war
vessel in Hampton Roads to discuss terms of peace. Lincoln demanded
three things: 1. That the Confederate armies be disbanded and the men
sent home. 2. That the Confederate States submit to the rule of
Congress. 3. That slavery be abolished. These terms were not accepted,
and the war went on. Sherman marched northward through the Carolinas and
was reenforced from the coast; every seaport in the Confederacy was soon
in Union hands; Sheridan finally dispersed Early's troops, and joined
Grant before Petersburg; and the lines of Grant's army were drawn closer
and closer around Petersburg and Richmond.

Plainly the end was near. On April 2 Lee announced to Davis that both
Petersburg and Richmond must be abandoned at once. The rams in the James
River were immediately blown up, and on the morning of April 3 General
Weitzel, hearing from a negro what was going on, entered Richmond and
found that Lee was in full retreat. Grant followed, and on April 9
forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, seventy-five miles
west of Richmond. Grant's treatment of Lee was most generous. He was not
required to give up his sword, nor his officers their side arms, nor his
men their horses, which they would need, Grant said, "to work their
little farms." Each officer was to give his parole not to take up arms
against the United States "until properly exchanged"; each regimental
commander was to do the same for his men; and, "this done, each officer
and man will be allowed to return to his home." Immediately after this
surrender 25,000 rations were issued to Lee's men.

[Illustration: The house in which Lee and Grant arranged the surrender]

%451. End of the Confederacy.%--What little was left of the
Confederacy now went rapidly to pieces. On April 26 Johnston surrendered
to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina. A few days later the victorious
army started for Richmond, and then went on over battle-scarred
Virginia to Washington. May 10, Jefferson Davis was captured. When Lee
fled from Richmond, Davis hurried to Charlotte, N.C., with his cabinet,
his clerks, and such gold and silver coin as was in the Confederate
Treasury. But the surrender of Johnston forced Davis to retreat still
farther south, till he reached Irwinsville, Ga., where the Union cavalry
overtook him.

%452. The Grand Army disbands.%--As this was practically the end of
the Confederacy, the great Union army of citizen soldiers, numbering
more than 1,000,000 men, was