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Appomattox Court House (Including Sailor's or Syler's Creek) |
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| April 9, 1865 |
The end was nearer than many believed possible - less than a week separated the Union occupations of Richmond and Petersburg from the Confederate surrender in a small central Virginia village east of Lynchburg. The Appomattox Campaign became a race to determine if the core of the South's greatest army, and in actuality the Confederacy itself, would survive. It was a race the still defiant Army of Northern Virginia could not win. A day after the fall of Petersburg (4 April), Confederate GEN Robert E. Lee gathered his beleaguered, retreating forces (about 36,000 men) at Amelia Court House, 35 miles to the west. Lee hoped to pick-up much-needed rations and supplies there and then march west and south to Danville, VA (now the site of President Jefferson Davis' government and the last capital of the Confederacy), near the North Carolina border, where he could join GEN Joseph Johnston. But there was a mix-up, and the previously requisitioned provisions were not there. Lee's starving men were forced to forage the countryside for anything edible. This fatal delay would negate any lead the southern army had over its fast moving pursuers. Grant had sent MG Philip H. Sheridan's hard riding cavalry and the VI Corps infantry to block the railway south to Danville. Lee would have to push further west. As his army neared Farmville the last major engagement was fought (6 April) between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. Lee's columns had become strung-out as they approached the Appomattox River. And on the bottomlands of Sayler's Creek (including Big and Little Sayler's Creek) Federal infantry (MG Horatio G. Wright's VI Corps and MG Andrew A. Humphrey's II Corps) and Sheridan's cavalry and horse artillery closed in on LTG Richard S. Ewell, LTG Richard H. Anderson, and LTG John B. Gordon's corps. In three separate actions (Battle of Sailor's Creek) Confederate casualties, especially in troops captured, were staggering. Lee had lost a fourth of his army! Securing rations in Farmville (7 April) the remainder of Lee's infantry trudged on. Approaching Appomattox Court House, on the road to Lynchburg, Lee's exhausted command found this last western escape route blocked by Union cavalry (MG Sheridan) and infantry (MG Edward O.C. Ord) at Appomattox Station (8-9 April) and at Appomattox Court House (9 April). On Palm Sunday, 9 April, after one last skirmish near Appomattox Station, GEN Robert E. Lee formally surrendered the out-numbered and out-maneuvered Army of Northern Virginia to LTG Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. On 26 April GEN Joseph Johnston, commanding Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, signed a surrender document similar to that imposed on Lee at Appomattox. The Civil War in the east had ended. And finally on 26 May and 2 June 1865 the last Confederate army of the Trans-Mississippi Department, commanded by GEN Edmund Kirby Smith, was surrendered to Union forces in New Orleans. The most destructive war in American history was over. Estimated Casualties (Sailor's Creek and Appomattox Court House): Union - 1,312; Confederate - 8,200 with 28,231 surrendered and paroled.
Notes:
Numbers in parentheses reflect estimated strength of armies or units.
Estimated casualty figures are totals for killed, wounded, missing in action, and taken prisoner.
Alternative names of battles and campaigns appear in parentheses.
Military and naval rank abbreviations in text: LT - Lieutenant, CPT - Captain, MAJ - Major, LTC - Lieutenant Colonel, CDR - Commander (Navy), COL - Colonel, BG - Brigadier General, MG - Major General, RADM - Rear Admiral (Navy), LTG - Lieutenant General, VADM - Vice Admiral (Navy), and GEN - General.
Army Organization: Although authorized and actual strength and the rank of the commanding officer often varied, the standard military unit during the War was the infantry regiment (1,000 men, COL commanding) which was comprised of 10 companies (100 men each, CPT commanding). 3-4 Regiments = 1 Brigade (3,000-4000 men, BG commanding). 3 (sometimes 4) Brigades = 1 Division (9000-12,000 men, BG or MG commanding). 2-4 (usually 3) Divisions = 1 Corps (18,000-24,000+ men, MG - North and MG or LTG -South commanding). 2 or more Corps = An Army (usually 20,000-100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding). 2 or more Armies = An Army Group (usually 100,000+ men - MG, LTG, or GEN commanding).
Sources:
Atlas for the American Civil War, The West Point Military History Series, 1986.
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, by James M. McPherson. 1988.
Battlefields of the Civil War, by Roger W. Hicks and Frances E. Schultz. 1989.
The Centennial History of the Civil War, 3 Vols., by Bruce Catton. 1961-65.
The Civil War (Series), Editors of Time-Life Books. 1983.
The Civil War: A Narrative, 3 Vols., by Shelby Foote. 1958-1974.
The Civil War: An Illustrated History, by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns. 1990.
The Civil War Battlefield Guide, Ed. by Frances H. Kennedy. 1990.
The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, by E.B. Long with Barbara Long. 1971.
The Encyclopedia of Military History, Second Rev. Ed., by R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy. 1986.
West Point Atlas of American Wars, Vol. I, Ed. by Vincent J. Esposito. 1959.
Who Was Who in the Civil War, by Stewart Sifakis. 1988.
Photographs courtesy of The Generals of the American Civil War Website.
