The North:  On the first of May, 1865, President Johnson ordered the appointment of nine army officers as a commission to try those accused of killing President Lincoln; one of the commissioners was General Lew Wallace, who would later write Ben Hur.  The next day, Johnson accused the Confederate government of complicity in the assassination, and put a $100,000 reward on the capture of President Jefferson Davis.  On May 3, Lincoln’s funeral train reached Springfield, Illinois, and he was buried there the next day.  (See the April 2005 Newsletter for information on a display of items from Lincoln’s funeral train that will be on display through most of this month in Council Bluffs, Iowa.)  On the 5th, Connecticut ratified the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery.  May 9th saw the formal appointment of the trial commission; Joseph Holt, the judge-advocate general of the army, was to be the chief prosecutor.  On May 10, President Johnson declared armed insurrection against the government “virtually at an end.”  On the 12th, the eight assassination defendants pled “not guilty.”  On May 17, General Philip Sheridan was appointed commander of the district west and south of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers; due to his destructive “march to the sea,” this appointment was strongly opposed in the region affected.  On the 22nd, President Johnson declared that southern ports (except four in Texas) and trade east of the Mississippi would be opened, except for contraband of war.  The grand review of the Army of the Potomac was held in the nations capital on May 23.  The next day, the army of General William T. Sherman had its review.  Sherman’s troops were obviously more casual than the formal Potomac troops.  On May 27, Johnson ordered the release of all prisoners held by his military, with a very few exceptions.  Two days later, he issued a general amnesty to southern soldiers, excepting certain specific groups, such as those owning more than $20,000 worth of property and those who ranked high in the southern armies and government. 

The South:  On the first of May, 1865, the fleeing President Jefferson Davis and his party reached Cokesbury, South Carolina.  (Davis planned to reach the west coast of Florida, and then to travel by boat to Texas.)  They reached Abbeville, South Carolina, the next day.  By May 9, Davis and his entourage reached Dublin, Georgia, but Federal troops pursuing were beginning to close in.  On the 10th, Davis and a number of his party were captured by the 4th Michigan Cavalry near Irwinville, Georgia; the prisoners and captors headed for Nashville.  On May 22, Davis landed at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was lodged in chains. 

Western Theater:  Richard Taylor, commander of Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and east Louisiana, surrendered to General Edward Canby at Citronelle, Alabama, on May 4, 1865.  West of the Mississippi, there was fighting on the 4th near Lexington, Missouri, and on the 5th near Readsville, Missouri.  On May 9, General Nathan Bedford Forrest disbanded his troops.  On the 10th, William Clarke Quantrill, the most noted Confederate guerrilla, was mortally wounded near Taylorsville, Kentucky.  (Quantrill helped train Cole Younger and Frank and Jesse James, who would later become noted outlaws of the west.)  On May 11, General M. Jeff Thompson surrendered at Chalk Bluffs, Arkansas, under the same terms as had Lee at Appomattox.  The next day, Federals under Colonel Theodore H. Barrett briefly captured the Southern camp at Palmitto Ranch on the Rio Grande; they abandoned the camp before sundown, fearing a counter attack.  Fighting continued there the next day, with the Federals holding the camp at the end of the day, and at the end of the last significant land battle of the Civil War.  At Mobile, Alabama, 20 tons of captured Confederate gunpowder exploded, with some 300 casualties on May 25.  On May 26, all Confederate troops west of the Mississippi surrendered on the now-familiar Appomattox terms.

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OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE MONTH
     I am informed that proof can be had at Charlotte, N. C., that Davis received there intelligence of the murder of President Lincoln, spoke of it, exulted at it, and expressed the wish that Vice-President Johnson should also be killed. Ascertain whether you can obtain any proof of the truth of this report, and if so forward the witnesses immediately to report to the Secretary of War.


                               


Lieut. Col. THEODORE COX,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Twenty-third Army Corps:

     SIR: I have the honor to report in the matter of inquiry as to whether Jeff. Davis made while here expressions in approval of the assassination of President Lincoln, and also in relation to President Johnson, that after careful inquiry and investigation I cannot learn that Davis made use of expressions other than to Mr. Bates, who left this place for Washington, accompanied by Lieutenant Binney, aide-de-camp, on the 21st instant, and before I received instructions to <ar100_572> investigate the matter. On my arrival here I heard mentioned the remarks Davis made in the hearing of Mr. Bates, and ascertained that report had been made of the same. The absence of Mr. Bates, at whose house Davis was entertained whilst here, renders it difficult to obtain any information. I am satisfied that Davis did not talk on the matter in public, and that what he said was to his own immediate party or particular partisans. I shall still endeavor to learn whatever can be ascertained, and will report again.

     Very respectfully, your obedient servant,



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