On April 9, 1865, near the town of Appomattox Court House, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. A few days before, Lee abandoned Richmond and the city of Petersburg; his goal was to rally the remnants of his beleaguered troops, meet Confederate reinforcements in North Carolina and resume fighting. But the resulting Battle of Appomattox Court House, which lasted only a few hours, effectively brought the four-year Civil War to an end.
