In the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9,
1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000 Confederate troops
to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, thus effectively ending the
American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital
of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate
force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union
cavalry, Lee had no other option.
On December 13, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia repulsed a series of attacks by General
Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
The defeat was one of the most decisive loses for the Union army,
and it dealt a serious blow to Northern morale in the winter of 1862-
63.
General Ambrose Burnside General Robert E. Lee
On November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery
at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War,
President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In fewer than 275 words, Lincoln
brilliantly and movingly reminded a war-weary public why the
Union had to fight, and win, the Civil War.
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought some four months earlier, was
one of the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over the course
of three days, more than 45,000 men were killed, injured, captured
or went missing. The battle also proved to be the turning point of
the war: General Robert E. Lee’s defeat and retreat from Gettysburg marked the last Confederate invasion of Northern territory and the beginning of the Southern army’s ultimate decline.
Rare photo discovered of Lincoln at Gettysburg.
The original uncropped photo of the speakers stand at Gettysburg.
Abraham Lincoln’s original Gettysburg Address in an Illinois museum.
Destruction of Hood’s Ordnance train, Georgia Central
Railroad.
On November 12, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman ordered
the business district of Atlanta, Georgia, destroyed before he
embarked on his famous March to the Sea.
Chief Engineer Orlando M. Poe directed the demolition of stone
and brick buildings using specially made battering rams.
On Nov. 15, Poe’s troops burned the wooden buildings in the
downtown business district around the site of this marker.
Though houses and churches were not targeted, some were
burned nonetheless. Many houses had already been dismantled
by both armies to make way for fortifications. Contrary to
popular myth only forty percent of Atlanta was left in ruins.
Sherman’s March To The Sea.
William Tecumseh Sherman
(February 8, 1820 – February 14, 1891)
On November 4, 1990, Dances with Wolves, a film about an
American Civil War–era soldier and a group of Sioux Native
Americans that stars Kevin Costner and also marked his
directorial debut, premiered in Los Angeles. The film, which
opened across the United States on November 21, 1990,
was a surprise box-office success and earned 12 Academy
Award nominations, including Best Actor for Costner.
Dances with Wolves took home seven Oscars, including Best
Picture and Best Director, and solidified Costner’s place on
Hollywood’s A-list.
