I would have confiscated the real estate of all those who had voluntarily taken an active part in the Rebellion. I would have permitted all to run away who desired to and expatriate themselves as they had tried to do by bloody war,--and some of them by so going away justified the propriety of my suggestion. Their lands so forfeited I would have divided among the private soldiers of the army, to be theirs at the end of five years of occupation.
The terms of surrender of Johnston's army agreed to by Sherman1 I would have revoked, as President Johnson did with the advice of his Cabinet, but I should not have advised that Halleck be sent down to violate a truce, as was done, because that was breaking faith. But there was a justification for the action of Johnson and his Cabinet in going so far as they did. I know the information upon which they acted. They were informed of the fact that Johnston called to his assistance the cabinet of Jeff Davis to draw those terms of surrender, and they were drawn by Mr. Reagan, one of the members of Davis' cabinet. As evidence, fac-simile of them is produced on the next three pages by courtesy of Brev. Brig.-Gen. H. V. Boynton.
It is true Sherman does not copy Reagan's words exactly, but he copies his paper so far as the substance is concerned, wording it differently so as to make it his own, or, as Johnston says, to make it fuller, and he adds that Sherman wrote his copy with Reagan's before him. These terms had been submitted to Davis and his cabinet, and they were of the unanimous opinion that such terms would restore State governments to power and give the Confederacy a chance for existence. Especially would they save slavery, because when the
