Appomattox Court House National Historic Park

Following the fall of Petersburg and Richmond in early April 1865, Robert E. Lee led his exhausted Army of Northern Virginia on a fighting retreat west. The goal was to link up with Gen. Joseph Johnston and his Army of Tennessee near Danville, but Ulysses S. Grant's forces harried the Rebels at every step. On April 6, the Battle of Sailor's Creek cost Lee 7,000 Confederate men, one-fifth of the remaining ranks, including Lee's son Custis and seven other generals who were captured. The next day, Lee refused Grant's request for a discussion of surrender, saying he would rather "die a thousand deaths." But after Lee's supplies were captured at Appomattox Station on the evening of April 8, Lee was compelled to meet with the Union leader.

On Sunday morning, April 9, the two generals met in the parlor of Wilmer McLean's home in Appomattox Court House. They drafted the terms of surrender - the Confederates would be allowed to return home unmolested, they could keep their horses and officers their sidearms - and Lee signed the paper, surrendering his army and signaling the end of four years of bloodshed and chaos. At a ceremony on April 12, the ragtag Rebel army laid down its flags and weapons and each man received a printed parole. "The war is over," said Grant, prohibiting any celebration among his troops out of respect. "The rebels are our countrymen again." During the ceremonial stacking of arms, the Federal soldiers rendered a salute to the surrendering Confederates, which was returned in kind.

The McLean House was dismantled in 1893 amid plans to ship it to the capital and rebuild it as part of a war museum, but this never happened, and the pieces lay decaying for decades. Luckily the largely abandoned village was designated a national Historical Park in 1954 and eventually restored to its 1865 appearance.

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park(434-352-8987 ext 26 daily 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., $4 pp or $10 per vehicle in summer) is on Route 24, three miles north of U.S. 460 and the town of Appomattox. Start at the visitors center and get your bearings with two 15 minute slide presentations and a map display of Lee's retreat. Take a look at the museum, which holds relics such as little Lula McLean's doll, the "silent witness" to the signing.

In the village, a reconstruction version of the McLean House is decorated as accurately as possible from painting and firsthand accounts. The nearby Clover Hill Tavern dates to 1819. The park includes a section of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road where the Confederates stacked their arms during the surrender ceremony.

Park interpreters can answer questions and point you down the trails to both Lee's and Grant's final headquarters. Living-history programs are held daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day. call 434-352-0493 for more information.