Pope, John, as Union General

Autograph letter (unsigned) by General John Pope, 4 pages (9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 253 x 197 mm) on a pair of bifolia headed Head Quarters, Military Division of the Missouri, St. Louis, 19 April 1865, to C.S.A. General E. Kirby Smith, being an apparent  first draft; written in pencil with several deletions and emendations, on Head Quarters, Military Division of the Missouri letterhead, docketed on verso; reinforced at folds, a few light stains.

Autograph letter (unsigned) by General John Pope, 4 pages (9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 253 x 197 mm) on a pair of bifolia headed Head Quarters, Military Division of the Missouri, St. Louis, 19 April 1865, to C.S.A. General E. Kirby Smith, being an apparent first draft; written in pencil with several deletions and emendations, on Head Quarters, Military Division of the Missouri letterhead, docketed on verso; reinforced at folds, a few light stains.
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"[B]y prolonging a contest ... you will be made responsible for unnecessary bloodshed & of the devastation & suffering which must follow the movement of large armies ..."  General Pope strenuously encourages C.S.A. General Kirby Smith to surrender.  Ten days after the fall of Richmond and five days after the assassination of President Lincoln, Smith and his Trans-Mississippi Department refuse to submit to the Union:  "I have the honor to transmit enclosed further information [not present], by the hands of Col. T. Sprague U.S. Army, the Chief of my Staff, certified copies of a correspondence between Lt Genl U. S Grant ... and General R E Lee Genl in chief of the Confederate Armies leading to the capitulation of the latter with the Army of Northern Virginia.  Official communications received today informs me that negotiations leading to the same result are now in process between Major Genl W T. Sherman and U.S. Price in South Carolina and Genl J E. Johnston C[om]m[an]d[er of] confederate forces .. . Authentic though not official information has also reached here, of the surrender of Mobile ...  In view of these results, accomplished and in process of speedy accomplishment, I am authorized by the General in Chief of the Armies of the U.S. ... [to offer] the Army under your command the same terms accorded & accepted by Genl Lee.  It seems not improper for me to write [to] your attention ... that a large part of the great armies of the U.S are now available for operations in the trans Mississippi Department ... & that by prolonging a contest ... for any ... purpose ... you will be made responsible for unnecessary bloodshed & of the devastation & suffering which must follow the movement of large armies into Texas, extensive military operations in that State.  By accepting the terms proposed, you will preserve Western Louisiana & Texas from the devastation & misery which have been the lot of nearly every Southern state East of the Mississippi, and you will aid in resting peace on this outstretched (?) country...

"The duty of an officer is performed and his honor maintained when he has portrayed resistance until all hope of success has been lost.  Any further continuance of hostilities simply leads to the certainty of inflicting upon a people incapable of successful resistance all the horrors of violent suppression (?).  Wisdom & humanity alike reprise that this contest under these circumstances should be brought to an end without further suffering or shedding of blood.  I am unwilling that it should be charged upon the Military authorities of this Military Division that they omitted a single effort to restore peace without further bloodshed.  In all good & with earnestness, therefore, I propose you these terms accepted  by your General in Chief & beg to express the hope that you will accept them & spare the necessity of further hostile operations ..."  Although the Civil War is generally considered to have ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, several other Confederate generals actually kept their troops in the field after the capitulation of the Army of Northern Virginia.  One of the most obstinate Confederate leaders was E. Kirby Smith; he and his soldiers were the last Confederate force to surrender in June 1865.