Grant then signed the document on the side table next to his chair and passed it to Lee for his signature. The Army of Northern Virginia would surrender their arms, return home, and agree вЂњnot to take up arms against the Government of the United States.вЂќ At LeeвЂ™s request, Grant even allowed Confederates who owned their own horses to keep them so that they could tend their farms and plant spring crops. LincolnвЂ™s priority-shared by Grant-was вЂњto bind up the nationвЂ™s woundsвЂќ and unite the country together again as a functioning democracy under the Constitution extended retribution against the former Confederates would only slow down the process. There would be no mass imprisonments or executions, no parading of defeated enemies through Northern streets. Healing the country, rather than vengeance, directed GrantвЂ™s and the Lincoln administrationвЂ™s actions. The terms of surrender, however, would be a simple gentlemenвЂ™s agreement. LeeвЂ™s own army had threatened the nationвЂ™s capital and had to be driven back in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. Many within the Union considered Confederates traitors who were personally responsible for this tremendous loss of lives and property.

They made some small talk before Lee asked on what terms Grant would вЂњreceive the surrender of my army.вЂќ The two commanders sat across from each other in the homeвЂ™s parlor, Lee in a tall caned armchair and Grant in a swivel chair with a padded leather back next to a small oval side table. Grant entered a half hour later, dressed informally in what he called a вЂњsoldierвЂ™s blouse,вЂќ his boots and pants spattered with mud. Lee arrived at the McLean house first, wearing a crisp gray uniform and dress sword. Sherman had completed his destructive march to the sea the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia, had fallen earlier in April and now the once great Army of Northern Virginia was decimated and surrounded. But the previous December, General William T. The war at times seemed to have no resolution. More than 600,000 Northern and Southern soldiers had died, hundreds of thousands maimed and wounded billions of dollars had been lost and destruction of property was widespread. The toll on the nation had been enormous, and few had escaped its impact. Nothing in AmericaвЂ™s experience in the past or since had been so brutal or costly. The Civil War was entering its fifth year.

The most punishing conflict ever fought on American soil was coming to an end. Generals Grant and Lee agreed to convene at the home of Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House to stop the fighting between their two armies.

вЂњThere is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant,вЂќ he told his staff that morning, вЂњand I would rather die a thousand deaths.вЂќ Messengers, racing between the lines, carried communiques between the two camps, to halt the fighting and arrange a meeting. Lee and his men were famished, exhausted and surrounded. Grant, had relentlessly pursued the Confederate troops-this time, there would be no possible escape. The Union army, led by General Ulysses S. The SouthвЂ™s Army of Northern Virginia was in its final hours. He made his way to General George Armstrong Custer, who sent the rider back to his superiors with the following reply: вЂњWe will listen to no terms but that of unconditional surrender.вЂќ Sims, carried a message requesting a suspension of hostilities to allow negotiations of surrender to take place. Lee and John Gordon, the rider, Captain R. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, on April 9, 1865, a lone Confederate horseman violently waving a white towel as a flag of truce galloped up to the men of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry near Appomattox Court House and asked for directions to the headquarters of Major General Philip Sheridan. The two commanders sat across from each other Lee in a tall caned armchair and Grant in a swivel chair with a padded leather back next to a small oval side table.

Release date for civil war