1865: Victory for the North

The North continued to roll toward victory during the first months of 1865. Exhausted by the long war, the South's military and civilian population proved powerless to stop the Union forces as they moved across the Confederate countryside. In early April, the South suffered two crushing blows when Federal troops captured both Petersburg and Richmond in Virginia. Rebel general Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) surrendered a few days later, ending the South's bid for independence.

People of the North joined together in tremendous celebrations when they learned of Richmond's capture and Lee's surrender. But their joy at winning the war turned to sorrow on April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) assassinated President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). Lincoln had successfully guided the Union through the most troubled period in its history. His death plunged the North into an angry and mournful mood.

Last days of the Confederacy

By the beginning of 1865, most Southerners recognized that a Union victory seemed inevitable. The Southern economy was in ruins, destroyed by the North's naval blockade and its occupation of large sections of Confederate territory. This economic collapse made it a struggle for Southerners to obtain food and clothing for themselves and their families.

Battlefield losses and supply shortages also took their toll on Confederate armies, which decreased in size with each violent clash. Depressed and exhausted by long months of fighting, many Southern soldiers deserted their units. Others stayed with the army, but their hunger and weariness made it difficult for them to be effective. The morale of these valiant but battered soldiers plummeted even lower in February, when Union general William T. Sherman (1820–1891) resumed his destructive march through the South.

Lee remains trapped in Petersburg

On February 1, 1865, General Sherman marched his sixty thousand–man army northward out of Savannah, Georgia. His goal was to move all the way up the Atlantic coastline to Petersburg, Virginia, where Union general Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) awaited his arrival.

Months earlier, Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia had been forced to retreat to Petersburg in order to prevent Grant's Army of the Potomac from capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond. Richmond received most of its food and supplies from railroads that passed through Petersburg, which is twenty-three miles south of the capital city. If those railways were captured, the capital would have to surrender or face starvation.

Lee's defense of Petersburg prevented the Army of the Potomac from swooping in and capturing Richmond. But Grant's decision to lay siege to Petersburg prevented the Confederate defenders from moving anywhere else for the rest of 1864. Grant's siege kept Lee's troops trapped in Petersburg for month after month, even as Union armies in the West carved up large sections of Confederate territory.

Sherman moves through South Carolina

Grant's continued siege of Petersburg made it impossible for Lee to send the Army of Northern Virginia against Sherman's invasion. Lee could only stand by helplessly as Sherman left Georgia and plowed northward through South Carolina, leaving a trail of ruined crops and burning buildings in his wake.

Sherman's march through South Carolina resembled his late-1864 invasion of Georgia in some ways. Just as in Georgia, his Union troops fed and clothed themselves by taking whatever they needed from Southern homeowners, farmers, and shopkeepers. In addition, Sherman's army continued to destroy unused crops and set fire to buildings, just as it had done during its "March to the Sea" a few months before.

But Sherman's troops treated South Carolina even more harshly than they had treated Georgia. South Carolina had been the first state to secede from the United States, and Sherman and the members of his army wanted to punish it for its leading role in establishing the Confederacy. As a result, the invading Union army looted South Carolina homes and burned South Carolina farmlands with great enthusiasm. The state capital of Columbia went up in flames, too, although people continue to disagree about how the fire got started. Some observers insisted that Federal troops purposely set the city on fire, but others called the fire an accident or blamed it on fleeing Southerners. In any event, Sherman's march through South Carolina left the state in ruins. "All is gloom, despondency [loss of hope or courage], and inactivity," admitted one South Carolina native. "Our army is demoralized and the people panic stricken. To fight longer seems to be madness."

Desperation in the Confederacy

In March, Sherman's Army of the Mississippi left South Carolina and entered North Carolina. Meanwhile, Confederate defenses continued to crumble elsewhere in the South. Over in Virginia, Union troops under the direction of General Philip H. Sheridan (1831–1888) conducted a series of successful raids as they moved eastward to join Grant at Petersburg. In Alabama and Georgia, a young Union general named James H. Wilson (1837–1925) defeated Confederate cavalry forces led by the legendary Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821–1877) to take control of several important cities. And in North Carolina, Union forces captured the port city of Wilmington, which had been the last remaining Confederate port open to blockade runners (supply ships that tried to carry provisions past the Union's naval blockade).

As Sherman's troops pushed through North Carolina, they were reinforced by twenty thousand troops under the command of John Schofield (1831–1906). The addition of Schofield's men increased the size of Sherman's army to more than eighty thousand troops, far bigger than any Confederate army in the region. Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston (1807–1891) tried to halt Sherman's progress with a force of twenty thousand troops. But the Union commander brushed him aside with ease as he continued his march for Petersburg.

The Confederacy considers using blacks as soldiers

As Union victories piled up during 1864 and early 1865, a small number of Southern lawmakers and community leaders suggested adding slaves to the Confederate Army. At first, whites across the Confederacy voiced strong objections to the idea of fighting side-by-side with blacks. Much of this resistance came from deep-seated racism. These bigoted critics argued that slaves did not have the intelligence or discipline to be good soldiers, and they declared that they would be deeply offended if blacks were asked to help defend the Confederacy.

Other Southerners objected to the idea of enlisting slaves for more practical reasons. They noted that few slaves would willingly join the Confederate Army unless they were promised their freedom. They warned that the South's slave-based economy might be permanently damaged if large numbers of slaves were freed. Still other critics worried that if the South voluntarily armed blacks, the slaves might revolt against their owners. More than anything else, though, white opposition to the idea of adding blacks to the Confederate Army stemmed from the belief that fighting with blacks would spoil the nobility of the Southern cause. "Many Southerners apparently preferred to lose the war than to win it with the help of black men," observed James M. McPherson in Battle Cry of Freedom.

By February 1865, however, important Confederate leaders like President Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) and General Lee announced their support for the use of black troops. "The negroes, under proper circumstances, will make efficient soldiers," wrote Lee on February 18. "I think we could at least do as well with them as the enemy." The general added that blacks who fought under the Confederate flag should be given their freedom after the war. "It would be neither just nor wise . . . to require them to serve as slaves [after the war]," he said.

In mid-March, Confederate lawmakers passed several preliminary bills designed to legalize the use of African Americans as Confederate soldiers. The Virginia legislature even passed a state law calling for the enlistment of black soldiers. Virginia managed to organize two companies of black soldiers to fight on behalf of the South within a few weeks of passing the law. But as it turned out, the war ended before they or any other black Confederate soldiers could take the field of battle.

Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment

At the same time that Confederate lawmakers debated about using slaves in their army, President Lincoln pushed for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment abolished slavery all across the nation.

Lincoln knew that passing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution required a great deal of work. For any amendment to become law, it has to be approved by both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. It then has to be ratified (approved) by three-fourths of the states before it can become law. Despite these obstacles, however, Lincoln offered strong support for the amendment after his 1864 reelection.

The U.S. Senate had passed the amendment back in December 1863, but it had stalled in the House of Representatives. Lincoln and other amendment supporters worked hard to send the bill back to the House, and on January 31, 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives passed it despite opposition from many Democrats. After the vote, representatives who had supported the amendment burst into celebration. "Some [members] embraced one another, others wept like children," recalled Indiana congressman George W. Julian (1817–1899). "I have felt, ever since the vote, as if I were in a new country."

The House's passage of the amendment cleared the way for individual states to vote on the bill. Ten months later, on December 18, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment became law, ending slavery on American land forever.

Grant increases pressure on Petersburg

By the end of March, Northern military actions and occupations had reduced the Confederacy to tatters. The only remaining Confederate army of any significance was Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, numbering fewer than fifty thousand troops. But it remained trapped in Petersburg, surrounded by an army more than twice its size.

Lee recognized that his army would be destroyed if it remained in Petersburg. Sherman's army was drawing ever closer. The Confederate general knew that the addition of those eighty thousand troops to Grant's Army of the Potomac would make his foe even more powerful. Reviewing the situation, Lee decided to strike before Sherman arrived. On March 25, he ordered a desperate attack on Fort Stedman, a Union position outside of Petersburg. He hoped to punch a hole through Grant's line so that he could escape Petersburg and join forces with Johnston's small army to the south.

The Army of Northern Virginia fought valiantly, but Grant's forces pushed back the assault. As Lee's weary soldiers retreated back to their former positions, Grant decided to launch a strike of his own. On April 1, twelve thousand Federal troops led by General Sheridan defeated a small rebel force commanded by George Pickett (1825–1875) at a place called Five Forks, fifteen miles west of Petersburg. Sheridan's victory enabled the North to seize the last remaining railway line that had been providing supplies to Petersburg and Richmond.

Grant captures Petersburg and Richmond

When Grant learned of the Union victory at Five Forks, he knew that the South's last hope of saving Petersburg and Richmond had been crushed. Eager to press his advantage, he ordered a full assault on the Confederate defenses at Petersburg. The Union offensive forced the Confederates to evacuate both Petersburg and Richmond. Before fleeing Richmond, Southern mobs looted and burned large sections of the city.

As Richmond went up in flames at the hands of its own citizens, Jefferson Davis and a number of important Confederate officials fled for North Carolina. They stopped in Danville, where Davis proclaimed that "I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy. Let us . . . meet the foe with fresh defiance, with unconquered and unconquerable hearts." Danville was named the new capital of the Confederacy, but it held the title for just one week before Davis was forced to flee again. Acknowledging that the North had taken control of most Confederate land east of the Mississippi River, Davis decided to make a run for Texas.

Lee surrenders to Grant

General Lee and his dispirited Army of Northern Virginia also evacuated Petersburg and Richmond on April 2. Lee moved his exhausted army southward in a desperate bid to join forces with Johnston's twenty thousand–man force, but the Army of the Potomac immediately gave pursuit. Lee's reduced army of thirty-five thousand men pushed on, spurred by their deep devotion to their commander. But on April 7, Union cavalry under the direction of Sheridan stopped their progress near the little town of Appomattox (pronounced app–uh-MAT-tux). As tens of thousands of additional Federal troops closed in from all sides, Lee finally acknowledged that the war had been lost.

On April 8, General Grant sent Lee a note asking him to surrender. Looking over the brave but battered remnants of his Army of Northern Virginia, Lee realized that he had no other choice. Writing in The Civil War, historian Bruce Catton noted that Lee's decision to surrender "came just as Federal infantry and cavalry were ready to make a final, crushing assault on the thin lines in Lee's front. Out between the lines came a Confederate horseman, a white flag fluttering at the end of a staff, and a sudden quiet descended on the broad field. While the soldiers in both armies stared at one another, unable to believe that the fighting at last was over, the commanding generals made their separate ways into the little town to settle things for good."

On the morning of April 9, Lee and Grant met at a small farmhouse to discuss the terms of surrender. Guided by Lincoln's instructions and his own strong desire to begin healing the North's tattered relationship with the South, Grant offered generous terms. He guaranteed that Confederate soldiers who put down their weapons and went home would not be prosecuted for treason in the future. Grant also agreed to Lee's request that Confederate soldiers be allowed to keep the horses that they owned in order "to put in a crop to carry themselves and their family through the next winter." Finally, Grant ordered his army to give food and medicine to Lee's sick and hungry troops.

After Lee and Grant signed the papers explaining the terms of surrender, the two legendary military leaders saluted one another and left the farmhouse to rejoin their armies. Grant later recalled that as he watched Lee leave to go comfort his men, "I felt . . . sad and depressed at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought."

Lee's surrender signaled the end of the Confederacy's long fight for independence. The Army of Northern Virginia had always been the South's greatest army, and its defeat made it clear to everyone that the South could no longer resist Lincoln's Union armies. In the meantime, Confederate president Jefferson Davis and several other members of the government had fled from Richmond, and then from Danville. Upon learning of Lee's defeat, Davis initially vowed to continue the fight and made plans to establish a new Confederate capital in Texas. But in the weeks following Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the remaining Confederate armies laid down their weapons. The rebel soldiers then wandered back to their homes, saddened by their defeat but relieved that they had survived a war that had killed so many of their countrymen.

Union celebrates victory

The first days of April produced great excitement and joy in the North. Each day seemed to bring news of another great Union victory, from Sheridan's win at Five Forks to the capture of Richmond. But the Union's greatest celebration came after its people learned that Lee had finally surrendered. "From one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other, the air seemed to burn with the bright hues of the flag," wrote one reporter who watched the festivities in Washington. "Almost by magic the streets were crowded with hosts of people, talking, laughing, hurrahing and shouting in the fullness of their joy. Men embraced one another, 'treated' one another, made up old quarrels, renewed old friendships, marched arm-in-arm singing." Similar celebrations erupted all across the North.

The North's happiness lasted only a few days, however, before turning to rage and sorrow. On April 15, 1865, the man who had skillfully guided the United States through the worst crisis in its history died at the hands of a deranged (insane) Southern sympathizer.

Lincoln is assassinated

On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–1882), attended a performance of a comedy called Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The president and his wife were joined in their private balcony box by a young Union officer and his fiancée. Shortly after ten o'-clock, an actor named John Wilkes Booth slipped into the rear of Lincoln's balcony with a pistol. He shot the president in the back of the head, then leaped from the balcony down to the stage. He broke his leg in the fall, but still managed to escape the area on horseback. Stunned theater patrons rushed to Lincoln's side. They carried him from the theatre to a boarding house across the street, where the president died at 7:22 on the morning of April 15. Booth, meanwhile, remained uncaptured until April 26, when he was cornered in a barn in Virginia. In an attempt to force the fugitive out, soldiers set the barn ablaze. A defiant Booth refused to come out. He was found dead of a gunshot wound; it is unclear whether Booth shot himself or whether one of the soldiers shot him.

News of Lincoln's assassination shocked the North. The Union's triumph over the Confederacy in the Civil War had dramatically increased Lincoln's popularity in Northern communities. In addition, his steady leadership during the war had led many Union soldiers to develop a deep loyalty and devotion to their president. The loss of Lincoln at the hands of a raving assassin thus plummeted the nation into a dark mood of despair and anger.

The nation spent the next few weeks saying goodbye to the man who had successfully guided it through the worst years of crisis in its history. On April 19, thousands of mourners filed past Lincoln's body at the White House. These mourners ranged from ordinary citizens to General Grant, who broke down and wept at the sight of his slain president. One day later, Lincoln's body was placed on a train that took him to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, for burial. Along the way, millions of Americans gathered along the train's route to view Lincoln's funeral car as it passed by.

Davis is captured and imprisoned

As the North mourned the death of President Lincoln, Jefferson Davis continued his desperate dash for Texas, where he hoped to rebuild the Confederate government. But Federal troops stayed in constant pursuit. They finally captured him on May 10, 1865, in Georgia. Davis's captors then transported him to a prison cell in Fort Monroe in Virginia.

Davis's future remained in doubt for quite awhile. Many Northerners thought that he should be put on trial for treason, since he had been the leader of the Confederate government during the Civil War. Some people also thought that he had been involved in Lincoln's assassination. But after two years of imprisonment, the authorities decided to release him from jail. They knew any attempt to convict Davis would put further strain on the wounded relationship between America's Northern and Southern sections. Davis returned to the South after his release from prison. Settling in his home state of Mississippi, he remained a major symbol of the Confederate cause until his death in 1889.

Words to Know

Blockade the act of surrounding a harbor with ships in order to prevent other vessels from entering or exiting the harbor; the word blockade is also sometimes used when ships or other military forces surround and isolate a city, region, or country

Civil War conflict that took place from 1861 to 1865 between the Northern states (Union) and the Southern seceded states (Confederacy); also known in the South as the War between the States and in the North as the War of the Rebellion

Confederacy eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States in 1860 and 1861

Enlistment the act of joining a country's armed forces

Federal national or central government; also refers to the North or Union, as opposed to the South or Confederacy

Rebel Confederate; often used as a name for a Confederate soldier

Siege surrounding and blockading of a city, town, or fortress by an army attempting to capture it

Treason betrayal of one's country

Union Northern states that remained loyal to the United States during the Civil War

People to Know

John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln

Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) president of the Confederacy, 1861–65

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) Union general who commanded all Federal troops, 1864–65; led Union armies at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and Petersburg; eighteenth president of the United States, 1869–77

Joseph E. Johnston (1807–1891) Confederate general of the Army of Tennessee who fought at First Bull Run and Atlanta

Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general of the Army of Northern Virginia; fought at Second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville; defended Richmond from Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac, 1864 to April 1865

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) sixteenth president of the United States, 1861–65

Philip H. Sheridan (1831–1888) Union major general who commanded the Army of the Potomac's cavalry corps and the Army of the Shenandoah; also fought at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga

William T. Sherman (1820–1891) Union major general who commanded the Army of the Tennessee and the Military Division of the Mississippi, led famous "March to the Sea"

Wilmer McLean Witnesses History—Twice

During the course of the Civil War, an elderly Virginian named Wilmer McLean found himself in the thick of two of the conflict's most significant events.

When the Civil War first erupted in the spring of 1861, McLean owned land near the town of Manassas, Virginia. In mid-July, armies from both sides ventured into the area, and Confederate general Pierre G. T. Beauregard (1818–1893) took over McLean's house as his headquarters. A few days later, on July 21, the Civil War's first major military battle took place. This clash at Manassas, commonly known as the First Battle of Bull Run, ended in a decisive Confederate victory.

Beauregard's victory at Bull Run pleased McLean. But the fight also convinced the old man to move elsewhere. Union artillery fire had ripped through McLean's home during the battle, and the elderly Virginian worried that the region might attract other armies in the future.

McLean then moved his family to Appomattox County in southern Virginia, where they spent the next four years in peace. On the morning of April 9, 1865, though, McLean was approached by two mounted soldiers representing the armies of Union general Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate general Robert E. Lee. The two riders explained that they were looking for a place where the two military leaders might discuss terms of surrender. McLean took them to an empty building in the area, but the riders rejected the site. The elderly Virginian then offered the generals the use of his own home. The two representatives accepted this suggestion, and a few hours later, the two generals entered his parlor to negotiate an end to the long and bloody war.

Major Anderson Returns to Fort Sumter

One event that powerfully symbolized the Union's victory over the Confederacy was a ceremony that took place at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1865. Four years earlier, Federal troops under the command of Major Robert Anderson (1805–1871) had been forced to lower the American flag and surrender the fort to Confederate attackers. That April 1861 assault on Fort Sumter had marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

By April 14, 1865, however, the Union had regained control of the battlescarred walls of Fort Sumter. On that day, Union officials led by Anderson returned to the fortress to raise the same torn American flag that had waved above Charleston Harbor on the night of the Confederate attack. As thousands of soldiers, officials, and citizens looked on, Anderson raised the American flag over the fort once again. "I thank God that I have lived to see this day," Anderson said, "and to be here, to perform this, perhaps the last act of my life, of duty to my country."

His Name Was Mudd

One of the most controversial figures in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was Samuel A. Mudd (1833–1883). Mudd was a Maryland physician who had left his career in medicine for a life as a farmer. Early in the morning of April 15, 1865, Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and an accomplice named David Herold came to his door to seek medical attention. Booth had broken his leg after shooting Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. He managed to escape the capital, but the assassin knew that he would be captured quickly if his leg was not set.

Mudd invited Booth and his companion inside and treated the injured man. Booth and Herold then left the house. A few hours later, Federal investigators arrived at Mudd's house and arrested him as a conspirator (participant) in the Lincoln assassination. During the interrogation of Mudd, the retired doctor claimed that he had not even known that Lincoln had been shot when Booth showed up at his door. He also claimed that Booth's use of a phony beard prevented him from recognizing the assassin, even though he had met the actor on at least two previous occasions.

Mudd continued to proclaim his innocence, but he was eventually found guilty of aiding Booth in his escape. (Federal authorities caught up to both Herold and Booth ten days after they left Mudd's farmhouse; Herold surrendered, but Booth died in a violent clash with his pursuers.) Unlike some other people who were convicted of being involved in the plot to kill Lincoln, Mudd was not executed. But he was sentenced to life in prison at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas, Florida, and the name "Mudd" took on negative associations that persist today.

As soon as Mudd entered the prison, guards and other staff members singled him out for mistreatment. Within months of Mudd's arrival, however, a fearsome outbreak of yellow fever swept through the penitentiary. When all the prison's army doctors died as a result of the disease, Mudd volunteered to treat inmates and prison employees alike. His subsequent work to contain the yellow fever outbreak caught the public's attention. His wife, Sarah Frances Mudd, then launched a campaign to gain her husband's freedom.

In February 1869, President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) pardoned (officially forgave) Doctor Mudd and two other men who had been convicted of helping with the assassination plot. Johnson's pardon allowed Mudd to leave prison, even though his conviction was not overturned. Mudd returned home to Maryland in March 1869. He continued to proclaim his innocence until his death in 1883.

Since Mudd's death, the debate over the physician's role in Booth's escape has not died away. Instead, new generations of the Mudd family have worked hard to clear his name. These campaigns have gained considerable support over the years. Former president Jimmy Carter (1924– ) expressed support for their efforts, and in 1992 the Army Board for Correction of Military Records recommended that Mudd's conviction be set aside. But an Army assistant secretary refused to set aside the conviction, claiming it was not the Board's role to attempt to settle historical disputes. Finally, in October 1998, a U.S. district judge ordered the U.S. Army to reconsider the conviction of Dr. Mudd, following a lawsuit filed by Richard Mudd, the doctor's grandson. In February 1999, Michigan senator Carl Levin (1934– ) urged Army secretary Louis Caldera to clear Mudd's name once and for all.

Despite these recent developments, however, historians continue to disagree about whether Mudd was involved in the conspiracy. Some experts believe that Mudd's conviction was unjust, and that his treatment of Booth's injury was simply the act of a good person. But other experts remain convinced of his guilt, and argue that he might also have been involved in a number of failed plots to kidnap the president.