The nation’s greatest trauma, the long, grueling and bloody American Civil War, essentially ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Lee’s surrender was not the official end of the war; there were still remnants of other Confederate armies scattered about, but his surrender carried enormous symbolic weight. The other Southern armies followed in short order, with the last Confederate army surrendering on June 23, 1865, in Indian Territory.

Lee and his army had held out as long as they could, fighting tenaciously during the ten-month siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, that started June 9, 1864. When the final railroad line supplying Petersburg was cut on April 1, Lee knew it was time to retreat. He pulled his army out the night of April 2 and desperately tried to march into North Carolina to join another Confederate army led by General Joseph E. Johnston.

The Army of Northern Virginia never made it to North Carolina. Grant’s forces quickly closed in, and with his men exhausted, starving and in rags, and no supplies or reinforcements available, Lee knew the situation was hopeless. He and Grant exchanged a series of notes, reproduced in the following newspaper article, arranging the terms of surrender. At the urging of President Lincoln, Grant offered unexpectedly lenient terms—which Lee accepted, and the war came to an end for him and the 27,805 loyal men still remaining in his tattered army.

The following article was published by the Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) on April 10, 1865. This remarkable article presents the actual correspondence between Grant and Lee as the subject of surrender was broached, discussed, and finally accepted.

Glorious News

Surrender of Gen. Lee

The Terms Agreed Upon

Lee and His Army Paroled

Correspondence of Lee and Grant

Tribute to the Lieutenant General

A Grand Salute Ordered

Official War Bulletin.
War Department, Washington, D.C., April 9—9 P.M.

Major General Dix, New York:

This Department has just received the official report of the surrender, this day, of General Lee and his army to Lieutenant General Grant, on the terms proposed by General Grant.

Details will be given as speedily as possible.

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Headquarters, Armies of the United States, April 9—4:30 P.M.

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon, upon terms proposed by myself.

The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully.

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.

April 9, 1865.

General: I received your note of this morning on the picket line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposition of yesterday with reference to the surrender of the army. I now request an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. Lee, General.
To Lieut. Gen. Grant, Commanding U.S. Armies.

April 9.

General R. E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.:

Your note of this date is but this moment (11:50 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing about four miles west of Walter’s Church, and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you.

Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview to take place will meet me.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General, Commanding Armies of United States.

Appomattox C. H., April 9, 1865.

General R. E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.:

In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit:

Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate.

The officers to give their individual paroles not to take arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regiment’s commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of officers, nor their private horses or baggage.

This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside.

Very respectfully,

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.

Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865.
Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Commanding United States Armies.

General: I have received your letter of this date containing the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officer to carry the stipulations into effect.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. Lee, General.

The following is the private correspondence between Lieutenant General Grant and General Lee, referred to in the foregoing telegram to the Secretary of War:

Clifton House, Va., April 9, 1865.

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

The following correspondence has taken place between General Lee and myself. There has been no relaxation in the pursuit during its pendency.

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.

April 7, 1865.
Gen. R. E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.

General: The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that part of the Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. Grant, Lieut. Gen., Commanding Armies of the United States.

April 7, 1865.

General: I have received your note of this date. Though not entirely of the opinion you express of the hopelessness of the further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid a useless effusion of blood, and therefore before considering your proposition I ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.

R. E. Lee, General.
To Lieut. Gen. Grant, Commanding Armies of the United States.

April 8, 1865.
General R. E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.

General: Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of same date, asking conditions on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received.

In reply I would say that peace being my first desire, there is but one condition I insist upon, viz.: That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States, until properly exchanged. I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you may name, for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. Grant, Lieut. Gen., Commanding Armies of the United States.

April 8, 1865.

General: I received, at a late hour, your note of today, in answer to mine of yesterday. I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army; but as the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desire to know whether your proposal would tend to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, but as far as your proposition may affect the Confederate States forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 A.M. tomorrow, on the old Stage road to Richmond, between the picket lines of the two armies.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. Lee, General, C.S.A.
To Lieut. Gen. U. S. Grant, Commanding Armies U.S.A.

April 9.
General R. E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.

General: Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for ten A.M. today could lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertain the same feeling.

The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General, U.S.A.

Tribute to General Grant

War Department, Washington, April 9, 1865—9:30 P.M.

Lieutenant General Grant:

Thanks be to Almighty God for the great victory with which He has this day crowned you and the gallant army under your command. The thanks of this Department and of the Government of the people of the United States, their reverence and honor, have been deserved, and will be rendered to you and the brave and gallant officers and soldiers of your army for all time.

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

A Salute Ordered

War Department, Washington, April 9, 1865—10 P.M.

Ordered, that a salute of two hundred guns be fired at the headquarters of every army and department, and at every post and arsenal in the United States, and at the Military Academy at West Point, on the day of the receipt of this order, in commemoration of the surrender of Gen. R. E. Lee, and the Army of Northern Virginia, to Lieut. Gen. Grant and the army under his command. Report of the receipt and execution of this order to be made to the Adjutant General, Washington.

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

For more information, visit The Appomattox Campaign website provided by Encyclopedia Virginia.

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