SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT, AT APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE, APRIL 9, 1865.
"The two generals met at the house of Major McLean, in the hamlet of Appomattox Courthouse, where Lee surrendered all that remained of the Confederate Army, which for nearly four years had beaten back every attempt to capture Richmond. Grant's terms, as usual, were generous. He did not ask for Lee's sword, and demanded only that he and his men should agree not again to bear arms against the Government of the United States."
But Lee was beginning to feel the tremendous and continued pressure. His army numbered barely 35,000 men. A.P. Hill commanded the right wing, stretching from Petersburg to Hatcher's Run; General J.B. Gordon, the centre, at Petersburg; and Longstreet, who had recovered from his wound, the left wing, north and south of the James; while the cavalry did what it could to cover the flanks. This attenuated line was forty miles long. Realizing the desperate straits, the Confederate authorities early in 1865 placed the entire military operations of the Confederacy in the hands of Lee.
The latter planned to fall back toward Danville and unite with Johnston. If successful this would have given him a formidable army; but Grant did not intend to permit such a junction. Fighting went on almost continually, the gain being with the Union army, because of its greatly superior numbers and the skill with which they were handled by the master, Grant. April 1st a cannonade opened along the whole Union line. Lee's right wing had been destroyed, but the others were unbroken. At daylight the next morning an advance was made against the Confederate works. Lee was forced back, and he strengthened his lines by making them much shorter.
The Confederates steadily lost ground, many were killed and taken prisoners, and in a charge upon the Union left General A.P. Hill lost his life. At last the enemy's outer lines were hopelessly broken, and Lee telegraphed the startling fact to President Davis, who received it while sitting in church, Sunday, April 2d. The Confederate President was told that Lee could hold Petersburg but a few hours longer, and Davis was warned to have the authorities ready to leave Richmond unless a message was sent to the contrary. No such longed-for message arrived.
EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.
The counsel of Lee was followed. Jefferson Davis, the members of his cabinet, and a number of leading citizens left the capital that night for Charlotte, North Carolina. The whole city was thrown into the wildest confusion; rioting and drunkenness filled the streets, buildings were fired, and pandemonium reigned. General Witzel, who occupied the Union works to the north of Richmond, learned the astounding news, and the next morning rode into the city without opposition. The tidings were telegraphed to Washington. The following day President Lincoln arrived, and was quartered in the house formerly occupied by Jefferson Davis. Martial law was proclaimed, and order restored in the stricken city.
But General Lee had not yet surrendered. No men ever fought more heroically than he and his soldiers. On the Sunday that he sent his message to President Davis, the commander found the only line of retreat left to him was that which led to the westward, and even that was threatened. Anticipating Lee's retreat, Grant used all possible energy to cut him off. On the night of April 6th Lee crossed the Appomattox near Farmville. That night his general officers held a consultation, and agreed that but one course was left to them and that was to surrender. Their views were communicated to Lee, but he would not yet consent to that decisive step.
LINCOLN ENTERING RICHMOND.