Conclusion of the American Civil War

The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House, by General Robert E. Lee and concluded with the surrender of the CSS Shenandoah on November 6, 1865, bringing the hostilities of the American Civil War to a close.^[1] Legally, the war did not end until a proclamation by President Andrew Johnson on August 20, 1866, when he declared "that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America."^[2]

Lee's defeat on April 9 began the effective end of the war, after which there was no substantial resistance, but the news took time to spread. Some fighting continued, but only small skirmishes. President Abraham Lincoln lived to see Lee's surrender after four bloody years of war, but was assassinated just five days later. The Battle of Columbus, Georgia, was fought on April 16, the day after Lincoln died. For the most part though, news of Lee's defeat led to a wave of Confederate surrenders. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his large army and the southeastern department on April 26. The Confederate cabinet dissolved on May 5. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor, declared on May 9 that the belligerent rights of the Confederacy were at an end,^[3] with the insurrection "virtually" over. Union soldiers captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis on May 10.

This New York Times front page celebrated Lee's surrender, headlining how Grant let Confederate officers retain their sidearms and "paroled" the Confederate officers and men.^[4]

News of Lee's April 9 surrender reached this southern newspaper (Savannah, Georgia) on April 15—after the April 14 shooting of President Lincoln.^[5] The article quotes Grant's terms of surrender.^[5]

The last battle of the war was fought at Palmito Ranch on May 12–13. The last large Confederate military department, the Trans-Mississippi Department, surrendered on May 26, completing the formalities on June 2. The last surrender on land did not come until June 23, when Cherokee Confederate General Stand Watie gave up his command. At sea, the last Confederate ship, CSS Shenandoah, did not surrender until November 6. It had continued sailing around the world raiding vessels until it finally received news of the end of the war. Shenandoah also fired the last shots of the war on June 22. By April 6, 1866, the rebellion was declared over in all states but Texas. Finally, on August 20, 1866, the war was declared legally over, though fighting had been over for more than a year by then.

The end of slavery in the United States of America is closely tied to the end of the Civil War. As the main cause of the war, slavery led to the Union Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederacy as the Union advanced. The last slaves in the Confederacy were not freed until June 19, 1865, now celebrated as the national holiday Juneteenth. After the end of hostilities, the war-torn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in a partially successful attempt to rebuild the country and grant civil rights to freed slaves.