Battle of Appomattox Court House

A print showing Union Army general Ulysses S. Grant accepting Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865.

Date

April 9, 1865

Location

Appomattox Court House, Virginia
37°22′40″N 78°47′40″W / 37.37778°N 78.79444°WCoordinates: 37°22′40″N 78°47′40″W / 37.37778°N 78.79444°W

Result

Decisive Union victory:

Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Ulysses S. Grant
George G. Meade

Robert E. Lee

Units involved

Army of the Potomac

Army of Northern Virginia

Strength

150,000

∼ 28,000

Casualties and losses

164

∼ 500 killed and wounded;
27,805 surrendered and paroled

Decisive Union victory:

The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War. It was the final engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina. Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate's retreat at the village of Appomattox Court House. Lee launched an attack to break through the Union force to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry, he had no choice but to surrender.

The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia and the parole of its officers and men, effectively ending the war in Virginia. This event triggered a series of surrenders across the South, signaling the end of the war.

The final campaign for Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States, began when the Union Army of the Potomac crossed the James River in June 1864. The armies under the command of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to Petersburg and Richmond, intending to cut the two cities' supply lines and force the Confederates to evacuate. In the spring of 1865 Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee waited for an opportunity to leave the Petersburg lines, aware that the position was untenable, but Union troops made the first move. On April 1, 1865, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry turned Lee's flank at the Battle of Five Forks. The next day Grant's army achieved a decisive breakthrough, effectively ending the Petersburg siege. With supply lines cut, Lee's men abandoned the trenches they had held for ten months and evacuated on the night of April 2–3.

...
Wikipedia