General Johnston met General Sherman at Durham, on the 17th of April, at the house of Mr. Bennett, but after a long and tedious controversy, nothing was agreed upon.  A second meeting took place at the same house next day, at which General Breckinridge was unofficially present, when terms of an armistice were agreed to until the department at Washington could be beard from.  President Davis had already gone South with such of his cabinet as chose to follow him, the whole settlement of difficulties now devolving upon General Johnston alone.

But just as all negotiations were progressing finely the news came of President Lincoln’s assassination, throwing the whole of the Federal Army in a frenzy of excitement.  While the troops of the South may not have given their assent to such measures, yet they rejoiced secretly; in their hearts that the great agitator, emancipator—­the cause of all our woes—­was laid low.  To him and him alone all looked upon as being the originator, schemer, and consummater of all the ills the South had suffered.  However the hearts of the Southern people may have changed in the thirty years that have passed, or how sadly they deplored his death, even in a decade afterwards, I but voice the sentiment of the South at the time when I say they hated Lincoln with all the venom of their souls, and his untimely taking off by the hands of the assassin partly consoled them for all they had suffered.

Orders came from General Sherman to General Johnston to the effect that part of their agreement was rejected by the Washington Authority, and notifying the latter that the truce would be called off in forty-eight hours.  This occasioned a third meeting between the two commanders to make such changes that were required by the authorities.  On the 26th General Johnston sent a communication to General Sherman requesting a meeting at same place for further conference.  This was agreed to and the meeting took place, where such terms were agreed upon and signed as was thought to be in accordance with the wishes of the Washington Government.  Rolls were made out in duplicate of all the officers and soldiers, and on the 2nd of May the troops marched out, stacked their arms, were given paroles, and slowly turned away and commenced their homeward journey.

A military chest, containing $39,000, had been received from the Government in Richmond and divided out among the soldiers, being $1.29 apiece.  All the Wagon and artillery horses and wagons, also, were loaned to the soldiers and divided by lot.  A few days’ rations had been issued, and with this and the clothes on their back, this remnant at a once grand army bent their steps towards their desolate homes.  It was found advisable to move by different routs and in such numbers as was most agreeable and convenient.  Once away from the confines of the army, they took by-ways and cross country, roads, avoiding as much as possible the track of the late army.  The troops of Kershaw’s Brigade, on reaching the borders of their State, each sought for himself the easiest and nearest path home.  The Western Army made their way, the most of them at least, to Washington, Ga., where there was yet railroad communication a part of the way through Georgia.