Appomattox (April 9-10, 1865)

9 April 1865

One of the saddest dates in American history...

On that Palm Sunday, Gen. Robert E. Lee (CSA) surrendered the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia to the Union Army & Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. While the war's end would not officially be declared for another month, and fighting in certain parts of the country would continue for even longer, this was 'the beginning of the end' of America's 'War Between the States.'

Much has been written about Lee and his decision to finally stop the fighting. Though some have erroneously charged him as a coward, the ultimate motivation behind his surrender was compassion. In November of 1865, only about 7 months removed from the events at Appomattox, Lee granted an audience to an Englishman, Herbert Saunders. Though Lee wished to never have any private conversations or correspondence to become public, Saunders later did write his account of the conversation. Regarding the surrender, Saunders writes: 

"[Lee] spoke of the final surrender as inevitable owing to the superiority in numbers of the enemy. His own army had, during the last few weeks, suffered materially from defection in its ranks, and, discouraged by failures and worn out by hardships, had at the time of the surrender only 7,892 men under arms, and this little army was almost surrounded by one of 100,000. They might ... have cut their way out as they had done before, but, looking upon the struggle as hopeless, I was not surprised to hear him say that he thought it cruel to prolong it. ... [T]he mere disparity of numbers was not sufficient to convince him of the necessity of surrender; but feeling that his own army was persuaded of the ultimate hopelessness of the contest as evidenced by their defection, he took the course of surrendering his army in lieu of reserving it for utter annihilation."

Lee had once said "I would rather die a thousand deaths than surrender," but decided he would rather surrender than to have one more of his brave boys in gray starve to death, freeze to death, die from illness, or suffer fatal wounds on the battlefield in a conflict with no perceivable hope of ultimate victory. Yes, the surrender was an act of compassion from a General who knew the devastating effects war was having on families, loved ones, farms and communities, on every aspect of life in his beloved Southland, and how terribly cruel it would be to carry on for nothing more than spite.

The day after the surrender, around 9-o'clock in the morning, Lee met again with Grant, this time on a knoll overlooking both the Union & Confederate Lines. The conversation between the two formerly-opposed military leaders was private, so no transcription was made, but later that night Grant told some of his subordinate officers what was said. One of those was  Horace Porter (Brevet Brigadier General, U.S.A.), who wrote the following:

"Grant began [the conversation with Lee] by expressing a hope that the war would soon be over, and Lee replied by stating that he had for some time been anxious to stop the further effusion of blood, and he trusted that everything would now be done to restore harmony and conciliate the people of the South. He said the emancipation of the Negroes would be no hindrance to the restoring of relations between the two sections of the country, as it would probably not be the desire of the majority of the Southern people to restore slavery then, even if the question were left open to them."

"After the conversation had lasted a little more than half an hour ... the conference ended. The two commanders lifted their hats and said good-bye. Lee rode back to his camp to take a final farewell of his army..."

It was shortly after this that he issued his famous 'General Order No. 9.' Though so familiar to so many of us, I would be remiss to not include it's text. The General said the following:

"After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to the result from no distrust of them. But feeling that valour and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you his blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your Country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

Sadly, Lee's hopes were not to become realized. The compassion for his people that drove him to surrender was not emulated by those in the north & the federal gov't who were out to punish the Southern people. Had Lee known in 1865-66 what he knew at the end of his life, that being the horrors of tyranny & military occupation suffered by the South during Reconstruction and afterward,  this article may have been written much differently.

In August of 1870... five years after The War Between the States had ended, in the fifth year of military occupation in the Southern States, and just a couple of months before his death... General Robert E. Lee said the following words to Fletcher Stockdale, former Governor of Texas:

"If I had foreseen the use those people (Yankees) designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no, sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in this right hand."

DEO VINDICE!
- Jonathan McCleese
Sergeant-at-Arms
Admiral Raphael Semmes Camp #1321
Army of Tennessee
Sons of Confederate Veterans