The moment his final decision was made Davis at once commissioned Vice
President Alexander H. Stephens, who knew Lincoln personally, to go to
Washington to make the proposition for an armistice and begin the
negotiations for a permanent peace on the day Lee should make good his
promise.
The letter with which Stephens started to Washington asked on its face
that the President of the United States arrange for an exchange of
prisoners which would be prompt and effective and prevent all suffering
by Northern men in Southern climates and Southern men in Northern
prisons. Davis had asked again and again that all prisoners be
exchanged. The Federal War Department had obstructed this exchange until
thousands of Northern soldiers crowded the prisons of the South and it
was impossible for the Confederate authorities to properly care for
them. Medicine had been made contraband of war by the North and the
simplest remedies could not be had for the Confederate soldiers or their
prisoners. Behind this humane purpose of Stephens' mission lay the
bigger proposition, which was a verbal one, to propose peace on Lee's
victory on Northern soil.
Lee's army lay on the plains of Culpeper during the beautiful month of
May. The vast field was astir with the feverish breath of preparations
for the grand march.
Pages:
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477