The battle of Appomattox Courthouse was the final campaign of General Robert E. Lee before his surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant. During this time, General Lee was pushed on all sides and the Confederate army was nearing its demise. After all had been said and done, the Union had waged a successful and damaging campaign in the South that despite how the war had initially started, with the Confederacy having the upper hand, it was only a matter of time before the Union won. Yet despite this, throughout the entire Civil War the South waged a desperate but heartfelt war amongst its people to fight for their beliefs.
The Union also fought hard for their beliefs that all individuals were equal under God. General Lee, despite his agreeing with the beliefs of the South, knew that the time for the Confederacy was at an end if support and a miracle did not arrive. Leeís armyís fate was sealed with the arrival of Sherridanís forces which made a 30 mile trek within a mere 21 hours and waited for Leeís army to approach Appoxtomax Courthouse.
After the end, General Lee approached General Grantís meeting in one of the most impressive displays of the war. General Lee was decked out in his finest military garb to perform his surrender while General Grant, exhausted from the drain the war posed on him, was dressed in a muddy and tattered uniform. It was said that General Grant, overcome with respect for his enemy, could almost not bring himself to discuss the surrender terms as he had long held respect for General Lee and even brought up a chance encounter during the Mexican-American war. In the end, it was General Lee who returned the subject to the surrender.