On April 9, 1865, Union general Ulysses S. Grant (1822- 1885; see entry in volume 3) and Confederate general Robert E. Lee (1807-1870; see box in Ulysses S. Grant entry in volume 3) met at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia to discuss the surrender of the Confederacy. The forces of Grant and Lee had been engaged in battle for months. The Confederacy was making its last stand against superior military power and economic support enjoyed by the Union army. When the city of Richmond, Virginia, fell to the Union army, the Civil War was effectively over.

Though the war had been bitterly fought and divided the nation, many key figures were anxious for a respectable peace that would unify the nation. President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865; see entry in volume 2), General Grant, and General Lee were among them. The terms of surrender (see box) demonstrated...