Surrender at Appomattox
Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant in a private house at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865. The end came quickly. Petersburg's lines broke on 2 April after a siege of nine months, Richmond was evacuated and burned that night, and Lee marched west hoping to turn south and join Johnston in North Carolina. His army was starving. A supply train expected at Amelia Court House contained ammunition rather than rations, and the day lost collecting food let the Union cavalry get ahead of him. A third of what was left was cut off at Sailor's Creek on 6 April. On the morning of the 9th his advance found Sheridan's cavalry across the road with infantry behind it, and Lee said that there was nothing left but to go and see General Grant, and that he would rather die a thousand deaths. The terms were deliberately generous. Officers and men were paroled and allowed to go home, officers kept their sidearms and personal baggage, and anyone who owned his horse could take it for the spring ploughing. Grant ordered 25,000 rations sent to the Confederate lines and stopped his own artillery from firing salutes, saying the rebels were their countrymen again. Grant had been in a muddy private's coat; Lee was in full dress with a presentation sword. It was not the last surrender — Johnston gave up in April and the last Confederate force in June — but it is the one everyone means. Lincoln was shot five days later.
- Year: 1865 CE
- Category: Military
