Rememberinglincoln , Wikimedia Commons
We ’re covering the terminal days of the Civil War exactly 150 year later . This is the eighth instalment of the series .
8 May 2025: Lee Surrenders
The Unionbreakthroughat Petersburg on April 2 , 1865 spell the end of the Southern rebellion – but there would be one more workweek of bloodshed before the sentence was delivered , as Confederate general - in - foreman Robert E. Lee retreated west with his beleaguered Army of Northern Virginia in one last , do-or-die attempt to evade the tragic flood tide . This meant seven more days of death and misery for his worn-out soldiers , now in the final extremity of privation .
As the Confederate defence around Petersburg collapsed on April 2 , Lee ordered his remaining army , now number fewer than 30,000 men , to withdraw along roads north-west of the city , stick to the Appomattox River into fundamental Virginia . If they could just touch the Allegheny Mountains in westerly Virginia , there was still a chance – however slim – of shaking Grant and fall in forces with Joseph E. Johnston ’s Army of the South , now retrograde northwest towards Raleigh , North Carolina , with William Tecumseh Sherman in pursuit .
Click to enlarge , Civilwaralbum
It was not to be , as Union general - in - chief Ulysses S. Grant pounced on the retreating maverick force , determined that Lee would not slip away again . Harried unrelentingly by Philip Sheridan ’s Union cavalry , Lee ’s army was also matter down by the wagon train holding the Confederate governance ’s ( now nonmeaningful ) prescribed document , which made slow going over unpaved route transformed into quagmires by spring rains . Incompetent to the last , the fleeing Confederate government also send a train full of crucial supplying to the incorrect name and address , strip his troops of ration . One southerly military officer , Edward Sylvester Ellis , recalled their pitiful condition :
On April 5 , Sheridan ’s forces wiretap a letter from Confederate policeman W.B. Taylor to his wife , which said it all : “ Our regular army is ruined , I dread . ”
But still the fighting continued . On April 6 , 1865 disaster struck at Sailor ’s Creek , a small tributary of the Appomattox about 45 mile west of Petersburg . As the Confederates retreated Sheridan ’s Union cavalry maneuvered alongside them , harrying them with constant strike - and - run plan of attack that eventually forced part of the Confederate army to stand and fight . As three rebel army corps turned to face their tormentors at Sailor ’s Creek , another Union horse cavalry forcefulness under the bold ( and badly - fated ) George Armstrong Custer bill in behind them , reduce them off from the repose of Lee ’s ground forces long enough for the Union infantry to come and fetch up the blockade .
Sheridan ’s force took 7,700 prisoners at Sailor ’s Creek , including Lee ’s son Custis Lee , reducing the rebel army by a quarter . For the seize soldiers it was probably an human activity of mercy . Indeed , according to Ellis the rebel soldiers could just fight at Sailor ’s Creek : “ A large issue stagger from failing , and were barely able to keep their feet ; many were so worn out that they would drop the torpedo which they had just loaded and discharged , and , regardless of the firing , sink down upon the ground and settle asleep . ” For his part Lee see the writing on the paries and wrote to President Jefferson Davis in Danville , Virginia , warning , “ a few more Sailor ’s Creeks and it will all be over . ”
On April 7 Grant write Lee a letter delivered under flag of cease-fire , pointedly putting the blame for continued destruction on Lee ’s shoulders :
Ever nice , and still hop to win some concession through a negotiated armistice , Lee answer :
However Grant was underordersfrom President Lincoln to involve unconditional giving up . As Custer ’s cavalry enamor much - call for Confederate provision trains at Appomattox Station on April 8 , Grant replied to Lee ’s previous alphabetic character stating , “ there is but one term that I insist on , namely , that the man and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arm against the Government of the United States … ” Meanwhile the remaining rebel ground forces , now encamped at the small town of Appomattox Courthouse , ( below , a Union camp at the courthouse follow the resignation ) found itself surrounded from the east by Union foot from the Army of the James under Andrew Humphreys and George Wright , and from the Dame Rebecca West by Sheridan ’s horse cavalry .
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On the eventide of April 8 , 1865 , Lee held a war council with his top commanders , who decided they had no choice but to make a last - ditch effort to break out of the blockade and reach the last persist supplies at nearby Lynchburg . One fellow member of Lee ’s faculty , Charles Marshall , described the melancholy scene around the campfire :
On the morning of April 9 , ragged rebel foot and horse cavalry under John Gordon and Fitzhugh Lee draw themselves up outside Appomattox Courthouse . Ellis retrieve that the homo reckon “ like moving skeletons . They were too unaccented to carry their muskets . The three thousand cavalry looked as if passenger and horses should be in the hospital . ”
This ramshackle forcefulness strike west against Sheridan ’s cavalry , and at first seemed to be succeeding , as the surprised Union trooper pass on soil – but then Union foot rushed frontwards and hold the progress . One Union officer , Frederic Cushman Newhall , painted a spectacular photo of the infantry counterplay that Sunday daybreak :
At the terminus ad quem of their strength , the rebels simply collapse . The Battle of Appomattox Courthouse would be the last fought by the Army of Northern Virginia . After a further interchange of letter , at 10 am Lee met with Grant at the McLean House , a brick farmhouse on the outskirt of township owned by Wilmer McLean ( below ) .
Nps.gov
Marshall echo the dramatic , yet oddly casual , import when the general last met :
The full general sat at two separate table , surrounded by their officers , critique and ameliorate the papers in which Lee agreed to cede . Grant ’s gracious conclusion to allow the southerly officers to keep their swords – a traditional point of laurels – was well received , with Lee remarking : “ That will have a very happy gist . ” Grant also gibe to permit former cavalryman to keep their horse ( most had supply their own animals , and would need them to resume farming when they hark back home ) . last the Union ship’s officer arranged for 25,000 rations to be deliver to Lee ’s hunger army , while Union prisoners of warfare hold by the greyback – starve along with their captors – were like a shot free to be feed by their compatriots . Importantly , the pawn of surrender did n’t cover Johnston ’s Army of the South , still holding out in North Carolina .
Lee and his officers then departed . agree to one Union general , Horace Porter , Grant and his staff gave them a knightly sendoff :
The scene that followed at the farmhouse was well less self-respectful , as Union police officer began buy everything in the room where the surrender was signed as a keepsake – find the aim ’ proprietor , Wilmer McLean , very amenable to offers of Union amber to substitute his despicable Confederate report money . Porter recall :
Meanwhile Lee faced the hard task of severalise his truehearted soldiers that the long fight was over . His farewell message to his army , written by General Bradley T. Johnson at his control , read in part :
See the premature entryhere . See all entrieshere .
