Negotiating for Raleigh
— Carolinas Campaign —
(preface)
The Carolina Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the March to the Sea. Sherman objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee Army of the Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered at Bennett Place near Durham on April 26, ending the Civil War in the East.
(main text)
As Union Gen. William T. Sherman army closed in on Raleigh along the North Carolina Railroad from Goldsboro, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston forces prepared to evacuate the capital and retreat west. On April 12, 1865, two blocks in front of you, a train pulled into the station at 7 p. m. after a harrowing journey from Raleigh that began at 10 a.m. It carried two former North Carolina governors, William A. Graham and David L. Swain, with a letter from Gov. Zebulon B. Vance to Sherman requesting a meeting to discuss peace terms.
The train departed Raleigh with a locomotive pulling a tender and single coach flying a white flag of truce. Johnston, learning of the peace mission, had Gen. Wade Hampton stop the train and reverse it outside the city. Soon, however, there were "bullets whizzing through the pines" as the train rolled between skirmish lines, and then Federal cavalrymen surrounded it. Union Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick detained commissioners for several hours, then sent them on to Sherman, who was headquartered here in present-day Clayton. Federal soldiers cheered the flag of truce, hoping it meant the end of hostilities. Graham and Swain emerged from the train "dreadfully excited at the dangers through which they had passed. "Sherman accepted Vance letter, agreed to safeguard the state government and spare the city, and gave them dinner. He wrote the governor and promised all the aid "in my power to contribute to the end you aim to reach, the termination of the existing war."
Graham and Swain returned to Raleigh the next day. Railroad hand Bob Harris rode atop the coach holding persimmon branch with the flag of truce. Raleigh was safe.
(captions)
(center) Letter from Vance to Sherman
Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration; Gov. Zebulon B. Vance
Courtesy North Carolina Office of Archives and History
(upper right) William A. Graham
Courtesy Library of Congress; David L. Swain
Courtesy North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina
Major funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century
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