Appomattox Courthouse

the McLean residence

artist's depiction of the meeting

Thursday, October 13th.  It was still heavily overcast and too foggy to see anything on the Blue Ridge Pkwy drive.  So we drove to Appomattox, the site of the General Lee's formal surrender to General Grant in April of 1865.  The town's actual name then was Appomattox Courthouse because it's the location of the county courthouse.  The actual surrender was done after a final major loss of a battle which resulted in Confederate troops being cut off from all supply lines.  Lee notified Grant that he wanted to discuss surrender.  They met at the McLean residence to discuss the terms of surrender.  As directed by President Lincoln, Grant called for a very humane, 'gentlemanly' surrender.  The southern troops were to be granted paroles and allowed to return to their homes.  Grant ordered that there would be no 'in your face' celebrations by the union troops and that all would be treated with respect.  At the conclusion of their meeting, they shook hands and left it to their aides to finalize the conditions of surrender.  Grants staff also started printing parole documents for each confederate soldier...some 21,000... that were present at Appomattox.  The next day the formal surrender occurred.  The union troops were lined up on either side of the road and Lee, his generals and thousands of his troops passed thru them.  There was a great deal of mutual respect displayed that day.  The healing of the nation began then.