Appomattox Court House

Tim and I are on the road again.  This time we're traveling to Charlotte, NC on another business trip.  How lucky we are that this trip coincides with the changing of the seasons.  The autumn leaves painted a beautiful scene as we traveled the back roads of Virginia.

I have not mastered the technique of taking photos through our car's windshield.

Along the way, we visited Appomattox Court House, now a national historic park in southwest Virginia.  There the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 when Confederate General Robert E. Lee signed Union General U.S. Grant's terms of surrender.

The county seat of Appomattox Court House was a small village at the time of the Civil War. 

The village of Appomattox

Today all that remains of the village are the restored courthouse, Meeks general store, Clover Hill Tavern, Woodson Law Office, a jail, slave quarters and the home that once belonged to the McLean family.

Appomattox Courthouse

Appomattox Court House, I learned, is not the only Virginia county seat to have Court House tacked onto its name.  Amelia Court House just a few miles to the east as well as several other county seats in Virginia are named that way, too.  County courthouse buildings, on the other hand, are spelled with no space between the two words.

I always believed that the meeting between Lee and Grant occurred within the Appomattox Courthouse, but I was wrong.  The meeting was actually held in the front parlor of the McLean Home.

Because of his business as a sugar speculator, Wilmer McLean moved his family from Manassas, Virginia, to Appomattox Court House in the fall of 1862.  He believed this location would better suit his business because of its proximity to the railroad.  Perhaps he also wanted to leave behind the devastation that Manassas received in the first battle of the Civil War.   Ironically, he and his family witnessed the beginning of the Civil War and its end. 

See the two tables here in the parlor of the McLean Home?

The two generals signed the terms of surrender in the parlor of the McLean home.

An exhibit in the park's Visitor Center

After 90 minutes, Lee and Grant emerged from the McLean home.  To the silent salutes of Union officers, Lee rode back through the village to his defeated army.

After the war there was a faction of the public who wanted Lee to stand trial for treason.  Grant wrote, "I will resign the command of the army rather than execute any order to arrest Lee."  That settled the matter and Lee was never tried.  

The Clover House Tavern

For decades, the Clover House Tavern served travelers along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road.

Two printing presses in the front room of the Clover House Tavern

Here on the evening of April 10, 1865, Union soldiers set up printing presses and started producing paroles for the surrendered Confederates.  The Federals printed more than 30,000 parole documents here, granting Confederate soldiers the freedom to return home instead of imprisonment.

Other buildings we visited during our time at the park included--

Meeks' General Store

Interior of Meeks' store

The Jail's barred windows on the 2nd & 3rd floors indicate where jail cells are located.

Tim enters one of the jail cells.

Tim looks out one of the jail's barred windows.

The Road Home

The American flag flying at the end of this path to the parking lot might have been a Confederate flag had the South won the war.  Imagine how such a change in events could have impacted our lives today.