Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia

Audience

As commander of all Confederate forces and the most respected leader in the South, Robert E. Lee was Grant's primary audience. Lee's reaction to the surrender terms would determine how his own troops and the remaining Confederate forces in the field would view them. Despite their exhaustion and hunger, the rebel troops still under arms were battle-hardened veterans who would fight on at the slightest sign from their commander. In offering such generous surrender terms, Lincoln hoped to communicate to his former Whig allies throughout the South that they could convincingly promote the cause of reunion in their respective states and join him as allies in Reconstruction.

In a larger sense, the entire population of the southern states was the intended audience. With his own Upper South roots, Lincoln was well aware that a harsh peace stressing their treason would have stoked the fires of resentment and hatred burning beneath the surface. In a narrower political sense, Lincoln wanted to seize the initiative on Reconstruction from his radical adversaries, such as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, by striking a conciliatory keynote at war's end.