Lee glared at Grant.

"Sir, I saw a certain compassion in you this morning. Your words now challenge that first assumption."

Grant leaned forward and stared at Lee intently.

"Sir, we are soldiers. We have seen nothing but hell the last two years. You know and I know your cause is lost. To me, the wasting of but one more life would be a sin. Yes, there has been a threat offered, but also a hope, a hope that you and I can work together to end this terrible slaughter and return peace to our land. Sir, I must repeat, any more deaths will be a sin, and they will rest upon your soul and mine."

Lee, a bit flustered, took up the cup of coffee Elihu had offered and looked down as he took a sip. Then he looked up.

"I believe you," Lee said.

Grant signed, sat back in his chair, and nodded his thanks.

"But I repeat, I have no authority beyond that of the Army of Northern Virginia," Lee replied.

"Gentlemen, may I interrupt?" Elihu said and he leaned forward, placing his hands on the table.

Grant nodded his assent, and Elihu looked over at Judah.

"I hope you don't mind that I call you Judah," Elihu said. "The rules of diplomatic protocol forbid me from addressing you by your title since we have never recognized the legitimacy of your government."

Judah smiled.

"Of course, Elihu." 'The generals have had their words. I think you and I should now share a few thoughts."

"And your thoughts are?" Judah asked.

"Your government declares that you are secretary of state. All know that you are the one who is always at the right side of your president Davis. You, more than any other, have the power to persuade him."

"You confer upon me more power than I think I have," Judah replied with a smile.

"Let me tell you the terms President Lincoln now offers."

"Go on."

"I carry with me an additional letter, which I shall turn over to you at the end of this meeting, outlining the terms, which are as follows.

"Your Confederate government is to vote to surrender to the government of the United States of America. It is then to vote full allegiance to that government and its Constitution. Then it must disband itself and go home.

"Upon doing that, a military armistice shall be declared and all armies of the federal forces will stop in place, except for two forces. General Grant's will occupy Richmond and Sherman's will occupy Atlanta.

"All troops are to surrender their arms to the nearest federal forces, sign paroles, and return home. State militias behind the lines are to report to their respective capitals, disarm, sign paroles, and return home as well.

"In return, and you will have it in writing from President Lincoln, there will be no arrests, no incarcerations, no trials, no retributions, no confiscations of property"-he paused- "other than slaves."

"Sir?"

"The Emancipation Proclamation shall become law across all twelve of the states in rebellion; all slaves at the moment of the surrender of your government are forever free."

"A bit hypocritical," Judah offered back. "What about those states which remained in the Union, where slavery still exists?"

"I agree, and given some things I've heard about you, I think this is a moral issue for you as well," Elihu replied. "In his message to Congress, come December, the president will set forth several measures. The first is a constitutional amendment forever banning slavery and granting full rights of citizenship. Second, when your various state legislatures reconvene, those men, who have signed an oath of loyalty to the Union and agree to support the constitutional amendment ending slavery, will hold their seats and will then vote for senators and, for the present, congressmen to be sent to Washington. The one stipulation for those elected to federal office is that they must sign oaths of allegiance as well and an oath in support of the constitutional amendment banning slavery. That is their only requirement.

"The government will resume in January with full representation from the South."

The room was silent for a moment, Judah taking the information in.

"No reprisals?"

"No, sir. The president is emphatic on that. He said the other day that we are like a family that has been divided too long, until a beloved child within the family dies. That child is the four hundred thousand sons so far lost. In spite of our differences we must now gather to mourn him and to repair all that we have done to each other.

"This is unofficial, but the president has authorized me to state this to you two gentlemen in private. If the South returns thus, come next summer, he will place before the Republican Party a nomination of a Southerner as his running mate and will promise one or two cabinet-level offices as well. The party will run on a unity and reconciliation platform."

"The terms are generous," Judah conceded, "but the issue of the blacks. Where are they to go? How will they live?"

"I saw the field carpeted with dead black soldiers at Frederick," Grant said coldly. "If any have earned the right of full citizenship, it is they."

He looked over at Lee, who lowered his eyes and then nodded in agreement.

"It will be hard. But I believe, as Lincoln said to me a few days back, 'Every drop of blood drawn by the bondsman has now been repaid.' We must learn to live together. And I pray that we can. Lincoln will propose a program in December opening up land in the west as part of the Homestead Act for any who wish to go there to start life anew. He is proposing as well federal moneys for schools and colleges, and, if need be, the direct loans for the purchase of land in the South, at fair market value, for any who wish to sell part of their farms and plantations to those who once worked them."

"That will be expensive."

"The war cost nearly two million dollars a day. The price will be cheap in comparison to another year of war. If your congressmen and senators vote for the appropriations, well, to be cynical, they will profit, because they are some of the biggest landholders, but in so doing will set the example as well. Sir, I must warn you, the president and I have talked about this at length. If maneuvers are played by former owners, to try to rebond their former slaves to the land, through sharecropping, or contracts of service that are impossible to fulfill, the offer of direct purchase will be withdrawn, and confiscation might then be considered.

"It is the clear and stated policy of this administration that the black man is now an equal citizen, in a nation of equals. Many of them paid that price in blood, as both Generals Grant and Lee can affirm. If this nation is to heal, that must be one of the cornerstones. We do not wish this issue to haunt us for the next hundred years. We can end it here."

Elihu leaned forward and stared straight at Judah.

"Sir, if we do not agree to this point, I fear that what helped to cause this war, the issue of slavery and race, will continue to fester within us for the next hundred years. I do not wish to sound overly sentimental or patriotic, but the Declaration did declare that all men are created equal. I want to believe that the four of us, sitting here, can help that to come true."

Judah sighed.

"And yet human nature being what it is, I hope your dream is true, Elihu. I have a friend in Baltimore, a rabbi, who shared basically the same thoughts with me just a few weeks past. Yes, he is right, and so are you. As a Jew I should be more sensitive to that than most. The history of my people is replete with persecutions, and I fear in times to come it will happen again, perhaps even worse than what was endured before. But we here now rail against the deep-seated fears of so many."

"Then we set the example," Grant interjected. "The example the president will set as well. The example I know you, General Lee, have always set. I received a report yesterday how you personally intervened and protected some of our black prisoners of war. I thank you for that, and I can assure you word of that will spread."