Confederates Trapped
Appomattox Court House Nat’l Hist Park
For most of the war, Lee and his army had tormented their Northern enemies – at Gaines’ Mill, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville. But here, on April 9, 1865, the once-mighty Army of Northern Virginia found itself trapped. Lee faced the most difficult decision of his life.
“… there is nothing left me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.”
Gen. Robert E. Lee, CSA April 9, 1865
The tortuous final journey began with the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond on April 2, 1865. Lee’s straggling columns started west, trying to outrun Grant’s men, trying to turn south into North Carolina to join another Confederate force under Joseph E. Johnston. But Federals from three armies dogged them all the way. Then, on the morning of April 9, Union infantry deployed across Lee’s path west of Appomattox Court House.
Two miles northeast of here, more Federals slashed at the Confederate rear. With Union troops blocking his route west on the Stage Road (present Route 24), with Union troops behind him, and with Union troops closing on his left flank from the east, Lee had no choice. At about 9 a.m. on April 9, he sent a final, painful message to Grant. Could they meet “with reference to the surrender of this army?”
Marker is on Old Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 24), on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
