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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

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13y ago

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