General Robert Lee Surrenders to General Ulysess Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia (1865)
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee, the Commander of the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered to Union Army General Ulysess S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The meeting lasted less than three hours and ended the bloodiest and longest war on American soil.
General Lee had recently abandoned the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia after losing to Union forces in Petersburg, Virginia. Lee retreated in the hopes of joining other Confederate forces in North Carolina. On Lee’s way south to North Carolina his army was met by a large band of Union forces to cut off Lee’s retreat.
Lee made a final attempt to break through the Union forces at Appomattox Court House, Virginia but his army was greatly outnumbered and he had no choice but to surrender. Lee was so distraught about the idea of surrender that he told his soldiers that he “would rather die a thousand deaths."
On the afternoon of April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee met Union Commander and General Ulysses S. Grant to sign the official surrender documents in a small brick house owned by Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. After four years of warfare and 630,000 casualties, the Civil War came to an end on this day 1865.
Dressed in an immaculate uniform, Lee met Grant, who was much younger than Lee and showed up in tarnished clothes and muddy boots. It was the first time the two great generals met face-to-face in over twenty years. According to written accounts, the atmosphere was somber and Grant had a difficult time in getting to the point of the meeting.
Grant offered generous terms to Lee and his army. The Confederate soldiers were not imprisoned or prosecuted for treason. Grant also allowed them to take home their horses and mules and provided them with a supply of food rations. Grant saw the surrender as not only the end of the war, but also the beginning of the unification of the devastated country.
In fact, as Lee’s 27,805 soldiers turned in their weapons under the terms of the surrender Grant's men began cheering in celebration but Grant immediately commanded his men to stop. Grant stated that the Confederates were now our fellow countrymen and demanded his soldiers act with respect for the Confederates. Lee never forgot Grant's brave act of nobility on that day, and for the rest of Lee’s life he held high esteem for Grant.
While Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse was not the final surrender of the War, every other Confederate army followed suit shortly thereafter and the War officially came to an end.
The surrender at Appomattox Court House marked the end of Civil War and began the long journey back into unifying the country.