Appomattox Court House marks 161st Surrender and Freedom Day

WFXR ^ | Apr 8, 2026 | Zoe Mowery

[Segovia]

And just as Lee predicted, the history was written by the enemy, and their sons and daughters are second class citizens in the country their grandfathers founded.

[ComputerGuy]

Surrender and Freedom Day?

[mmichaels1970]

My great great grandfather was there. Or at least he was in the area. I have a copy of his diary and his entry on 4/9/1865 is as follows:

Today Stone's men came up in front of Lee with his cavalry and Lee was surrounded and Lee surrendered his army."

He was a private and his role in the 67th PA Infantry, from what I learned was to hold roads and approaches to pin Lee in.

[BenLurkin]

Apparently that marks the end of The War of Northern Aggression

[mmichaels1970]

Monday, the 10th: Today we lay still in camp in Buckingham County, Virginia. Robert Lee surrendered in Buckingham Clover Hill

[ComputerGuy]

A cousin of mine has a dozen letters that were written by our Uncle Charlie Brice and mailed to his mother in NC.
The last letter in the set was written by Charlie’s friend.
You can guess what it said.
It’s been a long long time since I saw them, but I still remember the nearly-perfect penmanship.
The letters I wrote in Vietnam stand in stark contrast.

[Repeal The 17th]

General Johnston was still fighting in North Carolina
and ultimately surrendered at Durham-April 26, 1865.

[BenLurkin]

I have three ancestors who fought for the North. Either they were illiterate (strong possibility) or nobody saved their letters.

The second Mrs. Lurkin has the letters written by her yankee ancestor. Penmanship and grammar all perfect. Wrote in two directions to save paper.

[Vermont Lt]

Nah…it just moved to the highways around Boston.

[Fiji Hill]

pparently that marks the end of The War of Northern Aggression

Not quite. There was still some fighting going on. The last land battle, at Palmito Ranch, Texas--a Confederate victory--occurred a few weeks later. And during the summer of 1865, the raider CSS Shenandoah captured a Yankee whaling fleet in the Bering Sea, doing far more than Greenpeace ever did to save whales.

[Tell It Right]

And just as Lee predicted, the history was written by the enemy, and their sons and daughters are second class citizens in the country their grandfathers founded.

IMHO, most of the trashing of southern history waited until the south started voting Republican.

[JSM_Liberty]

“I have a copy of his diary”

The oldest that I am aware of in our family is some photographs taken in the 1890s or early 1900s

[mmichaels1970]

I have three ancestors who fought for the North. Either they were illiterate (strong possibility) or nobody saved their letters.

I have a full transcribed diary covering three years: 3/29/1862 - 7/22/1865. Starts with:

I was mustered into the United States service on the 29th day of March 1862

It ends with:

Saturday July 22nd: Toda I left Homer in the morning and I got home at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
And the rest of this pass book is taken up with other matters

The entries in between reflect the mostly mundane life of a private during the war interrupted by some pretty fierce battles, including being taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Winchester. I was able to go through it and identify key events in the war that coincided with sometimes a simple one sentence diary entry.

I'm not sure if the original hand-written exist. But I was able to get the transcription from the army archives years ago.

[FLT-bird]

161st death of the original constitution day.

[PAR35]

Johnson surrendered his army April 26, 1865; Gen Watie didn’t surrender until June 23, 1865, the last Confederate general to surrender his command.

Although, of course, Gen. “Fighting Joe” Wheeler commanded the troops at the Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898 - the last Confederate General to lead troops in battle.

[mmichaels1970]

The oldest that I am aware of in our family is some photographs taken in the 1890s or early 1900s

That's awesome. I like to find family stuff like that and then see how much research I can dig up on it.

I have a copy of a "photo" that looks like it was a painting or print of my grandfather in uniform in the 1860s and a copy of his obit from 1909. We also have his pocket bible and a medal that I think is actually masonic or similar (not civil war).

We went on a quest once to find his headstone which was in a tiny little PA farm town. I loved it.

Next I want to find the road where he was taken prisoner by the rebels at 2nd Winchester.

[xxqqzz]

It was a day of disaster for both countries.

[FLT-bird]

IMHO, most of the trashing of southern history waited until the south started voting Republican.

Excellent point. The 1960s leftists were really starting to come into the ascendancy in Academia in the 80s and early 1990s. That's when political correctness became a thing. The South elected a majority Republican Congressional delegation for the first time since the Occupation in 1993. So you are definitely correct about those two things happening right around the same time. When you know somebody hates you and goes out of their way to trash you, your culture and your heritage, it makes you not very inclined to vote for them.

[bunkerhill7]

Lee never got his supply train. Custer told Col. Hammond and his NY 5th Cavalry Crown Point Morgan Chargers, “Go get that train, Boys!”