When did Lee surrender?

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 (Palm Sunday) at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War although other Confederate forces would continue to surrender over the following weeks. The path to Appomattox was a fast moving campaign through southern Virginia. Grant had pinned Lee's army in the trenches around Petersburg and Richmond from June 1864 onward in a ten month siege.

On April 1, 1865 General Philip Sheridan defeated Confederate forces at Five Forks, breaking Lee's right flank. The next day, April 2, 1865, Grant's troops broke through the Petersburg defenses, forcing Lee to abandon both Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond on the night of April 2 to 3, 1865. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet fled south.

Lee retreated west hoping to link up with General Joseph Johnston's army in North Carolina. Sheridan's cavalry blocked his path. Lee's army, exhausted and starving, suffered defeat at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, losing nearly a quarter of its remaining strength. Lee continued west toward Appomattox Station, where he hoped to find supply trains. Sheridan reached the station first and captured the trains on April 8, 1865. With Union infantry approaching from the east and cavalry blocking the west, Lee was trapped.

He sent a flag of truce to Grant on the morning of April 9, 1865 offering to discuss terms. The two generals met at the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox Court House at about 1:30 p.m. McLean had moved to Appomattox from Manassas after his earlier home had been damaged in the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, an irony that has fascinated historians. Grant arrived in a mud spattered private's uniform, while Lee wore a formal dress uniform. The two were polite, with Grant offering generous surrender terms: officers and men could go home with their personal property and their horses for spring planting. Officers could retain their swords. About 28,000 Confederate troops were paroled.

Grant ordered the Union army not to celebrate. Three days later, on April 12, 1865, the Confederate troops formally stacked their arms in a ceremony at which Union General Joshua Chamberlain ordered his men to salute their former enemies.

The April 9 surrender did not end the war immediately. General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Durham, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. President Andrew Johnson formally declared the rebellion over on May 9, 1865.