Several other Confederate forces-some large units, some small&madsh had yet to surrender before President Andrew Johnson could declare that the Civil War was officially over. Lee, the Confederacy's most respected commander, surrendered only his Army of Northern Virginia to Union Gen. While it was the most significant surrender to take place during the Civil War, Gen. The surrender at Appomattox took place a week later on April 9. But what happened there in early April 150 years ago certainly marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.Īfter the fall of Richmond, the Confederate capital, on April 2, 1865, officials in the Confederate government, including President Jefferson Davis, fled.
The war, however, did not officially conclude at that tiny village west of Petersburg, Virginia. To many Americans the word Appomattox is synonymous with the end of the Civil War. Lee (National Archives Identifiers 558769)
