The battles of Cold Harbor were two American Civil War engagements that took place about 10 miles northeast of Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late The victories forced the Fought in The Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, , involved nearly , combatants, the largest concentration of troops in any Civil War battle.
Ambrose Burnside, the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, had ordered his more than , troops to cross the Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Battle of Appomattox Court House. Recommended for you. Appomattox Court House. Battle of Chancellorsville. Battle of Fredericksburg. Confederate commanders tried to break through the cavalry screen, hoping that the horsemen were unsupported by other troops.
John Gibbon and Bvt. Charles Griffin, to march all night to reinforce the Union cavalry and trap Lee. On April 9, those corps drove back the Confederates. Rather than destroy his army and sacrifice the lives of his soldiers to no purpose, Lee decided to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia.
Three days later, a formal ceremony marked the disbanding of Lee's army and the parole of his men, ending the war in Virginia. The Grant-Lee agreement served not only as a signal that the South had lost the war but also as a model for the rest of the surrenders that followed. General Robert E. His objective is the South Side Railroad at Appomattox Station, where critical food supplies have been sent up from Lynchburg.
Union cavalry under Brig. George A. Custer reach them first, however, capturing and burning three supply trains. Grant, aware that Lee's army was out of options, had written to Lee on April 7, requesting the Confederate general's surrender.
But Lee still hopes to access more supplies further west at Lynchburg and does not capitulate. He does, however, ask what terms Grant is offering.
The two generals continue their correspondence throughout the next day. April 9. Approximately 9, Confederate troops under Maj. John B. Gordon deploy in the fields west of the village before dawn and wait. Before a.
Philip Sheridan. The outnumbered Union cavalry fall back, temporarily opening the road to the Confederates. Meanwhile, Lt.
General Ulysses S. Bowing to the inevitable, Lee orders his troops to retreat through the village and back across the Appomattox River. Small pockets of resistance continue to erupt until flags of truce are sent out from the Confederate lines between and a.
There, Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia. Through the lenient terms, Confederate troops are paroled and allowed to return to their homes while Union soldiers are ordered to refrain from overt celebration or taunting. These measures serve as a blueprint for the surrender of the remaining Confederate forces throughout the South.
Although a formal peace treaty is never signed by the combatants, the submission of the Confederate armies ends the war and begins the long and arduous road toward reunification of North and South. According to Grant, who recorded the experience in his memoirs, the two generals treated one another with courtesy and respect. They initially attempted to break the ice by recalling their old army days during the Mexican American War.
Grant was flattered that Lee remembered him from that time, as he was much younger than Lee and more junior in rank.
Then, they got down to negotiating the terms of surrender. The following day allowed a long-awaited emotional release for those who had once been fellow citizens, then armed foes for four years. Grant, accompanied by his staff and other officers, met with Lee once again. The Union general sensed that his men wanted to visit the Confederate lines and greet some of the men they had trained with before the war. Orville Babcock, and his orderly, Capt. The meeting place was left to Lee's discretion.
Soon Lee sent the aides ahead to find a suitable location for the surrender. Soon after entering the village, the two Confederates happened upon a homeowner, Wilmer McLean, who showed them an unfurnished and somewhat run-down house. After being told that would not do for such an important occasion, he offered his own house for the surrender meeting.
After seeing the house, they accepted and sent a message back to Lee. Lee reached the McLean house around 1 p. Along with his aide-de-camp Lt. Grant arrived around Grant and Lee discussed the old army and having met during the Mexican War. Grant proposed that the Confederates, with the exception of officers, lay down their arms, and after signing paroles, return to their homes. Lee agreed with the terms, and Grant began writing them out. One issue that Lee brought up before the terms were finalized and signed was the issue of horses.
He pointed out that unlike the Federals, Confederate cavalrymen and artillerymen in his army owned their own horses. Grant stated that he would not add it to the agreement but would instruct his officers receiving the paroles to let the men take their animals home. Lee also brought up the subject of rations since his men had gone without rations for several days.
Grant agreed to supply 25, rations to the hungry Confederate soldiers. Most of the rations were provided from Confederate supplies captured by Sheridan when he seized rebel supply trains at Appomattox Station the previous day. Lee and Grant designated three officers each to make sure the terms of the surrender were properly carried out. Grant and Lee met on horseback around 10 in the morning of April 10 on the eastern edge of town. There are conflicting accounts to what they discussed, but it is believed that three things came out of this meeting: each Confederate soldier would be given a printed pass, signed by his officers, to prove he was a paroled prisoner; all cavalrymen and artillerymen would be allowed to retain their horses; and Confederates who had to pass through Federal-occupied territory to get home were allowed free transportation on U.
Printing presses were set up to print the paroles, and the formal surrender of arms took place on April For those who stayed with Lee until the end, the war was over. It was time for them to head home. Lee left Appomattox and rode to Richmond to join his wife. Her assessment was spot on, for the Confederacy still lived.
Joseph E. Johnston's army—the next largest after Lee's still at war—was operating in North Carolina. Richard Taylor controlled forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and part of Louisiana. Edmund Kirby Smith's men were west of the Mississippi, and Brig. Stand Watie was in command of an Indian unit in the Far West. The day after Lee's surrender, the federal War Department was still trying to work out who was included in the terms of the agreement; its terms had not yet been received in Washington.
Was it all members of the Army of Northern Virginia or just those who were with Lee at the time of surrender?
Godfrey Weitzel, the Union commander in charge of Richmond, telegraphed Grant that "the people here are anxious that [John] Mosby should be included in Lee's surrender. They say he belongs to that army. In addition, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton requested from Grant further clarification about forces in Loudoun County, Virginia, that belonged to the Army of Northern Virginia and whether they fell under Lee's surrender.
Grant clarified the matter in a telegram to Stanton on the night of April This matched a telegram sent mid-afternoon from Chief of Staff Gen. Henry W. Halleck to Maj. Winfield Scott Hancock in which the chief of staff advised the general that the secretary of war wanted him to print and circulate the correspondence between Grant and Lee concerning the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Halleck then provided further guidance that "All detachments and stragglers from that army will, upon complying with the conditions agreed upon, be paroled and permitted to return to their homes. John Mosby, the Gray Ghost.
National Archives Identifier View in National Archives Catalog. Since not everyone was yet in a surrendering mood, Halleck further advised that those who did not surrender would be treated as prisoners of war. He ended the telegram with one exception, "the guerrilla chief Mosby will not be paroled.
Mosby's response was delivered to Hancock on April Mosby was not ready to surrender his command but would meet to discuss terms of an armistice.
After reading the letter, Hancock agreed to meet at noon on April 18; a cease-fire would begin immediately. That evening the War Department wired that Grant had authorized Hancock to accept the surrender of Mosby's command. In the days just after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, there were heightened personal safety concerns for top officers. Hancock sent Brig. George Chapman, a Union cavalry officer, in his place to confer with Mosby on the April Mosby was still not ready to surrender and requested a hour extension of the cease-fire.
Chapman agreed and notified Mosby that the cease-fire would continue until noon on April The "Gray Ghost" chose to disband his unit rather than surrender en masse. In his announcement read to his men on April 21, Mosby told them, "I disband your organization in preference to surrendering it to our enemies.
I am no longer your commander. Most of Mosby's officers, and several hundred of his men, rode into Winchester to surrender themselves and sign paroles. Federals allowed them to keep their horses. Hancock estimated that around rangers were paroled. Others followed suit and started turning themselves in at other towns in Virginia.
Even more joined their colleagues and signed paroles in Washington and at military posts over the next several months. Mosby and his younger brother, William, went into hiding, near their father's home outside Lynchburg, Virginia, soon after learning of Johnston's surrender to Sherman in North Carolina.
In mid-June William received assurances from a local provost marshal in Lynchburg that his brother would be paroled if he turned himself in. John Mosby presented himself the next day only to be told the offer had been countermanded by Union authorities in Richmond. Several days passed before Grant himself interceded, and on June 16 Mosby was told his parole would be accepted. The following day, Mosby turned himself in and signed the parole in Lynchburg. Mosby returned to the business of law shortly after the war.
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