The End of the Civil War - Appomattox

Sunday, we arrived in Lynchburg, VA at the Elks Lodge. Unfortunately, when we got here, we realized that the electricity was too light for us to be able to run our air conditioner. The guy in the only other motorhome here, indicated he was leaving Tuesday and that his electricity was fine so we could have his spot when he left. George and I figured we were hardy pioneer stock and could surely do without air conditioning for two days. We had enough electricity to run fans, so we made it thru the first night pretty well. On Monday, it got really, really hot, so we spent the day out at Appomattox and came home about dark. Even with the fans, Monday night was miserable, but we did manage to get some sleep and moved first thing Tuesday. Don’t know how those pioneer did it with no electricity whatsoever. So far the electricity seems to be okay, so we’ll probably stay with our original plan of staying most of the week here.

We headed out to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, about 40 miles away. Currently operated by the National Park Service, this site, originally the actual village of Appomattox Courthouse, has been preserved exactly the way it stood on April 9, 1865, and pays homage to the event which reunited our nation and brought an end to the bloodiest chapter in the history of the United States. Here, at the McLean House, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant.

Early in 1865, as General Grant tightened the siege around General Lee and his army, Lee planned for the evacuation of his troops. He planned to march to North Carolina, consolidate his army with General Joseph E. Johnston’s, defeat General Sherman’s army, and then turn on Grant. When the Federals broke thru his lines on April 2, Lee put his plan in motion. The wings of his army were to rendezvous at Amelia Court House, resupply and march to Danville along the Richmond and Danville Railroad. Little went as planned. High water made crossing the Appomattox River difficult, delaying the rendezvous, and the anticipated supplies were not at Amelia Court House. Federal armies began to block his path and deciding not to give battle, Lee turned west and began a series of three consecutive night marches. Grant’s strategy – to press Lee from the rear while preventing him from turning south, get the cavalry in front of him, and then surround and compel him to fight or surrender - began to take effect.

Fighting by day and marching by night, Lee’s exhausted and hungry men trudged onward to their next supply station, slowed at almost every turn by bogged down wagons. On April 6, the Federals brought Lee to bay at Little Sailor’s Creek, where in three separate engagements, almost a quarter of the Confederate force was killed or captured. Beginning what would be their last night march on April 7, Lee’s men headed for the next destination, Appomattox Station where supplies awaited them. However, the Union cavalry captured the station and the supplies and positioned itself between Lee and his next objective. When large numbers of Union infantry arrived in support of the Union cavalry, flags of truce broke out and two days later in the little town of Appomattox Court House, the war in Virginia came to an end!

On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, Lt. Colonel Charles Marshall was sent into town by Lee to find a suitable place for him to surrender to Grant. Since it was Sunday, the courthouse was closed and Marshall could find no one around to ask about an appropriate place. He finally encountered Wilmer Mclean, a sugar speculator, who had moved there to escape the war after the First Battle of Manassas had raged around his Northern Virginia home. The first suggestion McLean made did not meet the needs of Marshall. Then McLean offered the parlor of his own home. When Grant and Lee sat down in the parlor of McLean’s home, Grant asked only that the Confederates pledge not to take up arms against the United States. Officers were allowed to keep their side arms and any solder who owned a horse was allowed to take it home with him. Lee requested that parole passes be printed to allow the Confederate soldiers to return home safely. Grant agreed and set up printing presses in the Clover Hill tavern. 28,000 parole passes were printed in two days. The branches of Lee’s army formally laid down their weapons and flags over the next few days. On April 12, it was the infantry’s turn. As General John Gordon led the depleted ranks up the hill to the village, General Joshua Chamberlain, supervising the ceremony, ordered his troops to salute as the Confederates approached. Gordon reciprocated, “honor answering honor”, as Chamberlain later put it and then the Army of Northern Virginia passed into memory.

Lee’s capitulation did not bring an immediate end to the Confederate States of America; other armies were still in the field. Not until the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina on April 25, Richard Taylor’s army in Alabama on May 4, and Edmund Kirby Smith’s army in Texas on June 2 did the Confederacy cease to exist. All were surrendered on the terms set at Appomattox Court House by Lee and Grant.

We visited the parlor in the McLean House where General Lee sat at a marble top table to sign the surrender terms and General Grant sat on the opposite side at a table that had been brought from his own camp. It was very moving to be able to walk the old country lanes where the above events took place and in quietness and stillness imagine the activity of those April days of 1865. The Park provides a living history program in which various characters in period dress represent people who lived during this period and entertain with stories as if it was the summer of 1865. They make learning about the history easy as well as entertaining. In fact, there were two likely deserters who were imprisoned in the old jail cell below.
On a hillside outside of town, stand tombstones with 18 Confederate flags and 1 Union flag where soldiers were buried who were killed during the last two days of the war. Only seven are identified. One of the known Confederates, Jessie H. Hutchins, enlisted just three days after the firing on Ft. Sumter. He had survived 1,454 days of service, only to die in the war's last 24 hours.

On this trip, we’ve seen Fort Sumter where the first shot of the Civil War was fired and now we’ve seen Appomattox which signaled the end of the Southern States’ attempt to create a separate nation. In a few days, we’ll be heading to Williamsburg to study a different war in our country’s history. Shirley and George are currently at Kittyhawk and once we catch up with them, we’ll try to update you on their adventures. We miss all of you and hope you enjoyed the history lesson. Seems like I never had this much fun learning about history when I was in school. Guess there’s a lot to be said for “first hand” experience. Travel again with us soon and until then, be kind to one another. “Life is good”.