and have agreed on general terms, which, if approved at Washington, will, in my judgment, terminate the war and provide for all the armies of the Confederacy. I have shown the stipulations to your officer, and leave to choose your course, either to accept the terms of Lee's army to await a few days the more general arrangement contemplated with Johnston, which, fact, is approved by Mr. Davis. If your wish to disperse your men let them deposit their arms and let a field officer sign a parole for them and send me the list. Any officer may safely come in, as hostilities are suspended.

Yours, truly,

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 71.
Washington, April 19, 1865.

I. By direction of the President, the Department of Virginia, and such parts of North Carolina as may not be occupied by the command of Major-General Sherman, and including the Army of the Potomac, will constitute the Military Division of the James.

II. Major General H. W. Halleck, U. S. Army, is assigned to the command of the Military Division of the James.

III. General Orders, Numbers 65, current series, is hereby revoked. *

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS,
HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, Raleigh, N. C., April 19, Numbers 58.
1865.

The general commanding announces to the army a suspension of hostilities and an agreement with General Johnston and other high officials, which, when formally ratified, will make peace from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. Until the absolute peace is arranged a line passing through Tyrrell's Mount, Chapel Hill, University, Durham Station, and West Point on the Neuse River will separate the two armies. Each army commander will group his camps entirely with a view to comfort, health, and good police. All the details of military discipline must still be maintained, and the general hopes and believes that in a very few days it will be his good fortune to conduct you all to your homes. The fame of this army for courage, industry, and discipline is admitted all over the world; then let each officer and man see that it is not stained by any acts of vulgarity, rowdyism, or petty crime. The cavalry will patrol the front line; General Howard will take charge of the district and General Schofield, in Raleigh, its right and rear. Quartermasters and commissaries will keep their supplies up to a light load for their wagons, and the railroad superintendents will arrange a depot for the convenience of each separate army.

By order of Major General W. T. Sherman:

L. M. DAYTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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* See p. 230.

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