| After
Union forces took both Petersburg and Richmond, Confederate
General Robert E. Lee directed his armies west in a
desparate attempt to join forces with Joseph A. Johnston
and save the Confederacy. The plan failed as massive
numbers of Union troops under General Grant converged
upon Lee's battered army before he could reach Johnston.
On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern
Virginia to General Grant at the McLean house in the
town of Appomattox Courthouse. The war was over and
president Lincoln had succeeded in preserving the Union. |
