The most significant 3 events in American History since 1865

Frederich Forehand Forehand 1

American History II

06 July 2006

The surrender of the Confederate army under General Robert E . Lee to General Ulysses S . Grant of the Union Army on April 8 , 1865 at Appomatox Courthouse , Virginia , is historically significant for it meant the virtual surrender of the entire rebel army to the North (President Andrew Johnson officially proclaimed the Civil War at an end on April 26 , 1866 , thereby preserving the Union and making the abolition of slavery , decreed by the Emancipation Proclamation years earlier , a reality . Although

it merited a five hundred gun salute at Washington less than the eight hundred gun salute accorded to the Union take-over at Richmond , Virginia , the spectacle at Appomatox has since been etched more deeply into the consciousness of the American public : the mud-splashed , stooped figure of General Grant , son of an Ohio tanner clad in a private 's coat with only his lieutenant-general 's stars to distinguish him from his ragged men , dictating the terms of surrender to the tall , handsome General Lee , scion of a Southern landowner , wearing a new full-dress uniform and a jeweled sword (Golay

The terms of the surrender , drafted on the spot by the thoughtful Grant , allowed Lee 's officers to keep their horses and their side-arms thus keeping their honor intact . The hungry troops and their pack animals were also given sufficient food and forage . Realizing that the soldiers who were to return to their families would need to till their farms and thus need their work animals , Grant allowed them to keep their horses and mules

Forehand 2

The night before , Grant , who was suffering from a severe headache wrote a letter to Lee . He had earlier sent a note to the Confederate general inviting him for an interview or talk concerning surrender but the latter 's reply , which was for a meeting on a different purpose mentioned nothing about surrender . Grant 's letter was to the point

Your note of yesterday is received . As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace , the meeting proposed for 10 :00 A .M . today could lead to no good . I will state , however , General , that I am equally anxious for peace as yourself , and the whole North entertains the same feeling . The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood . By the South laying down their arms

Some of his officers suspected a ruse , but Grant believed in Lee 's good faith , and when he received a note from Lee the following morning indicating his intention to surrender , all his aches vanished . When the Union troops learned about the surrender , they fired their guns in glee , but Grant stopped the wild celebration so as not to further humiliate the defeated rebels which would have made reconciliation much more difficult (Grant 483-484

At the time of the surrender , both armies were exhausted by years of blood-letting . The Union Army , however , had the upper hand . President Abraham Lincoln had won a second...