The president spent much of the day in his office, seeing to endorsements and appointments. Among them was an endorsement for Corporal Hayden De Lany, of the Thirteenth Ohio Volunteers, to attend the US Military Academy at West Point. (De Lany entered West Point in July 1865, and received his commission as a second lieutenant in September 1867.) It was certainly the type of endorsement that Lincoln enjoyed making.1

The president also replied to a telegraph that General Grant had sent to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. “I understand that rebel prisoners in the North are allowed to take the oath of allegiance and go free,” the general said. “I think this is wrong. No one should be liberated on taking the oath…who has been captured while bearing arms against us except where persons of known loyalty vouch for them.”²

Any Confederate prisoner who took the oath of allegiance also promised to obey and support the Constitution of the United States. General Grant did not trust either the rebel soldiers who took the oath or their motives. He strongly suspected that the prisoners were taking the oath only as an expedient—after swearing allegiance to the United States, they would cross the Confederate lines and rejoin their regiments. Confederate soldiers did not change sides unless they had an ulterior motive, at least not as far as Grant was concerned. If any rebel wanted to take the oath, they could always “come into our lines if they do not wish to fight.”³

Lincoln intercepted Grant's telegram to Secretary of War Stanton—the president frequently visited the War Department's telegraph office to read the latest communiques from his generals, including General Grant. “I see your dispatch to the Sec. of War, objecting to rebel prisoners being allowed to take the oath and go free,” Lincoln responded. “What has been done is that Members of Congress come to me from time to time with lists of names alleging that from personal knowledge,” he went on to explain, “and evidence of reliable persons they are satisfied that it is safe to discharge the particular persons named on the list, and I have ordered their discharge.”4

He went on to say that most of the released Confederate prisoners came from the border states, not the seceded Confederate states, and that only two of the “liberated” persons rejoined the army instead of returning home. “Doubtless some more have proven false; but on the whole I believe what I have done in this way has done good rather than harm.” Those who agreed with Lincoln's point of view present this as evidence of his compassion for Confederate prisoners of war, too many of whom were suffering dreadfully in Northern prisoner of war camps. Critics complained that Lincoln was not behaving wisely, and that he was more soft-headed than soft-hearted in his dealings with the rebels.

General Grant was more than satisfied with the president's explanation. “Your dispatch of this morning shows that prisoners of war are being exchanged only in accordance with the rule I proposed,” he replied on the afternoon of March 9. He went on to say that officers from Camp Morton and Rock Island prisoner of war camps had misinformed him that “great numbers were being discharged on taking the oath of allegiance.” These officers were under the impression that any and all persons “who desired to do so” were being allowed to take the oath and immediately were being sent home, which is how Grant received the mistaken impression that anyone who took the oath could “go free.” The president corrected Grant's misinformation, and also put his mind at rest.5

Fighting continued in North Carolina. Confederate troops under Braxton Bragg kept trying to break the Federal line held by Jacob Cox and his men near Kinton. At Monroe Crossroads, Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton attacked Union forces commanded by General Hugh Kilpatrick. The Federals were taken completely by surprise, and ran from the field in confusion. According to myth, Kilpatrick was still in bed when the attack began—with a young woman from Columbia, in some versions—and was so flummoxed that he did not have time to put his trousers on before he ran out of his tent. Trousers or not, Kilpatrick managed to rally his men, turn them around, and counterattack. This time, it was Wade Hampton's turn to be surprised—Kilpatrick's unexpected charge drove them back in a full retreat. The episode is known historically as the Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, but in legend it is the Battle of Kilpatrick's Drawers.⁶

General Sherman was on the move from Randalsville, North Carolina, toward Fayetteville. He was impatient to make contact with forces under John M. Schofield, which were said to be at Wilmington, but was only able to move at a snail's pace because of bad roads. But his most immediate goal was Fayetteville, with its arsenal and its factories for making weapons and ammunition. When he reached Fayetteville, Sherman planned to destroy everything—the factories and machine shops, along with all the muskets and cannon in the arsenal and anything else he could put his hands on.