The End is Near…
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Important battles during the Civil War also occurred at sea.
In one particular battle, President Lincoln used the Union
Navy to blockade southern ports. A blockade is when the
ports or waterways are blocked off in an attempt to cut off
supply ships from bringing in food, war supplies and/or
communication. A major sea battle between the Monitor (a
Union ship) and the Merrimack (a Confederate ship) took
place in Virginia waters near the present day cities of Norfolk and Hampton. This battle
between two ironclad ships lasted two days and was fought to a draw.
2 The goal of the Union Army since the start of the Civil War had been to capture Richmond, the
Confederate capital. Nearly four years into the southern journey to Richmond (and many
battles later), the time had come. As the Union Army inched closer to Richmond ready to take
over the capital, the Confederates were on their way back. The Confederate government began
to quickly pack up their things and escape their capital. Southerners living in Richmond began
to set fires that ripped through the city and nearby gunpowder caused a giant explosion near
the waterfront. The next morning, Union troops entered Richmond to find the city burning. With
Richmond in flames and much of the South in ruins, General Lee knew the end had come. On
April 9, 1865 he waved a white flag from a hill overlooking the Appomattox River.
The Civil War officially ended at Appomattox
Court House, Virginia in April of 1865. Inside a
3 farmhouse called the McClean House,
Confederate
General
Robert
E.
Lee
surrendered his beloved Army of Northern
Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. To
spare Lee any further embarrassment, Grant
did not make Lee hand over his dress sword.
Also, as he left the courthouse, Grant refused
to let his men fire cannons to celebrate their
victory. Grant said, “No men, no cannonade.
The Rebels are our countrymen again.”
Four years of bloodshed led to more than 630,000 total deaths. This war led to the end of
slavery and the fall of the south. The miles of land that lay in ruins only led to a time of much
reconstruction.
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