[MAY 2, 1865.-For Sherman to Grant, referring to Wilson's operations in Georgia, see Vol. XLVII, Part III, p. 371.]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, Savannah River, Ga., May 2, 1865.

Major General GEORGE H. THOMAS,

Commanding Department of the Cumberland:

GENERAL: Captain Hosea is here en route for Nashville from General Wilson, now at Macon. He got possession of that place just as he learned of the suspension of hostilities that preceded the final surrender of Johnston's army at Greensborough. I have sent orders to General Wilson to parole his prisoners there on the same terms as prescribed to Johnston and Lee, and to return to the neighborhood of Decatur, Ala., and then report to you or me. I came to Savannah from Raleigh to send stores up to Augusta by boat for Wilson and to take steps to occupy Augusta. I will have much to tell you at some future time of the details of my negotiations with Johnston which have been misconstrued by the people at the North, but I can afford to let them settle down before telling all the truth. At my first interview with Johnston he admitted the Confederate cause was lost, and that it would be murder for him to allow any more conflict, but he asked me to help him all I could to prevent his army and people breaking up into guerrilla bands. I deemed that so desirable that I did make terms, subject to the approval of the President, which may be deemed too liberal. But the more I reflect, the mora satisfied I am that by dealing with the people of the South magnanimously we will restore four-fifths of them at once to the condition of good citizens, leaving us only to deal with the remainder. But my terms were not approved and Johnston's present surrender only applies to the troops in his present command, viz, east of Chattahoochee. The boat is in motion and I write with great difficulty, and will wait a more convenient season to give you fuller details.

Truly, your friend,

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,
Nashville, Tenn., May 2, 1865.

Brigadier General L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I respectfully recommend the promotion of Brigadier General R. W. Johnson, U. S. Volunteers, to the rank of major-general, U. s. Volunteers, or, if there be no vacancy in the full grade, that he may receive appointment to the brevet rank of major-general, U. S. Volunteers,f or long and gallant service in the field. Brigadier-General Johnson was assigned to the command of a brigade in General Sherman's (afterward General Buell's) army in October, 1861, and with it participated in the battle of Shiloh and in the siege of Corinth, besides having, on many other occasions, sharp engagements with the enemy. In July, 1862, he was assigned to the command of a body of cavalry and sent in pursuit of Morgan, and in the following December, by order of Major-General Rosecrans (then commanding Department of the Cumberland), he took command of the Second Division (Right Wing), Fourteenth Army Corps, afterward Second Division, Twentieth Army