Battle of Five Forks

The Surrender

at Appomattox Court House

Where the country came together again!



Appomattox County lies some seventy miles west of Dinwiddie County. It was in this sleepy southern town that the commanding Generals of the Federal Forcs and the Confederate Army met to agree on an end to the hostilities. General Lee prepared for the surrender by dressing in his best uniform and wearing the sword that had been handed down in his family.   General Grant rode to Appomattox the morning of the signing, and participated dusty from his ride. It is said that on that ride to Appomattox, General Grant's party lost its way and actually rode a ways into the Confederate lines where he could have been captured had he been spotted and recognized. As it was, he arrived safely and on time to receive the sword of General Robert E. Lee, which he recognized as an heirloom and refused to keep. General Grant also allowed the Confederate soldiers to keep their horses and their arms so that they could return home to their farms and families safely and quickly. As General Lee rode away from the surrender meeting at Appomattox, soldiers on both sides of the conflict honored and cheered him.





 

Photo Credits: Color Photos by Anne Pemberton. Historical photos edited from photos in the National Archives. 

   Background Music: Let Me Kiss Him For His Mother, by John Ordway 1863, compiled by Randolph Wall Cabell.

Page created November 20, 1996. Anne Pemberton. Updated Wednesday, September 30, 2009 .AP

Return to: