APRIL 9, 1865
| Seventeen Union regiments advanced on the village from the
west to block the westward movement of the Confederate forces. Three of the seventeen units were United States Colored Infantry Regiments; the 29th, 31st and 116th. The 8th, 41st and 45th United States Colored Infantry Regiments were assigned to positions in the rear. The surrender was signed in the parlor of McLean House on 9 April 1865 by General Ulysses S. Grant representing the Union, and General Robert E. Lee representing the Confederates. The Confederate Cavalry surrendered on 10 April; the Artillery surrendered on 11 April; and the Infantry surrendered on 12 April. Included in those paroled by the Union Army were thirty-six Blacks with the Confederate Army. A second meeting between Grant and Lee occurred on Monday 10 April on the little knoll between the river and the surrender site. Generals Grant and Lee discussed conditions in the south and
the problems of restoring peace. Except for a brief courtesy call
by Lee at the White House in 1869, they never met again. |
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Posted by:Bennie J.
McRae, Jr. |