I'm John Betzer visiting with Professor Michael Vorenberg.

His new book is Lincoln's Peace, The Struggle to End the American Civil War.

It didn't end at Appomattox.

We go now to Bennett Place, which is a homestead near Durham, North Carolina.

Sitting together that day, two generals, combat generals, looking to continue the war,

except one was Joseph Johnston commanding thousands of troops who've been marching with him

to intercept or to block or to shadow or to confront the army

under William T. Sherman, who've been marching from Nashville to Atlanta and now they're

marching back north to bring Johnson to battle. However, Professor Sherman that day does something extraordinary. How does it, how does it speak

to the end of the war? Why is it controversial? The Bennett Place surrender comes about a week

after Appomattox.

And Sherman's Army of the West, as you say, is a major force,

and it's confronting a force under Joe Johnston that historians have some dispute,

but I would say it's around the size of Lee's Army.

Some say it's even bigger at this moment.

But I need to set the stage a little further because there's another aspect here that's terribly important that happened between the surrender at Appomattox on April 9 and this

moment around April 15, 16.

And that is that Lincoln has been assassinated.

And we, of course, know that Lincoln was assassinated,

and we of course know how shocking that is.

But consider how shocking it was to people at the moment.

No president had ever been assassinated.

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