Download End of the Civil War

End of the Civil War
As the turning point of the war, the Battle of Gettysburg was the
beginning of the end for the Confederate States of America.
However, it would be another two and a half years before the
fighting would end. During the same time as the Battle of
Gettysburg, the spirit of the Union was further boosted when
Ulysses S. Grant was given command of the Union armies. His
bravery and expertise in battle soon led to more Union victories. One of his most important victories
was at Vicksburg, Mississippi. After two long months of fighting and laying siege to the city, the
Battle of Vicksburg finally gave the Union control of the Mississippi River. This weakened the South
by dividing it in two. The Union had achieved the first part of their Anaconda Plan.
As Union troops continued to be victorious on the battlefield following Vicksburg and Gettysburg the
condition of the Confederate army deteriorated. Lee’s troops were starving, ragged, and steadily
deserting. Finally, in April of 1865, Grant’s forces trapped Lee’s men at Appomattox Courthouse in
Virginia. Unable to fight back, Lee arranged to meet with Grant to surrender. Lee’s surrender to
Grant on April 9, 1865 marked the end of the Civil War.
Much of the South was left in ruins after the war. Grant had
ordered General William Tecumseh Sherman to make the
Confederacy surrender. Sherman’s March to the Sea destroyed
much of the south as his armies moved from across the south to
the Atlantic Ocean. Major cities like Richmond and Atlanta
were burned, bridges were torn down, and roads and railroads
destroyed. Plantations also suffered. Fields and crops were
destroyed and there was no money available to replant or hire
workers to replace the newly freed slaves. The South wanted to
rebuild, but they had no money. To make matters worse, the
money printed by the Confederacy was now worthless and
Southern banks had closed their doors.
Many in the North wanted to punish the South further,
and make them pay for the costly war. However,
Abraham Lincoln believed that once the war was over,
the federal government should not punish the South, but
should act “with malice towards none, with charity for
all...to bind up the nation’s wounds....” He just wanted
the United States of America to be together again. The
South would not be able to benefit from the lenient
President. On April 14, 1865 just a few days after Lee’s
surrender at Appomattox, Abraham Lincoln was shot at
Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. by John Wilkes
Booth.
Give at least three reasons why did the South surrendered.