Battle of Appomattox Courthouse Facts, History, & Surrender
Table Of Content
Grant anticipated Lee’s attempts to escape, however, and ordered two corps (XXIV and V) under the commands of Maj. Gen. John Gibbon and Bvt. Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin to march all night to reinforce the Union cavalry and cut off Lee’s escape. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia – the most celebrated Confederate army – followed a defeat in the final battle of the war in Virginia. The Battle of Appomattox Court House was the climax of a campaign that began eleven days earlier at the Battle of Lewis’ Farm.
Opposing forces
The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. Over the decades, as if by some force of nature or history, the trophies of war removed form McLean’s home reunited at the Smithsonian. Capehart had given the Grant chair to one of his officers, General Wilmon Blackmar, who bequeathed it to the Institution in 1906. Whitaker would donate Lee’s chair to a Grand Army of the Republic charity event, where it was purchased by Captain Patrick O’Farrell and later donated to the Smithsonian by his widow in 1915. In 1936, Elizabeth Custer, whose late husband is better remembered for his last stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn than his role in the Civil War, gave the side table and her portion of the surrender towel.
Federal Depository
Despite mounting desertions and dwindling supplies, Lee refused Grant’s terms. Battle of Appomattox Court House, (April 9, 1865), one of the final battles of the American Civil War. After a weeklong flight westward from Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee briefly engaged Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant before surrendering to the Union at Appomattox Court House. The surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia sets the stage for the conclusion of the Civil War. Through the lenient terms, Confederate troops are paroled and allowed to return to their homes while Union soldiers are ordered to refrain from overt celebration or taunting.
Lee Surrenders to Grant
In addition, some applications, files or items cannot be translated including graphs, photos or some portable document formats (pdfs). These objects from that day a century-and-a-half ago act as silent witnesses to remind us of a truly remarkable time when two generals helped choreograph an unusually understanding armistice between two war-weary combatants. Reconciliation after the war would not be as easy or painless as many of the individuals who crowded into the McLean parlor on that spring day had hoped. While finding a path to reunite the nation might have been the goal of some, others turned to the struggle over political, social and economic power in the post-war era that saw tremendous and far-reaching changes.
Staunton River Battlefield State Park
However, Gordon saw thousands of Union troops quickly approaching and sent word to Lee that his position was hopeless unless the infantry supported them. Lee’s infantry, however, was engaged with Grant’s Army of the James, which had approached the Confederates from the west under cover of night. Faced with no route of escape to Lynchburg, Lee agreed to negotiate terms of surrender. General Lee's final campaign began on March 25, 1865, with a Confederate attack on Fort Stedman, near Petersburg. General Grant’s forces counterattacked a week later on April 1 at Five Forks, forcing Lee to abandon Richmond and Petersburg the following day.
The Wilmer McLean home, where the surrender was signed, is open to the public. With My Jury Duty Portal you can register for jury service, request an excuse, postponement or new court location, and complete your online orientation. Please be aware that when a translation is requested, you will be leaving the Los Angeles Superior Court website. The Los Angeles Superior Court does not endorse the use of Google™ Translate.
Auto Driving Tour of Civil War Lynchburg
Grant drafted the following generous terms of surrender, which avoided the harsh punishment and humiliation of Lee’s men. As you plan your visit, check our Operating Hours and Seasons, and consider taking in a Ranger-led talk, living history program, or walk on one of our many hiking trails. The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia were issued parole passes for safe passage home, free food and free transportation.
Begin your visit at the visitor center in the reconstructed courthouse building in the center of the historic village. Please be aware that due to their historic nature, many buildings in the park have limited accessibility or are inaccessible. Upon hearing about Lee's surrender, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, future leader of the Ku Klux Klan, also surrendered, reading his farewell address on May 9, 1865, at Gainesville, Alabama.
Grant was flattered that Lee remembered him from that time, as he was much younger than Lee and more junior in rank. Many California counties, including Los Angeles County, have more than one courthouse. If you do not know which courthouse handles cases like yours, use the Filing Court Locator on the Los Angeles Superior Courts website and search by city or zip code. For the address, hours, parking information and directions for each courthouse in Los Angeles County, click here. Many within the Union considered Confederates traitors who were personally responsible for this tremendous loss of lives and property.
Lee intended to resupply there before heading to Lynchburg, Virginia, and then south to Danville, Virginia. Unanticipated was the arrival of Union cavalry coming from the south under Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s command. That evening Union Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer successfully led some of the cavalry against the Confederate supply trains at the nearby Appomattox Station. Lee briefly moved northward to Cumberland Church before retreating to the west. While at Cumberland Church he received a letter from Grant demanding his surrender.
The Appomattox Court House National Historic Park was created in 1940, and encompasses about 1,700 acres, including some of the battlefield land, the Court House, Lee’s headquarters, and a reconstructed McLean House (still missing much of its original furniture, which is scattered across the country). The American Battlefield Trust has preserved additional acreage which includes ground used during Griffin’s counterattack and land where Bvt. Maj. Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s cavalry division checked an advance down the LeGrand road by members of Brig. Gen. Martin Gary’s Confederate cavalry brigade. After Lee left the McLean House on April 9, some of the Union officers present promptly bought much of the furniture in McLean’s parlor.
The village itself began as the community of Clover Hill, which was made the county seat of Appomattox County in the 1840s. The village of Appomattox Court House entered a stage of decline after it was bypassed by a railroad in 1854. In 1930, the United States War Department was authorized to erect a monument at the site, and in 1933 the War Department's holdings there was transferred to the National Park Service.
The site was greatly enlarged in 1935, and a restoration of the McLean House was planned but was delayed by World War II. Several restored buildings (including the McLean House and the courthouse), as well as a number of original 19th-century structures are situated at the site. At the surrender ceremonies, about 28,000 Confederate soldiers passed by and stacked their arms.[28] General Longstreet's account was 28,356 officers and men were “surrendered and paroled”.[29] The Appomattox Roster lists approximately 26,300 men who surrendered. This reference does not include the 7,700 who were captured at Sailor's Creek three days earlier, who were treated as prisoners of war. Grant, aware that Lee's army was out of options, had written to Lee on April 7, requesting the Confederate general's surrender. But Lee still hopes to access more supplies further west at Lynchburg and does not capitulate.
The Surrender - Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (U.S - National Park Service
The Surrender - Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (U.S.
Posted: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT [source]
He accompanied Grant to the McLean house on April 9 and witnessed the surrender. Heavily outnumbered and low on supplies, Lee’s situation was dire in April 1865. Nevertheless, Lee led a series of grueling night marches, hoping to reach supplies in Farmville and eventually join Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina. While Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House marked the end of the war in Virginia, it was not the end of the Civil War as a whole. Johnston’s Army of Tennessee was still being chased by Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Smaller Confederate armies continued to fight throughout the Deep South and west of the Mississippi River.
Comments
Post a Comment