I don’t know what the President would have done had he been left to himself, and had our army been unsuccessful, but he was than wrought up to a high state of excitement.  He wanted peace on almost any terms, and there is no knowing what proposals he might have been willing to listen to.  His heart was tenderness throughout, and, as long as the rebels laid down their arms, he did not care how it was done.  I do not know how far he was influenced by General Grant, but I presume, from their long conferences, that they must have understood each other perfectly, and that the terms given to Lee after his surrender were authorized by Mr. Lincoln.  I know that the latter was delighted when he heard that they had been given, and exclaimed, a dozen times, “Good!” “All right!” “Exactly the thing!” and other similar expressions.  Indeed, the President more than once told me what he supposed the terms would be:  if Lee and Johnston surrendered, he considered the war ended, and that all the other rebel forces world lay down their arms at once.

In this he proved to be right.  Grant and Sherman were both of the same opinion, and so was everyone else who knew anything about the matter.

What signified the terms to them, so long as we obtained the actual surrender of people who only wanted a good opportunity to give up gracefully?  The rebels had fought “to the last ditch,” and all that they had left them was the hope of being handed down in history as having received honorable terms.

After hearing General Sherman’s account of his own position, and that of Johnston, at that time, the President expressed fears that the rebel general would escape south again by the railroads, and that General Sherman would have to chase him anew, over the same ground; but the general pronounced this to be impracticable.  He remarked:  “I have him where he cannot move without breaking up his army, which, once disbanded, can never again be got together; and I have destroyed the Southern railroads, so that they cannot be used again for a long time.”  General Grant remarked, “What is to prevent their laying the rails again?” “Why,” said General Sherman, “my bummers don’t do things by halves.  Every rail, after having been placed over a hot fire, has been twisted as crooked as a ram’s-horn, and they never can be used again.”

This was the only remark made by General Grant during the interview, as he sat smoking a short distance from the President, intent, no doubt, on his own plans, which were being brought to a successful termination.

The conversation between the President and General Sherman, about the terms of surrender to be allowed Jos.  Johnston, continued.  Sherman energetically insisted that he could command his own terms, and that Johnston would have to yield to his demands; but the President was very decided about the matter, and insisted that the surrender of Johnston’s army most be obtained on any terms.