Letter from David Pierson to William H. Pierson regarding the collapse of the Confederacy. He mentions the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston and the demoralization of Forrest's army. He writes about Jefferson Davis traveling to the department with specie, and how the Federal cavalry tried to catch him. He also reports that one of Grant's commissioners was at Shreveport to demand the surrender of General E. Kirby-Smith's department. Apparently, under the terms of surrender and parole, the department could continue another year by going into Texas, but this was not likely. Pierson states that, "If Mr. Davis gets into this Department, he will make a last effort to sustain himself, but his efforts will all be in vain. The soldiers are disheartened and disgusted, and determined not [to] sacrifice their lives to gratify anyboddys [sic] ambition."