Civil War Virginia Battle Appomattox Court House American Civil War

On the evening of April the 8th, General Robert E. Lee and the remnants of his once-proud Army of Northern Virginia arrived in Appomattox County one step ahead of the pursuing Federal Army. Lee's hope was to reach Appomattox Station on the South Side Railroad where supply trains awaited. Having moved ahead of the rest of Lee's army, General R. Lindsay Walker led a detachment of reserve artillery to bivouac near the station. It was not long after their arrival -- around 4:00 -- that Federal cavalry, riding hard from the south, attacked the waiting supply trains and then assaulted Walker. This cavalry, under command of General Philip Sheridan, was merely a harbinger of the fast approaching Federal columns. Sheridan's horsemen repelled Walker's detachment -- Lee's much-coveted supplies were now in enemy hands.

In the meantime, the majority of Lee's forces were setting up a temporary camp one mile north of Appomattox Court House -- the small town lying between the Confederates and the station. Word of the victorious Federal advance soon reached the camp. The beleaguered Confederates realized that Grant's men had the upper hand. A Confederate trooper reflected: "I felt myself now to be near physical collapse... expecting to go into battle in the morning."

The expectation was validated when, at 2:00 A.M. on the morning of April 9th, Lee ordered General Gordon's II Corps to move into line of battle west of Appomattox Court House. Lee had met with Generals Gordon, Longstreet, and his nephew, General Fitzhugh Lee earlier that evening and decided to throw a portion of his infantry against Sheridan's men. He certainly did not expect to have to fight Federal infantry, believing that he had outmarched most of Grant's troops moving west from Farmville.

At 9:00 that morning, Gordon's II Corps was ordered forward to break through the Federal cavalry and proceed to the west -- in the process recapturing the station. Protecting Gordon's right flank was Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry. Gordon's Corps, "fought to a frazzle" during the previous week, was a mere shadow of it's former strength. The combined force of the infantry and the cavalry numbered no more than 9, 000 men. "Fitz" Lee's cavalry spearheaded the advance, and the lines of scattered, grey-clad infantrymen lurched forward; most men somnolent from their early rising yet nervous with the anticipation that manifests itself before an impending battle. As the line moved up the sloping ridge along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage road, the enemy came into view.

Situated on the crest of the hill and beyond were two cannon of Federal artillery and a brigade of cavalry under General Charles H. Smith. Smith had been ordered by his division commander, General George Crook, to hold his position as long as possible. The Confederates, as exhausted as they were, advanced through the artillery and Smith's men fled in their wake -- only to be supported at the last moment by Mackenzie's and Young's cavalry brigades. The combined force once again slowed the Confederate advance, but most of "Fitz" Lee's cavalry skirted the Federals and escaped westward toward Lynchburg.

It now became apparent to Gordon that Lee had grossly underestimated the Federal strength. In truth, Grant had not only positioned more cavalry in front of Lee during the night, but had also force-marched almost three entire corps of infantry along the South Side Railroad to arrive at Appomattox Station during the night. Most of the Army of the James (under General Edward Ord) -- the XXIV and elements of the XXV (United States Colored Troops)-- had moved to block Lee's western escape route with the Army of the Potomac's V Corps in tow. Gordon and his battle-worn foot soldiers now faced advancing lines of dark blue-clad Federal infantry -- men of the XXIV and XXV Corps. As Gordon's men began to skirmish with the Federal Infantry, two Cavalry divisions converged on the Confederate lines alongside infantry of Griffin's V Corps. It was only a matter of time before Gordon's men broke. The Confederates withdrew from their advanced positions and General Lee ordered truce flags sent out at about 11:00 that morning.

Meanwhile, back at his camp, Lee was deep in decision. Not only had Gordon been defeated to his front, but Federals of the II and VI corps had pinned Longstreet's rearguard in from the north. Grant had surrounded Lee on three sides, leaving the northwest as his only unimpeded route. Lee knew that there was no hope of supplying his army by retreating in that direction. He was in "checkmate": he had no other options left. The disconsolate Lee sent word to Grant that he was prepared to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia.

Lee The Last Years
After his surrender at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee lived only another five years - the forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life. These were his finest hours, when he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between North and South

One Continuous Fight:
The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
The first detailed military history of Lee's retreat and the Union effort to catch and destroy the wounded Army of Northern Virginia With 18 original maps, and a driving tour with GPS coordinates of the entire retreat

Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865
The cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia its leadership, the military life of its officers and men as revealed in their diaries and letters, the development of its tactics as the war evolved, and the influence of government policies on its operational abilities. All the major players and battles are involved

Submitted Material
I am an intrepreter at the National Park at Appomattox Court House and my wife is a seasonal ranger there for the last nine years. Point one: Appomattox Station; The trains were not burned by Custer. His men - some of whom were railroad men, drove them up and down the tracks blowing the whistle, and on the 9th when General Lee asks General Grant for help in feeding his men - Grant replies by sharing the food that had been on the trains at Appomattox. Point two: Lee surrendered 28,231 men, who received paroles. Many hundreds of others just whet home in the final days of the campaign. The number of disserters from the CSA Army of Northern Virgina was so great the Yankees did not even attempt to stop them from just going home. There were too many to care for or imprison. .... LAnny Howe Appomattox, VA USA -

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American Civil War Book Titles
Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox Lee's troops were more numerous and far less faithful to their cause than has been suggested. Lee himself made mistakes in this campaign, and defeat wrung from him an unusual display of faultfinding	Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer Custer was promoted to major general and the helm of the Third Cavalry Division when he was only twenty-four. Urwin describes the Boy General's vital contributions to Union victories from Gettysburg to Appomattox.	Sheridan's Lieutenants: Phil Sheridan, His Generals, and the Final Year of the Civil War Summary of Sheridan's role in the last year of the Civil War. An introduction to the lives of a remarkable group of soldiers. Merritt, Mackenzie, Crook, Upton, and Wilson were young, gifted, and tough officers who contributed to Union victory. Custer is remembered today because he blundered at the Little Bighorn	April 1865: The Month That Saved America There was nothing inevitable about the end of the Civil War, from the fall of Richmond to the surrender at Appomattox to the murder of Lincoln. It all happened so quickly, in what was the most moving and decisive month not simply of the Civil War, but indeed, quite likely, in the life of the United States
Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, General United States Army Philip H. Sheridan earned the enmity of many Virginians for laying waste to the Shenandoah Valley. His date and place of birth is uncertain, but he himself claimed to have been born in New York in 1831	Grant's Lieutenants: From Chattanooga to Appomattox This new volume assesses Union generalship during the final two years of the Civil War. Steven Woodworth, one of the war's premier historians, is joined by a team of scholars-- Grimsley, Marszalek, and Hess, among others--who critique Ulysses S. Grant's commanders	Selected Letters of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1865-1914 Known as the hero of Little Round Top and the commanding officer who accepted the Confederates' surrender at Appomattox.	From Manassas to Appomattox: General James Longstreet According to some, he was partially to blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg; according to others, if Lee had followed Longstreet's advice, they would have won that battle. He has been called stubborn and vain; and he has been lauded as one of the greatest tacticians of the Civil War

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor	Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.	The Civil War in Virginia Virginia was the arena where North and South fought many of their bloodiest battles. the program gives a full account of the events that took place describing in detail the history of the American Civil War in Virginia	The Last Days of the Civil War - April 1865: The Month That Saved America, Civil War Combat: The Tragedy At Cold Harbor The remarkable succession of events leading from the fall of Richmond to Appomattox.
History Channel Presents The Civil War From Harper's Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. The most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders.	The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one	The Blue and the Gray The Complete Miniseries The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination	Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union

Appomattox Court House
Civil War Virginia

American Civil War
April 9, 1865

April 9, 1865

Appomattox Court House Civil War Virginia

American Civil War April 9, 1865

April 9, 1865

Appomattox Court House
Civil War Virginia

American Civil War
April 9, 1865