A NE\'iN.'\TlONB y IR6 4 theConfe deracywasmnlllng ou t o f almos t
e ver ytiling-me n. eqUlpmen r, fo od. mo ne y. A s fall
coloredth e treesofth e easte rnwood s.the Un io n
ar m iesmovedin toendthew a r. I n N ovembe r 18 f:,4,
a U nio n armyled byG eneral Willia mT.Sherma n
began to ma rchthroughtheConfede ratest ateof
Geo rg ia.Its so ldiersdestroyed eve r yt hi n gIIIt hei r
path.T he ytoreupra ilroad t rack s.burnedcrop sand
' bu ildin gs.drove o ff ca ttle.O n D ecembcr 22t he y
occupi edt hecityo f Sa vann ah .T heConfed e rac y was
sp lit again, this timefro mcasttowest.Aftet
ca pt u tl ng Sa vannah ,Sher m antu rn ednorth.He
match edt h roug hth e C arolin as. b u rn in g and
destroyin g againashe m ade to rRichmond.
TheConfederat ecapi talw as already in dan ge rfrom
an o the rUnionarmyledbyGeneral Gra nt.By
Marc h186 5.G ranthad almost encircledth e cityand
o nApril 2 Leew asfo rcedtoabandon it tosavehis
a rmyfrombeingt ra pped. H e marchedsouth, hoping
tofighton fromastrongpositionIIIthemountains.
ButGra ntfo llowedd o se beh ind ando t he r Union
sold iers blockedLee'swayfo r ward .Leewas
t ra pped. O n A pr il 9. 1865,hemetG ra ntin a b ou sein
a tinyvillagecalledAppomattox andsurren de red his
ar m y.
52Gramtreated thedefeate d C o n fed erat esold iers
generously .Aftert he yhadgiven u p theirweapoll s
and promis edne ve ragamtofig ht agalllsttheU ni ted
St at es, heallowedthemtogohome.H etoldt hem
they co ul dkeepth eirho rses "tohelpwith th esprmg
ploug hing."AsLeero deaway.Gran t stoo dinthe
doorwaychew inga pieceoftobacco and told his
m en : "Thewar is over.T he reb elsarco ur
coun tr ym e n again.
T he C i v il Wargavefinal answerstotwoquest ion s
thath ad divi ded theU nitedStatesever s inceit
beca me an ind e pe ndentnation .Itpma n end to
sla ver y. In lR65 this w asaboli she d everywhe re ill the
U n ite dSta te s byt he 13t hAmend m ent to t he
Constitution .And it d ecid ed finallyth attheUnited
States waso nen ation.whosepa rt s cou ld no t be
sepa rated.
Burthew ar left bittermemories. TheUnitedState s
foughtotherwarslate r.but allwereo utsi deitsown
boundaries .The CivilWarcausedte r rible
des truct ion athorne.Allovert he Sou thciti esand
(;Ir mslay in r uins. And moreAmericansd ied in th is
warth anIIIa nyo t her,beforeorsince. Bythetim e
Leesurrende redtoG ra ntatAppomatt o x.t h edead
o n both Sidesto taled635.000.