Surrender Terms Quotes

When Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner suggested a negotiated surrender of Fort Donaldson, which protected Nashville, TN, his West Point classmate and friend wired back:

Warning of the problem of multiple contacts and negotiations with the enemy in the Vietnam War:

General Grant had the fort surrounded and the confederate general hoped to surrender the fort and allow him and his men to leave to fight again some other day. This was often agreed to so the military objective would be gained without the casualties of a battle. However, Grant and Lincoln did not simply want to gain forts and territory. They wanted to end the war. Those Confederates who survived the battle were taken prisoner and were out of the fight.

Lee was trying to negotiate a peace treaty as a part of his his potential surrender. However, Grant would not be drawn into that, Lee was NOT the government of the Confederacy, and Grant had served with him earlier in the Mexican War and knew he was not a fanatic on teh subject of slavery and race as most of the Southern leaders were. They werenthe ones who would have to be captured or driven to surrender. Grant could have gotten authoirioty as he was in almost real time contact with President Lincoln by telegraph. However, neither wanted to negotiate peace with Lee. Instead, Grant gave Lee and his men incredibly gracious termsof surrender which he and Lincoln hoped would casue the avarage Southern soldiers to feel better about surrender for although Lee's was the largest Confederate Army, there were still others out there that had to be dealt with,

The Falkland Islands were very close to Argentina and far from England. The Argentineans had offered the few Islanders large sums of money to become part of Argentina, but this was rejected. Argentina was a military dictatorship with a terrible record of human rights abuses. The Falklanders preferred their traditional British style of government and affiliation. The Argentinean generals assumed that if they invaded, once they controlled the Falkland Islands, they could negotiate with the British over issues of sovereignty. They misinterpreted the American UN Delegate and concluded that America would not support Britain in a military response; they also assumed that while the British would complain in the UN, they would never go halfway around the world to invade the islands, now occupied and reinforced by Argentina. Thatcher would not negotiate unless the invaders left the islands. They did not do so voluntarily. The Argentinian military had been abusing their own citizens for so long that they had an inflated concept of their fighting ability. Britain freed the islands militarily, and Argentina was humiliated. The military government fell bringing democracy to Argentina—the only good that came out of the Faulklands War.

The New Jersey Militia had mutinied and Washington dispatched Howe to put down the mutiny. Most Americans today do not think of George Washington as particularly blood thirsty, but when he was angered he was very tough. In this case ordering executions before the culprits were apprehended or tried or given a chance to explain themselves. What made matters worse for Washington was that there had been other mutinies of troops even in nearby Pennsylvania and America soldiers had plenty to be resentful about. They were ill fed, hardly clothed, and poorly armed. In addition they were often paid late. Washington himself had been the biggest complainer to Congress, but as much as he sympathized with the mutineers complaints, he would not tolerate a mutiny.

This was one of several petitions that were sent to the President by groups of scientists who were working on the development of the atomic bomb. The major objective of the scientists was to demonstrate the power of the bomb before it was used. The President did not select this policy of demonstration as the invasion of the Japanese mainland was imminent and America only had two bombs—one a uranium and the other, plutonium. If the demonstration would not produce the unconditional surrender, then there would only be one weapon left and it would take months to produce another. This was the strongest argument against using up a bomb. It was somewhat borne out when the Japanese did not surrender after the first bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. It took the second.

The ultimatum was rejected, Cromwell’s forces took the town and massacred the defenders as well as many civilians. See {632366}.