Aware as he was of Lee’s recent message to Grant about ending the war through a military agreement, on Friday, March 3, 1865 Abraham Lincoln send Ulysses Grant a message, signed by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, instructing Grant “to have no conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of Gen. Lee’s army…you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands; and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost, your military advantages.” This message, clearly noting the chief executive’s control over policy decisions, established the basic parameters for all Union generals in the surrender negotiations soon to come, including Grant and Sherman.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.