American Civil War Museum @ Appomattox, VA…read more
This place is a gem for people that love history! Cleburne's coat that he was killed in at the battle of Franklin had me in absolute aweeee! Thank y'all for preserving these artifacts for the people to enjoy.
I would highly recommend this place!
On April 8, 1865, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia paused its march a mile from the small village of Appomattox Court House. Lee intended to resupply there before heading to Lynchburg, Virginia, and then south to Danville, Virginia. Unanticipated was the arrival of Union cavalry coming from the south under Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's command. That evening Union Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer successfully led some of the cavalry against the Confederate supply trains at the nearby Appomattox Station. Although shaken, Lee hoped to break through to Lynchburg the next day.
On the morning of April 9, Lee ordered his cavalry, under the command of Gen. John B. Gordon, to attack Sheridan's cavalry, which had blocked the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road. Lee commanded an army of nearly 27,000 soldiers, which paled in comparison to Grant's force of some 63,000 troops, but he still intended to force his way through Union lines. The Confederate cavalry initially held their own and even succeeded in driving the Union horsemen from their position atop a nearby ridge. However, Gordon saw thousands of Union troops quickly approaching and sent word to Lee that his position was hopeless unless the infantry supported them. Lee's infantry, however, was engaged with Grant's Army of the James, which had approached the Confederates from the west under cover of night. Faced with no route of escape to Lynchburg, Lee agreed to negotiate terms of surrender.
In a statement about her husband, Mary Custis Lee remarked that "General Lee is not the Confederacy."
Her assessment was spot on, for the Confederacy still lived. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army--the next largest after Lee's still at war--was operating in North Carolina. Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor controlled forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and part of Louisiana. Lt. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith's men were west of the Mississippi, and Brig. Gen. Stand Watie was in command of an Indian unit in the Far West. Nathan Bedford Forrest had men in Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi.
