Appomattox: The War’s Quiet End

April 8, 1865. Four years of brutality had shattered a nation.

Lives and legacies lay in ruins. And in Virginia's fields, the Civil War teetered

on the brink of conclusion. Robert E. Lee’s troops were starving.

Every supply route severed. Horses dropped where they stood. Men clung to life

on scraps of parched corn. Escape to the west was gone. Union forces encircled

them. The end was no longer a matter of if. It was inevitable. Ulysses S.

Grant did not hasten the finale. He tightened his grip patiently, severing railways,

barring paths, sealing all avenues. The stage set near a village few knew. Appomattox.