Posted on 04/09/2009 6:14:54 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
April 9, 1865 Lee surrenders
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
For more than a week, Lee had tried to outrun Grant to the west of Richmond and Petersburg. After a ten-month siege of the two cities, the Union forces broke through the defenses and forced Lee to retreat. The Confederates moved along the Appomattox River, with Union General Phillip Sheridan shadowing them to the south. Lee's army had little food, and they began to desert in large numbers on the retreat. When Lee arrived at Appomattox, he found that his path was blocked. He had not choice but to request a meeting with Grant.
They met at a house in Appomattox at 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of April 9. Lee was resplendent in his dress uniform and a fine sword at his side. Grant arrived wearing a simple soldier's coat that was muddy from his long ride. The great generals spoke of their service in the Mexican War, and then set about the business at hand. Grant offered generous terms. Officers could keep their side arms, and all men would be immediately released to return home. Any officers and enlisted men who owned horses could take them home, Grant said, to help put crops in the field and carry their families through the next winter. These terms, said Lee, would have "the best possible effect upon the men," and "will do much toward conciliating our people." The papers were signed and Lee prepared to return to his men.
In one of the great ironies of the war, the surrender took place in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's home. McClean had once lived along the banks of Bull Run, the site of the first major battle of the war in July 1861. Seeking refuge from the fighting, McClean decided to move out of the Washington-Richmond corridor to try to avoid the fighting that would surely take place there. He moved to Appomattox Court House only to see the war end in his home.
Although there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. Four years of bloodshed had left a devastating mark on the country: 360,000 Union and 260,000 Confederate soldiers had perished during the Civil War.
A total of 620,000 men, out of a population of roughly 30 million.
The equivalent loss from today's US population would be over six million.
In CW II, there will be NO surrender.
For the first time in my life, I believe the wrong side won the Civil War.
The day the concept of a “Free Republic” died.
“Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in my right hand.”
Gen. Robert E. Lee
I wonder how a divided nation would have fared aginst the Nazis of the mid-twentieth centery and the Communists of the late twentieth century.
I wonder how our two nations, the United States of Middle America and the United Coastal Socialist States would fare now against our enemies.
Given that the UCSS would be the new Workers Paradise, I wonder where the bulk of the population would immigrate to.
Just wondering.
Why are you convinced that things would have been all that much different in an independent confederacy? Look at the politicians they send to Washington today. Big spending, big government politicans, the lot of them. Pay lip-service to conservative principles but will drop those when convenient. Davis himself nationalized industries, proposed huge income taxes, seized private property, ignored his constitution, and stomped on state's rights when he wanted to.
The problems we face today have far more recent origins, and have originated from all parts of the country. You can't blame it on the Civil War or state positively that the confederacy would have been a whole lot different.
Nobody is really sure. The night before he surrendered, when a member of his staff suggested the army scatter and continue a guerrilla war, Lee estimated he had less than 15,000 men. After the surrender, when Grant offered to send rations for 25,000 men to the army, Lee assured him that would be sufficient. Official totals of the surrender put it at 27,800. The answer is somewhere in between all those. Grant, on the other hand, probably had over 100,000 men with him.
“Any one know what the Confederate troop (v. Union) strength was at the close of hostilities?”
This was not the “close of hostilities”. There were several more small battles after the surrender, with the last one in Texas. Areas that did not receive word of the surrender. Here is some triva for you. The South won that last battle in Texas. The Battle of Palmito Ranch may 12-13, 1865.
http://www.qsl.net/w5www/palmito.html
Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier.
Click in the HTML file to see the whole document.
Note: The writer Leon Louis mentions his parents are in NY. Though he himself lived in North Carolina and joined the famed First North Carolina.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leon/menu.html
Excerpt from the diary:
April 1865 - “I suppose the end is near, for there is no more hope for the South to gain her independence. On the 10th of this month we were told by an officer that all those who wished to get out of prison by taking the oath of allegiance to the United States could do so in a very few days. There was quite a consultation among the prisoners. On the morning of the 12th we heard that Lee had surrendered on the 9th, and about 400, myself with them, took the cursed oath and were given transportation to wherever we wanted to go. I took mine to New York City to my parents, whom I have not seen since 1858. Our cause is lost; our comrades who have given their lives for the independence of the South have died in vain; that is, the cause for which they gave their lives is lost, but they positively did not give their lives in vain. They gave it for a most righteous cause, even if the Cause was lost. Those that remain to see the end for which they fought - what have we left? Our sufferings and privations would be nothing had the end been otherwise, for we have suffered hunger, been without sufficient clothing, barefooted, lousy, and have suffered more than any one can believe, except soldiers of the Southern Confederacy. And the end of all is a desolated home to go to. When I commenced this diary of my life as a Confederate soldier I was full of hope for the speedy termination of the war, and our independence. I was not quite nineteen years old. I am now twenty-three. The four years that I have given to my country I do not regret, nor am I sorry for one day that I have given - my only regret is that we have lost that for which we fought. Nor do I for one moment think that we lost it by any other way than by being outnumbered at least five if not ten to one. The world was open to the enemy, but shut out to us. I shall now close this diary in sorrow, but to the last I will say that, although but a private, I still say our Cause was just, nor do I regret one thing that I have done to cripple the North.
And no quarter offered or given.
My great-great grandfather was wounded the morning of April 9th as part of the last hostilities in the area. He was shot in the butt so an inglorious end to his Confederate military career. I believe it was a flesh wound and probably did not keep him out of the parade a few days later.
My God, this is good reading. More from that Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier. - The writer is in a Northern POW Camp
June 8 1964 - There is nothing new up to to-day, when I received a box of eatables, one or two shirts, and one pair of pants from home. The only way we can pass our time off is playing cards and chess. Six hundred prisoners came in to-day, with them a lady, who is an artillery sergeant. Being questioned by the provost marshal, she said she could straddle a horse, jump a fence and kill a Yankee as well as any rebel. As time in prison is very dull and always the same thing as the day preceding, I shall not mention each day, but only those days upon which something happened.
June 11 - Five hundred more prisoners came in to-day.
June 12 - To-day, as the negro guard was relieved, two of them commenced playing with their guns and bayonets, sticking at one another. Fortunately one of their guns, by accident, went off and made a hole in the other one’s body, which killed him instantly. The other one kicked at him several times, telling him to get up as the rebels were laughing at him, but in a very short time he found out that he had killed his comrade and that we were laughing sure enough.
My Dear Federal Boot Licking Friend:
You don't fight for your independence and submit after the fact to a top down central authority. I have every reason to believe things "would have been a whole lot different". I guess you need to tell yourself that to justify the "butcher's" bill for "preservation". Just what was "preserved" anyway?
Based on what? Other than your Southron imagination?
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