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The End of the Civil War, and Aftermath
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee (1807-70) surrendered his
approximately 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85) in the
front parlor of Wilmer McLean’s home in Appomattox Court House, Virginia,
effectively ending the American Civil War (1861-65). Days earlier, Lee had
abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond and city of Petersburg, hoping to
escape with the remnants of his Army of Northern Virginia, meet up with additional
Confederate forces in North Carolina and resume fighting. When Union forces cut off
his final retreat, Lee was forced to surrender, finally ending four years of bloody
sectional conflict.
Lee and Grant, both of whom held the highest rank in their respective armies, had
known each other slightly during the Mexican War (1846-48) and exchanged
awkward personal inquiries.
Characteristically, Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform while Lee had turned
out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword. Lee asked for the terms, and
Grant hurriedly wrote them out. All officers and men were to be pardoned, and they
would be sent home with their private property–most important to the men were
the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their
side arms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations.
Quieting a band that had begun to play in celebration, Grant told his officers, “The
war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” Although scattered resistance
continued for several weeks, for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an
end.
Lincoln’s Assassination
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer,
fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington,
D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee
surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively
ending the American Civil War.
Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our
American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself
a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of
Lincoln Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.
By murdering the president and attempting to murder two of his possible
successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into
disarray. It should be noted that the assassination of Johnson and Seward was
unsuccessful.
At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer
into the back of Lincoln’s head. After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at
him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!”
(“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the
The End of the Civil War, and Aftermath
unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told
them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the
theater and escape from Washington on horseback.
Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination
and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. They included David Herold and Mary
Surratt, the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding
house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers.
Reconstruction:
PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION
At the end of May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for
Reconstruction, which reflected both his staunch Unionism and his firm belief in
states’ rights. In Johnson’s view, the southern states had never given up their right
to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting
requirements or other questions at the state level. Under Johnson’s Presidential
Reconstruction, all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and
distributed to the freed slaves by the army or the Freedmen’s Bureau (established
by Congress in 1865) reverted to its prewar owners. Apart from being required to
uphold the abolition of slavery (in compliance with the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution), swear loyalty to the Union and pay off war debt, southern state
governments were given free reign to rebuild themselves.
As a result of Johnson’s leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866
successfully enacted a series of laws known as the “black codes,” which were
designed to restrict freed blacks’ activity and ensure their availability as a labor
force. These repressive codes enraged many in the North, including numerous
members of Congress, which refused to seat congressmen and senators elected from
the southern states. In early 1866, Congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil
Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. The first bill extended the
life of the bureau, originally established as a temporary organization charged with
assisting refugees and freed slaves, while the second defined all persons born in the
United States as national citizens who were to enjoy equality before the law. After
Johnson vetoed the bills–causing a permanent rupture in his relationship with
Congress that would culminate in his impeachment in 1868–the Civil Rights Act
became the first major bill to become law over presidential veto.
RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION
After northern voters rejected Johnson’s policies in the congressional elections in
late 1866, Republicans in Congress took firm hold of Reconstruction in the South.
The following March, again over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed the Reconstruction
Act of 1867, which temporarily divided the South into five military districts and
outlined how governments based on universal (male) suffrage were to be organized.
The law also required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which
broadened the definition of citizenship, granting “equal protection” of the
Constitution to former slaves, before they could rejoin the Union. In February 1869,
Congress approved the 15th Amendment (adopted in 1870), which guaranteed that
The End of the Civil War, and Aftermath
a citizen’s right to vote would not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
By 1870, all of the former Confederate states had been admitted to the Union, and
the state constitutions during the years of Radical Reconstruction were the most
progressive in the region’s history. African-American participation in southern
public life after 1867 would be by far the most radical development of
Reconstruction, which was essentially a large-scale experiment in interracial
democracy unlike that of any other society following the abolition of slavery. Blacks
won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. Congress during
this period. Among the other achievements of Reconstruction were the South’s first
state-funded public school systems, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against
racial discrimination in public transport and accommodations and ambitious
economic development programs (including aid to railroads and other enterprises).
Slavery Amendments
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
Synopsis
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished
and continues to prohibit slavery to this day.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declared that all
persons born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens including
African Americans.
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each
government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on
that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude.