war including joseph johnston in north carolina and richard taylor in alabama as well as confederate forces and their allies in the trans-mississippi region and indian territory. indian territory. this talk was part of a symposium on the closing of the civil war, cohosted by longwood university and appomattox court house national historical park. it is about an hour. >> i want to introduce our first speaker. robert dunker lead -- robert dunkerly. he has worked at nine different historic he has worked at nine different historic sites. he has written two books that are not listed, but i'm sure he will be talking about them

today. two books i think we have them for sale in the bookstore. the most recent 1 -- i grabbed the wrong one. what is the title of the most recent one? "to the bitter in." -- "to the bitter end." and the second one, the final days of the army of tennessee. it is the trans-mississippi and indian territory. it was one of the florida regiments, the last surrendered group. robert dunkerly. [applause] mr. dunkerly: good morning.

i want to thank the organizers for having me. i really appreciate the invitation. it's great to be here with so many people interested in this topic. what i would like to do is talk about all of these surrenders. i do want to compare these surrenders. talk about how different they are, because each of them unfolded in its own way. and each of these surrenders happens independently and they each have a fascinating story and talk about how the civil war will set the stage for reconstruction. all right. i'm not going to spend a lot of time on appomattox. a couple points i do want to make our the appomattox

campaign, for all participants, union and confederate, is going to be pretty grueling. as the army's move from richmond to petersburg in the wet as they are going to be marching and fighting every day. it will be five days covering 100 miles. the weather was wet. it was cool, our perl -- early april. think about the state of the roads, inc. about the state of the army is, especially the confederate army, which has been pretty ecstatic. all the sudden the artillery as to be pulled out, getting them out of the earthworks and putting them on the road. keeping the army moving, keeping it together, and as you all

know, things can unravel along the way. one confederate soldier wrote day and night blended together. it was constant. there were skirmishes in the final days of the campaign. another confederate soldier said it was constant marching. they talk a lot about hard marches on long days with bad roads. you can see that they covered a lot of ground. you can see that there are battles along the way like sailors creek. by the time the army's get to appomattox, they have done a good bit of fighting.

when the armies arrive at appomattox court house there is even going to be a final battle on the surrender. no one knew that there was going to be a surrender that day, the morning of april 9. here we go past sailors creek. the largest battle of the campaign. 8000 confederate soldiers captured on one day. as the army of northern virginia drips into appomattox courthouse the union cavalry under general custer has gotten in front of the confederate army, blocking the road they intend to use. the goal all along for robert e.

lee is to get the army down. lee cap makes the terms to the south because union forces keep blocking the way but the union armies -- can't make the turn to the south because union forces keep blocking the way. this map shows the final battle which takes place on the morning of april 9. confederates initially pushed a -- the union troopers back. as reinforcements arrived, they realize they cannot make it through. the union army is surrounded on three sides of the river on the other side. of course, lee and grant will meet that very afternoon of april 9. one of the things that makes the appomattox surrender you knew there is an active campaign and right up to the last minute there is fighting. we do not know who the last casualty was, there is probably

no way to know because the fighting spread out across the village. one of the possible candidates is montgomery from pennsylvania, that is his photograph. as the flags of truce go out and fighting dies down, both sides have a chance to pause and catch the reps -- their breath and for the confederates, this is the first time they have had to process things. think about a grueling week. we have all been in situations where you push yourself and have long days and lose track of things and make bad decisions. you are fatigue mentally -- fatigued mentally and physically. when word comes out that there is a flag of truce, it is a shock. and really shakes them to their foundations, it is really hard

to accept. they have been fighting and all of a sudden the war will be over very quickly. the surrender meeting takes place in the mclean house, a private home chosen for the occasion. there are about a dozen witnesses in the room. of course when you have a dozen or so witnesses you are going to get a dozen or so different stories. one of the frustrating things is that a lot of the accounts do not agree. we agree on a lot of the general details but not necessarily the order of things and some accounts mention one thing and others do not. in general we understand the flow of the conversation and what the generals talked about. the terms that grant offers to

general lee were inspired by president lincoln who wanted to end the war easily and quickly. the confederate soldiers will be allowed to return to their homes. they have to turn over their military equipment -- that means surrendering rifles and military property like cannons and wagons. government property or military property has to be turned over and then they will be free to go. those terms are accepted and for most people, that is what they think of when they think of appomattox. but that is really just the beginning because now this whole thing has to be put into motion and the surrender is going to take place over the next couple of days. here we have the mclean house, the original photograph on the right the house was torn down later on. the house you see on the right is a reconstruction.

the confederate soldiers are issued parole passes. these are very important because when lee surrenders, the war is not over, it is just lee surrendering the army of northern virginia. as the confederate soldiers go home they are entering other war zones, places where there are active fighting. they need proof that they have surrender and have permission to go home to protect themselves from union troops and also confederate soldiers might pick them up as deserters. so the union army is going to print parole passes for the confederates. this is the pattern that they use, it is called a check

pattern, i think you can see why. they are important for a few other things as well. general grant indicated that they could be used for transportation on union military railroads and ships. for a lot of the men who lived near working railroads or can get home by ship, the union military will transport them. a lot of the man that lived in the deep south went to your -- norfolk, on ships, and got home that way. the parole passes will be important for a lot of reasons. they allow the soldiers to get food, they can stop at union supply bases and draw rations. the parole pass provides protection rations, and transportation -- if there is hampered patient -- if there is

transportation where you are going -- to get home. like i said, over the next three days the surrender is put in motion. the first branch that will surrender is the cavalry on april 10. if you are wondering why the cavalry goes first, think about how much food a horse eats every day, and think about the state of these confederate horses and think about appomattox is a small county and does not have a lot of resources. they need to get them out of there. the cavalry will turn over their weapons. the men could keep horses if they owned them as personal property, a part of the terms. the next day, april 11, the confederate artillery will surrender their guns. that is simply a process of turning over the artillery union -- the artillery to union officers. they had a good bit of artillery

with them. probably the most famous part of the surrender of these three days would be the infantry which would surrender weapons on april 12. this is a six-hour process, most of the day, for one division of -- at a time of confederate infantry to march into a village and to stack their rifles. lined up on the road is a division of union infantry and this was carried out with a great deal of ceremony and formality. the union officer of the day was general joshua chamberlain and the confederate officer was general gordon. chamberlain orders his men to salute the confederates as they come in by having them shoulder arms which is a command where they hold the rifle at their side. gordon will have the confederates returned the salute, shoulder arms -- return the salute, shoulder arms.

for the most part, this was done with dignity and respect, there were occasions when the soldiers talk to each other even though there was supposed to be silence. we know that some regiments recognized each other. a south carolina unit recognized troops from maine and recalled how they had captured the flag of that regiment in 1862. for the most part, though, this was done with respect. at the end of the date of the day the union soldiers will have stacks of rifles laid down in the road to collect. the confederates were to surrender battle flags as a part of the agreement, battle flags being military property. they are used for identification and communication i am battle. some units back in their camps

hidden their flags, tucked them into their coats. some divided them for souvenirs. some units burned their flags. one account shows that in north carolina regiment through theirs -- threw theirs into the appomattox river. it might still be there. the third arkansas did something unique. their flight was on a captured union flagstaff so when they turned over their flag they left a note that said "dear mr. yankee, please return this flagstaff to the ninth maine. it was captured in 1864." and it was signed big rebel. [laughter] for the most part this was done with respect on both sides and after the confederates returned to camp they were issued all caps's and were free to start the journey home. the journey home as a whole another fascinating topic -- is a whole other fascinating topic. as i understand it, the latest

total that we have for appomattox is 28,231. this is the smallest of the major surrenders. what makes appomattox unique when we talk about the others is that both armies are in contact. we have this formal ceremony have a series of formal surrenders over a couple of days. the commanders meet face to face and have one meeting and get everything settled right there. everything else is going to be entirely different as you are going to see. after the war, the mclean house was dismantled in an attempt to put it on display as a forest

attraction. unfortunately the house was not moved, funds ran out and it sat exposed to the weather and souvenir hunters. and so the mclean house disintegrated. it later on in the national park service would reconstruct it with whatever materials were available. the original house is gone. while this is unfolding -- and some of these events overlap -- president davis and his party are retreating south. they have gone to danville to set up a temporary capital. you continue moving south and learn about the surrender when they are in greensboro, north carolina. they are basically following the interstate through charlotte into upper south carolina. along the way, various members of the confederate cabinet break off.

some want to go home to attend to personal affairs. we have just total breakdown the cavalry escort, a lot of that gets dismissed when we get into georgia and south carolina. davis will end up being by himself with a small escort and rejoins his family in her window -- in irwinville and he is captured on may 10. that is the background of these events. i know you heard yesterday about the surrender in north carolina. that will be the next one that happens. to cover that briefly, the confederate army in north carolina is the army of tennessee which fought most of his career in the west. the large battles at shiloh and

chickamauga. the army of tennessee is transferred to north carolina to defend the state from general sherman's invasion. they fight some small battles -- not small but these small bottle -- battle of avery's bill, the large battle of ben's bell. margin to early april -- march until early the army of april, tennessee is reorganized in smithfield. the commander will get word that richmond has fallen and lee wants to meet them near the virginia/north carolina border. johnson will pull back and retrieve through raleigh and attempt to link up with the army of north virginia. as you know that will not happen. the army of tennessee will keep

moving west and end up near the city of greensboro, an important supply base. had been throughout the world. the army will spread out like you see on the map here. various camps around greensboro. the school going -- is going to be a very different experience. the union army is not in contact with them. they are pursuing but not aggressively. the union army has gotten as far as raleigh, which is off to the right of the map here. it is at this point that sherman and johnson begin to negotiate and receive communications and will finally meet face to face at the bennett farm which is under him -- in durham. that is johnson and the confederate secretary of war breckenridge who was also a commissioned general. sherman and johnson both share a desire to end the war. they both realize that it is over, the confederacy cannot maintain armies in the field they cannot produce anything they cannot transport anything. armies have penetrated every

corner of the confederacy, just about. they are going to try to endless with lincoln's vision, as quickly and easily -- and this -- end this with lincoln's version, as quickly and easily as possible. truman goes beyond his authority into political matters, -- sherman goes beyond his authority into political matters, leaving governors intact. by the time they met something important that happened in washington -- lincoln's assassination. the northern congress is in no mood to negotiate. those terms are rejected and in the meantime, news has filtered down to the confederate camps around greensboro that we are going to be surrendering.

we will get to go home like lee's soldiers did and that is a relief because they have been passing through north carolina on their way home and passing through the camps with perl passes -- parole passes. and then they will get the word, not yet, the fighting is still on. they get orders to march and possibly engage the enemy and it is at that point where we have a lot of desertion, a breakdown in command. whole units refused to obey

orders. several confederate officers right that they never saw anything like it. sherman and johnson will meet again at the bennett farm and sherman is instructed to offer the identical terms that correct gave the -- grant gave lee at appomattox. and again that news will filter down to the common soldiers in the cap's. but -- camps. but unlike the men of the army of northern virginia who were harassed, the men of the army of tennessee at a very different and in many ways more frustrating experience because there was all of this uncertainty, waiting for long periods of time to get conflicting information. the war is off and on and off again. what we have over several days in april is mass desertion.

several thousand men desert the army of tennessee. and they are taking weapons with them. so we will have armed men roaming the countryside. it is hurricane donna and very dangerous. and here is the interior of the bennett farm -- very chaotic and very dangerous. and here is the interior of the bennett farm, it is a reconstruction on the original foundation. there is not much in greensboro but there is this nice marker downtown that talks about the army of tennessee surrendering there. the camps are surrounding the city. i like this monument because it summarizes the career of the army of tennessee. it for all of the major battles

and ended the career in carolina. -- fought all of the major battles and ended the career in carolina. there is chaos in downtown greensboro itself. there is looting by a combination of desperate civilians who are hungry soldiers, drifters, refugees and, right in downtown greensboro, some of the last shots fired by confederate

soldiers are at other confederate soldiers brought in to maintain law and order. the greensboro surrender is very chaotic and does not have that spirit of reunification we think of with appomattox. general johnston commanded not just the army of tennessee but also the department, the geographic region. when johnston surrendered, he is surrendering 89,000 troops. it is the largest surrender of the civil war. some of the key differences, the union army is not there so the confederates do it on their own, self policing. the men are instructed to stack weapons in camp and issued parole passes and they are free to go. the parole passes work the same for them as far as transportation and rations but it is a very different experience and some units will actually march home with weapons and flags flying in violation of the terms. in fact, johnston had gotten word from president davis by

this time is down near charlotte that he wanted johnston to not surrender to sherman and pull the army back and keep it in the field. johnston had a line of retreat. he could have moved away whereas lee was surrounded so that is a key difference. justin chose to disobey the orders of his commander-in-chief and negotiated the surrender -- johnston chose to disobey the orders of his commander-in-chief and negotiated the surrender. there is no formal ceremony. in fact, only one regimented sent in to oversee -- is -- regiment is sent in to oversee the equipment. one union regiment. in the midst of all of these confederates. a few union officers are sent in to oversee the parole passes and one of the officers says it was an uneasy feeling to be surrounded by confederate soldiers, many of who are

getting drunk and disorderly at night. the next surrender that i want to move to is alabama. on the left here is general richard taylor commands the department of alabama, mississippi, and east louisiana. taylor has heard rumors about genia and north carolina and will -- virginia and north carolina. the commander of the union department of mississippi is general camby on the right there. it will be the only general who oversees two surrenders. i want to point out a few things on my map. down here is mobile.

the union army is going to assault before protecting mobile -- the fort protecting mobile on april 9. the confederates will pull back up to meridian, mississippi. in these towns up here in mississippi and alabama, the confederate army is going to concentrate and the union army is going to concentrate -- capture mobile and move into the interior of alabama towards the capital of montgomery. in late april, having gotten word of what is happening to the east, taylor and camby will start to communicate and will meet between their armies. the meeting happens that the mcgee farm.

-- the meeting happens at the mcgee farm. just like bennett farm and appomattox, a private home. it was near the railroad, that is why they chose it. they will get theirre two different ways. general camby chose it. they will get ther two different ways. general camby wants to make it a formal and hospitable occasion. taylor comes down the railroad line with one aide on a railroad hand car being pushed by two slaves. they will meet at the mcgee house and quickly come to terms. this is the mcgee house. it is still there. it is the original -- only original surrender location anywhere, to survive.

the original house in the original location with the original furniture inside. the chairs and table. it is a private home. it was open as a museum but did not have enough visitation to stay open. i got to meet the owner and he took me inside. the problem that we have though is that just with sherman and johnston, once news of lincoln's assassination gets out everything has to stop. and so the cease-fire is going to expire. and so taylor and camby will have to meet again. the second meeting will take place just a little to the north in the town of citronelle which is also on the railroad line. this time they get there the opposite way. taylor comes down on a train.

camby leaves mobile on a train but the tracks are broken up and they cannot get any farther so the confederate train will have to go down and pick them up. the union contingent will arrive on a confederate train. now this second meeting will take place at what they call the surrender oak, a large oak created with huge, spreading branches. this is what it looks like today, it was lost in a 1906 hurricane but for years it was a landmark and it is still a source of pride for the town of citronelle. it is just a roadside stop at the historic marker.

in his department taylor has 42,000 men. at the second meeting which takes place on may 4, taylor will agree to the same terms as appomattox. the men are free to come home. just like with the north carolina situation, the confederate troops are camped up here in the union army is down here in mobile and moving into montgomery but there are no union soldiers incite -- in sight when these men lay down weapons in camp and begin the journey home. to the north, in upper mississippi, general nathan forrest at his cavalry command -- had his cavalry command.

he will disband his cavalry -- again, there are no union troops in the vicinity but being under general taylor views instructed to have -- he is instructed to have his men turned and equipment. there is a nice monument that marks were they were camped. let's move a little more to the west, the trans-mississippi, the largest geographic department in the confederacy. it embraces this entire area. louisiana, arkansas, texas missouri, and the indian territory which today is oklahoma. the commander of the department is general kirby smith. that is not his picture up there, you will see him later. this will be one of the more chaotic events that unfolds.

by 1865 the bulk of the confederate army of the trans-mississippi is camped around shreveport, louisiana in the upper corner of louisiana. union forces are down here in port hudson, henry, and new orleans -- baton rouge, and new orleans. the armies are not in contact and the confederates will do what they want to do without union troops to oversee things. general kirby smith does not want to surrender even though he is getting news about other events that are going on. but the situation is deteriorating rapidly because his men are starting to desert and become disorderly. the confederate troops are from four primary states, texas arkansas, louisiana, and missouri. and it is the louisiana troops that are deserting in droves because that is where they are

and they can get home easily. it seems that the missouri troops are the most loyal or most reliable. on may 21, we are going to have a large private -- riot breakout in shreveport and troops break into warehouses and civilians joined in, plundering and looting and a large amount of drunkenness, very disorderly. general smith realizes that his army is falling apart so what he wants to do was move his army further to the west where he can we organize it and keep it out of reach of union forces.

so smith wants to move its headquarters to marshall, texas which is just over the line in texas. marshall was an important supply center for the confederacy. it was the capital of the government in exile of arkansas and missouri which were both largely overrun by union forces. and also in marshall you have the governors of texas and louisiana. so all of these governors are gathered her.

the governors have a meeting and give instructions to smith to make as good of terms as he can. they want the terms to save there will be no revenge or reprisals for anyone involved in the confederate government. they want the soldiers to be able to go home and the government officials free of reprisal. they want to end the fighting like that, have everything that they want. smith never gets to consider that because as he is in the process of moving from shreveport to marshall, things just continue to get worse for the army in shreveport. and his subordinate, general simon d buckner on the left, has been left in command of the army while smith is a way -- a way. and buckner and the officers realize they have to do something so he will move to poor hudson to new orleans -- port hudson to new orleans where he will meet with camby's representative on the right to -- on may 26, buckner and osterhouse negotiate the surrender. the meeting took place in the st. charles hotel was you see on the left in new orleans.

it was a city landmark. it is gone today, it is a parking lot. there is not even a historic marker. we know very little about the meeting on michael bennet placer appomattox -- unlike bennett place or appomattox. it was not recorded. but they do agree that the confederate soldiers will surrender under the same terms as appomattox meaning turning over military equipment and receiving parole passes and getting everybody home. because this was done without the commanding general, there is going to have to be another meeting. forget that, just one interesting fact. -- before i get to that, just one interesting fact. general bruckner surrendered earlier in the war at tennessee so he has the honor of surrendering confederate armies twice during the civil war.

while that happens in new orleans, general smith arrives in marshall, texas. and you learn -- and he learns what has happened and is not happy. i want to briefly read his address to his soldiers. a lot of you know about general order number nine, lee's farewell address to his soldiers. very elegant. this is general smith's address. "soldiers, i am left a commander without an army, a general without troops. you have made your choice. it is unwise and unpatriotic but it is final. i pray you may not live to regret it. the enemy will occupy your country. you have voluntarily destroyed

your own organization." not much she can do because by this point as the news filters -- he can do because by this point as the news filters back to shreveport, a lot of men do not even wait for a parole pass, they just go home. the final surrender will take place in galveston, texas, on board a ship. the uss jackson. and that is going to be on june 2. we are into early june. that is where general smith will sign the paperwork officially surrendering the department of the trans-mississippi. one of the lesser-known

surrenders that i think is really fascinating happened in arkansas and i want to talk about this for a minute. on the left is general jeff thompson commanded troops in central arkansas -- who commanded central troops in central arkansas. they have been cut off from support. they are a part of the trans-mississippi but they are very isolated. the union forces are going to start to move into upper arkansas and reach out to general thompson. at a place called chalk bluff which is a river crossing -- there it is -- on the arkansas/missouri border thompson will -- he is a tough negotiator. he demands to know the terms that lee. and appomattox -- got at appomattox and for his men to get the same terms. when he is reassured he agrees to surrender.

this takes place on may 11. and, let's go back. on the map here, there is bluff -- shop bluff -- chalk bluff in the upper area of arkansas. it is in jackson port that about 5000 confederate troops -- and they are all arkansas troops -- are going to stack their weapons and receive parole passes and rations. some union officers will move in and they will meet with general thompson there. this is going to be about 7000 total. the final events in jackson port

take place on may 25. again, thompson is not happy with how things have unfolded. a lot of his troops have been deserting. not surprisingly. and a great deal of desertion and lack of discipline among his men. thompson will stand on board a steamship as his troops are on the shore and this is his address to them. and again, think about order number nine. "many of the 8000 men i see around me, very many of you have been skulking the last three years in the swamps. i see many faces that have not seen any mortal enemy for three years. those of you who had arms, with very few exceptions, have left them at home. -- at home."

he goes on to berate them. "i warned those of you have -- who have been nothing but cowards in the -- and thieves that retribution awaits you and i hope that the authorities will hang you and they will do it sure." that is general thompson's farewell speech. [laughter] again, it is similar to the other surrenders that the confederates are isolated. there are no union troops there. they are able to carry out terms on their own it is very chaotic and very lawless in arkansas. let's go back to the map. the last one that we will talk

about of course is the indian territory, oklahoma. one thing really needs to be made clear, the indian nations do not surrender. they renegotiate. because the indian matrons saw themselves -- nations saw themselves as allied with the confederate government. the war in the indian territory is very complex and we could do a whole session on that. but there was a lot of division among the tribes. some stayed loyal to the union and some were split. most side with the confederacy. by 1865, a large portion of the territory has been occupied by union forces and union indians. eventually as the news comes out that the trans-mississippi

department has been surrendered which does include this area the different indian leaders will start to discuss among themselves internally within their tribes and amongst the other leaders of tribes and a -- they will, one by one approach union officers about cease-fires. the first to do this is the choctaw. they renounce allegiance to the confederacy and negotiate a peace treaty. the most famous you may have heard of was on june 23 when the cherokee, seminole, and creek will do so at doakesville. down here in the lower corner of the indian territory, nearby is fort townsend. doakesville is a trading post and had been occupied as a supply base.

we do not know any details, we do not know where they met in the village or what they talked about, it was not reported and there is nothing left of it -- recorded and there is nothing left of it today. the last will be on july 14 when the chickasaw will renegotiate terms with the united states. the different indian groups will all agree to meet with united states representatives at fort smith, arkansas, which is the main post on the frontier. in september they will reaffirm these new treaties. again, from the union point of view, they have just renounced the confederate freebies. -- treaties. the reason that we focus on standards that he was a confederate general, the only native american to become a general, but he is also a chief of the cherokee and one of many

renegotiations and not even the last one. that is how things die down in indian territory. the fighting there was very brutal, very bitter. stan done here, peter pilsen cherokee. asa matthews is a kernel who -- is the union officer, he is a colonel, who sees these leaders. this is a state site. are no buildings anymore. there are a couple of markers. that is june and july that this is happening. there are other isolated

incidents all across the south and i will just point out a few. one of the most famous confederate units is the brigade of kentucky troops and they are cut off from larger forces in georgia. they will march into augusta georgia in may and surrender to union troops from tennessee. men from a border state surrendering to union troops from a southern state. all across the south you will have small, isolated commands learning about the larger events and finding their way to the nearest union forces to surrender. near walden, north carolina: eastern north carolina, a artillery unit wandered around for a couple of weeks. one soldier wrote that they were avoiding the arms of an octopus trying to avoid cavalry controls and finally realized or is nowhere to go and they make their way to raleigh to surrender. as the summer unfolds and the union forces occupy the self and -- south and the fighting dies down, what you will have his former soldiers, former military leaders -- is former military soldiers, former

military leaders, civilians, slaves, and union occupying forces all facing very uncertain futures. so many unanswered questions, so much lingering tension and bitterness. and that is a session for another time but think about the chaotic state of things and -- as things end. what happens at appomattox sets the tone for other surrenders but a lot of the details unfold differently.

look at the twists and turns. every other surrender had to have two negotiations, some in different places. different scenarios played out. so really fascinating. i think it indicates that this movement from wartime into peace is going to be very challenging. thank you very much. [applause] do we have time for questions? spokesperson: we have time for one or two questions. come down to the microphone and state your name and your question and bert will respond. audience: my name is zero line

-- darrell lang. along the rio grande, the surrender was an unofficial gentleman's agreement between the north, general barrett i believe, and kirby smith. but the battle of the ranch, if i remember, on the night of the troll through the 13th of may, -- 12 or the 13th of may general grant was up against southern colonel -- i can't remember his name. anyway, the latter gentleman had six french cannons. which brings to bear my question -- was the french foreign legion, where those forces involved in that battle at telemedia ranch? i read an account that the

french foreign legion under the federales in mexico were actually involved. can you enlighten us? mr. dunkerly: the french were intervening in mexico when the u.s. was distracted with the civil war. i do not think any french troops were involved in the battle. i do think the confederates were getting supplies across the border immediately before the battle. i do not think any french or mexican troops were involved but i am not an expert. >> that was colonel ford, in his report. that he had french cannons. thank you very much. >> ron wilson. as part of general grant's provisions, and his terms of surrender that generally

accepted, was a requirement that duplicate roles of soldiers be kept. the roles were later printed in volume 15 of the southern historical society papers. were there any roles kept in greensboro or any other surrenders? mr. dunkerly: i do not think i have come across that. i don't think so. largely in the other surrenders, the confederates dispersed pretty quickly. they had already been dispersing. at appomattox, everybody is kind of held together. they could not physically get away. i don't think so but i am not 100% sure. >> richard kingsley. the army of the potomac and sherman's army, they go through the grand review and

demobilization is pretty organized. the union forces in the balance, is that is chaotic as the surrenders were? do you get me just of my question? -- do you get the gist of my question? mr. dunkerly: no -- >> how organized were the demobilization of the union armies compared to the grand review and the subsequent demobilization that starts almost immediately? mr. dunkerly: i have not researched that. they have a process. there were forces left to occupy the south and the majority of the troops are going to be moving back to their home states. i do not know the details but

they had a system. it worked pretty efficiently. i think by the end of the summer or the fall, a large percentage of the union army was on the way home. i do not know the details. >> we can take the last two questions quickly. >> the rest of the army in northern virginia, i know fitzley moved out to the appomattox area and john mosley, who had a small command. can you stick to the confederate calvary and other troops that were not with lee and how they managed to surrender? mr. dunkerly: sure. i've even got a photograph we can refer to. most of the calvary in the athletics campaign, a large amount of the confederate calvary got away from appomattox and made it to lynchburg.

in one of the city parks in lynchburg is this monument. one of the local calvary units mustered in in 1861 on the fairgrounds and arrived back 4 years later to dispense on the same spot. almost 4 years to the day. it's a neat monument. once they learned about what happened at appomattox, they disband. there are other isolated units in the shenandoah valley in southwest virginia. they go to the nearest union commander and surrender or they will just disband and go home. some go back to appomattox to get parole passes. they want that piece of paper. there's no one particular route that they take. >> why did the majority of the indian tribes sign with the confederacy? mr. dunkerly: look at their history. they has been removed, the trail of tears.

the u.s. government and u.s. military is there traditional enemy. -- their traditional enemy. they're anxious to ally themselves with the enemy of the u.s. hoping they can gain more independence. it just seems natural. of course, as things deteriorate they are quick to turn around at the end of the war. it is because of the treatment of the united states government. they've been removed from their homelands and resettled in oklahoma. they saw a chance to gain a measure of independence back. thank you. >> thanks, bert. for those who have more questions, he will be in the lobby signing his books. you can ask questions. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015]

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> the civil war bears here every saturday at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern time. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> next on american history tv we visit baltimore's bno railroad museum where actor fritz klein per trays at brown lincoln. they talk about public figures from the south and north and lens for reconstruction. he also discusses his upbringing in rural kentucky and reflects on his career. this is about 45 minutes. lincoln: ladies and gentlemen, my friends and fellow citizens i am very pleased to have this opportunity to be with you this afternoon.