Showing results for "Appomattox"
Picturing Union Victory – Early Images of the Surrender at Appomattox
Here’s a familiar story: On April 9, 1865, generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in Wilmer McLean’s parlor at Appomattox Courthouse to sign the documents that would dictate the surrender of the most important national institution in the Confederacy—the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant sat at a small wooden table with spindle-turned […]
Read more...ECW Weekender: Touring Appomattox (Virtually)
Yesterday, I was lamenting on Twitter that I should not go to Appomattox. It had been in the back of my mind that, if I could manage it with my work schedule, an impromptu afternoon drive there would be appropriate on the actual anniversary. Thanks to COVID-19 and wanting to follow the community guidelines that […]
Read more...Appomattox Campaign Driving Tour Map
Blue and gray soldiers raced westward during the first week of April 1865. After spending forty-one weeks around Petersburg, Robert E. Lee hoped the Army of Northern Virginia could leave its adversaries behind. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategic and personnel decisions enabled his armies to intercept Lee multiple times until finally cornering the Confederates at Appomattox. […]
Read more...On To Appomattox…
As the days passed and the armies slogged forward in the days after the breakthrough at Petersburg, civilian and soldier alike sensed a coming end of the Army of Northern Virginia. Through the week, Union cavalry and infantry cut off the Confederate retreat, small battles and constant skirmishing erupted along the retreat/pursuit route and the […]
Read more...Preservation News: Celebrating Saved Land At Appomattox
News from American Battlefield Trust… Dramatic scenes of the final fighting between Robert E. Lee’s and Ulysses S. Grant’s men are being preserved for posterity by the American Battlefield Trust. Working over several years, the nation’s top historic land-preservation nonprofit has purchased six parcels that tell gripping stories of the actions by Lee’s Army of […]
Read more...Bittersweet Appomattox
First Lieutenant Robert Pratt belonged to the 5th Vermont Infantry, a regiment that rightfully claimed credit as the first unit to irreparably break the Confederate lines southwest of Petersburg on April 2, 1865. Pratt played a pivotal role in the Union assault that morning and survived to tell the story of the battle that forced […]
Read more...Wilmer McLean’s House at Appomattox
A modern image of Wilmer McLean’s residence at Appomattox Court House
Read more...“If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox” by James Thurber
James Thurber (1894-1961) was an American author, cartoonist, playwright and celebrated wit. He published mostly in the magazine The New Yorker and loved to poke fun at things other people took perhaps a little too seriously. Here is one of my favorite examples: (“Scribner’s” magazine is publishing a series of three articles: “If Booth Had Missed […]
Read more...Help Protect More Ground at Appomattox
Our friends at the Civil War Trust pass along this news of an active preservation campaign to help preserve seventy-four acres of ground at Appomattox Court House. This latest announcement comes to us from Trust President Jim Lighthizer. Continue reading to see how you can get involved in this preservation effort.
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