On April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
After four years of Civil War, with his Army of Northern Virginia practically starving and reeling under the onslaught of Union pressure from Grant’s superior forces, Robert E. Lee had to contemplate the inevitable –surrender. On the evening of April 8, after a last-ditch attempt at breaking through Union lines failed, Lee was told that his army could not move forward.
“There is nothing left for me to do but to go see General Grant, and I had rather die a thousand deaths. “
By coincidence, Lee’s meeting with Grant took place in a farmhouse owned by Wilmer McLean, the same man who in 1861 had given his house to Confederate General Beauregard during the Battle of Bull Run, the first major engagement of the war. McLean moved from Manassas, Virginia with the hope of finding a quieter place. His home at Appomattox Court House would again witness history.
The New York Times headlines read:
Hang Out Your Banners; Union Victory! Peace!
This noteworthy anniversary would be most likely overlooked by all but Civil War buffs if it were not for the current dust-up over Virginia Governor Bob McMullen’s pronouncement that April is “Confederate History Month” in the state. Unfortunately the Governor neglected to mention the word “slavery” is his press release marking this part of Virginia’s past. While the Governor quickly corrected his omission, it attracted even more attention. President Obama termed the oversight “unacceptable” a few days later in response to a reporter’s question about the controversy.
For a moment, we shall set aside the question of the wisdom of choosing April as the appropriate month in which to celebrate the tradition of violent rebellion against the government in 1861. It is after all, the month in which the Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the surrender of the Confederacy on April 9, 1865 and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14 by John Wilkes Booth. These are not exactly the high water marks of the Confederacy.
The controversy generated by the celebration of Confederate History Month and the hastily-corrected omission of any mention of slavery served as a pointed reminder that the Civil War still haunts the nation.
Discussing Civil War History still raises two problems –Many people know nothing about the central event in our history. It has fallen into that “black hole” of dates, battles and speeches that is usually flushed down the memory hole when the final exams are done.
Then there are those who profess who cling to a history that says that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War. That it was a glorious second “revolution,” fought to protect “states rights” from a tyrannical federal government. That is nonsense. Slavery was at the heart of the political, economic and social struggle that led to the Civil War. That does not mean that the Civil War was a “moral crusade” fought by Abolitionists. But the right to own slaves and take them further west into the territories being opened up was the only “right” that the Confederate states were fighting for.
I hope that the Governor’s proclamation of Confederate History Month becomes a “teachable moment” in which we really discuss what this devastating war, which cost the lives of some TWO PERCENT of the American population at the time, meant to America, then and now.
Read more in Don’t Know Much About the Civil War
