Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in south-central Virginia preserves the village and surrounding farmland where General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War. The surrender occurred in the parlor of the McLean House, a two-story brick structure owned by Wilmer McLean, who had moved to Appomattox County from Manassas following the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861—a war that, by this coincidence, both began and ended on his property. The village of Appomattox Court House was a small county seat containing approximately a dozen structures in April 1865. The National Park Service has restored or reconstructed nearly the entire village, including the McLean House, the Old Appomattox Court House (which served as a parole office for Confederate soldiers after the surrender), the Clover Hill Tavern, Meeks Store, and several outbuildings. The restored village conveys the scale and character of what Lee's soldiers encountered during the final marches of the campaign. The terms of surrender negotiated in the McLean parlor were notably lenient. Grant allowed Confederate officers to retain their sidearms and personal horses; enlisted men were paroled and permitted to return home. Within weeks, the formula established at Appomattox became the model for the surrender of remaining Confederate armies throughout the South. Nearly 28,000 Confederate soldiers were paroled at Appomattox between April 9 and 12, 1865, with parole passes printed at the Clover Hill Tavern. The site's interpretive focus has expanded in recent years to include the experience of the approximately four million enslaved people whose freedom was one consequence of the war's conclusion, and the perspectives of United States Colored Troops present during the surrender and parole proceedings.