General US Grant did not always present his opponents with an "unconditional surrender". In the case at Appomattox Court House, Grant overruled General Custer's demand of an unconditional surrender. As an aside, President Lincoln had urged Grant to be lenient with Robert E. Lee.
The two main figures at the Appomattox Court House to discuss the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia were Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General US Grant. Grant was respectful of the Confederate general. As a display of goodwill, Grant ordered for 25,000 rations for Lee's starving army.
Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant.
Robert E. Lee surrendered to US Grant at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lee's army was few in number and starving for food. Grant had a huge army and Lee had no choice but to surrender.
The Union, or the Northerners meaning Ulysses S. Grant.
Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court on 1865.
Gen Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on Palm Sunday, 1865. The date was April 9, 1865. Grant furnished ample ration kits for Lee's men and they were allowed to keep their horses if they had any. Rifles were required to be surrendered.
General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865 after defeats at Vicksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg.
Unconditional Surrender.
The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Gordon Meade, closely accompanied by the US General-in-Chief, Ulysses Grant, in his mobile HQ. Some said Meade should have taken the surrender, but as Lee was not only commander of the Army of Northern Virginia but also General-in-Chief of the Confederacy, it seemed appropriate that he should surrender to Grant.
It can be argued that General, and also the general in chief, US Grant led the Union to victory in the US Civil War. Using the time frame of 1865 and moving forward, this idea is confirmed by the election in 1868 of US Grant to the presidency of the United States, as a Republican.
Generally speaking the surrender of Robert E. Lee to US General Grant is referred to as the surrender at the Appomattox Court House. Lee's surrender was the key which in all practical terms ended the US Civil War. Later other Southern armies would surrender.