Appomattox Campaign

Appomattox Campaign
Part of the American Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, opposing commanders in the Appomattox Campaign.
Date March 29 – April 9, 1865 Location Along the evacuation routes from Richmond, Virginia, and Petersburg, Virginia, following the routes of the Richmond and Danville Railroad and the Southside Railroad west to Appomattox Court House 37°22′37.66″N 78°47′49.83″W / 37.3771278°N 78.7971750°W / 37.3771278; -78.7971750Coordinates: 37°22′37.66″N 78°47′49.83″W / 37.3771278°N 78.7971750°W / 37.3771278; -78.7971750 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 Edward Ord Philip Sheridan	Robert E. Lee
Units involved
Army of the Potomac Army of the James Army of the Shenandoah	Army of Northern Virginia
Strength
114,335	40–45,000
Casualties and losses
10,780	Entire confederate Army of Northern Virginia disbanded: Gen. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House (April 9).

Decisive Union victory:

The Appomattox Campaign was a series of American Civil War battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865 in Virginia that concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army (Army of the Potomac, Army of the James and Army of the Shenandoah) under the overall command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. In the following eleven weeks after Lee's surrender, the American Civil War ended as other Confederate armies surrendered and Confederate government leaders were captured or fled the country.

As the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign (also known as the Siege of Petersburg) ended, Lee's army was outnumbered and exhausted from a winter of trench warfare over an approximately 40 mi (64 km) front, numerous battles, disease, hunger and desertion. Grant's well-equipped and well-fed army was growing in strength. On March 29, 1865, the Union Army began an offensive that stretched and broke the Confederate defenses southwest of Petersburg and cut their supply lines to Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Union victories at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865 and the Third Battle of Petersburg, often called the Breakthrough at Petersburg, on April 2, 1865, opened Petersburg and Richmond to imminent capture. Lee ordered the evacuation of Confederate forces from both Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2–3 before Grant's army could cut off any escape. Confederate government leaders also fled west from Richmond that night.

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