Why did Robert E. Lee surrendered?

Answer 1

Answer

In April 1865, General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been overrun at the defenses at Petersburg, VA in the Battle of Five Forks. He was forced to retreat westward toward Lynchburg, VA while President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had to flee Richmond. Lee was eventually surrounded at a place called Appomattox Courthouse, and was outnumbered more than 3 to 1 by General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac. The surrender took place in the McLean House, now a National Park.

Meanwhile, General Joseph E. Johnston was being forced to withdraw through North Carolina, having been defeated in March 1865 by General William T. Sherman at the Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville. Once Lee had surrendered, and the Confederate capital having fallen, Johnston realized the war was all but lost. He met General Sherman between the Union and Confederate lines at a small farm near Hillsborough, North Carolina known as Bennett Place (A NC State Historic Site). The two generals met on three occassions, finalizing the surrender, which ended the fighting in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The surrender signed on April 26, 1865 surrendered more than 89,000 Confederate soldiers, becoming the largest surrender of the American Civil War.
Because the defeat of General Lee's Army meant that only very limited forces remained available to continue the battle

Answer 2

There was little recourse except to surrender. The Confederacy was in checkmate and it could no longer win or even draw. Davis sent orders to Lee that he should fight a guerrilla war against the Union, but Lee knew that following this order would only cause more death on both sides without changing the outcome, so he surrendered.

Answer 3

Lee's army surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia because it was surrounded and out of food.

Joseph E. Johnson surrendered the Confederate Forces east of the Mississippi because he felt it was stupid to continue fighting.

E. Kirby Smith never surrendered the forces west of the Mississippi. Instead he simply walked away from the war. His army also simply walked home. "Lee surrendered. We didn't."

Answer 4

Because he was outnumbered 10 to 1, surrounded, and his troops had not eaten in 2 or 3 days. The Army of Northern Virginia had also lost over 1/3 of it's troops at the battle of Sayler's Creek 3 days before.

Answer 5

Sheer exhaustion.

The Confederate armies had run out of manpower, and the troops in the field were barefoot and starving, with nowhere to go.

Logically, they should have surrendered when Lincoln got re-elected in November 1864. (That was the North voting to fight on.)

But they were not the sort of people to submit to logic - only to relentless military action, right to the end.

Answer 6

The loss of the Army of Northern Virginia was a clear indication that they could no longer win the war.