The Appomattox campaign marked a turning point in the American Civil War. It was the culmination of four years of fighting, and the decisive victory by the Union Army signaled the end of the war and the beginning of a new era in American history. The Appomattox campaign was one of the most critical and decisive events of the United States Civil War. The campaign marked the end of the longest and most brutal conflict in American history and gave rise to the dawn of a new era, one in which slavery was abolished, and the prospects of unity and progress were enhanced.

The campaign began in March of 1865, when Union forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant launched a series of attacks against Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee. The goal of the campaign was to capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, and bring an end to the war. The Union forces were well-equipped, well-trained, and heavily outnumbered the Confederate troops. On the other hand, Lee's forces were depleted, exhausted, and demoralized, but they were unwilling to surrender. The campaign comprised a series of battles fought from 29 March to 9 April 1865, in Virginia, that concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to the Union forces.

The campaign was fought after the long Richmond-Petersburg siege, which had left Lee's army outnumbered and exhausted. Lee, began his final campaign on 25 March 1865, with a surprise attack on Fort Stedman near Petersburg amidst dwindling supplies and resources. However, Union forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant counterattacked on 1 April at Five Forks, leading to Lee's subsequent evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg on 2 April, marking one of the final turning points of the Civil War.

The Union Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, was well-equipped and well-fed and was growing in strength. The Union Army began an offensive on 29 March 1865, that broke the Confederate defenses southwest of Petersburg and cut their supply lines to Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This forced Lee to order the evacuation of Confederate forces from both cities on the night of 2-3 April 1865, before Grant's army could cut off any escape. Confederate government leaders also fled west from Richmond that night.

Lee's plan was to march west toward Lynchburg, Virginia, and resupply his army before heading southwest into North Carolina to unite with Confederate army commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. However, the Union Army pursued Lee's fleeing Confederates relentlessly, and during the next week, the Union troops fought a series of battles with Confederate units, cut off or destroyed Confederate supplies, and blocked their paths to the south and ultimately to the west. On 6 April, the Confederate Army suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia, where they lost about 7,700 men killed and captured and an unknown number wounded.

Despite this, Lee continued to move the remainder of his battered army to the west. The Confederate Army retreated towards the southwest along the Richmond & Danville Railroad, with Lee himself leading his troops on a series of grueling night marches in hopes of reaching supply trains in Farmville, Virginia. However, Union troops had anticipated Lee's path and captured the valuable supplies at Farmville on 7 April. Furthering the struggle of Lee's army, Confederate forces found themselves blocked by Federal cavalry on 8 April, which forced Confederate commanders to try breaking through the cavalry screen under the assumption that the horsemen were unsupported. However, Grant had already ordered two Union corps (Twenty-fourth and Fifth), under the commands of Major General John Gibbon and Major General Charles Griffin, to march throughout the night to reinforce the Union cavalry and further trap Lee.

Top Photo: Extraordinary leadership and generalship; West Pointers, both: Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant  and General Robert E. Lee. Source: Originals from Mathew B. Brady and U.S. National Archives. Click to enlarge.

Bottom Photo: Union soldiers at the courthouse in April 1865. Source: Library of Congress. Click to enlarge.

The pivotal battle in the Appomattox campaign was fought on 9 April, near the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Union soldiers led by General George Armstrong Custer blocked the path of Lee's retreating army and forced them to surrender. The battle lasted only a few minutes, and when it was over, Lee and his generals signed a document of surrender. Soon cornered, short of food and supplies and outnumbered, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on 9 April, at the McLean House near the Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

The Appomattox campaign was an example of masterful, relentless pursuit and maneuver by Grant and Sheridan, skills that had been in short supply by previous generals, such as Meade after Gettysburg and McClellan after Antietam. Lee did the best he could under the circumstances, but his supplies, soldiers, and luck finally ran out. The surrender of Lee represented the loss of only one of the Confederate field armies, but it was a psychological blow from which the South did not recover. With no chance remaining for eventual victory, all of the remaining armies capitulated by June 1865.

Confederate casualties in the campaign are difficult to estimate because many of their records are lost and reports were not always submitted. However, according to National Park Service historian Chris M. Calkins, an estimated 6,266 were killed and wounded, and 19,132 were captured. Surrendering at Appomattox Court House were 22,349 infantry, 1,559 cavalry, and 2,576 artillery troops. Union casualties for the campaign were about 9,700 killed, wounded, and missing or captured.

The Appomattox campaign was a turning point in American history, not only because it ended the Civil War but also because it set the stage for the reintegration of the South into the Union and the passage of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery. The campaign also had a profound impact on the soldiers who fought in it, both Union and Confederate. Many of them went on to become leaders of the post-war United States, and their experiences in the campaign shaped their views on issues of race, freedom, and citizenship. It represented the end of a brutal and divisive war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left deep scars on the nation. The campaign highlighted the importance of leadership, strategy, and tactics in military campaigns and demonstrated the importance of decisive action in achieving victory. The surrender of Confederate forces at Appomattox marked the beginning of a period of reconstruction and reconciliation as the country struggled to heal itself after four years of war.

Bibliography

Catton, Bruce. Bruce Catton: The Army of the Potomac Trilogy (LOA #359): Mr. Lincoln's Army / Glory Road / A Stillness at Appomattox. New York: Library of America, 2022.

Catton, Bruce. The Civil War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Sheehan-Dean, Aaron, editor. The Cambridge History of the American Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.