Robert E. Lee Surrenders By Corinne Hamlett

Before the Battle:  Lee’s Army had been attempting escape after the fall of Richmond and Petersburg but the Union had cut them off  The Confederate Army made camp just east of Appomattox Courthouse  Grant had sent him a letter, following confrontations between their troops at Cumberland Church and Farmville, suggesting Lee surrender  Lee refused to surrender even though Grant kept suggesting he surrender in order to save bloodshed  Lee replied with "I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army."  But Lee did agree to meet him to find a peaceful solution

Battle of Appomattox:  Union Army: 120,000  Confederate Army: 30,000  April 9, 1865  In the past weeks grant and been closing in on Lee and pushing for him to surrender\  Lee had informed his army that they were out numbered and would be pushed to surrender  John B. Gordon of the Confederacy, attacked the Union cavalry and blocked their way to railroads.  Gordon sent word to Lee around 8:30 a.m. that he needed Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s support to make additional headway.  Upon receiving this request and having watched the battle through field glasses, Lee then said, "Then there is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths."

Letters Between Grant and Lee:  Grant and Lee wrote back and forth between the 7 of April and the 9 of April  In Grant’s letters he kept trying to tell Lee before the battle that he should just surrender  When Lee responded that he would not surrender and offered to meet and find a peaceful solution, Grant refused to meet for peace talks  The last letters that were sent between Grant and Lee were the letter from Grant containing the terms of surrender and the responding letter from Lee stating that he accepted them.

Terms of Surrender:  The terms are: “Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged; and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U. S. authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.”(Grant)

The Surrender:  Lee and his men, in searching for a suitable place to have the surrender meeting, encountered Wilmer McLean, who showed them an empty building without any furniture, but it was deemed unsuitable so he offered his own house for the meeting.  Grant arrived in Appomattox at about 1:30 in the afternoon and proceeded to the McLean house.  After formal copies of the surrender document were made and the document signed, they parted. After such a long, bloody war and a particularly grim retreat, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia has been referred to as "The Gentlemen’s Agreement," a testament to the character of these two great men.

McLean House:  Originally constructed by Charles Raine in 1848  Purchased by Wilmer McLean in 1863  The National Park reconstructed it in the 1940s  McLean's farm was part of the battlefield at First Bull Run so he was at the start and end of the war.

The Confederate Army after the Battle:  Confederate commanders did begin to surrender as news of the Army of Northern Virginia’s surrender spread  April 26, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Gen  William T. Sherman near Durham, North Carolina. Initially, in a meeting on April 17  On May 4, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama  June 23 did Brig. Gen. Stand Watie surrender his small force of Confederate Cherokees in Oklahoma

Last Shot Fired:  There are two cannons one marking Lee's headquarters and one marking the site where the last artillery shot was fired.  The building is located in Appomattox Court House National Historic Park

Pictures From Appomattox Court House National Historic Park:

The Only Civilian Casualty of the Battle:  Hannah Reynolds, a slave was the only Civilian Casualty of the Battle of Appomattox.  The union had invaded the Coleman house and asked the family to leave.  She was unable to leave with the family.  Hannah While standing at the door when the union artillery was firing a lone shot went the house and took her arm off  She later died from her wounds

Artifacts from the Battle:  They found old keys, weapons, pottery, shoes, and all sorts o things.  Most of them are covered in rust or rotted

The Surrender Ceremony:  On April 12, 1865 a lot of the defeated Confederates marched into the village to surrender their flags and weapons.  At the end of the day there were about 22,000 Confederates that stacked up arms.

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