April 9th, 1865, was the end of the Civil War for General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant and tens of thousands of Federal and Confederate troops fighting further south, the war stretched out for several more months. After Appomattox, however, only the most zealous and desperate could pretend the Union was not already victorious and the Confederacy was destined to end.
As the sun rose on April 9th in Appomattox, General Lee still clung to the belief his war was not over. 8,000 men from Maj. General John B. Gordon’s Second Corps, along with Lee’s nephew Fitzhugh Lee and what remained of the Confederate cavalry, were lined up for battle just west of the village of Appomattox Court House. Robert E. Lee hoped there was only a thin line of Union cavalry ahead of him that he could smash through, find supplies and rations, and then turn south to march to North Carolina to continue the fight. For a week Grant thwarted Lee’s plans to turn south. He actively blocked Lee’s movements and tried to surround his forces. As a result of these efforts, Grant’s forces had finally gotten ahead of Lee at Appomattox. Lee was in the middle of the fight, his headquarters was east of the village near the center of his army. Gordon’s Second Corps and the Cavalry were west of the village readying for a fight, and Longstreet’s command, the First Corps and Third Corps of the ANV, were in the east guarding the rear. Lee knew more Federal troops were approaching from the east and perhaps the south, and he hoped he could move his army before the Federal reinforcements arrived. Lee’s hopes were dashed by the arrival of thousands of Union infantry, including United States Colored Troops, who had marched most of the night to block the way. By 8:00a.m., Gordon’s men retreated toward the village, Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry was fleeing toward the west, and Lee knew his war was over.
