The armies of the Union were closing in from every point of
the compass. Grant was every day pushing his formidable left wing nearer
the only roads by which Lee could escape; Thomas was threatening the
Confederate communications from Tennessee; Sheridan was riding for the
last time up the Shenandoah valley to abolish Early; while from the
south the redoubtable columns of Sherman were moving northward with the
steady pace and irresistible progress of a tragic fate.
A singular and significant attempt at negotiation was made at this time
by General Lee. He was so strong in the confidence of the people of the
South, and the government at Richmond was so rapidly becoming
discredited, that he could doubtless have obtained the popular support
and compelled the assent of the Executive to any measures he thought
proper for the attainment of peace. From this it was easy for him and
for others to come to the wholly erroneous conclusion that General Grant
held a similar relation to the government and people of the United
States. General Lee seized upon the pretext of a conversation reported
to him by General Longstreet as having been held with General E.O.C. Ord
under an ordinary flag of truce for the exchange of prisoners, to
address a letter to Grant, sanctioned by Mr. Davis, saying he had been
informed that General Ord had said General Grant would not decline an
interview with a view "to a satisfactory adjustment of the present
unhappy difficulties by means of a military convention," provided Lee
had authority to act.
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