At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.
In retreating from the Union army’s Appomattox Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had stumbled through the Virginia countryside stripped of food and supplies. At one point, Union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan had actually outrun Lee’s army, blocking their retreat and taking 6,000 prisoners at Sayler’s Creek. Desertions were mounting daily, and by April 8 the Confederates were surrounded with no possibility of escape. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender. The two generals met in the parlor of the Wilmer McLean home at one o’clock in the afternoon.
Lee and Grant, both holding the highest rank in their respective armies, had known each other slightly during the Mexican War and exchanged awkward personal inquiries. Characteristically, Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform while Lee had turned out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword. Lee asked for the terms, and Grant hurriedly wrote them out. All officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property–most important, the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations.
Shushing a band that had begun to play in celebration, General Grant told his officers, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks, for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an end.
We Southerners should have gone 4th Gen warfare and would have won our independence over the longer term. Lee would not support that, being too honorable. Bad choice, the increase in Federal government power has been haunting us ever since.
By far, the saddest day in the history of this nation. In the aftermath, sovereign citizens became subjects of Congress and slaves to the International Jewish banking cabal that forces financial repression upon those who would otherwise enjoy a prosperous retirement. Take a trip to Walmart and look at the elderly workers attempting to eek out a living until their ultimate demise.
Meanwhile, millions of illegals continue to flood across our porous non-border at the behest of the formerly mentioned bankers, who need an endless supply of new debtors to keep their abhorrent ponzi scheme afloat. And for those who resist doing research and learning the facts about the war of northern aggression, slavery was not even a minor point of contention, but was even practiced in the northern states, as well as many whites were forced into involuntary servitude.
The central issue that caused the conflict was denying the states the right of annulment of laws they considered to be beyond the scope of federal authority. And no, Lincoln wasn’t the savior that is told in our fairy tale textbooks; he was a tyrant and thrust this nation into an unnecessary conflict that recklessly threatened the very existence of America.
The tearing down of our Confederate statues infuriates me, but the recent defamation of Robert E. Lee brings me to tears. No American less deserves this fate. The ignorant and uneducated that are responsible for this injustice aren’t worthy of licking his boots. Never, with the exception of his wife’s Grandfather, of whom Robert E. Lee’s Father General “Harry Lighthouse” Lee pronounced, ” First in War, First in peace, and First in the heart of his countrymen,” upon the death of our First president, was there a more perfect example of a Christian Gentleman who believed that Duty was the most important responsibility to be executed with Honor and Humility than Robert E. Lee, and until recently every American North and South agreed upon the greatness of this humble man and without whose influence and leadership by example, the Nation’s wounds from the horrific War would have never been healed. If we continue to allow this revision of history by the Left the greatest story of the freedom of man will be forever lost, and we will be responsible and I for one dread facing my ancestors that signed the Declaration and The Constitution and lost their fortunes and lives in the Revolution and the War of Northern Aggression in the Hereafter and attempting to explain to them why.
Robert E. Lee…my father’s and my hero…fuck a bunch of revisionist Yankees.. Good post Q7…