When the surrender
of the two principal Confederate armies is discussed, those conversations focus
on two sets of interactions: Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant at Appomattox and
Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman at the Bennett Place. Hovering around
the periphery of those discussions is John C. Breckinridge. In the final days,
he counselled both Lee and Johnston.
John C.
Breckinridge kind of slips through the cracks of history. While there are scores
of biographies on Lee and Johnston, there are only three on Breckinridge. Born
in Kentucky, he graduated from Transylvania University, practiced law, and
served as an officer in the 3rd Kentucky Volunteers during the war
with Mexico. Breckinridge served two terms as a Kentucky legislator, two terms
in the U.S. House, as Vice President of the United States under President James
Buchanan, and was serving in the U.S. Senate after his term as Vice President
expired. Described as not being a “proponent of secession or of extreme state
rights views,” he did run against the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket as a Democrat in
1860.[1]
Breckinridge might just be the most widely-traveled of Confederate generals. Commissioned as brigadier general in November 1861, he saw service in Kentucky, fought at Shiloh, was promoted to major general in April 1862, was in Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Port Hudson, and at Murfreesboro. In 1863, he led a division at Jackson, Chickamauga, and a corps at Chattanooga. Breckinridge then moved east, leading the Confederate forces at New Market in May 1864, Cold Harbor, and then back to the Shenandoah Valley to defend it against attacks by Federals, eventually leading a corps under Early’s command during the march on Washington, D.C. In January 1865, Breckinridge became the sixth and last Confederate Secretary of War.
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| Breckinridge, Lee, and Johnston. (LOC) |
Following the breakthrough
of Confederate lines below Petersburg on the morning of April 2, 1865, Richmond
was abandoned. Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet boarded the last
train out of Richmond that night, leaving the city a blaze. Breckinridge was
not with the group. He rode out of the city early on the morning of April 3.
Breckinridge took command of a wagon train moving toward Amelia Court House, having
at least one brush with Federal cavalry. In Farmville on the night of April 6
or morning of April 7, Breckinridge found Lee and discussed events, with Lee
wishing Breckinridge to deliver a message to President Davis.[2]
While it is not
known what all they discussed, Breckinridge does write Davis on April 8. Amelia
Court House was occupied by the Federals on April 5; some 800 Federals had been
captured near Rice’s Station on April 6; serious Confederate losses had been
sustained-- “High Bridge and other points.” It was Lee’s plan to try and get to
North Carolina, Breckinridge wrote. He then outlines the disposition of a few
other Confederate commands, like Lomax and Echols. “The straggling has been
great, and the situation is not favorable,” Breckinridge concluded. Was
surrender something that the two had discussed?[3]
Breckinridge rode toward
the south, escaping Federal troops encircling Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia. Lee surrendered on April 9 at Appomattox Court House. On April 11,
the day after Davis moved south to North Carolina, Breckinridge arrived in Danville.
He set out the following day and reached Davis, meeting with the president at
the home of John Wood. It was Breckinridge that brought the official word of
Lee’s surrender. That night, Breckinridge met with Joseph E. Johnston.[4]
According to Johnston,
it was his opinion, along with that of P.G.T. Beauregard, that the “Southern
Confederacy was overthrown.” Johnston told Breckinridge this and believed that
it was Davis’s responsibility to exercise this “power . . . without more delay.”
Breckinridge promised to give Johnston the floor to express this view. Johnston
was given the opportunity and told the president “that under such circumstances
it would be the greatest of human crimes for us to attempt to continue the war.”
Davis asked for the views of his cabinet, with Breckinridge, Stephen Mallory,
Secretary of the Navy, and John H. Reagan, Postmaster General, concurring. Only
Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin held out hope. Davis agreed to allow
Johnston to begin talks with Sherman.[5]
Davis, with the
Confederate cabinet, including Breckinridge, set out from Greensboro, heading
to Charlotte, on April 15. Breckinridge was with Davis, and, on the following
day, learned that Johnston and Sherman had opened talks. Johnston and Sherman
began meeting at the Bennett Farm near Durham, and Johnston wanted Breckinridge
to help with the negotiations. It was Johnston’s plan (and Davis’s) that the
civil departments be surrendered as well. Not reaching a conclusion at the end
of the first day, Johnston requested that Breckinridge join him. Breckinridge
arrived, along with Reagan, and joined Johnston in drafting a surrender proposal.
When Johnston returned to the Bennett Farm, Breckinridge was also there, and it
was Johnston’s idea that Breckinridge join the negotiations. Sherman demurred.
Breckinridge was one of those civil officials. Johnston reminded Sherman that
Breckinridge was also a major general in the Confederate army, and Breckinridge
joined in the debate. Eventually, terms were reached on April 18 and sent to
various presidents.[6]
While standing in
the yard of the Bennett farm, waiting for copies of the documents to be made,
Sherman took Breckinridge aide. Sherman told Breckinridge that “he had better
get away, as the feeling of our people, who had as such announced Mr. Lincoln, of Illinois, duly and properly elected the
President of the United States, and yet that he afterward openly rebelled and
taken up arms against the Government. He answered me that he surely would give
us no more trouble, and intimated that he would speedily leave the country forever.”[7]
Of course, Breckinridge would leave the country, heading to Cuba first, then
Great Britian and Canada, before a tour through Europe. Upon being assured that
he was covered under President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation of
December 1868, Breckinridge returned to Kentucky. He died in Kentucky in 1875.
Breckinridge’s
council with Joseph E. Johnston is well documented. While what Breckinridge and
Lee discussed in Farmville on April 7 is seemingly lost to history, the pair
had met frequently after Breckinridge assumed the office of Secretary of War,
including a three-day stint after Breckinridge failed to get the Confederate
senate to pass a resolution demanding Davis open negotiations with Lincoln. Historian
William C. Davis, in an essay on the roles of Breckinridge, Lee, and John A.
Campbell, believes that, at that Farmville meeting, Breckinridge and Lee possibly outlined what
Lee could do if he was cornered and forced to surrender.[8]
[1] Davis,
The Confederate General, 1:127.
[2] Knight,
From Arlington to Appomattox, 494; Davis, Breckinridge, 507.
[3] OR,
Vol. 46, pt. 3, 1389.
[4] Davis,
Breckinridge, 509.
[5] Johnston,
Narrative of Military Operations, 397-99.
[6] Johnston,
Narrative of Military Operations, 400-405.
[7] Sherman,
Personal memoirs, 2:353-54.
[8] Davis,
“Lee, Breckinridge, and Campbell,” in Janney, Petersburg to Appomattox,
155.
