McLean House at Appomattox Court House Today, we went to the town of Appomattox Court House where General Lee surrendered to Grant. Now I always thought that meant he surrendered in the Court House, but no that was the complete name of the town. He actually surrendered in the McLean House in that town. This was after Sherman’s troop had captured the last of 4 railroads entering Petersburg, VA. This was the primary rail center that supplied Richmond. At the same time, Grant’s army had stretched out the smaller Army of Northern Virginia, allowing them to attack through the thinned lines. Lee had to move his troops west, trying to get resupplied with food and then rejoin the other Confederate troops outside Danville, VA. But the Union army moved faster and managed to capture their supplies before the Confederate troops could reach them. Meanwhile, Lee lost about a 1/5 of his troops fighting the Union on the way. Finally, at Appomattox, they ended up surrounded on 3 sides with a swelling river on the fourth. The fight was over. General Grant was generous, he asked that they lay down their arms, and then he would parole the Confederate soldiers allowing them to return home, as long as they promised not to renew the fight. Both sides treated each other with dignity through the surrender. We learned a lot through the combination of 2 films, a talk from a confederate solider, and touring the grounds.
We ended the day just south of Charlotte, NC. On the way, we paid a short visit to Cannon Village with a small museum on the textile industry here (Cannon towels). It was not worth the time.
