In the early morning hours of April 12, 1865, two Union officers arrived in Smithfield and delivered a telegram from General Ulysses S. Grant to General William T. Sherman, who was quartered in the Old Johnston County Courthouse on this site. After reading the telegram, Sherman issued a dispatch to his army announcing that he had official notice from Grant that General Lee had surrendered his entire army to him on the 9th at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. On receiving this news, tumultuous cheering erupted and bands played as Sherman's army celebrated Lee's surrender in Smithfield before resuming its march on Raleigh in the final days of the Civil War.