On April 18, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Gen. William T. Sherman negotiated the largest surrender of the American Civil War. Roughly 90,000 Confederates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida were to lay down their arms. The memorandum or basis of agreement issued on the 18th established an armistice while both sides sought approval for the agreement which provided, among other things, for the return of arms, re-establishment of federal courts, and granting of general amnesty to both soldiers and citizens. Secretary of War, William Stanton believed Sherman had gone too far in addressing civil matters and sent the generals back to the drawing board.
Sherman and Johnston reconvened on April 26 at the Bennett Place, and Gen. John M. Schofield drafted terms that closely resembled the Appomattox terms. Hostilities were to cease, each brigade could keep 1/7 of its small arms, the rest were to be deposited at their state capitols, all officers and men would be paroled upon taking a loyalty oath, soldiers were to retain their horses and private property, and the U.S. army would provide field, rail, and water transportation to the newly paroled troops. Sherman also furnished 250,000 rations for his former foes.