|
|
 |
|
The views expressed on this page are soley
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
 |
Appomattox: The
Surrender Grounds
By Susan Olling
The Surrender Grounds, as the locals call it, is well worth a visit.
A stage road connected Richmond and Lynchburg in the early nineteenth
century. The Clover Hill Tavern was built in 1819 to serve as a
stop on the four day trip between the two cities. The tavern gave
its name to a village after Appomattox County was formed in 1845.
Then Clover Hill was renamed Appomattox Court House. (In the
Virginia piedmont, it’s not unusual for county seats to use the name of
the county followed by Court House. Courthouse refers to the
building.)
Appomattox County had a population of about 8,900 people by 1860.
Over fifty percent of the population was enslaved. The only town
was Appomattox Court House (population less than 150 souls).
Tobacco was the main cash crop. In 1860, 1,777,355 million pounds
of the “devil’s weed” were grown. It was a prosperous
county.
Changes were coming. The Southside Railroad, started in 1846 and
completed in 1854, located a station three miles from Appomattox Court
House in Appomattox Station. The stage road saw less and less
use. The Confederate States of America was formed in early
1861. Virginia voted to secede from the Union in April 1861, and
the capital of the Confederate States of America was moved to Richmond
from Montgomery, Alabama. The vote in Appomattox County was 805-0
in favor of secession. The people in Appomattox County, like
other Virginians, had to live with incredible inflation by 1865.
For example, the price of flour per barrel in 1861 was $6.00. By
1865, the price was $1,000 per barrel.
While fighting went on for four years in other parts of Virginia,
Appomattox County was quiet. By April 1865, the good folks of the
county had, no doubt, been hearing about the siege that had been going
on in Petersburg, Virginia since mid-June 1864. Fighting would
come to Appomattox Court House the following spring. On 02 April,
the Union army broke through the Confederate lines at
Petersburg. General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia
(55,000 soldiers) were trying to move south to join General Joseph
Johnston’s army in North Carolina, . The Union
armies, under command of General Grant, were determined to keep the
Confederates from moving south. After moving west for seven days,
four armies met at Appomattox Court House: the Army of the Potomac
(George Meade in command), the Army of the Shenandoah ( Phillip
Sheridan in command), the Army of the James ( Edward Ord in command)
and General Robert Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. One of
those armies surrendered. How did this happen?
There was daily fighting between 02 April and 09 April. The worst
was the Battles of Sailor’s Creek on 06 April where eight thousand
Confederates became casualties. Lee’s army needed food.
There were four trains containing food at Appomattox Station. On 08
April, the Battle of Appomattox Station resulted in General George
Custer’s cavalry capturing not just the trains at Appomattox Station
but twenty-five cannon and one thousand Confederate soldiers.
Instead of paralleling the Confederate army, Union troops were ahead
for the first time during the Appomattox Campaign.
General Lee decided to attack the following morning to reopen a
route west and south. By now, there were just 30,000 men in the
Army of Northern Virginia.
The Battle of Appomattox Court House started the morning of 09
April. Most of the townspeople had evacuated. The
Confederates temporarily reopened the stage road going west from the
village. There were 30,000 Union soldiers ahead of them.
One description of the Union army was that of a “checkerboard”
(five thousand United States Colored Troops were among those 30,000
Union soldiers). The Army of Northern Virginia was trapped.
General Lee sent a letter to General Grant with a request to meet about
surrendering his army. An aide was given the task of finding
somewhere for the surrender meeting. General Lee arrived at the
McLean House at about 1:00 p.m., General Grant about thirty minutes
later. The meeting was over by 3:00.
A second meeting between the two general occurred the next day.
General Lee refused to surrender the Confederate armies in other parts
of the South. So that the Confederate soldiers in
Appomattox Court House could get home safely through hostile territory
(might be mistaken for deserters), they were issued parole passes that
were printed at the Clover Hill Tavern.
The American Civil War did not end at Appomattox Court House. The
last battle of the war was at Palmito Ranch, Texas in May 1865.
Just as the stage road had made Appomattox Court House, the Southside
Railroad made Appomattox Station. In 1892, the courthouse burned,
and the county seat was moved to Appomattox Station. The courthouse
that you can visit at the Appomattox Court House National Historical
Park was built in 1964. The McLean House was dismantled (to
be moved to Washington, but it didn’t happen) in 1893. It was
reconstructed in the late 1940’s based on photographs and drawings and
rebuilt on the original foundation. There are over 5,000 of the
original bricks in the front of the house. Appomattox
Station became the Town of Appomattox.
|
|
|
|
