german demand for surrender with the famous word, nuts. against heavy odds, the yanks stood firm. among such bravery, victory is poised. >> you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook. >> each week, "american artifacts" takes viewers to historic sites around the country. on april 9, 18 65, confederate general robert e lee met union general ulysses s grant in the village of appomattox courthouse and surrendered his army of northern virginia while

confederate armies were still active in the field, the surrender of the south's most put remaining fighting force effectively ended the civil war. next, we tour the national historical park to learn more about the events surrounding that day. >> this is the oldest building in the village. it was called clover hill before it became appomattox courthouse. this was one of the later counties formed. they took price of the four surrounding counties and formed appomattox county in 1845. this county had 18,000 people in it. more than half were slaves working on the tobacco farms. as of 1860, 120 people lived

here in appomattox courthouse. folks would stay at the clover hill tavern as they traveled. the courthouse building was built in 1846, may be in 1847. the jail burned and a new one was built across the road. when people come to appomattox court house, they learned the surrender took place at appomattox courthouse. it did in the town of appomattox courthouse. the surrender meeting took place at the home of one or mclean. the town would be appomattox courthouse as two words. if you are talking about the building, it would be one word. this is where the most significant event with the military took place in april of

1865 lee -- with lee's surrender. now we are going to discuss the battles on april 8 and april 9 that effectively ended lee's retreat. we are standing on the historic stage road, a critical part of generally -- general's lee's retreat. many people or wondering why he was heading toward appomattox courthouse. the idea he was he would head south down the railroad to link forces with general johnson in north carolina. general grant was different from former generals of the union army.

lee had to continue further west hoping to continue around grant's army. the next place general lee could gather supplies was at appomattox station. supplies have been brought over from lynchburg to feed general lee's army. everything they needed, rations, in the equipment. that is where they are headed after leaving cumberland chart on the night of april 7. his advance is led by general walker. they go into camp about two miles from here on the afternoon of april 8. general custer's calvary advances and captures the supplies and then encounters the reserve artillery and fights for about .2 hours the battle of appomattox station. a very unique battle in the

civil war because it is mounted cavalry attacking unsupported artillery. no infantry involved other than canada nears -- cannoneers that picked up weapons. the battle lasted from afternoon until after dark. general custer overruns the remaining guns of walker, captures 25 cannons 1000 prisoners, and 200 wagons. the advance of custer's men continued over that bridge into the village where they will halt at the eastern edge of the village and bill camp on the west of town. during the night, general lee has a council of war with general warden, james long street asking should they surrender or try to break out.

it is determined they will try to break out on the morning of april 9. general morgan brings his troops through the village on the morning of april 9. he files off to the right and left into these fields. he's going to attack that ridge. there is a federal brigade of 1200 men holding that ridge. general gordon has about 5000 men. he is supported by lee on the right with 4000 cavalry and artillery under armistead long. the attack begins that morning and they successfully drive the federals off the ridge doing a left wheel. hard marching infantry, the 24th court and a division from the united states colored troops had covered over 40 miles on april 8. they had closed the road back down and began to push gordon's men back into the appomattox river valley. federal troops are coming up from the south from the army of

the potomac. further to the south and east is general custer and the cavalry swinging around the left flank. behind general lee about four miles from here is general meet with the army of the potomac. general lee's army is effectively surrounded. white flags are sent out to stop the fighting. over the course of the week of writing in the appomattox campaign, lee's army has dwindled from 60,000 men to 30,000 men at appomattox courthouse pretty had lost half of his army. he determined it was time to meet with general grant and surrender his forces. they did that in the mclean house on the afternoon of april 9, 1865.

>> we are now in the parlor of wilmer mclean. after being surrounded, general lee wished to have a meeting with general grant to surrender his army. lee said charles marshall of his staff into the village to find a suitable place to meet and he encountered will reclaim -- wilmer mclean and he offered his own home. they sat at the marble topped table. general grant arrived about 1:30. he sat at the oval wooden table here. the two had met each other in the mexican war. that was the first discussion. they talked about the mexican war for quite a while. the conversation got quite pleasant and general lee reminded general grant of the nature of the meeting and asked general grant to put his terms in writing.

grant sat down and set his terms in writing for general lee principally, the confederate officers would be paroled and allowed to go home. he was going to allow officers to keep their sidearms and personal baggage. general lee later requests and asks if his men can keep the horses. general grant initially says that is not in the terms but thinks about it and says he understands most of these men are farmers and could use the horses. he will not rewrite it the terms that will allow the confederate soldiers to keep the horses if they owned one. general lee's said this would have a very happy affect upon his army. the terms were red over by general lee and given back to general grant. general lee calls for theodore bowers to write out the terms in ink. bowers is nervous and botches the job. he turns it over to eli parker

and indian with the best penmanship. he writes out the formal terms for general grant. general lee's staff officer is lieutenant colonel charles marshall. he writes the acceptance letter. they exchange those letters. that is how the surrender is effected. they exchange the letters. they both do not sign one document. over the course of the meeting general grant introduces officers of his staff to general lee. some of them, general lee knows well such as seth williams, who was lee's adjutant when he was a commandant at west point. another interesting aspect of general grant's staff, there was a young captain named robert lincoln on his staff. he was the son of abraham lincoln -- president abraham lincoln, and he was in the room.

another interesting participant in the ceremony, maybe not a participant, but a witness to the ceremony, was this ragdoll of lulu mclean, the youngest daughter of wilmer mclean. it was sitting on the couch with the officers came in. they moved it to the mantle during the meeting. after the meeting, some officers took the doll off the metal and began tossing around. captain thomas more of general sheridan's staff took that all home with them as a war souvenir. in the 1990's, the family wanted the doll to come back to appomattox courthouse and it is now on display in the visitors center. the meeting lasted about an hour and a half. it was said to be a gentleman's agreement. general grant was very generous with the terms to in the end when general lee says he has nothing to feed his men, general

grant orders russians to be sent to feed lee's army. the men shake hands big general lee departs and rides back to the confederate armor during the news of his surrender. the gentleman who owned the house was original from alexandria. he had married a wealthy widow from manassas, and that is where he leapt at the time of the first major engagement. after the saddleback -- second battle of manassas, he decided to move south to conduct business in northern virginia. he got into sugar speculation. he was not a farmer. he got into sugar speculation. this area was convenient because he could access the south side railroad and make trips through the south to deal in sugar. they owned the house at the time of the surrender.

in 1867, they are not able to keep up with the payments on the house. the house is sold and the family moves back to northern virginia. after the house is sold, the raglan family owns it for a time. in the early 1890's, a group of union veterans have a plan. they are going to start a retirement community for union soldiers at appomattox courthouse. may via land west of the village -- they buy up land west of the village. they are unsuccessful selling lots to union veterans. they decide that will dismantle the house in 1893 and moved it to washington, d.c., and create a civil war museum out of it. the house is dismantled. parts of the house are stacked in the yard. unfortunately, there is a financial panic in 1893 and the firm goes bankrupt. all the supplies outside the house, all the materials, either start to rockaway or as take it

-- start to rot away or are taken as souvenirs. the park service takes it over in 1940. they determine they will rebuild the mclean house. the same company that took the house apart got the bid to rebuild the house and still had the plans. it has been rebuilt on the exact location using the original plans. there are a few bricks to the hearth in the basement. 5500 original bricks are used on the front of the house. when you are walking up to the house, you will pass through bricks that were here in 1855. -- 1865. we are back in front of the clover hill tavern which was owned in 1865 by wilson hicks. i'm going to take you inside until you of what important invents -- events took place in the tavern for confederate

soldiers so they could return home. we are now inside the clover hill tavern where parole passes were printed for the confederate soldiers to return home. part of the agreement was general lee's army would be paroled rather than sent to prison camp. general lee and general grant met a second time at appomattox on horseback on the morning of april 10. general lee requested some safeguard for his men going home because general lee only surrendered one army, the army of northern virginia. there was still joseph johnston in north carolina, richard taylor, kirby smith in texas. his soldiers would be passing through these areas where armies could still be fighting. they don't want these soldiers to be picked up and sent off to prison camp. they don't want to be pressed back into the confederate army because they have given there were not to serve anymore until exchanged. in extreme, these soldiers traveling home passing through confederate lines could be

considered deserters and executed. general grant thinks it is a good idea to have something for these confederate soldiers to go home. that is how the idea of the parole pass comes about. john gibbon has a portable printing press with him. a call goes out for men who have been printers previous to joining the army to come work the presses around the clock until they struck up 20,002 hundred 31 parole passes for confederate soldiers. that is how we know how many confederate soldiers surrendered here at appomattox. general george sharp was put in charge of the process. the men printing the passes worked on printers similar to this. they would have to ink the printers and strike off paroles that would look like this. they would have to be hung and dried.

then they were cut into individual parole passes. these were sent over to the confederate army where the officer and command would fill in the soldier's name and sign the parole. that was made into a master list of paroles turned over to the united states forces. that is how we know what confederate soldiers were paroled here. each soldier would take the girl h -- the parole pass. on their way home, grant entitled them to get supplies from forces if needed. we have seen cases where soldiers are being issued shoes and clothing on their way home, so it was a very valuable piece of paper to have. it was treasured by confederate soldiers because it was visual proof that soldier had made it to appomattox with general lee. he did not desert the army. i want to take you to the place

where general lee and general grant met on horseback on april 10. it is also the area where the confederate army came up to stack their arms on april 12 in the formal surrender ceremony. behind me is the appomattox river valley where the confederate army can't april 8 through april 12 or 13, whenever the individual soldier happened to leave. at the top of the ridge is where general lee's headquarter was located in april of 1865. there was a second meeting at appomattox. they met four times during their life. once in the mexican war, at the plane house -- maclean house on april 9, here on april 10, and the last time when general grant had become president lee pays a courtesy call on him at the white house. here is where they met on horseback april 10. general grant said he wished to

meet with general lee one more time before he headed to washington. he asked general lee to surrender all confederate armies in the field. the day before, he only surrender the army of northern virginia. there were three other principal armies in the south that have not surrendered. lee declines to surrender those armies on that occasion saying he could not consult with jefferson davis to know his wishes. many people that come to appomattox do not realize the war did not end at appomattox. effectively, it does because once lee's army surrenders the others follow suit. two weeks later, general johnson surrendered in north carolina to union general william sherman. richard taylor surrendered his troops in louisiana and alabama on may 4. jefferson dallas was captured on may 10.

war was declared over just a month after the surrender at appomattox. kirby smith in texas, his surrender is not until june 2 1865. the surrender here was a multi-day process. after lee and grant that at the maclean house on april 9, they appoint commissioners to work out the details of how the surrender will take place. that is done by commissioners on april 10. the confederate cavalry is set to surrender their sabers and carbines on april 10, artillery on april 11, and the bulk of general lee's army, the infantry, surrenders on april 12. over 22,000 men with the infantry. i will take you to the road where they surrendered now. we are again standing on the stage road.

on front of me is a confederate artillery piece that signifies where the last artillery shots were fired on the morning of april 9. also in front of me is the home of george pierce, the county clerk. on the evening of april 11 1865, he had a special guest for dinner general joshua chamberlain who had set up his headquarters in his yard. at this dinner, chamberlain brought with him coffee, real coffee that pierce had not had in over a year. over dinner conversation, pierce undoubtedly learned chamberlain was in charge of the actual surrender ceremony on the morning of april 12. chamberlain has his this road from the re-grant meeting site all the way up to the mclean house on the morning of april 12 at about 5:00. his men are out here for several

hours before the confederates approach. they start leaning on their rivals -- rifles and talking amongst themselves. as the confederate troops approach, general chamberlain called his troops to attention. they straighten up and lift their arms to this position. he has about 4500 men lining the wrote on the north and south side presenting a salute to the confederate soldiers. general gordon returns the salute and calls to him in -- his men to soldier arms and returned the salute. the confederates, a division at a time. they face front, stack up the arms take off the equipment, and turnover their flags. that is probably the hardest thing for the confederate soldiers because the flags meant everything to them. giving them up symbolized the end of the war. the confederates would counter march, go back into the river valley. the federals would clear off the road and reform.

there were eight or nine confederate divisions. the ceremonies went on all morning into the afternoon. very emotional and touching ceremonies, but very respectful on both sides. as the last confederate troops stacked arms on the road and returned to their camps, from the camp's, they were allowed to start their journey home. the war was over for those soldiers. now we are going to go to the park visitor center where we have our museum. i will show you some special objects in our collection. we are now in the museum where i will show you some of our compelling items on display, including this original painting of the surrender seen at the mclean house. it is the most iconic painting of the surrender. but it does have inaccuracies.

lee and grant never sat at the same table. grant, at the time of the surrender, was a three-star general, not for stars as in the painting. guillome was born in france and immigrated to richmond virginia. grant sat for him twice and lee three times in the course of the production of the painting. the park service acquired the painting in 1954 for $1250. that money was collected from locals and schoolkids and appomattox county to purchase the painting. what i would like to show you next is what is left of the first true slack -- truce flag sent out to the forces carried by robert sims. he bought this in richmond prior to leaving on the campaign.

he said he paid about $20 confederate money for it. he was given the flag to carry out to stop the advance of custer's cavalry repairing to make an assault on the confederate left flank. during the day, he came into the possession of a staff officer of custer named whitaker. whitaker presented it to custer. over the years, living custer -- libby custer would cut off pieces to give to people as souvenirs to people who were favorable to her husband after the battle of little bighorn. this is john gibbons' cap table used during the meeting on april 10. general lee and general grant appointed three commissioners each. they went to the tavern to have the meeting. but they said it was a cheerless

place, so they repaired to the mclean house. there was no furniture left in the room because the tables had been taken as souvenirs after the meeting on april 9. bigibbon used his camp table and had an inscribed after the commissioners' meeting. this is our display on the apple tree. what is the apple tree? it is one of those myths about appomattox, about lee's surrender. why is it a myth? because the event that supposedly took place there was not what it seemed. lee and grant had been corresponding for several days, since april 7, about the possibility of lee surrendering his army. on the morning of april 9, when lee is finally ready to surrender his army, he sends a message to general grant. the general grant is moving his headquarters. he is on a 20-mile ride, so

lee's message catches up with him about 11:00 that morning. he has a dispatcher right ahead to make arrangements to meet with general lee. he dispenses orville babcock and dunne to meet with lead. confederate forces are on the hills behind the apple tree. they see the federal officer talking with general lee under it. lee the spouses -- dispatches lieutenant colonel and his orderly to come to the village and find a place to meet. eventually, they right into the village to the mclean house. the next time the confederate soldiers see generally, they learn to have been surrendered. they mistakenly assume the federal officer talking to lee under the apple tree was general grant.

they went over to cut the tree down for souvenirs. the union troops key moment and asked why the confederate soldiers were cutting down the tree. the confederate soldiers said this is the tree where general grant surrendered to general lee. they went to work getting souvenirs out of the apple tree. they say by that night, all of the roots have been dug up and there was nothing but a hole in the ground where the apple tree stood. many visitors will come through carrying pieces of the apple tree their ancestors carried home. some which have been donated to the park are on display here. the apple tree myth was believed by many of the soldiers at the time. it was really dispelled when general grant wrote his memoirs. i think one of the most moving pieces in our collection is a letter written by lieutenant miller grove -- minnegrove.

he was a staff officer for the lieutenant cavalry commander. he joined the army against his parents wishes. during the waning fight at appomattox courthouse on the morning of april 9 as the federal infantry closed down the stage road, sealing off lee's line of retreat, he decided he would try to retreat with what cavalry. he could he did not know his men would be allowed to keep their horses. of bullets struck a -- a bullets struck minnigerode and penned a note to his coat. -- the doctors/the soldiers pinned a note and pinned it to his coat.