The war was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then, Federal (Federal was another name given to the Union Army) armies were spread throughout the Confederacy and the Confederate Army had shrunk extremely in size. In the year before, the North had lost an enormous amount of lives, but had more than enough to lose in comparison to the South. General Grant became known as the "Butcher" (Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co.,1894) and many wanted to see him removed. But Lincoln stood firm with his General, and the war continued. This paper will follow the happenings and events between the winter of 1864-65 and the surrender of The Confederate States of America. All of this w

On April 4th, after visiting Petersburg briefly, President Lincoln decided to visit the fallen city of Richmond. He arrived by boat with his son, Tad, and was led ashore by no more than 12 armed sailors. The city had not yet been secured by Federal forces. Lincoln had no more than taken his first step when former slaves started forming around him singing praises. Lincoln proceeded to join with General Godfrey Weitzel who had been place in charge of the occupation of Richmond and taken his headquarters in Jefferson Davis' old residence. When he arrived there, he and Tad took an extensive tour of the house after discovering Weitzel was out and some of the soldiers remarked that Lincoln seemed to have a boyish expression as he did so. No one can be sure what Lincoln was thinking as he sat in Davis' office. When Weitzel arrived, he asked the President what to do with the conquered people. Lincoln replied that he no longer gave direction in military manners but went on to say: "If I were in your place, I'd let 'em up easy, let 'em up easy" (Johnson, Robert Underwood, and Clarence Clough Buel, eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 4. New York: The Century Co., 1887).

Grant had decided that the only way to win and finish the war would be to crunch with numbers. He knew that the Federal forces held more than a modest advantage in terms of men and supplies. This in mind, Grant directed Sherman to turn around now and start heading back toward Virginia. He immediately started making preparations to provide assistance to Sherman on the journey. General John M. Schofield and his men were to detach from the Army of the Cumberland, which had just embarrassingly defeated the Confederates at Nashville, and proceed toward North Carolina. His final destination was to be Goldsboro, which was roughly half the distance between Savannah and Richmond. This is where he and his 20,000 troops would meet Sherman and his 50,000 troops.

At daybreak the Confederate battle line was formed to the west of Appomattox. The Union soldiers were in position in front of the line with cannons. When the Federal cannons started to fire, the Confederate signal for attack was sounded and the troops charged. One soldier later remarked: "It was my fortune to witness several charges during the war, but never one so magnificently executed as this one." (McCarthy, Carlton, Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia 1861-1865. Richmond: Carlton McCarthy, 1882) This Confederate advance only lasted from about 7am to 9am, at which time the Rebels were forced back. The Confederates could no longer hold their lines and Lee sent word to Grant to meet at 1pm to discuss surrender. The two men met at the now famous McLean House and a surrender was agreed upon. It was 2pm on April 9, 1865. Johnston's army surrendered to General Sherman on April 26 in North Carolina; General Taylor of Mississippi-Alabama and General Smith of the trans Mississippi-Texas surrendered in May ending the war completely.

Sherman immediately left Goldsboro to travel up to City Point and meet Grant to discuss plans of attack. When he arrived there, he found not only Grant, but also Admiral David Porter waiting to meet with President Lincoln. So on the morning of the March 28th, General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Porter all met with Lincoln on the river boat "River Queen" to discuss a strategy against General Lee and General Johnston of the Confederate Army. Several times Lincoln asked "can't this last battle be

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