9th April 1865: Robert E. Lee’s Surrender to Ulysses S. Grant, ending the racist Democrat Confederates’ instigated Civil War.
Lee’s surrender triggered a series of other surrenders across the south, and marked the beginning of the end of the American Civil War. Prior to the surrender, Lee’s army had been forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and was retreating with the hope of joining with other Confederate forces in North Carolina. However, the Union army managed to cut them off with cavalry and infantry and so – with his army surrounded and his men weak and exhausted – Lee had no option but to surrender. Lee and Grant sent a series of messages that led to them meeting in the village of Appomattox Courthouse, where they signed the surrender documents in the parlour of a house owned by Wilmer McLean. The terms were as generous as Lee could hope for, the Union wanting to avoid any possible excuse for an uprising. All officers and men were pardoned and allowed to return home with their private property including their horses. Furthermore, all Confederate officers would be allowed to keep their side arms, and Lee’s troops would be fed with Union rations. With the surrender signed, Grant is reputed to have stepped outside and declared, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.”
A video about General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Grant at the McLean House, Appomattox Court House VA. Song “Going Home” performed by Mary Fahl. Photography and video filmed entirely at Appomattox.