new government for virginia will then create the new state of west virginia. our nation was in the midst of a terrible civil war. those in eastern virginia predom innocently were supportive of the confederacy. when virginia takes her vote for secession, the last vote, the majority of virginia delegates will vote to secede from the united states and to join the southern confederacy. now, those delegates from north wesz tern virginia who was overwhelmingly against secession, they would come back to this side of the mountains in northwestern virginia. they would have mass meetings, public meetings to decide what north western virginia would do. they decided that wheeling wow be the best place to have that convention. so there was safety there. so it provided a place for them to meet, to form late a plan and to embark upon one of the most incredible experiments in our american history. and the only successful secession movement in american history as well. there were a lot of issues that brought this thing to a head. as i said, it came act over decades. and they h

most of the fighting is in the eastern part of virginia except for a small cavalry raid south side virginia or the piedmont here saw very little action during the war. as the armys were moving from richmond and petersburg wards danville and eventually towards appomattox they were unfamiliar with the area. they didn't have good maps. they had to rely on soldiers in the ranks particularly confederate soldiers to tell them where does this road and that road go. for once both armys were at a disadvantage in that they were in unfamiliar territory in like the areas around manassas fredricksburg, richmond and petersburg. >> we will take these two questions. if you have more questions you can talk with chris outside in the lobby after the program. >> >> just to give you context i have very little interest in battles, but a lot of interest in the civil war. i just read washington irving's biography of george washington. i got very much more knowledgeable than i wanted to be about battles. and one of the big issues for a washington was militia and is dealing with seasoned soldiers versus militia who

and this new government for virginia will then create the new state of west virginia. our nation was in the midst of a terrible civil war. those in eastern virginia predom innocently were supportive of the confederacy. when virginia takes her vote for secession, the last vote, the majority of virginia delegates will vote to secede from the united states and to join the southern confederacy. now, those delegates from north wesz tern virginia who was overwhelmingly against secession, they would come back to this side of the mountains in northwestern virginia. they would have mass meetings, public meetings to decide what north western virginia would do. they decided that wheeling wow be the best place to have that convention.

we went to richmond virginia. given a nascar flag with the checkered flag on the bottom but the confederate flag on the top. went to new hampshire speedway and decided we were going to fly the flag in the parking lot and we were told we weren't welcome. if we flew that flag it would be torn down and burned. >> i'm not so sure that's true but there would be people who would object to it. i think americans are generally very respectful of expression and i think that generally speaking people who are made uncomfortable by the confederate flag aren't tearing them down but they are expressing themselves for sure. to see that flag to many of you as a symbol that your ancestor walked on famous fields, gave their lives, all of those things. we run into trouble i'm all in favor of arguing about these things. when we run into trouble is when we try to insist that everybody needs to see this the same way. it's not going to happen. it's just not going to happen. >> i think once we figure out why when lincoln got emancipation

william parker, second virginia calvary. robert parker, second virginia calvary. william price, first maryland calvary confederate. they receive promotions for gal i can't. that's captain cantz. federal troops send out white flags to stop that fighting. but mumpher knows that he's going to meet with general grant. they disband in lynch burg. john ramsey of the 155 pennsylvania marches all the way and dies the next day, april 10th. of diphtheria. the 61st pennsylvania is loading surrendered weapons into wagons. one of those weapons is loaded discharges into his chest. he died right there. last soldier we know of is edward baker he died july 18, 1865. the most moving story is that of the 14th virginia calvary. he is mortally wounded on that fight on the morning of april 9. a comrade of his goes out under the battlefield. wilson says to him momphet, it is hard to die. put yourself in wilson's shoes. you've been wounded so bad, you know you're not going to survive. but you also know that lee has surrendered his army. that is his situation. these are the men that are t

we have seen it throughout the observances here in virginia. like wilmer mclean, come to these places. we are honored today, we've ndents welcomed this morning a couple cel of -- a slew of notable descendents. this afternoon we're happy to to feature one of them once again for you, a man who is desended o h from the only confederate officer who accompanied lee into the mclean parlor that afternoon. inoon dennis big ela is the grate grandson of charles marshall. as i said the only officer to join lee inside the house. on most days mr. bigelow can beund found as a costume interpreter for james monroe, of james monroe county home originally known as highland. we've asked dennis if he would . take a few minutes this afternoon and share with you his wit perspective of having a family ctive connection to a historic event his of suchto magnitude and reach. mr. dennis bigelow. [ applause ] >> there's a chill in the afternoon and you've been wh sitting for a while. so you don't need a repeat of what you've heard so well in in terms of the particulars of

virginia. and grant has just come here in virginia and made it his mission to destroy lee and the army of northern virginia. and on the 11th of may, he's going to send a message back to washington and i quote, i propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." and shortly after that they move right outside of richmond to the cole harbor area where the two great armies battle yet again. and after another stalemate there, grant is then going to set sights to the south of the jam river on the it is yif of petersburg. now petersburg, virginia in the mid 19th century, is truly a magnificent gem of a city. you're talking about a city that grew up on the fall line of the river. and so at its heart is industry. having harnessed that water power. the people of petersburg live a cosmopolitan lifestyle. they have running water coming into their downtown area. they have a gas works. the streets are lit by gas lighting. the houses have gas lights inside of them. to petersburg, a city of 18,000

frederick, virginia, state of virginia, now in mississippi. so essentially most of the individuals that we have here or family historians and genealogists. we also have historians who come here to examine these records in order to glean some of this information and to reconstruct build some type of idea or knowledge of what was occurring at that time and documenting it was actual records. -- with actual records. before we close i would like to open the floor to questions if anyone has any questions. excuse me? we do not have an actual genealogy website. on www. archives.gov, we have a page that gives information on the information we have in the national archives: from -- archives. every week we have presentations like the records program that examines different records. every april we have a genealogy fair. it used to be a big fair that we had outside in front of the building and now what is virtual. it -- it is virtual. meaning you can go online and watch the presenters. the speak on topics related to genealogy. even after the presentations

during the preservation of bacon's castle, reservation virginia -- preservation virginia tried to find original fabric if possible. rather than replacing the entire being, it was only the joint that needed to be replaced. as much of the original material was salvaged and new material was put in for preservation. you can see the same thing with the bricks. going up over here, you can see the continuation of the original beams in the house. again, the example of the grooving that matches the fireplace. this was all part of the original house. we did a paint analysis. some of the earlier layers were gold. it is interesting to imagine we have our 1711 probate inventory, and the room is done to what the house looked like when it was first completed. you have to imagine there is a possibility the beans were painted gold, which would have been neat. by the time preservation virginia acquired the property it needed a lot of restoration. the decision was pondered whether we needed to bring the house completely back to the original state. the preservationists decided we wanted to show this house

a role he had so often assumed since grant's arrival in virginia. lee realized his only hope to maintain the army of northern virginia would be to leave the tightening noose around richmond and petersburg combine with johnston somewhere between danville and greensboro, and together with an army as large as 90,000 men, continue the war. the problem was one of supply and transportation. it would take time to arrange such an evacuation under the very nose of grant, and beginning on march 29th, grant would launch his own final offensive around petersburg. time does not allow us to go into the details of the series of engagements. no fewer than 11 distinct battles fought between march 29th and april 2nd around petersburg. suffice it to say that lee's generalship under the most trying military conditions of his career was nothing short of brilliant. he responded to the loss of the plank road on the 29th by concentrating picket's reserve division and all the army's cavalry at the critical 54 intersection to protect his one remaining supply route, the south

that we know as anna costia and that portion of virginia that we know as alexandria virginia, washington's hometown. and congress would do that after playing some hard ball with the president for the first time in american political history forcing him to sign the bank act creating a bank. and so at last the dream was realized. there is going to be a seat of federal government. but immediately the nightmare begins. commissioners couldn't get along with the engineers artists. his plan was brilliant. 6,000 acres larger than london, larger than paris, immense city. but he quit because the commissioners didn't support the plan. they didn't support him. washington did not fire him. washington begging him not to resign. washington said these people this is a familiar story of the politicians who oversee what the artists are doing. they control the money and the time table, if you will. provisions like all buildings have to be brick so they were built kwixly. the capitol building itself, which was to be two wings, a house wing and the senate wing in the middle was downsized. it was all that was a

we have seen it throughout the observances here in virginia. like wilmer mclean, descendents carry a bit of celebrity. we welcome this morning a slew of notable descendents s. and this afternoon, we're happy to feature one of them once again for you. a man who has descended from the only confederate officer who accompanied lee into the parlor that afternoon. dennis bigelow is the great, great grandson of charles marshall. as i said, the only officer to join lee inside the house. on most days, mr. bigelow can be found working as a costume interpreter for jamesmen row. we've asked dennis if he would take a few minutes this afternoon and share with you his perspective of having a family connection to an historic event of such magnitude and reach. mr. dennis bigelow. >> you've been sitting for a while. so you don't need a repeat of what you've heard so well in terms of the particulars of what happened in the mclean house and the surrender. so i'm not going to read that out of grandfather marshall's book. but, i think, you would like to hear this. p

hampton arrives from the army of northern virginia. he arrives in south carolina his home state just-in-time to see his family home, millwood, burned to the ground, along with a lot of other buildings in columbia, south carolina. no pun intended, hampton is burning for revenge. the opportunity is presented to him a few days after the two armies cross into north carolina. hampton and kilpatrick have been skirmishing almost constantly during their progress. kilpatrick managed to steal a march around hampton's force, and he's gotten between the confederate cavalry and infantry under hardy. kilpatrick sets up a series of roadblocks to prevent hampton from reaching the town of fayetteville and joining forces with party. -- hardy. he presents hampton with an ideal opportunity to concentrate on an isolated part of the cavalry at munro's crossroads. it just so happens that kilpatrick's headquarters are located there. it is at dawn on march 10 1865 that hampton launches a surprise attack on kilpatrick's camp, succeeds in sweeping everything bef

on the 17th of april 1861, virginia would succeed. the following day colonel lee would be offered by frances p.blair junior command of all forces. he would reject the offer. he would resign from the army on the 20th of april and take command of virginia forces on the 23rd of april. february 9th of 1865 he was made general in chief of all confederate forces. 39 years of military service. grant is making his way toward this intended meeting. he has with him staff he said he's in the house there. he's there to surrender to you. grant indicated they should ride down. there's a vast difference in general grant's background and his appearance which makes this meeting kind of a symbolic one of a division. a division in the history of the country. a division culturally, industrially. general lee is seated behind a small oval top table. he's been there about a half hour. it's the longest half hour in robert e. lee's life. one might imagine since i reiterated all the things that had taken place in his life and his idol being george washington,

third west virginia calvary. none of grant's staff was clean. it wasn't like the mud just stuck to grant and no one else. they were all mud splattered. general lee had put on a new uniform and he rode only about a mile and a mile and a half to this meeting. grant explained that he did not have his baggage with him and he didn't want to makelp general lee wait. general lee said he was glad that grant didn't make him wait and he came to the meeting. they found common ground they began to discuss. grant brought up he met general lee in the mexican war. general lee recalled that he had met grant. as the generals are speaking general grant's staff files into the room. and after some time of conversation about mexico, lee called grant's attention to the matter at hand and inquired to the terms. grant replied that the terms would be substantially the same as what he had wrote the previous day. lee then asked grant to put his terms in writing. and then lee sat down near a large marble top white table. while puffing on a cigar, grant sat at a small woode

one of the editors of the encyclopedia of virginia, which is online. he's had a number of fellowships and received a number of awards. he has published over 100 works in anthologies and periodicals such as the sewanee review, the virginia quarterly review and so on. author of " confederados: a novel of the americas." the confederates that left the u.s. at the end of the war and went to brazil. i remember from 30 or 40 years ago reading an article about that. bill maybe wrote that and i have never heard of it and i got interested. i'm looking for to hearing his top. -- his talk. his talk today is entitled " confederados. casey clabough. [applause] professor clabough: thank you dr. coles. thank you all for being here and for inviting me. to extend the last speaker's eloquent comment about the end of the war being a time of uncertainty, i'd like to . >> in a time of uncertainty i would like to begin with that since that's essentially the reason for the strange story of these people who came to be called at least in brazil confed raddos. former family and

. >>> american history tv visited longwood university in virginia for a seminar on the closing of the civil war in 1865 it. was co-hosted by the appomattox courthouse civil park. and liz ben varon talks about the ending of the appomattox civil war. this is about 50 minutes. >> thank you. thank you very much. it is a pleasure and honor to be here and share the stage with these wonderful scholars. i'm grateful to patrick schroeder to having included me. so you have the surrender scene and i would like to turn to the surrender aftermath and the political debates spawned by appomattox and i'll argue that lee and grant had distinct visions of what an honorable possess would look like and -- peace would look like and the two of the myths of the gentlemen's meeting of the minds and they had fundamental visions of what an honorable peace would look like and why the war turned out the way it did. but i will try to take us beyond lee and grant as the appomattox drama unfolded the countrymen and women would crowd the scene and vest the surrender with their oesh as pir -- own aspirations and agen

a role he had so often assumed since grant's arrival in virginia. lee realized his only hope to maintain the army of northern virginia would be to leave the tightening noose around richmond and petersburg combine with johnston somewhere between danville and greensboro, and together with an army as large as 90,000 men, continue the war. the problem was one of supply and transportation. it would take time to arrange such an evacuation under the very nose of grant, and beginning on march 29th, grant would launch his own final offensive around petersburg. time does not allow us to go into the details of the series of engagements. no fewer than 11 distinct battles fought between march 29th and april 2nd around petersburg. suffice it to say that lee's generalship under the most trying military conditions of his career was nothing short of brilliant. he responded to the loss of the plank road on the 29th by concentrating picket's reserve division and all the army's cavalry at the critical 54 intersection to protect his one remaining supply route, the south

today, 150 years ago to this virginia. robert efrnts lee had arrived here about one half hour prior to grant and was already in the parlor awaiting his arriveal. for the next hour and 15 minutes, we will talk about this event, 150 years to the minute after it happened. robert efrnts lee was accompanied that day by chars marshal, one of his aids. ulysses grant was accompanied by a large group of officers, to negotiate and to sign the terms of ser ender. today, 150 years ago to this minute, we are going to revisit that afternoon in the mcclain parlor. >> we remember it in its fabric, assisted by descendants of those who were there that day, but we also look for its n as osesoor larger meaning for our make andnation and its peep. at about 5 minutes after three today.rts after lee departs the house, at about 3:05 we will significantal from co this stain the bells from across this land. the liberty bell will ring at 3:15 this afternoon.the the bell in boston's old north church will ring at 3:15 as will the bell in the state cap

it was an army larger than the army of northern virginia. it intersected here at appomattox courthouse, not far from the home of the newcomer. >> grant first proposed surrender near farmville on april 7. lee danced around the issue trying to buy time. on that morning how he portrayed himself in defeat mattered a great deal. lee dressed in a new uniform and sash. something he rarely did. at some point, she received a word east of the appomattox that the army could not break through union lines. on dozens of fields, lee always had options, but no more. there is nothing left for me to do, he said, then to go to general grant. and i would rather die a thousand deaths. lee sent threethrough the lines to grant. the last one was direct. i ask for an extension of possibility and surrender of this army. at 10:30 april 9, 1865, the guns of the armies fell silent. lee waited for a response under an apple tree along the road near the narrow banks of the appomattox river, about a mile from us. not far from the banjo playing at their home. for a time, the

i was the governor of virginia. they knew i had a background in terrorism issues and they asked me to chair what is a very official commission. you'll find that on the rand cooperation web page staff it, put in gilmore commission on the rand web page and reports come up. you can see that. what we need to do is to be willing to advance our infrastructure and make sure that it's safe and secure. that's what we have to do. and all of those reports explain exactly the kind of processes we have to go through to make our infrastructure safe and secure, but i think the real issue is a deep understanding of the potential attack on us. they spend a couple thousand dollars and attack us and then because of the modern information systems that we see, we can spend a trillion dollars trying to respond to that kind of thing. bin laden said the goal was the destruction of the american economy, and that will certainly do it. we have to have an explanation for the american people of these kinds of dangers, keep ourselves as secure a

no longer part of his army of northern virginia. they have taken prisoners and unlike those that have surrendered at appomattox they , will go to prison camp and will remain there until all confederate forces have surrendered, which is not until the end of may. that is what happens to them. there is a strategic item right in here that was of high importance to both armies. that is high bridge, where the southside railroad crosses the valley of appomattox river. it is part of our new state park. you can walk out there and if you look off to the side you can see the original pillars. of the original bridge from the civil war period. what happens on april 6 earlier in the day the union cavalry with a group of inventory will attack the high bridge in try to get to it and burn it before the confederate army could use it. they will be unsuccessful. the next day after sailor's creek union forces will pursue confederate forces across the bridge. confederates themselves burned the western edge of it. there is a small wagon bridge underneath,

those were the days, as lee saw it, when americans had taken it for granted that virginia would lead the nation. those were the days as lee saw it before abolitionists had views african-americans with false hopes and freedom and equality. and indeed the word "restoration" which he uses in letters with grant would become his political key word in the post-war period. we see it crop up again and again. for example, six months after the sur rend he he wrote to his friend mori about what had been and what might yet again be. he wrote quote as long as virtue was dominant in the republic, so long was the happiness of the people secure may an ever merciful god save us from reconstruction and restore us to the past. this was a fundamentally nostalgic view of the peace, nostalgic for the long gone days. lee moved at appomattox to cast the surrender terms in the best possible light. he believed and those in his inner circle believed it was a negotiation in which he had extracted concessions from grant and they believed that the peace was contingent on the north's good behavior. eager to help h

hampton arrives from the army of northern virginia. he arrives in south carolina his home state just-in-time to see his family home, millwood, burned to the ground, along with a lot of other buildings in columbia, south carolina. no pun intended, hampton is burning for revenge. the opportunity is presented to him a few days after the two armies cross into north carolina. hampton and kilpatrick have been skirmishing almost constantly during their progress. kilpatrick managed to steal a march around hampton's force, and he's gotten between the confederate cavalry and infantry under hardy. kilpatrick sets up a series of roadblocks to prevent hampton from reaching the town of fayetteville and joining forces with party. -- hardy. he presents hampton with an ideal opportunity to concentrate on an isolated part of the cavalry at munro's crossroads. it just so happens that kilpatrick's headquarters are located there. it is at dawn on march 10 1865 that hampton launches a surprise attack on kilpatrick's camp, succeeds in sweeping everything bef

maryland and virginia. multitudes of people, when you look at vicksburg records natchez, mississippi, places in louisiana. over and over again, almost everywhere, you find people who say they're lace of birth is, eastern shore of maryland. frederick, maryland. baltimore, maryland. washington dc. that represents the internal or domestic slave trade that occurred after 1808. after 1808, the transatlantic slave trade was ended. in this region, which was formerly based in the cultivation of tobacco tobacco cultivation was no longer as lucrative as it once was. but this was the oldest area of what was considered the south. they considered themselves to have a surplus slave population. this is where the largest amount of slaves was. virginia, at the end of the civil war, has the largest black population. but what occurred during that time is, many slaveholders in the region no longer needed that surplus labor. they began to sell that surplus enslaved labor to the new states of the expanding cotton belt. initially

we went to little creek, virginia, this school. i remember going there a couple of days early with one of my best friends from ohio state gary, also a midshipman. we camped out on virginia beach and went to a great concert. earlier in the summer, in newport, i was there the same night that bob dylan was booed. a year later we were on virginia beach and we went to a concert by the byrds, the academy of full grown. -- epitome of folk rock. we learned to fly these tiny plants and had a pilot instructor and did all kinds of flying. some of the guys got sick, i did not. i thought that this was fun. we have a great marine officers out of navy rotc at ohio state. the best officers that i trained under from the time i was a midshipmen were the marines. some of the enlisted personnel were excellent as well. i was drawn to the marine corps i think because of the mission and the great respect i had for the officer and enlisted men that trained us at osu. my junior year, before my senior year, was long beach california. it was a great duty. we

the university of virginia has a small chapter in its story. for three days in march, 1865, the city of charlottesville at the university were occupied by union forces. uva law professor john miner wrote in his diary that he feared general sheridan's men would destroy the university. his fears were not unfounded. only a month later, union troops did indeed burn the university of alabama whose campus was designed on the model of thomas jefferson's academic village. fortunately, this university had a measure of protection that alabama would not have. the uva administrators had long attempted to distance the university from the civil war conflict even seeking exemptions for military service for uva students. when the union troops arrived on march 3, local officials surrendered the town and university leaders including faculty chair socrates molfin request a protection for the university using a bed sheet as a flag of truce. union soldiers set fire to the charlottesville manufacturing company which had produced confederate uniforms and they destroy

jured virginia who decided they were going to be in virginia anymore. they started talking about 38 counties worth of them. they rounded up to an evening -- and even 50. there is a strong union's presence in western virginia. >> along the mountain range where agriculture doesn't take root so easily. pockets of unionism. even in those places we shouldn't assume all were unionists. they were a small minority, a minority that bloomed large for the confederacy and for the union the representative, the hope that white southerners might be co-opted and brought on board. and for the confederacy they they were a thorn in the side. the represented dissent. >> east tennessee had an active grand army of the republic. and did everything you would have in the north. you needed -- they had run out of southerners in that area. you needed a map to control the public space. elsewhere, the grand army republic, it was african-americans who cap memorial day alive in many places. they were the ones when they couldn't get to it, they would decorate the national cemeteries. a

they had first met in virginia in august of 1862. they met for the second time in the burrough just a few days before. now ben tonville. this will be the high water mark, ben tonville. he and his men will launch four desperate assaults across morris's open fields. into the mouths of at least 16 union guns. at night fall, he calls off further attacks. he has managed to hold on and the battle of march 9th ends on a draw. now it's up to the right wing. they come marching to his assistance. early on the morning of 20th of march. they reach bentonville around midday. the first troops to get there are the 15th army corps under the command of john a. logan former congressman from illinois. probably the best political general in the union army. now johnston faces a real dilemma. he's been facing sloakum to the west, now he has to deal with the might of sherman's entire army. so those bend back his left flank. and in effect, he's going to create a bridge head guarding his only route of retreat across a flooded mill creek. early morning, march

virginia. on may 11, he is going to send a message to washington, "i propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." after that they moved out of richmond to the coal harbor area. after another stalemate, grant is then going to set his sights to the south of the james river on the city of petersburg. petersburg, virginia, in the mid-19th century, is truly a magnificent gem of the city. you are talking about a city that grew up on the fall line of the appomattox river. at its heart is industry harnessing that waterpower. the people of petersburg live a cosmopolitan lifestyle. they have running water in the downtown area. they have a gas works. cosmopolitan lifestyle. the streets are lit by gas lighting. the houses have gas lights inside. petersburg, the city of 18,000 people, is truly a magnificent city. if you read accounts of petersburg prior to the war, you are going to see it referred to as a northern city. because of all the industry that reminded people of some of the great m

we have seen it throughout the observances here in virginia. like wilmer mclean, descendents carry a bit of celebrity. we welcome this morning a slew of notable descendents s. and this afternoon, we're happy to feature one of them once again for you. a man who has descended from the only confederate officer who accompanied lee into the parlor that afternoon. dennis bigelow is the great, great grandson of charles marshall. as i said, the only officer to join lee inside the house. on most days, mr. bigelow can be found working as a costume interpreter for jamesmen row. we've asked dennis if he would take a few minutes this afternoon and share with you his perspective of having a family connection to an historic event of such magnitude and reach. mr. dennis bigelow. >> you've been sitting for a while. so you don't need a repeat of what you've heard so well in terms of the particulars of what happened in the mclean house and the surrender. so i'm not going to read that out of grandfather marshall's book. but, i think, you would like to hear this. p

tonight at 8:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span3 university of virginia's virginia murray on how civil war veterans reunions have changed on the reconstruction era to present. american history tv is live from appomattox court house national historic park commemorating the 150th anniversary of the confederate surrender and the end of the civil war. each week, american history tv's "reel america" brings archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. >> from his beloved second-home in georgia, the body of franklin delano roosevelt moved on the first stages of its journey to his final resting place. scores of sufferers sorrowfully bid farewell to their great friend and benefactor. the president's dog follows his beloved master. aboard a special train beginning the 20 four-hour trip to washington, the 31st president of the united states leaves warm springs forever. all along the 700-mile route people gather to honor president roosevelt and his ideals. slowly, the train backs in the union station in the united aids capital, awaited by a military guard of honor and mem

general ulysses s grant in the village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia, effectively ending the civil war. we will be live from appomattox national historic courthouse as historians reflect on the last battles and explore the aftermath and legacy of appomattox. we will bring you reenactments of some of the key moments from 150 years ago and open our phone lines to take your calls for authors. that's live april ninth and 12th here on american history tv on c-span three. >> each week, american artifact takes viewers to archives museums, and historic sites around the country. on april 9 1865, confederate general robert e lee met union general ulysses s grant village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia. while confederate armies were still active in the field, the surrender of the southpaws most potent remaining fighting force effectively ended the civil war. next, we tour appomattox courthouse national historical park to learn more about the events surrounding that day. this is the oldest building this was called clover hill

it's a disaster for the army of northern virginia. as the army of nevada drifts into appomattox courthouse, union cavalry has gotten in front of the confederate army blocking the road they intend to use. i need to point out the goal all along for robert e. lee is to get the army of northern virginia down into north carolina. that was hit objective upon leaving richmond and petersburg and that never changed. lee can't make that turn to the south because union forces keep blocking the way. the union armies are pursuing lee behind him but they have also gotten around in front of him by the time they get to appomattox courthouse. this map shows the final battle which takes place on the morning of april 9th. confederates initially pushed the union troopers back but as republican reenforcements arrive they realize they cannot breakthrough and the army surrounded on three sides with the river on the other side. lee and grant will meet that very afternoon of april 9th. one of the things that makes the appomattox surrender unique is we have th