Confederate general Robert E Lee made the formal surrender of his troops to Union general Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The fighting had continued until that morning, with The Battle of Appomattox Court House ending a campaign that began eleven days earlier at the Battle of Lewis’ Farm. Lee met Grant at Appomattox Court House that afternoon at 1:30 p.m. for the formal surrender.
The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia brought the war in Virginia to an end, and it is generally viewed as the end of the Civil War because of the significance of Lee’s army. But some other Confederate generals had yet to surrender. And so President Andrew Johnson was not able to officially proclaim an end to the Civil War until sixteen months after Appomattox, on August 20, 1866.
The surrender is discussed in this clip from The Civil War documentary by Ken Burns.
Leave your two cents in the comments. Painting ‘Peace in Union‘ by Thomas Nast (public domain).
