Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park

The Civil War Surrender Site…Then and Now

Here, in the parlor of the McLean home, on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered his men to Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all United States forces effectively ending the Civil War. Though several Confederate armies under different commanders remained in the field, Lee’s surrender signaled the end of the Southern States’ attempt to create a separate nation. Three days later the men of the Army of Northern Virginia marched before the Union Army, laid down their flags, stacked their weapons, and then began the journey back to their homes. For them it was an ending, but for the nation it was a new beginning. Today you can walk the old country lanes where these events took place and in the quietness and stillness imagine the activity of those April days of 1865.

Grant and Lee

Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were well-matched adversaries who skillfully led their troops against each other in the last year of the Civil War. Grant knew how to exploit an opponent’s weaknesses to best advantage. Lee’s strengths were his aggressiveness and his ability to assess an opponent’s capabilities.

The Park

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is located in south central Virginia, 92 miles west of Richmond and 18 miles east of Lynchburg. It is on Va. 24, three miles northeast of the town of Appomattox, where motel accommodations, restaurants, and stores are located. The nearest public campground is at Holiday Lake State Park. Park programs are designed to show how the war affected the people of the village and how they lived from day to day.

The Village and the Courthouse

Originally the village of Appomattox Courthouse was known as Clover Hill. It was a small settlement with just a few houses around the tavern, which was a stopping-off point on the main Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road. When the country of Appomattox was formed in 1845, Clover Hill was chosen as the county seat and the town was renamed Appomattox Courthouse. The next year the county courthouse was built. Slowly the settlement grew into a village of homes, stores, and lawyers’ offices. Among the original structures still standing from 1865 are the Clover Hill Tavern, the Plunkett-Meeks Store, the Woodson Law Office, the Peers House, the Mariah Wright House, and the Jones Law Office.

The County

At the time of the Civil War, Appomattox County was a rural, agricultural area. The county had no towns except the county seat, which boasted fewer than 150 inhabitants. The remainder of the county’s 8,900 citizens, 54 percent of whom were black, lived on the land. The few professions – blacksmith, cooper, wheelwright, miller, and sawyer – tended to support the needs of the farmers and plantation owners. Despite the county’s overwhelming agricultural character, the people needed a place to conduct their legal affairs, to buy the few items they did not grow or make, and to meet their neighbors. Appomattox Court House filled these needs. Some lawyers opened offices around the courthouse. Two of the county’s dozen stores were in the small village. The largest, Plunkett-Meeks Store, also was the post office. Francis Meeks’s son, Lafayette, served in the Confederate army, died of typhoid, and was buried here. The village and county prospered in the 1850s. The war would change all of this.

Surrender Terms

When Grant and Lee sat down in the parlor of Wilmer McLean’s home, Grant asked only that the Confederates pledge not to take up arms against the United States. Officers were allowed to keep their side arms and any Confederate soldier who owned a horse was allowed to take it home with him. The generous terms began the process of reunification.

The official surrender documents were prepared by Lt. Col. Charles Marshall of Lee’s staff and Lt. Col. Ely S. Parker of Grant’s. Also present in the room was Capt. Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln and a junior member of Grant’s military family.

The Paroles

To print the passes that Confederates would need to return to their homes, printing presses were set up in the Clover Hill Tavern. Printers worked in relays to print 30,000 blank forms. By April 11, the paroles were ready for distribution to the Southern camps.

The McLean Farm

During the war Wilmer McLean and his family left their home in Manassas, Va., for business purposes. He was a sugar speculator and bought the property at Appomattox Court House in the fall of 1862 to be near the railroad. Lee used the parlor of their home when he surrendered to Grant.

End of the War

Lee’s capitulation did not bring an immediate end to the Confederate States of America; other armies were still in the field. Not until the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina on April 26, Richard Taylor’s army in Alabama on May, and Edmund Kirby Smith’s army in Texas on June 2 did the Confederacy cease to exist. All were surrendered on the terms set at Appomattox Court House by Lee and Grant.