Johnston said he could not accept these terms. Johnston said he had the power to surrender all the Confederate armies everywhere in the South he said he would do so if Sherman agreed on a political settlement.

VOICE TWO:

The two generals met again the next day. Sherman listened as Johnston explained his demands. Most of them, Sherman accepted. He believed that President Lincoln wanted to help the South as much as possible. He had heard Lincoln say that he wanted to make it easy for the southern states to return to the Union.

When the agreement was completed, Sherman sent it immediately to Washington for approval by the new president, Andrew Johnson. The agreement seemed to give the South everything it wanted.

VOICE ONE:

General Joe JohnstonInstead of surrendering to Sherman, the Confederate Armies would break up. The soldiers would return to their homes, taking their weapons with them. They would sign a promise not to fight again and to obey state and federal laws.

In exchange for this, Sherman said the president would recognize state governments in the south which promised to support the Constitution. He said federal courts would be established in the south again. And he said the president -- as well as he could -- would protect the political rights promised to all people by the Constitution of the United States and the state constitutions.

And Sherman said the United States government would not interfere with any of the southern people, if they remained peaceful and obeyed the laws.