Major-General William T. Sherman	General Joseph E. Johnston
General Johnston's Reaction to the Lincoln Assassination
As soon as the two men were alone in the large, sparsely furnished room that comprised the ground floor, Sherman reached into his pocket and pulled out Stanton's dispatch. His keen eyes focused upon Johnston's face. Beads of perspiration formed on Johnston's forehead and cheeks as his mind grasped the significance of the message. He "did not attempt to conceal his distress," Sherman said. He denounced Lincoln's assassination as "a disgrace to the age." He was afraid, he said, that it would cause Sherman to take a harsher attitude toward the South and make the task of peacemaking much more difficult. Sherman tried to relieve his distress. He did not blame him in any way, he said. He was sure neither Johnston nor Lee nor any other Confederate military man had had any part in, or knowledge of, the crime. But he "would not say as much for Jeff. Davis, George Sanders, and men of that stripe." Sherman told him nobody in his army except himself knew about it and he was fearful of, his men's reaction when it was announced. Some irresponsible civilian in Raleigh might say something like "I'm glad of it" or "It's just what he deserved," bringing to the city "a fate worse than that of Columbia." Johnston called the assassination "the worst possible calamity to the South."