1862:  
Union troops evacuate Jacksonville, Florida

Skirmish near Jackson, Missouri


1863:  
Skirmish near Franklin, Tennessee

Skirmish on the White River, Arkansas

Action at Blount's Creek, North Carolina

1864:
Moving south through Arkansas, General Frederick Steele engages Confederate forces before being driven back to Little Rock

Retreating from the loss at Sabine Crossroads, Nathaniel Banks [US] is slammed by Richard Taylor [CS] early in the afternoon. In spite of initial Confederate success, Banks managed to organize a counterattack that turned the tide in favor of the Yankees.

Ulysses S. Grant issues campaign orders. He tells George Meade [US], "Wherever Lee goes, you will go there." Similar orders are issued to William Tecumseh Sherman




1865:  
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.  Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

For more than a week, Lee had tried to outrun Grant to the west of Richmond and Petersburg. After a ten-month siege of the two cities, the Union forces broke through the defenses and forced Lee to retreat. The Confederates moved along the Appomattox River, with Union General Phillip Sheridan shadowing them to the south. Lee's army had little food, and they began to desert in large numbers on the retreat. When Lee arrived at Appomattox, he found that his path was blocked. He had not choice but to request a meeting with Grant.

They met at a house in Appomattox at 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of April 9. Lee was resplendent in his dress uniform and a fine sword at his side. Grant arrived wearing a simple soldier's coat that was muddy from his long ride. The great generals spoke of their service in the Mexican War, and then set about the business at hand. Grant offered generous terms. Officers could keep their side arms, and all men would be immediately released to return home. Any officers and enlisted men who owned horses could take them home, Grant said, to help put crops in the field and carry their families through the next winter. These terms, said Lee, would have "the best possible effect upon the men," and "will do much toward conciliating our people." The papers were signed and Lee prepared to return to his men.

In one of the great ironies of the war, the surrender took place in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's home. McClean had once lived along the banks of Bull Run, the site of the first major battle of the war in July 1861. Seeking refuge from the fighting, McClean decided to move out of the Washington-Richmond corridor to try to avoid the fighting that would surely take place there. He moved to Appomattox Court House only to see the war end in his home.

Although there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. Four years of bloodshed had left a devastating mark on the country: 360,000 Union and 260,000 Confederate soldiers had perished during the Civil War.


Union forces bombard and capture Batteries Huger and Tracy on the Blakely River (Action continues until April 11)


Primary sources:
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion ; by Frederick Dyer;
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865 by E. B. Long with Barbara Long;
National Archives Guide Index

From Harpers Weekly - April 22nd 1865

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
SURRENDER OF LEE'S ARMY.
UPON the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg Lee's army moved westward toward Burkesville. This army was thoroughly demoralized, and the line of retreat was strewn with muskets, knapsacks, and artillery caissons. General Grant distinguished himself in the pursuit no less
notably than in the defeat of the rebels. Moving his own army westward, he kept pushing Lee northward, keeping him to the north bank of the Appomattox. Lee finally succeeded in crossing the river, and concentrated his army in the region of Amelia Court House. But in the mean while, by the night of Tuesday, April 4, Sheridan and the Fifth Corps had, by a march of thirty six miles, gained a position west of Lee, near Jettersville, on the road to Burkesville. This movement resulted the next day in the capture of a train of three hundred wagons, with five cannon and a thousand prisoners.

Grant, on Wednesday, with the Twenty-fourth Corps, had reached Nottoway Court House, and here learned by a dispatch from Sheridan that Lee had been intercepted. On Thursday Grant had brought his army up to Sheridan's support, and with the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps lay in line of battle at Burke's Station, facing to the north and east, and cutting Lee off from Danville. Lee then tried to move on toward Lynchburg, by taking a circuitous route by way of Deatonsville, toward the Appomattox, which he hoped to cross, and, with the river between him and Grant, secure his retreat. But Grant's movements were too rapid to permit of this. Lee was compelled to fight at Deatonsville, where he was defeated, his loss amounting to thirteen thousand prisoners, including Lieutenant-General Ewell and Major-Generals Custis Lee, Kershaw, Cone, De Barry, Anderson, Hunton, and Barton. Fourteen cannon were taken, and several hundred wagons.

This battle was fought on Thursday, April 6. The next day General Grant wrote to Lee asking him to surrender "that portion of the Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginia." He said: "The result of last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle." Lee replied the same day, saying that though he was not entirely of Grant's opinion as to the hopelessness of further resistance, he reciprocated the desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and asked upon what terms Grant would accept the surrender. On the 8th Grant again wrote declaring that he should insist upon but one condition, viz. : "That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms again against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged." To this Lee replied that he did not think the emergency had arisen to call for the surrender, but desired an interview at 10 A.M. the next day on the old stage road to Richmond in respect to the restoration of peace. On the 9th Grant wrote that he had no authority to grant such an interview. He said, " The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed."

This note was received by Lee on the spot which he had designated for the interview. He immediately replied, stating that he had received the note on the picket line, whither he had come to meet Grant and ascertain definitely the terms on which the army could be surrendered. He seemed to have forgotten that he had said most distinctly in his letter requesting the interview that he could not meet Grant with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia. He now fell back upon Grant's original offer, and requested an interview for the specification of the terms of surrender. This letter reached Grant on the Farmville and Lynchburg Road. He immediately hastened to the front to meet Lee. At Appomattox Court House General Grant stipulated that rolls of all the officers and men should be made in duplicate; that both officers and men should give their parole not to take arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged; that all the arms, artillery, and public property should be turned over, excepting the side arms, horses, and private baggage of the officers; that each officer and man should be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they should observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside. General Lee replied in the following terms:

GENERAL, I have received your letter of this date, containing the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE, General.


http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/April/lee-surrender-grant.htm