General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, is often cited as the end of the Civil War. Not quite. General Joseph Johnson’s surrender late in the month involved many more troops. The Confederate Cabinet, effectively ending the rebel government, dissolved in May. A Confederate raider continued to capture whaling ships. President Johnson formally proclaimed peace on August 20, 1866.
March 1865
The Confederacy’s desperate situation in March 1865 led its Congress to authorize the use of slaves as soldiers. The Army of Northern Virginia was trapped. The Army of the Tennessee was a shell of itself and was greatly outnumbered. The Confederate military west of the Mississippi was mostly a paper army. The other forces were scattered and overmatched.
The Union forces controlled large amounts of rebel territory. President Lincoln won re-election and promised to fight until victory was achieved. General Sherman was on the march.
The Confederates were running out of supplies. Many lost hope of victory. They fought on, fearing what surrender would bring. Their time was running out.
Appomattox Courthouse
People often consider the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses Grant on April 9, 1865, the end of the Civil War. (Lincoln would be assassinated five days later.)
It was not. The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia did basically end the war, except for final clean-up operations. It was also a symbolic ending.
General Lee’s forces had been on the run after a failed breakout attempt at Petersburg. Richmond, the Confederate capital, was abandoned. The Confederate government was on the run. Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, still hoped for victory.
The surrender terms were generous. Confederate forces could go home without the threat of arrest for treason. They could take their horses home to use for planting season. The Union provided the hungry Confederate soldiers with rations. The parole certificates also guaranteed free transportation on Union Army railroads and ships to help with the long trip home.
Joshua Chamberlain, who played a fundamental role in the Union victory at Gettysburg, was in charge during the official surrender ceremony. He gave the defeated troops a formal salute of honor. It was a symbolic statement that the losing side should be treated respectfully.
A Native American Union officer wrote out the surrender terms. General Lee remarked, “I am glad to see one real American here.” The officer replied, “We are all Americans.”
Bennett Place
General Joseph Johnson was not trapped like General Lee. He knew, however, that the surrender at Appomattox made his situation hopeless. Johnson sought surrender terms.
General William “War is hell” Sherman fought hard but supported a generous peace. Sherman agreed not only to accept the surrender of the troops under Johnson’s authority (on paper, over eighty thousand troops) but to arrange for the surrender of rebellious state governments.
Sherman and Johnson hoped it would mean the end of the war. President Andrew Johnson, now in power after the death of Lincoln, was outraged. Sherman had no authority to handle political matters. Grant rushed to tell his general and friend to limit himself to military issues.
Jefferson Davis only hesitantly supported a truce before. Now, he refused to support a surrender. General Johnson, realizing it was hopeless to fight on, ignored his commander-in-chief. Johnson surrendered his troops at Bennett Place, a farm in North Carolina.
Jefferson Davis Captured
Jefferson Davis led a government on the run after the fall of Richmond.
Jefferson’s Cabinet officially ceased to exist on May 5. The Confederacy now had no central government. The Confederate Congress had its final session in March.
Davis was captured on May 10. He would only be released two years later.
More Armies Surrender
General Richard Taylor, son of President Zachary Taylor, surrendered his forces at Citronville, Alabama, on May 4. A small force surrendered at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas, on May 11.
There continued to be scattered fighting after Appomattox. The Battle of Palmito Ranch took place in Texas on May 12 and 13. The final battle of the Civil War was a Confederate victory.
The Department of Trans-Mississippi formally surrendered on June 2. The formal application of the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19 in Texas, freeing the slaves, is celebrated as Juneteenth. The same event took place in Florida the month before, on May 20.
General Stand Watie was the final Confederate general to surrender. He surrendered his Indian Territory troops on June 23, 1865. Some Native Americans allied with the Confederate government, hoping that it would provide them an opportunity for independence.
Final Surrender
The Confederacy fought on even after all its armies surrendered.
The CSS Shenandoah was a Confederate raider. It was a menace to whaling ships in the North Atlantic. The captain knew about the defeat at Appomattox but saw newspaper reports that Jefferson Davis declared he would fight on. The Shenandoah captured ten whalers on June 28.
Captain James Waddell found out the war was truly over in August. He surrendered the ship to the British on November 6. The Confederate flag was officially lowered for the final time.
The Very End
President Andrew Johnson supported a quick return of the seceded states to the Union with minimum conditions: ending slavery and renouncing secession. He, on April 2, 1866, declared the insurrection to be officially over in each former Confederate state except for Texas.
Texas had not formed a new government. After Texas did so, Johnson formally proclaimed on August 20, 1866, that “I do further proclaim that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole United States of America.” A bit overly optimistic, but the Civil War was officially over.
The Reconstruction, however, was yet to truly begin.