“Yes,” said Lincoln, “I believe that is so.  I usually leave historical details to Mr. Seward, who is a student.  It is, however, my memory that King Charles lost his head.”

It soon became evident that there was no real basis for negotiations, and Stephens and his associates had to return to Richmond disappointed.  In the same month, was adopted by both Houses of Congress the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibited slavery throughout the whole dominion of the United States.  By the close of 1865, this amendment had been confirmed by thirty-three States.  It is probable that among these thirty-three there were several States the names of which were hardly familiar to some of the older citizens of the South, the men who had accepted the responsibility for the rebellion.  The state of mind of these older Southerners in regard more particularly to the resources of the North-west was recalled to me years after the War by an incident related by General Sherman at a dinner of the New England Society.  Sherman said that during the march through Georgia he had found himself one day at noon, when near the head of his column, passing below the piazza of a comfortable-looking old plantation house.  He stopped to rest on the piazza with one or two of his staff and was received by the old planter with all the courtliness that a Southern gentleman could show, even to an invader, when doing the honours of his own house.  The General and the planter sat on the piazza, looking at the troops below and discussing, as it was inevitable under the circumstances that they must discuss, the causes of the War.

“General,” said the planter, “what troops are those passing below?” The General leans over the piazza, and calls to the standard bearers, “Throw out your flag, boys,” and as the flag was thrown out, he reports to his host, “The 30th Wisconsin.”

“Wisconsin?” said the planter, “Wisconsin?  Where is Wisconsin?”

“It is one of the States of the North-west,” said Sherman.

“When I was studying geography,” said the planter, “I knew of Wisconsin simply as the name of a tribe of Indians.  How many men are there in a regiment?”

“Well, there were a thousand when they started,” said Sherman.

“Do you mean to say,” said the planter, “that there is a State called Wisconsin that has sent thirty thousand men into your armies?”

“Oh, probably forty thousand,” answered Sherman.

With the next battalion the questions and the answers are repeated.  The flag was that of a Minnesota regiment, say the 32d.  The old planter had never heard that there was such a State.