you," and I let go and w?nt hungry. ' - It was about the middle of April, 1865, that the correspondence began between Gen. Joseoh E. Johnston and Gen. William T. Sherman in regard to an armistice, Johnston sending a communication to Sherman t.imp. As Sherman's > av/vub w*v*v v. messengers?a lieutenant and some petty officers with a flag of truce?j were on their way to Johnston's headquarters they came to the place where Joe Hargrove and I had been posted. One was to stay there, and the other was to conduct Sherman's messengers to Johnston's headquarters. somewhere between Durham and HillsboroC Joe had slipped away on a foraging expedition, so I had to . escort the messengers. I noticed *' 1 ?* Vonl*c wos ri d i n c a xnat Ullt? UJL tUC x axi.-w ?* mm ??v...0 very fine bay horse that he had captured from Charles Barnett of our company only a few days before. I wanted very much to take the horse from hini, but of course I wouldn't. ; On the 17th of April, Generals t Johnston and Sherman, with their staffs, met in a? plain little farm house known as the "Bennett House," having only two or thre:. r rooms, to discuss terms of the arm- ' listiee. This was just four miles west of Durham. They did not complete the negotiations that day and met at the same place the next day, April is Johnston's escort was the 5th South Carolina Cavalry, and with him were Gen. Wade Hampton! of South Carolina, Gen. John C. j Breckinridge of Kentucky and Gen. j J. H. Reagan of Texas, as I rememWith General Shefman were j General Kilpatrick of ' the Yankee' cavalry, and, I think, an escort ofi Minnesotans. While the conference! was going on the respective escorts' on the outside fraternized and cracked jokes. The Yanks were in splendid and handsome uniforms of: - blue, the "Johnny Rebs" in torn and' sodden suits of gray. j The terms were agreed upon that day, but General Sherman had to submit them to the government at: Washington. President Lincoln had j been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth the tight-of the 14th of April,; and Vice President Andrew Johnson j had succeeded him. He refused to; accept the terms and returned them; to General Sherman. * j On the morning of the 25th of April General Sherman notified General Johnston that the terms had. * k been rejected and demanded a surrender. That night General Johnston sent a dispatch under flag of truce .to General Sherman. This dispatch an^s intrusted to Col. Rawlins t ^nn'rk of General Hampton's staff. ft ? li\ivw AY lien aske'd if iie wanted an escort 01 cavalry. Colonel'Lowndes ?aid: "Xo. Onie good man will do. 111 take Bufoi^d." On our way to Sherman's headquarters we came to the Yanke.e picket line at 1 o'clock at night. The vidette on the post could not speak English and seemed at a loss what to do. The vidette on the next post called out to him: "D?n it, make them dismount." We dismounted and awaited the appearance of the officer who had been called to ? escort us, when we remounted and accompanied him to headquarters. (As indicating the discipline in the federal army, I afterwards learned the vidette was arrested and punished for permitting us to get so close before he halted us.) When we reached General Sherman's headquarters we were treated very nicely. Soldiers were sent out to hold our horses. Colonel Lowndes ~w$nt in, but I stayed out and held zny own horse. When Colonel ' Lowndes had delivered his message and we had started back to our headW quarters, he said to me: "BufoH. .why didn't you let that soldier hold i i your horse? ' My reply was: "i don't let no Yankee hold my horse.' I We had come now t? j end oi things. The war was rv-, and the Confederate soldiers, c ..^aered b.v overwhelming numbers. u. ned theii thoughts homeward, and many alsc turned their faces thither. On the 26th of April I left the almost de% P - 1. ^ ,x /lir? /? wi \? O XT_ sorted camp lor riuuitr, nwuif; m.> airy horse, which was a very good one. With me were Witherspoon of Sumter and,Sanford Welborn of Union; perhaps others whom I can not now recall. As we rode out of Charlotte, N. C., we met Gen. Wade Hampton, who was going in the same direction, and we rode three or four .miles together, when he turned off into another road, saying he was going to cross the Catawba river in a bateau, and his horse would swim Wo nrnmiqpfl him We WOlrfd anuoo. meet fym at Due West, S. C., five weeks from that day and go with him/to join Gen. Kirby Smith's army beyond the Mississippi, the la^t remnant of the Confederate armies that had not surrendered. But before the time appointed rolled around everything had gone to pieces, Kirby Smith's army included, and of course we did not meet at Due West. General Hampton had not surrendered, ami neither had I; but sometime in the summer of 1865 I went to Columbia and took the oath of allegiance. General Hampton also must 1 " 1 ^" f aviia C\V nave IctKtll Lilt" Vixin Hi. aunvt biuiv.) he could not have taken his seat in the United States senate, to which he was elected by the South Carolina legislature and which he held many years, nor the offijce of national railroad commissioner, to which he was later appointed by President Grover Cleveland. When we reached the Catawba river the ferryman informed us that the change for ferrying a man on horseback was $25 or a plug of tobacco. I had a plug or so of tobacco, because I had drawn my share along with the others, though I did not chew; so I gave him a plug of tobacco, and my comrades, Witherspoon and Welborn, gave him $25 apiece. My plug of tobacco was worth more than the $50 in Confederate money. I reached home on.the 5th of May, 1865. Forty-five years after that I was going out of Raleigh, N. C.. on the train, and as we approached Durham I asked, so all in the coach could hear, if there A'as any one on board who could point out the Bennett House. An old man stood up and replied that he co-jH. and he ? J All CA +f\ mo Q C J'VJ'ULCU uui mc uuucv v" 111*. were passing. It looked just about as it did forty-five years before, except that the well sweep in the frpnt yr.x d was gone. In talking with Gen. Julian . S. Carr of Durham, N. G.. at the Confederate Reunion in Tais&, Okia., in 1^18, he told me he 'owned land around the Bennett House and that I was the only person he had ever seen who was present at tfce meeting there between Generals Johnston and n 1 TTa f V. o "f if ^n^rniciii* xic iuimcx ot4xu v <v became necessary to cover the house completely with corrugated iron in order to keep it from beins* carried ofT piecemeal as souvenirs. General Carr urged me to write ouc my rerollei'tions of the Johnston surrender. I might add that General Carr appointed me on his staff as assistant quartermaster general, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, when he was first elected commander of the Army of Northern Virginia Department* U. C. V., and his successor, General Brown of Virginia, honored me with the same appointment, as did General Carr again when he defeated General Brown at the Washington reunion in 1917. So I am entitled to be called "Colonel." The title of "Captain," with which my friends have honored me for several years, grew on me gradually. I was not "a captain in the army;" the highest-position I ever, reached there was "hifjh private." I appreciate these honors, but I am proudest of having been se letted by Col. Bnwlivts Lowndes as his courier and escort on his visit to the headquarters cf Gen. WiDiam T. Sherman the night of the 25th of April, 1865, when I was hardly more than a lad. After that historic ride together to Sherman's headquarters I never saw Colonel Lowndes again until we met in Columbia 37 years iater at General Hampton's funeral, the 13th of Aoril. 1902. Colonel Lowndes died at his home, in Charleston, S. C., December 31, 1919, in the 85th year of his age. Memorandum, or basis of agreement, made this 18th day of April, A. D. 1865, near Durham's Station, in the State of North Carolina, by and between Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army, and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, commanding the army of the United States in North Carolina ?both present. 1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo until notice is given by the commanding general, of rlny one to its opponent and reasonable time?say forty-eight (48) hours?allowed. 2. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal, and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war and to abide the action of ~ " i mi _ the State and federal autnomy. ine number of arms and munitions oi war to be reported to the chief oi ordnance at Washington City, subject to the future action of the congress of the United States and in the meantime to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively. 3. The recognition by the execu tive of the United States of the sev oral State governments on their officers and legislatures taking the oath; proscribed by the constitution of trn United States, and where conflicting State governments have resultet from the war the legitimacy of al shall be submitted to the suorem< . f L I :! We have just I which was parti. will now find at i meal, also huggi< ?ower on these g We appreciate y THI I ' ?* i court of the United States I 4. The resestablishment of all I the federal courts in the several j States with powers as defined by the, constitution ^nd laws of congress. 5. The people and inhabitants of; all the States to be guaranteed, so i far as the executive can, their politi-1 cal rights and franchises, as we:i as their rights of person and property, j as defined by the constitution of the j ; United States and of the Stages re-j spectively. I 6. The executive authority of the J government of the United States not; to disturb any of the people by rea-' son of the late war so long.as they! live in peace and quiet, abstain from i acts of armed hostility, and obey the ( laws in existence at the place of their, residence. ' , 7. In general terms, the war to i cease, a general amnesty, so far as the executive of the United States j can command, on condition of the | disbandment of the Confederate j armies, the distribution of the arms, [ and the resumption of peaceful pur- j suits by the officers and men hitherto ; composing said armies. Not being; fully empowered by our respective | principals to fulfill these terms, we ! individually and officially pledge our- J selves to promptly obtain the neces-! sary authority and to carry out the i above program. "> I W. T. Sherman, i Major General Commanding Army of j United States in North Carolina, j J. E. Johnston, General Commanding Confederate j States Army in North Carolina. The second agreement, Made April j i 26, 1865: i Terms of a military convention en-.! tered into this twenty-sixth (26) day! of Apri\ 1865, at Bennett's House, i near Durham's Station, N. C., be- j tween Gen. Joseph E. Johnston', j commanding the Confederate army, \ and Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman, com- j manding the United States army in ! North Carolina: < 1. All acts of war'on the part of J the troops under General Johnston's i "* ' /lofo | command to cease num tmo 2. A1 arms and public property to be deposited at Greensboro and delivered to an ordnance officer of the United States army. 3.. Rolls of all officers and men to j be made in duplicate, one copy to be j retained by the commander of the troops and the other to be given to an officer to be designated by General Sherman, each officer and man to give his individual obligation in writing not to take up arms against the United States : '.-ue until properly released from this obligation. 4. The side arms of officers and their private horses and baggage to be retained by them. 5. < This being done, all the officers and men will be permitted to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by' the United States authorities so long as they observe their obligation and the laws in force where they j may reside. W. T. Sherman, Major General Commanding United States Forces in North Carolina, j J. E. Johnston, J General Commanding Confederate j States Forces in North Carolina, j Supplemental Terms of Military Convention of April 26, 1865: 1. The field transportation to be loanefd to the troops for their "march - - ' -.4 to their homes and for suosequem ; use in their industrial pursuits. Artillery horses may be used in field 1 transportation, if necessary. 2. Each brigade or separate body to retain a number of arms equal to j one-seventh of its effective strength, I which when the troops reach the capitals of their States will be dis> posed of as the general commanding - the department may direct. 3. Private horses and other pri" ' onH vate property ot doui omtcto 1 men to be retained by them. ; 4. The commanding general of j the-military division of West Missis- j sippi, Major General Canbv, will be j requested to give transportation by] water from Mobile or New Orleans j 1 to troops from Arkansas and Texas'.; i>. The obligations of officers and ? soldiers to be signed by their immediate commanders. (5. Naval forces within the limits of General Johnston's command to A be included in the terms of this con-; ? vention. J. M. Schofield, ! ' Major General Commanding United; ' States Forces in North Carolina. I J. E. Johnston, ; General Commanding Confederate | States Forces in North Carolina. J ; Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Farewell Address to His Soldiers. General Orders No. 22. I ? Comrades: In terminating our ox' ficial relations I earnestly exhort you to observe faithfully the terms of pacification agreed upon and to discharge the obligations of good and - peaceful citizens as well as you have - performed the duties of thorough soldiers in the field. By such a 3 course you will best secure the com fort of your families and kindred X and restore tranquility to our coun1 try. 1 You will return to your homes ? with the admiration of our people, within the last few illy destroyed by fii /Mif r*lnr?n o lorrra t uui piav^t a laigv ? ss and wagons; and oods than can be b< our business. i PURCE1 ii V V. . f , ? * O ' *:W V \ * * ' . /" * * %* V [ ! Roads | Wonde | THE wond Springs of J feet such a ch comfort that t seem to ride li - Uvei-iana nas of larger cars base, with the ' I BASE! We have secure official league b Y. M. C. A. stoc [ values, at $1.50 | ! Gilder & won by the courage and noble dev I tion you have displayed in this lor ; war. I shall always remember wi1 j pride the loyal support and ger.eroi j confidence you have given me. I now part with you with deep r gret and bid you farewell with fee i ings of cordial friendship and wit [ earnest wishes that you may ha\ hereafter all the prosperity and ha] piness to be found in the world. J. E. Johnston, General. Official: Kinloch Falconer, A. A. G. NOTICE OF FINAL SETTLEMENT I will make a final settlement c the estate of Willie H. Leaphart i the Probate Court for Newberr County, S. C., on Wednesday th 25th day of June, 1920, at 10 o'cloc in the forenoon and will immediatel j thereafter ask for my discharge i i Guardian of said estate. I W. P. Leaphart, : Guardian. STOCKHOLDERS MEETING. The annual meeting of the stocl holders of the Farmers Oil Mill wi be held in the court house at Newbe rv, S. C., on Saturday, June 26, 192 at 11 o'clock, for the election of c rectors for the ensuing year, and f< che transaction of other busine= Please attend in person or bv proxy J. H. WICKER, 6-11 -:">t Manager. i days, been able to re] re and 'water some tin ?tock of corn, oats, - m a ? 1 you will also find o ought today at wholes LL COMP^ ^ /Am Seem Pressed i rfiil New Triplex Lerful Triplex ease of contr Overland 4 ef- and tire expe ange in riding wheelbaSe. >ad roads now - Equipment> i ke good roads. ^ start}ng. ! the steadiness three-speed * 1 of long wheel- high class, in light weight, general chara OVERLAND NEWBERRY CO. Phone 333 Newberry, S. C. BALLS ????1??????? [ d a good supply of alls from the Army :k. Regular $2.25 i ^ T and $1.75 each. i Weeks Co. | 0 rj !? { CITATION OF FLETTERS OF AD" MINISTRATION. [6 The State of South Carolina, l. County of Newberry. v By W. F. Ewart, Probate Judge: Whereas, Bertha Gary has made | suit to me to grant her Letters of | Administration of the estate and efj fects of George Gary _ I These are, therefore, to cite and ; admonish all and singular the kink-1 dred and creditors of the said George ill j Gary, deceased, that they be and apr-j pear before me, in the Court of Pro-| 0,1 bate, to be held at Newberry on Wed-1 li-jnesday, June 30th next, after publi-i or; cation hereof, at 11 o'clock in the is. j forenoon, to show cause, if any they . ! have, why the said administration ! should not be granted. Given under my hand this 7th day plenish our stock 1 le ago, ana you hay, flour and ur prices to be sole. iNY . / - " ' I M ' ?-w -V , t ' A?y " ' T , . ... ' * ' ' ( ^ / -V\-' j * Flat By Springs j ol and low fuel nse of 100-inch including Autoand lighting and transmission, is keeping with the cter of the caiv 1 i * t t 1 i # MHn ,4? v i~^-' \ I REMOVALSALE * 15 Per Cent Discount f July the first we will move to our new display rooms next door to The People's National Bank. , Due to limited storage space we are offering a 15 per cent. discount on TIRES, TUBES an^ ALL other accessories. We carry only Standard stuff such as Kelly-Springfield, and Good rich Casings and Tubes. Accessories, such as Hand and Electric Horns, Top and Seat Re-Covers, Top and Seat Dressing, Motometers, Spot Lights, Gabriel Snubbers, Hassler Shock Absorbers, Auto Soap snrl Polish, etc. Remember this 15 per cent, discount applies only till JUNE 30th, 1920, Central Garage Prosperity, S. C. of June Anno Domini, 1920. W. F. EWART, J. P. N. C. NOTICE OF JURY DRAWING Notice is hereby given that the undersigned jury commissioners for Newberry county will, in the clerk of courts office on Friday, June 18th, at 9 o'clock a. m., openly and publicly draw the names of 36 men to serve as i petit jurors at the court of general sessions which will convene on July 5th, 1920. We will also, at the same time and place, draw the names of 18 men to serve as grand jurors. f n S<*hriTrmert. \_f. w. . John C Goggans, J. B. Halfacre, Jury Commissioners for Newberry County. June 7th. 1920. _J \