U. S. Civil War Photographs - Ulysses S. Grant

U. S. CIVIL WAR
PHOTOGRAPHS

ULYSSES S. GRANT
(Page Four of Four)

Grant's success in maintaining the siege operations around Petersburg and Richmond manifested itself in the collapse of Lee's lines on April 2, 1865 and the subsequent surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865.

At Appomattox...

³²

McLean House - 1865

McLean House - 1998

[Where the surrender occurred. This is the same McLean
whose house was on the battlefield at First Manassas.]

¹⁶⁰
The Surrender at Appomattox, by Keith Rocco
[Source: National Park Service -Appomattox]

Grant's table (replica) at the McClean House at Appomattox

Where Grant wrote the message announcing the surrender.

Interpretive Sign

From near his headquarters atop the rise in front
of you, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sent a message
that jolted a nation. After finishing his meeting
with Lee at the McLean House, Grant paused
along the road and scribbled an unassuming note
announcing the surrender (see below). Within
hours, the message reached Washington. By
midnight bells tolled in celebration throughout
the North. Amidst the small gathering of tents here, General
Grant spent his last night in the field. The next day
he departed for Washington, D.C., leaving details
of the Confederate surrender to a group of military
commissioners. The defeat of Lee's army had
required eleven months of constant toil, bloodshed,
and death. But the job was done; Grant left
Appomattox Court House a national hero.

Interpretive Sign Text

²³¹
General Ulysses S. Grant (ca. 1860 - ca. 1865)

Grant was elected President of the United States twice (1869-1877). In 1884 he lost all his savings in a financial venture and ended up writing his autobiography to get his family out of poverty. He completed the book a few days before his death of throat cancer in July of 1885. The book was a success and his memoirs are considered one of the best ever written.

(Text sources include: NPS, US Army Center of Military History, and www.senate.gov)

²⁵⁷
General Grant, Lt. Col. Bowers, and General Rawlins
at Grant's headquarters, Cold Harbor, June 11 or 12, 1864.