Appomattox Court House: The End of the Confederacy

The strategic situation facing the Confederacy in early 1865 was hopeless by any rational military assessment, with Union armies under Ulysses S. Grant controlling vast swaths of Confederate territory while systematically destroying the South's ability to continue organized resistance. William T. Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas had demonstrated the Union's ability to strike at the Confederate heartland with impunity, while Philip Sheridan's destruction of the Shenandoah Valley had eliminated one of the South's most important agricultural regions. The Confederate government's loss of control over its territory was matched by economic collapse as inflation rendered Confederate currency worthless while critical shortages of food, clothing, and military supplies reduced the army's effectiveness.

The Army of Northern Virginia's condition in the spring of 1865 reflected the broader decay of Confederate military power as months of siege warfare around Petersburg had reduced Lee's forces through casualties, disease, and desertion to a fraction of their former strength. The men who remained with the colors were largely veterans whose loyalty to Lee and their cause kept them fighting despite the obvious hopelessness of their situation. Many soldiers were barefoot and in rags, subsisting on starvation rations while facing Union forces that were well-supplied and constantly reinforced with fresh troops and modern equipment.