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When tension mounted between the two sides further when Lincoln became president, the south succeeded from the Union. The Union did not want this and fought to have the Confederate join back. Thus ensued a bloody war until it ended April 9, 1865, with the battle fo Palmito Ranch.
The Civil War ended April 9, 1865
Robert E. Lee surrendered the last Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865.
Lee asked Grant for the terms of surrender. Grant wrote them out quickly with the pardoning of all men and officers. They would be sent home with their private property, as well as their horses. (They would be used for spring planting.) Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations.
Last battle fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas
Union Private John J. Williams
The last battle was fought at Palmito Ranch, Texas, on May 13, 1865 — a month after the war ended.
The news of the surrender spread slowly, but both sides knew the war was over at this time.
The reason for the battle is not fully known. Some say that Union Colonel Theodore H. Barrett desired “a little battlefield glory before the war ended altogether.” Others say he needed more horses to get his men home and decided to steal them.
Between the 500 Union soldiers and 300 Confederate, it’s estimated that 4-30 Union were killed and no Confederate were killed (although, 5–6 were wounded).
The last soldier to be killed in the entire Civil War was Union Private John J. Williams.
How the Civil War began
For many years before the year 1861, the pressure mounted between the North and the South of the United States. There were a few things that caused this tension:
- What freedom looked like. Freedom for black people looked drastically different in the north compared to the south. In the north, they were free, and in the south, it was legal to own then as slaves. The Underground Railroad to Canada was the only way for them to escape.
- How they got their money. The North produced goods via factories and railroads. The South produced farming and cotton.
- Who did the working. The North employed immigrants from other countries to do the work in the factories. The South forced millions of men, women, and children to do free labor in fields and plantations.
- How politics were handled. The North and South both made compromises as more states joined each side. Both were similar in size and power and both were concerned about the other becoming too powerful. The states on top were “free” states and the states on the bottom were “slave” states.
Heroes and noteworthy people of the Civil War
Here’s a brief list of Civil War heroes and noteworthy people and what they are known for during the American Civil War:
Abraham Lincoln
The 16th president of the United States and preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.
Ulysses S. Grant
He served as U.S. general and commander of the Union armies during the Civil War, later becoming the 18th U.S. president.
Robert E. Lee
He was the leading Confederate general during the Civil War and has been venerated as a heroic figure in the American South.
Stonewall Jackson
He was a leading Confederate general during the Civil War. Loved as a commander, he was accidentally shot by friendly-forces during a battle and died eight days later from health complications.
Clara Barton
She was an educator, nurse, and founder of the American Red Cross.
Harriet Tubman
She escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.
The Battle of Middle Creek was a tragic example of the fratricidal, neighbor-against-neighbor warfare that characterized the struggle for Kentucky. Read about the history of this battle, see reenactments, and the preservation of this site.
The Peacemakers by George Peter Alexander Healy portrays Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Porter discussing plans for the last weeks of the Civil War
Image Credit: George Peter Alexander Healy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
On 9 April 1865 the American Civil War, having claimed the lives of up to three-quarters of a million people, effectively came to an end when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S Grant.
General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox
By Spring 1865 the Confederate army was exhausted. General Lee was surrounded and his line of retreat to Lynchburg was blocked. His subordinate officers urged Lee to scatter his army and continue the war using guerrilla tactics. But it was clear to Lee that he was out of options.
‘There is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths.’
General Robert E. Lee
At 1pm on Palm Sunday, April 9 1865, Lee rode into the small settlement of Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
General Lee Surrendering to Grant
Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery Collection
The surrender in Appomattox Court House actually took three days in total. On the first day, April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at the Mclean farmhouse. Grant and Lee were the generals-in-chief of all the Union and Confederate forces fighting across the country.
The terms of surrender
However, neither had the political authority to bring the war to a final conclusion. The talks between Grant and Lee at Appomattox Court House dealt only with the surrender of Lee’s army in Virginia. Under Grant’s terms, the rolls listing the Confederate officers and men were to be handed over.
Sidney Blumenthal joined me on the podcast to talk about the political life of Abraham Lincoln and what his legacy means today.
Listen NowParoles were offered on the promise that the men,
‘will not take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged … the arms, artillery and public property, to be packed and stacked and turned over to the officers appointed by me … each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes … so long as they observe their parole and the laws in force, where they made reside.’
At 4.30pm, General Grant send the following message to the United States War Department:
‘General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon, upon terms imposed by myself…’.
Ulysses S. Grant by Balling (1865)
Image Credit: Ole Peter Hansen Balling, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The last weeks of the Civil War
The surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia left three major Confederate forces in the field: Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina, Richard Taylor’s army in eastern Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, and Edmund Kirby Smith’s Army of the Trans-Mississippi west of the Mississippi River.
Most of the Confederate forces had given up by May, 1865, but it took seven weeks from Lee’s surrender at Appomattox for the last Confederate force to lay down its arms.
Peace eventually came when each of the seceded states returned to the Union and accepted the terms on which that Union was based. This meant, notably, accepting the Thirteenth Amendment of January 1865, which abolished slavery in the United States.