A report on Siege of Petersburg and James Longstreet

The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg. In the foreground, the figure on the right is Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac.
Fredericksburg, Virginia; May 1863. Soldiers in the trenches. Trench warfare would appear again more infamously in World War I
Antebellum portrait of Longstreet
A portion of the 4th USCT Infantry
Sketch of Longstreet as a Confederate
Siege of Petersburg, assaults on June 15–18
August 30, 4 p.m.: Start of Longstreet's attack
Siege of Petersburg, movements against the railroads and A.P. Hill's counterattack, June 21–22
Longstreet circa 1862
Wilson–Kautz Raid, June 22 – July 1
A map of the Battle of Fredericksburg
"Dictator" siege mortar on the U.S. Military Railroad at Petersburg
Longstreet at Gettysburg c. undefined 1900
First Battle of Deep Bottom, July 27–29
Gettysburg, July 2
Siege of Petersburg, Battle of the Crater, July 30
Pickett's Charge, July 3
Sketch of the explosion seen from the Union line.
Longstreet's Left Wing assaults, mid-day September 20
Second Battle of Deep Bottom, August 14–20
Carte de Visite portrait of Longstreet
Siege of Petersburg, capture of the Weldon Railroad, August 18–19
James Longstreet after the war
Siege of Petersburg, actions on October 27
James Longstreet after the war
Siege of Petersburg, actions preceding Five Forks
James Longstreet in later life (1896), affecting the sideburns of his opponent at Fredericksburg and Knoxville
Grant's final assaults and Lee's retreat (start of the Appomattox Campaign)
Longstreet's grave
<center>Lt. Gen.
Equestrian statue of General Longstreet on his horse Hero in Pitzer Woods at Gettysburg National Military Park
<center>Maj. Gen.
Map of events during the Peninsula campaign to the Battle of Seven Pines Confederate Union
<center>Maj. Gen.
Longstreet's attack in the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, shortly before he was wounded Confederate Union
<center>Gen.
<center>Gen.
<center>Lt. Gen.
<center>Lt. Gen.
<center>Lt. Gen.
<center>Lt. Gen.
<center>Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson</center>
<center>Brig. Gen. August Kautz</center>
Fascine Trench Breastworks, Petersburg, Va. – NARA – 524792. Although identified as Confederate Trenches this is actually Union Fort Sedgwick aka "Fort Hell" which was opposite Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damnation"<ref>Civil War talk Forum</ref>
Union Army 9th Corps attacking Fort Mahone aka "Fort Damanation" sketch by Alfred Ward.
Confederate artilleryman killed during the final Union assault against the trenches at Petersburg. Photo by Thomas C. Roche, April 3, 1865.<ref>Frassanito, p. 360.</ref><ref>See website Petersburg Project on location of Many of the Roche photographs at Petersburg April 1865</ref> Although prints of this picture list it as being taken at Ft Mahone, historians at the "Petersburg Project" believe it was taken at Confederate Battery 25<ref>Dead Artilleryman comments Petersburg Project</ref>
Smoke is still rising from the ruins of Richmond, Virginia after surrendering on April 3, 1865 following the Union victory at the siege of Petersburg. Union cavalry mounts with carbines visible are hitched in the foreground.
Richmond–Petersburg Theater, fall 1864 Confederate Union

He later returned to the field, serving under Lee in the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign.

- James Longstreet

First Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, including the divisions of Maj. Gens. George E. Pickett, Charles W. Field, and Joseph B. Kershaw. Lt. Gen. James Longstreet returned from medical leave and resumed command of the corps on October 19. Anderson was given command of the new Fourth Corps, which included the division of Maj. Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson.

- Siege of Petersburg
The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg. In the foreground, the figure on the right is Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac.

19 related topics with Alpha

Overall
Lee in March 1864

Robert E. Lee

10 links

Confederate general who served the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, during which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army.

Confederate general who served the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War, during which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army.

Lee in March 1864
Lee at age 31 in 1838, as a Lieutenant of Engineers in the U.S. Army
Robert E. Lee, around age 38, and his son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, around age 8, c.1845
Robert E. Lee around age 43, when he was a brevet lieutenant-colonel of engineers, c. 1850
Lee in uniform, 1863
Lee mounted on Traveller (September 1866)
Battle of Gettysburg, by Thure de Thulstrup
Lee with son Custis (left) and aide Walter H. Taylor (right) by Brady, April 16, 1865
Lee in 1869 (photo by Levin C. Handy)
General Lee and his Confederate officers in their first meeting since Appomattox, August 1869.
Oath of amnesty submitted by Robert E. Lee in 1865
Robert E. Lee, oil on canvas, Edward Calledon Bruce, 1865. Virginia Historical Society
Robert Edward Lee in art at the Battle of Chancellorsville in a stained glass window of the Washington National Cathedral
Facade view of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial — at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, pictured in 2006
Unveiling of the Equestrian Statue of Robert E. Lee, May 29, 1890, Richmond, Virginia
The removal of Lee's statue from a monument in New Orleans
Stained glass of Lee's life in the National Cathedral
Robert E. Lee, National Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C. Edward Virginius Valentine, sculptor, 1909
Robert E Lee, Virginia Monument, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Frederick William Sievers, sculptor, 1917
Robert E. Lee Monument by Mercié, Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia, 1890
Statue of Lee at the Confederate War Memorial, Dallas, 1896
Statue of Lee in Murray, Kentucky
University Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University

Grant engaged Lee's army in bloody but inconclusive battles at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before the lengthy Siege of Petersburg, which was followed in April 1865 by the capture of Richmond and the destruction of most of Lee's army, which he finally surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Lee built up a collection of talented subordinates, most notably James Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, and J. E. B. Stuart, who along with Lee were critical to the Confederacy's battlefield success.

Portrait by Mathew Brady, 1870–1880

Ulysses S. Grant

8 links

American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.

American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.

Portrait by Mathew Brady, 1870–1880
Grant's birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio
Grant c. undefined 1845–1847
Battle of Monterrey Published 1847
Chinook Indian Plank House Published 1845 Grant believed Pacific Northwest Indians were a peaceful people and not a threat to settlers.
"Hardscrabble" Published 1891 The farm home Grant built in Missouri for his family. His wife Julia called the home an "unattractive cabin".
Brigadier General Grant photographed at Cairo, Illinois, September 1861 (Published 1911)
21st Illinois regiment monument in the Viniard Field, Chickamauga
Grant's successful gamble: Porter's gunboats night ran the Confederate gauntlet at Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. Published 1863
The Battle of Jackson, fought on May 14, 1863, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign. Published 1863
Union troops swarm Missionary Ridge and defeat Bragg's army. Published 1886
Commanding General Grant at the Battle of Cold Harbor, June 1864
Grant (center left) next to Lincoln with General Sherman (far left) and Admiral Porter (right) – The Peacemakers by Healy, 1868
Defeated by Grant, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House
Ulysses S. Grant by Balling (1865)
Grant–Colfax Republican Ticket Published 1868
220px
Inauguration of President U.S. Grant, Capitol building steps. March 4, 1869
Anthony Comstock Grant's vigorous prosecutor of abortionists and pornographers.
Amos T. Akerman, appointed Attorney General by Grant, who vigorously prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan
Image of mobs rioting entitled "The Louisiana Outrage". White Leaguers at Liberty Place attacked the integrated police force and state militia, New Orleans, September 1874. Published October 1874
Secretary of Treasury George S. Boutwell aided Grant to defeat the Gold Ring.
Secretary of State Hamilton Fish and Grant successfully settled the Alabama Claims by treaty and arbitration.
Wharf of Santo Domingo City Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
American Captain Frye and his crew were executed by Spanish authority.
King Kalākaua of Hawaii meets President Grant at the White House on his state visit, 1874. Published January 2, 1875
Ely Samuel Parker Grant appointed Parker the first Native American (Seneca) Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
Battle of the Little Big Horn Great Sioux War Published 1889
Cartoon by Thomas Nast on Grant's opponents in the reelection campaign
Grant is congratulated for vetoing the "inflation bill" in 1874.
Cartoonist Thomas Nast praises Grant for rejecting demands by Pennsylvania politicians to suspend civil service rules.
Harper's Weekly cartoon on Bristow's Whiskey Ring investigation
Grant and Bismarck in 1878
Cartoonist Joseph Keppler lampooned Grant and his associates. Grant's prosecutions of the Whiskey Ring and the Klan were ignored. Puck, 1880
Official White House portrait of President Grant by Henry Ulke, 1875
Commanding General Grant Constant Mayer's portrait of 1866
Grant National Memorial, known as "Grant's Tomb", largest mausoleum in North America

For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. Lee during the high-casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg.

Quiet by nature, Grant established a few intimate friends among fellow cadets, including Frederick Tracy Dent and James Longstreet.

Clockwise from top: Battle of Gettysburg Union Captain John Tidball's artillery Confederate prisoners ironclad USS Atlanta (1861) Ruins of Richmond, Virginia Battle of Franklin

American Civil War

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Civil war in the United States between the Union (states that remained loyal to the federal union, or "the North") and the Confederacy (states that voted to secede, or "the South").

Civil war in the United States between the Union (states that remained loyal to the federal union, or "the North") and the Confederacy (states that voted to secede, or "the South").

Clockwise from top: Battle of Gettysburg Union Captain John Tidball's artillery Confederate prisoners ironclad USS Atlanta (1861) Ruins of Richmond, Virginia Battle of Franklin
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, aroused public opinion about the evils of slavery. According to legend, when Lincoln was introduced to her at the White House, his first words were, "So this is the little lady who started this Great War."
Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was a leading abolitionist
Marais des Cygnes massacre of anti-slavery Kansans, May 19, 1858
Mathew Brady, Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, 1860
The first published imprint of secession, a broadside issued by the Charleston Mercury, December 20, 1860
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
Bombardment of the Fort by the Confederates
Rioters attacking a building during the New York anti-draft riots of 1863
Clashes on the rivers were melees of ironclads, cottonclads, gunboats and rams, complicated by naval mines and fire rafts.
Battle between the USS Monitor and USS Merrimack (1855)
General Scott's "Anaconda Plan" 1861. Tightening naval blockade, forcing rebels out of Missouri along the Mississippi River, Kentucky Unionists sit on the fence, idled cotton industry illustrated in Georgia.
Gunline of nine Union ironclads. South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston. Continuous blockade of all major ports was sustained by North's overwhelming war production.
A December 1861 cartoon in Punch magazine in London ridicules American aggressiveness in the Trent Affair. John Bull, at right, warns Uncle Sam, "You do what's right, my son, or I'll blow you out of the water."
County map of Civil War battles by theater and year
Robert E. Lee
"Stonewall" Jackson got his nickname at Bull Run.
George B. McClellan
The Battle of Antietam, the Civil War's deadliest one-day fight.
Confederate dead overrun at Marye's Heights, reoccupied next day May 4, 1863
Pickett's Charge
Ulysses S. Grant
Albert Sidney Johnston died at Shiloh
By 1863, the Union controlled large portions of the Western Theater, especially areas surrounding the Mississippi River
The Battle of Chickamauga, the highest two-day losses
Nathaniel Lyon secured St. Louis docks and arsenal, led Union forces to expel Missouri Confederate forces and government.
New Orleans captured
William Tecumseh Sherman
These dead soldiers—from Ewell's May 1864 attack at Spotsylvania—delayed Grant's advance on Richmond in the Overland Campaign.
Philip Sheridan
Map of Confederate territory losses year by year
Burying Union dead on the Antietam battlefield, 1862
Through the supervision of the Freedmen's Bureau, northern teachers traveled into the South to provide education and training for the newly freed population.
Beginning in 1961 the U.S. Post Office released commemorative stamps for five famous battles, each issued on the 100th anniversary of the respective battle.
The Battle of Fort Sumter, as depicted by Currier and Ives.
Slave states that seceded before April 15, 1861 Slave states that seceded after April 15, 1861 Union states that permitted slavery (border states) Union states that banned slavery Territories
US Secession map. The Union vs. the Confederacy. Union states Union territories not permitting slavery Border Union states, permitting slavery (One of these states, West Virginia was created in 1863) Confederate states Union territories that permitted slavery (claimed by Confederacy) at the start of the war, but where slavery was outlawed by the U.S. in 1862
The Battle of Antietam, the Civil War's deadliest one-day fight.
Abolition of slavery in the various states of the United States over time:Abolition of slavery during or shortly after the American Revolution The Northwest Ordinance, 1787 Gradual emancipation in New York (starting 1799, completed 1827) and New Jersey (starting 1804, completed by Thirteenth Amendment, 1865) The Missouri Compromise, 1821 Effective abolition of slavery by Mexican or joint US/British authority Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1861 Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1862 Emancipation Proclamation as originally issued, January 1, 1863 Subsequent operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 Abolition of slavery by state action during the Civil War Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864 Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution, December 18, 1865 Territory incorporated into the US after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment
Oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and, among other promises, to "abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the . . . rebellion having reference to slaves . . . ," signed by former Confederate officer Samuel M. Kennard on June 27, 1865

The last significant battles raged around the ten-month Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond.

General Lee and top subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson defeated McClellan in the Seven Days Battles and forced his retreat.

A. P. Hill

9 links

Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War.

Confederate general who was killed in the American Civil War.

General A.P. Hill
Appomattox, A. P. Hill's sword
Portrait of Hill by William Ludwell Sheppard, 1898

Following the campaign, Hill became involved in a dispute with James Longstreet over a series of newspaper articles that appeared in the Richmond Examiner; relations between them deteriorated to the point that Hill was placed under arrest and Hill challenged Longstreet to a duel.

During the Siege of Petersburg of 1864–65, Hill and his men participated in several battles during the various Union offensives, particularly Jerusalem Plank Road, the Crater, Globe Tavern, Second Reams Station, and Peebles Farm.

Battle of Spottsylvania, Thure de Thulstrup

Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

9 links

The second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War.

The second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War.

Battle of Spottsylvania, Thure de Thulstrup
Map of Southeastern Virginia.
Union marches and operations in Central Virginia (1864-65).
Spotsylvania Courthouse, 1864
Attacks on the Laurel Hill line, May 8
<center>Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, VI Corps</center>
Positions and movements on the Union flanks, May 9
Grant attacks, May 10
Grant attacks, May 10 (additional map).
Upton's brigade attacks
Grant's grand assault, May 12
Grant's grand assault, May 12 (additional map)
"The Battle of Spottsylvania" by Kurz & Allison
The Bloody Angle site
<center>Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, Army of the Potomac</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, II Corps</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, V Corps</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, IX Corps</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, Cavalry Corps</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, First Corps</center>
<center>Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, Second Corps</center>
<center>Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill, Third Corps</center>
<center>Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, Cavalry Corps</center>
This unidentified, dead Confederate soldier of Ewell's Corps was killed during their attack at Alsop's farm. He was wounded in both the right knee and left shoulder, and probably died from loss of blood.
Confederate killed in Ewell's attack May 19, 1864, on the Alsop farm. This photograph was taken just to the right and in front of the preceding photograph.
Confederate dead of General Ewell's Corps who attacked the Union lines on May 19 lined up for burial at the Alsop Farm.
Movements on May 7, 1864; cavalry actions inset Confederate Union

He also ordered Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, who had replaced Lt. Gen. James Longstreet in command of the First Corps following that officer's wounding on May 6, to move out along that road.

The armies then faced each other for nine months in the Siege of Petersburg.

George Pickett

6 links

Career United States Army officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Career United States Army officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Confederate Major General George E. Pickett
Thure de Thulstrup's Battle of Gettysburg, showing Pickett's Charge.
Pickett's grave site at Hollywood Cemetery

He did not return to command until September, following the Battle of Antietam, when he was given command of a division in the Right Wing of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the command of Major General James Longstreet, which became the I Corps that December.

His division participated in the Siege of Petersburg.

Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

Confederate States Army

6 links

The military land force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces in order to uphold the institution of slavery in the Southern states.

The military land force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces in order to uphold the institution of slavery in the Southern states.

Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia
Private Edwin Francis Jemison, whose image became one of the most famous portraits of the young soldiers of the war
A cartoon from the war, showing the Confederates forcibly drafting a Unionist man into the Confederate army. The Unionist man objects, with the Confederates threatening to lynch him if he does not comply.
An 1861 Confederate recruiting poster from Virginia, urging men to join the Confederate cause and fight off the U.S. Army, which it refers to as a "brutal and desperate foe"
CSA M1857 Napoleon Artillery Piece
General Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's most famous general
An 1895 illustration showing the uniforms of the Confederate Army contrasted with those of the U.S. Army
A painting of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fighting the U.S. Army at Spotsylvania in 1864
A group of Confederate soldiers-possibly an artillery unit captured at Island No. 10 and taken at POW Camp Douglas (Chicago); photograph possibly by D. F. Brandon
Confederate troops marching south on N Market Street, Frederick, Maryland, during the Civil War
A Cherokee Confederates reunion in New Orleans, 1903
Jackson McCurtain, Lieutenant Colonel of the First Choctaw Battalion in Oklahoma, CSA
1862 illustration showing Confederates escorting kidnapped African American civilians south into slavery. A similar instance occurred in Pennsylvania when the Army of Northern Virginia invaded it in 1863 to fight the U.S. at Gettysburg.
An 1862 illustration of a Confederate officer forcing slaves at gunpoint to fire a cannon at U.S. soldiers in battle. A similar instance occurred at the first Battle of Bull Run, where slaves were forced by the Confederates to load and fire a cannon at U.S. forces.
An 1864 cartoon lampooning the Confederacy's deliberating on the use of black soldiers, showing them defecting en masse towards U.S. lines if such proposals were adopted.
"Marlboro", an African-American body servant to a white Confederate soldier
Julian Scott's 1873 painting, Surrender of a Confederate Soldier
Corporal of the Artillery division of the Confederate Army
Confederate mortar crew at Warrington, Florida in 1861, across from Fort Pickens
Confederate artillery at Charleston Harbor, 1863
Lt Col. E. V. Nash, 4th Georgia Infantry Doles-Cook Brigade, who was killed in 1864
<Center>General (CSA)</Center>
<Center>Colonel (Infantry shown)</Center>
<Center>Lieutenant-colonel (Headquarters shown)</Center>
<Center>Major (Medical Corps shown)</Center>
<Center>Captain (Marine Corps shown)</Center>
<Center>1st Lieutenant (Artillery shown)</Center>
<Center>2nd Lieutenant (Cavalry shown)</Center>

Many of the Confederacy's senior military leaders (including Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, James Longstreet) and even President Jefferson Davis, were former U.S. Army and, in smaller numbers, U.S. Navy officers who had been opposed to, disapproved of, or were at least unenthusiastic about secession, but resigned their U.S. commissions upon hearing that their states had left the Union.

During the Civil War 28,693 Native Americans served in the U.S. and Confederate armies, participating in battles such as Pea Ridge, Second Manassas, Antietam, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in Federal assaults on Petersburg.

Jubal Early

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Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War.

Early's childhood home in northeastern Franklin County
Confederate General Jubal A. Early
General Early, disguised as a farmer, while escaping to Mexico, 1865
Early in his elder years
A plaque praising Early in Rocky Mount, Virginia

Thus Early commanded the Confederacy's last invasion of the North, secured much-needed funds and supplies for the Confederacy and drawing off Union troops from the siege of Petersburg.

Despite Lee's avowed desire for reconciliation with his former West Point colleagues who remained with the Union and with Northerners more generally, Early became an outspoken and vehement critic of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, particularly criticizing his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg, and also taking issue with him and other former Confederates who after the war worked with Republicans and African Americans.

Ambrose Burnside, circa 1880

Ambrose Burnside

6 links

American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor and industrialist.

American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor and industrialist.

Ambrose Burnside, circa 1880
Mrs. Burnside, Mary Richmond Bishop
General Ambrose Burnside.
Burnside (seated, center) and officers of the 1st Rhode Island at Camp Sprague, Rhode Island, 1861
Burnside Bridge at Antietam in 2005
Union General Ambrose Burnside, 1862
Engraving of General Burnside in full dress uniform
Petersburg Crater, 1865
Burnside's grave in Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island
Studio photograph of Gen. Ambrose Burnside taken sometime between 1860 and 1862. Photograph shows his unusual sideburns.
Equestrian monument in Burnside Park, Providence, Rhode Island.

Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was defeated at the Battle of Chickamauga, and Burnside was pursued by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, against whose troops he had battled at Marye's Heights.

After North Anna and Cold Harbor, he took his place in the siege lines at Petersburg.

A print showing Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the Union Army, accepting Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865

Battle of Appomattox Court House

5 links

One of the last battles of the American Civil War .

One of the last battles of the American Civil War .

A print showing Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the Union Army, accepting Confederate General in Chief Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865
Lee's retreat and Grant's pursuit in the final Appomattox Campaign, April 2–9, 1865
Flag used by the Confederacy to surrender
Union soldiers at the courthouse in April 1865
Parlor of the (reconstructed) McLean House, the site of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender. Lee sat at the marble-topped table on the left, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at the table on the right
The reconstructed McLean House (brick house on right)
Full Page of Albany Journal, 10 Apr 1865
U.S. Postage Stamp, 1965 issue, commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House

Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia after the nine-and-a-half-month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the remaining Confederate forces in North Carolina, the Army of Tennessee under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

Ord's troops began advancing against Gordon's corps while the Union II Corps began moving against Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps to the northeast.