Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/287

Rh arrival of the news of the murder of Lincoln. A thunderclap from the blue sky could not have struck us more unexpectedly and frightfully. Our good, good Lincoln! Even now, whenever my thoughts drift to some other object and then return to this terrible event, I am obliged to ask myself whether it really can be true. The murderer who did this deed has killed the best friend of the South. It is really patricide. The people of the South may thank God that the war is over. If this army had been obliged to march once more upon the enemy, not a single house would have been left standing in their path. The soldiers sat about their camp-fires, first in gloomy consternation; then you might everywhere have heard the words, “We wish that the fight were not over yet!” It is fortunate that it is over. If the war were continued now, it would resemble the campaigns of Attila. The evening after the arrival of the fearful news, all the guards in the city were doubled, and after dark the streets were all closed and every person who ventured out was arrested, because it was feared that the soldiers would vent their rage by setting fire to the city. The precaution was by no means superfluous. It will be long before I can live down these impressions. Our triumph is no longer jubilant.

Sherman has been negotiating with Johnson for the last two days. I fear that Sherman will attempt to excel Grant as mediator, since Grant has excelled him as leader in battle. Immediately after we had marched in here, he committed a great mistake. He invited the rebel governor of North Carolina, Vance, to return here, and to summon his legislature to convene. Fortunately, Vance has not yet come.