DK - The American Civil War

The Appomattox

Campaign

Following the abandonment of Petersburg and Richmond, General Robert E. Lee’s army found

itself on the run, retreating westward to railroad lines that would permit an orderly escape

from the pursuing Union forces. The road led to the village of Appomattox Court House.

COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY 1865

Yet his hopes would be sorely dashed.

In the confusion of the flight from

Petersburg the wrong orders were

dispatched, and what the

Confederate troops

found on arriving at

Amelia station was

a huge stash of

ammunition—worse

than useless to the

army, as their supply

wagons could barely

carry the ordnance

they already had.

Lost time

Lee knew that his

exhaused men could

not continue without

sustenance, and valuable

time was lost while

foraging parties hunted

for provisions. By the

time the army lurched

forward again, it had lost

any lead it had hoped to

gain. Anticipating Lee’s

movements, General

Ulysses S. Grant had

dispatched General

Philip Sheridan’s cavalry to cut off the

rail links west of Amelia Court House.

In particular, Sheridan’s force was told

to seize the important rail junction at

Burkeville, where the Southside

T

he single greatest imperative

facing General Robert E. Lee

after the loss of Petersburg was

the need to reestablish supply lines to

feed his hungry men. His immediate

target was the village of Amelia Court

House, which lay on the Richmond and

Danville railroad line. There he hoped

to find not just ample supplies of food

but also a base from which he could

evacuate his army by rail south to

Danville, Virginia, where Confederate

President Jefferson Davis was waiting.

From Danville he hoped to effect a

rendezvous with General Joseph E.

Johnston’s Army of North Carolina,

which was the only other substantial

Confederate army in the field.

BEFORE

On April 3, the Southern capital Richmond

fell to Union troops ❮❮ 314–15.

Confederate hopes now lay in tatters, yet

General Robert E. Lee’s army still had not

yet been defeated.

SHRINKING OPTIONS

The Army of Northern Virginia’s only

remaining hope lay in evading its Union

pursuers until it could join up with General

Joseph Johnston’s Army of North Carolina.

But Lee’s men were outnumbered—25,000

against 125,000 Union troops under General

Ulysses S. Grant. They were also exhausted,

while the Union forces were buoyed by the

prospect of final victory.

RACING TO RAILROADS

To have any chance of making contact with

Johnston, Lee would have to evacuate his

troops by rail. The retreat westward thus

became a desperate race to reach

railheads—a race in which the Union

troops had the advantage from the start.

railroad crossed the Danville and

Richmond line. The Union infantry

followed close behind them.

The pursuit westward

For almost a week, the two

armies marched on parallel

courses westward, as

Union scouting parties

clashed with outlying

Confederate detachments.

The most serious of the

engagements came at

Saylers Creek on April 6,

when three Union corps

cut off a quarter of Lee’s

army, capturing some

6,000 men.

Their strength sapped

by overnight marches

in heavy rain on

minimal rations,

many soldiers simply

gave up the march,

lying by the roadside

until picked up by

pursuing forces.

For two more days,

Lee’s army trudged on

until it approached the

village of Appomattox Court House, 90

miles (145km) west of Richmond. Lee

rallied his troops for a final effort,

seeking to break through the

Union forces in order to reach the

Virginia and Tennessee railroad at

Lynchburg. The Confederates

cleared a screen of Union

horsemen, only to confront two

infantry corps falling into line.

Other Northern troops were

approaching from the rear. Lee’s

redoubtable Army of Northern

Virginia—what was left of it—was

finally trapped.

Faced with the situation he

had sought to avoid, Lee called

a meeting of his commanders.

Fighting on, it was agreed, would

be a useless sacrifice. Someone

suggested letting the men slip

away into the countryside to fight

as guerrillas, but Lee rejected the

proposal. To do so, he said, would

inflict destruction on regions that

might otherwise have escaped it.

“We would bring on a state of affairs

it would take the country years to

recover from,” he concluded.

That left only one course of action.

Grant had already put out peace

feelers a couple of days earlier, but Lee

had sent a temporizing response. Now

with a heavy heart, he dispatched a

message to his opponent; he was ready

to discuss “the surrender of this army.”

Lee surrenders

It took some hours to arrange a

meeting and find a suitable venue.

The McLean House, the best-appointed

residence in the village, was chosen.

When the two generals met face to

face, they formed a study in contrasts.

A time to rejoice

A Detroit broadside announces General Lee’s

surrender and—”By Order of the People”—calls

on all citizens to come to a victory celebration in

the city’s central park, the Campus Martius.

Surrender house

A family sits on the front steps of the McLean House,

made famous a few days previously, wherein General

Lee signed his army’s surrender.

The opening battle of the war, First

Bull Run, was fought on land

belonging to Wilmer McLean, a sugar

broker, who also owned the house in

which Lee and Grant signed the surrender.

Flag of truce

This linen dish towel was pressed into

service as a flag of truce, when Lee

sent General James Longstreet to

deliver his reply to Grant’s invitation

to surrender.