On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee told an aide that he would rather die a thousand deaths than face what he knew he must do. Those words, spoken by a man who had defied the Union for four brutal years, did not merely end a battle. They ended the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy’s most formidable fighting force, and set the stage for the final collapse of the Southern cause.
To understand how Lee reached that moment, one must witness the agony that led him there. By the spring of 1864, the Confederacy was running out of options. Lee and his army had been reorganized, and the core under James Longstreet had rejoined them after arriving from the Western Theater following the fall of Chattanooga. The South possessed one remaining strategy: hold on long enough that Abraham Lincoln might lose the 1864 election.
If a Democratic candidate like George B. McClellan won, a negotiated peace might be secured. The Army of Northern Virginia had to endure until then. The Union command structure had also changed.
Although George Meade retained leadership of the Army of the Potomac, Henry Halleck had been removed as supreme commander of all Union armies. Ulysses S. Grant now held that position, and unlike his predecessor, he chose to establish his headquarters directly with the Army of the Potomac rather than remaining in Washington. Confederate generals Richard Ewell and A.
P. Hill both maintained that Grant would prove to be like every other Union commander they had overcome. Longstreet disagreed. He had recently arrived from the West, where he had been bested by troops under Grant’s overall command.
More importantly, Longstreet was Grant’s closest friend, and Grant had married Longstreet’s cousin. He knew Grant deeply. Lee listened to all his generals but resolved to proceed with caution. On May 5, 1864, they clashed with Grant and Meade at the Battle of the Wilderness.
It was the third time combat had engulfed that terrain. During the intense fighting, the woodland caught fire, and wounded soldiers from both sides were consumed by the flames. Longstreet himself was shot by his own men, wounded in a manner strikingly reminiscent of Stonewall Jackson, and remarkably close to the spot where Jackson had fallen. After two days of fighting, the Army of the Potomac began to withdraw.
To Lee’s profound astonishment, the troops moved southward, not northward. Every previous Union commander had retreated after a bloody engagement in Virginia. Grant did not. He kept pushing.
The battles that followed were either indecisive or costly for the South. Meanwhile, Lee fell seriously ill, afflicted with dysentery that left him barely able to move. Abandoning any complex maneuvers against Grant and Meade, Lee and his army proceeded to a modest inn near Mechanicsville, Virginia, arriving on May 31. The place was called Cold Harbor.
Lee directed Generals Jubal Early, Richard Anderson, and A. P. Hill to construct extensive earthworks. Early positioned his forces north of Shady Grove Road, extending his line south toward Walnut Grove Road.
Between his corps and Anderson’s sat Pickett’s division, or rather what remained of it, slightly south of Walnut Grove Road. Anderson deployed west of Beulah Church, linking his defenses southward with John C. Breckinridge’s division, summoned as reinforcements. A.
P. Hill’s corps anchored the line, with its fortifications ending at Turkey Hill. Lee’s physical condition once again left him virtually immobile. For reasons that remain unclear even in the historical record, Grant and Meade decided against conducting reconnaissance despite urgent pleas from officers like Winfield Scott Hancock.
Instead, they ordered the entire Army of the Potomac to launch a direct frontal assault against the Confederate fortifications, convinced the enemy was beaten. The Union troops advanced in formation across open fields and were slaughtered. Confederate fire decimated the attacking lines. By June 7, Lee and Grant consented to a temporary ceasefire to retrieve the fallen scattered across the battlefield.
Union and Confederate soldiers encountered one another between the lines and began to talk. The interlude was remarkably poignant, drawing comparisons to the World War I Christmas truce. The men interacted amicably, sharing lighter moments, and some Confederates even helped Union soldiers recover their dead. Union casualties surpassed 12,700.
It was the Army of Northern Virginia’s most significant tactical triumph of the conflict. They followed it with another success at Trevilian Station on June 12. But this phase of the campaign was effectively over. Lee discerned a critical movement.
Grant and his 125,000-man force had crossed the James River south of Richmond. Lee grasped the objective immediately. Grant aimed to capture the vital railroad center of Petersburg, Virginia, which would enable a direct advance on Richmond. Lee ordered his army toward Petersburg and commanded General P.
G. T. Beauregard, leading the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, to intercept Grant’s advance. Beauregard’s timely intervention initiated a protracted siege that would last nine months.
The siege of Petersburg changed the nature of the war. This campaign eventually eradicated the traditional concept of winter encampments from U. S. military strategy.
Concurrently, another of Grant’s policies began its implementation: total war. This strategy deliberately inflicted suffering on Southern civilians. One primary aim was to induce mass desertions. The reasoning was simple.
If Confederate soldiers believed their families were imperiled, they would abandon their posts to protect them. After nine months of siege warfare and relentless combat, including notable events like the Crater incident, Lee orchestrated a desperate breakout attempt. Under his orders, General Gordon assaulted Union fortifications at a strong point designated Fort Stedman. The assault failed.
Lee then withdrew his surviving forces, striving to unite with General Joseph E. Johnston’s army operating further south. This began the final Appomattox campaign. During the Third Battle of Petersburg, General A.
P. Hill, one of Lee’s most trusted commanders, was killed. Lee’s army continued skirmishing with the federal forces of Phil Sheridan and George Meade. On April 4, 1865, the Confederate capital, Richmond, was abandoned and captured.
Abraham Lincoln, victorious in his reelection bid, entered the deserted city in triumph. On April 9, 1865, the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia formed for a final stand. As troops from the Army of the Potomac, the Army of the James, and the Army of the Shenandoah converged, Lee recognized the futility. No viable junction with Johnston remained.
No defensible position offered hope. Further resistance was impossible. An officer from Longstreet’s staff conveyed Lee’s message to Grant, and fighting ceased. Many Confederate officers had implored Lee beforehand not to surrender, vowing to fight to the death.
Lee replied that his only course was to meet Grant, adding that he would rather die a thousand deaths. After protracted communication via dispatches, a meeting location was settled. On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S.
Grant convened at the McLean House in Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Lee accepted the surrender terms formulated under Lincoln’s guidance, which were deliberately moderate. Confederate soldiers and officers were permitted simply to return home. Lee formally endorsed the surrender documents and established the schedule for surrendering weapons and regimental colors to the Army of the Potomac, which Grant deemed deserving of that honor.
On April 12, 1865, the surviving elements of the Army of Northern Virginia commenced the formal surrender ceremony, overseen by Brevet Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the veterans of the Army of the Potomac. Chamberlain called the event the last salute. Despite four years of bitter enmity, the Union Army extended profound respect toward their adversaries. The ceremony served as their final muster before disbandment and departure for home.
Although the Army of Northern Virginia capitulated, the wider conflict persisted until May 26, 1865, when the last organized Confederate forces surrendered. The Army of Northern Virginia accomplished extraordinary military deeds during its existence. It twice invaded Northern territory, overwhelmed an opponent twice its strength at Fredericksburg, and repeated that feat at Chancellorsville. Had the outcome at Gettysburg differed, history’s course might well have altered.
Yet on April 12, its 28,000 remaining soldiers commenced their march homeward, defeated. As Chamberlain’s last salute faded and those men turned toward barren farms and burned cities, the Army of Northern Virginia ceased to exist.