[Amnorix]

April 11.

As RedNeckRaider has covered the options, I'll mention one item that he didn't list, then go back into greater detail on an item recently covered.

April 11, 1241. On this date at the Battle of Mohi the main part of the Mongol forces invading Eastern Europe crushed the Hungarian army. This left Hungary wide open for Mongol forces to decimate, which they did. Hungarian leaders fled west, pleading for help. Europe, divided and weak, was strangely passive about forming an organized resistance to the Mongols, who were now only a week away from the borders of France. They seemed to misunderstand the profound threat posed by teh Mongols, who had now conquered over 4,000 miles of territory between Mongolia and Hungary. All this is not to say, however, that the Mongol victories had been effortless. The Hungarians had fought hard and had inflicted casualties on the Mongolians, and they proved difficult to pacify in the coming months.


Revisiting the loss of Richmond and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, all of which occurred during early April, 1865.

By this point in the war, attrition and supplies had become extremely serious problems for the rebels. Confederate supplies were unreliable, and logistics completely shot. While 1864 had been an extremely good year for crops, the march of Sherman had disrupted supplies and ravaged teh breadbasket of the Confederacy. Lee, locked into a siege with the unrelenting Grant, lost men to both as casualties and as deserters. By April 1864 Grant's army was about three times larger than Lee's. with approximately 128,000 soldiers under grant facing Lee's 44,000.

Worse, Grant was a bulldog who did not let go. Forcing Lee into a siege took away Lee's superior tactical abilities and the vaunted maneuvering talents of the Army of Northern Virginia. Knowing he had superior numbers, Grant kept up the pressure by constantly stretching out the siege lines, forcing Lee to repeatedly extend his own lines to match pace, and thinning out his ranks.

After several battles in late March, Grant ordered a general assault. Breakthroughs were starting to occur, albeit quickly contained.

"Well, Colonel", Lee said to one of his staff as he drew rein, "it has happened as it told them it would at Richmond. The line has been stretched until it has broken."

Before evacuating his lines, he needed to give his commanders notice. Before disconnecting the telegraph, Lee dictated a message to the Secretary of War and the the President of the Confederacy. "I see no prospect of doing more htan holding our position here till night. I am not certain that I can do that. If I can I shall withdraw tonight north of the Appomatox, and if possible it will be better to withdraw the whole line tonight from James River."

Midway through church services, a War Department messenger arrived at the presidential pew in St. Paul's Church with a dispatch. Nearby worshippers saw "a sort of gray pallor creep over his face" as he read the dispatch, then watche dhim rise and stride back down the aisle. Arrangements were made for the prompt dispatch of the remaining Confederate funds -- about $528,000 in gold and silver coins, bricks and ingots.

What began as the Confederate retreat from Richmond and Petersburg soon became a race against Grant and starvation. For six days the Army of Northern Virginia trudged ever westward, hoping to link up with General Joseph Johnson. Harried and harrassed by the ebullient Union soldiers, who had finally found a decent cavalry commander in General Sheridan, they were constantly harrassed.

Lacking supplies, Lee had to call halts while his soldiers foraged for food. They came with an appeal -- a letter from Lee -- "To the Citizens of Amelia County to supply as far as each one is able the wants of the brave soldiers who have battled for your liberty for four years."

And as soldiers are wont to do, they find gallows humors in the worst of times. Having found "poor old Dixie's bottom dollar", one of Longstreet's Deep South veterans put it best:

Originally Posted by Unknown Confederate veteran

My shoes are gone; my clothes are almost gone. I'm weary, I'm sick, I'm hungry. My family has been killed or scattered, and may now be wandering helpless and unprotected. I would die; yes, I would die willingly because I love my country. But if this war is ever over, I'll be damned if I ever love another country!

All this was Grant's doing. "He commanded Lee's army as much as he did ours; caused and knew beforehand every movement htat Lee made, up to the actual surrender. . . . There was no let up; fighting and marching and negotiating, all at once."

The Confederates -- tired, hungry and fleeing, were bound to make a mistake, and os they did, on April 6, 1865, the "Black Thursday" of the Confederacy. Failures to communicate between senior corps commanders with many years of experience with respect to the need to stop and fight off flanking attacks created huge fissures in the Confederate ranks, through which the Union forces seeped, splitting off forces and creating confusion. Topping a ridge overlooking Sayler's Creek valley, Lee came upon union batteries firing rapidly and pounding the shattered remnant of one Confederate corps, whicl fugitives streamed out the bottom of the ravine. "My God," Lee exclaimed, witnessing the worst defeat in the 34 months since he had been in command, "Has the army been dissolved?!"

And yet the resilient Confederate troops weren't done yet. They continued staggering westward.

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 7, 1865

General R. E. Lee,
Commanding C.S. Army

General: The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you teh surrender of that portion of the C.S. Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant General
Commanding Armies of teh United States


Lee read the dispatch without comment and handed it to Longstreet, who had been with him for so very long. Old Peter read the message and said two words. "Not yet."

Lee made no reply to Longstreet, and yet wrote a response.

7th Apr. '65
Genl

I have recd your note of this date. Though not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the army of N. Va. I reciprocate your desire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, & therefore before consdiering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender.

Very respy your obt svt
R.E. Lee, Genl


Grant's reply:

Peace being my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon -- namely that the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged.

They continued to dance about, Lee suggesting he lacked authority, and otherwise engaging in delaying tactics, which Grant would have none of. Eventually, Lee relented and agreed to meet Grant and effect the surrender.

Originally Posted by Robert E. Lee

Then there is nothing left for me to do but go and see General Grant, and I would rather die a thousands deaths.

On the morning of April 9, 1865, Lee wore a splendid new gray uniform. When a senior staffer expressed surprise, Lee simply said "I have probably to be General Grant's prisoner, and thought I must make my best appearance."

The Civil War was full of ironies uncounted. Not least was one involving the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. The surrender took place in a house owned by Wilmer McLean. McLean had owned a farm near Manassas Junction, stretching along the banks of Bull Run, at the time of the first of the two battles fought there. In fact, a shell had come crashing through the window of his house, and he had therefore resolved to find a new home for his family, away from the figthing, "where the sound of battle would never reach them." Appomatox Courthouse was 2 miles from the nearest railroad and a remote hamlet, with absolutely no military value to anyone.

And thus the man who had seen the war start on his property was about to see the war end on his property, in his very parlor.

Grant arrived, rumpled as ever. In his memoirs he would note that he could not figure Lee's emotions.

Originally Posted by Ulysses S. Grant

As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassable face it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I beleve, one of the worst for which a people ever fought

They spoke for some time. Grant seemed in the mood to draw it out, engage in idle discussion, reminisce about their times in the Mexican-American War. Lee, instead, clearly wanted to end the business quickly. Grant offered 25,000 rations for Lee's troops, and Lee stated it would be "an abundance." Grant, whom one staffer stated "looked like a fly on a shoulder of beef", knew that he was underdressed, but stated that he had not expected Lee's note offering immediate terms, and had "thought you would rather receive me as I was than be detained." Lee agreed and said he was "very glad" Grant had met him so quickly.

They negotiated somewhat, then signed the document by which Lee surrendered his army. Returning to his troops, they asked "General! General!! Are we surrendered?!?"

Originally Posted by Robert E. Lee

Men, we have fought the war together, and I have done the best I could for you. You will all be paroled and go to your homes until exchanged.

Tears filled his eyes as he tried to say more, but he could only manage a barely audible "Goodbye."

The formal surrender ceremony was by agreement to take place a few days later. The troops, in meeting, were cordial and civil. Teh Confederates surrendered their flags and weapons.

Guns bloomed and church bells rang across the North in celebration of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.