1865 Civil War History

1865 Civil War History: President Lincoln - Hampton Roads Conference
On January 31, 1865 Congress approved the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish slavery. The bloody battles of the Civil continued but the South was now absolutely dependent on its own resources, and the end could not be far off. On February 3, 1865 the leaders of the North and South met together at the Hampton Roads Conference. The 4 hour peace conference  was held on the River Queen, near the Union controlled Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln and the Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, attended by other high ranking officials attempted to find a way to end the American Civil War. The peace talks failed and so the history of the Civil War dragged on to its inevitable conclusion.  President Lincoln was inaugurated in Washington on March 4, 1865.

1865 Civil War History: Sherman closes in on the Confederacy
Early in 1865 Charleston was abandoned, for General William T. Sherman had it at his mercy. Sherman continued his march through the Carolinas northwards from Savannah toward Virginia. The Confederates general Joseph E. Johnston prepared to meet him and bravely fought against the Union army. At one point it seemed possible that he might succeed. General Johnston almost crushed the front end of Sherman's army before the rest of the soldiers could be brought to its rescue the Union force was too strong to be defeated. General Sherman marched on to Goldsboro' in North Carolina where he was joined by General Alfred Terry from Wilmington and by John McAllister Schofield from Tennessee. The combined forces of Sherman were now strong enough to beat any Confederate army. He moved to Raleigh and completely cut General Lee's communications with South Carolina and Georgia. March 25, 1865 General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia mounted a last offensive with an attack on General Grant's forces at Petersburg.

1865 Civil War History: Petersburg
The 1865 Civil War History saw the end of the Confederacy plainly in sight. The soldiers of the Confederate army were starving and the defeated men were constantly deserting to go to the help of their perishing families. General Grant set his 120,000 men into action. His objective was to gain the rear of General Lee's army and to force him to abandon the Siege of Petersburg. On April 1, 1865 General Philip Sheridan, with his cavalry and an infantry corps, seized Five Forks in the rear of Petersburg. In the Battle of Five Forks against the forces of Confederate Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett another 8,500 Confederate soldiers died. Pickett's loss at Five Forks triggered Lee's decision to abandon his entrenchments around Petersburg. And the Confederacy capital of Richmond was also finally abandoned.

1865 Civil War History: Appomattox Court House
General Lee and his remaining starving Confederate soldiers tried to escape to the mountains, but were soon trapped by Union soldiers, General Sheridan placed his men across their path at Battle of Appomattox Court House. There was nothing left but for General Robert E. Lee to surrender. The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, now only 36,000 strong, laid down their arms.  General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865 - refer to Surrender of Appomattox. Soon after General Johnston surrendered to General Sherman near Durham in North Carolina on April 9, 1865.

1865 Civil War History: The Surrender of the South
The remaining, small isolated bands of Confederates all followed Lee and Johnston and the Surrender of the South finally ended in May 1865. The following chart details the dates, the names of Confederate leaders and the number of Confederates who laid down their arms during the Surrender of the South.

1865 Civil War History: President Lincoln Assassinated
Just days following the surrender of Lee and Johnston the nation was rocked by the news of the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. On the evening of  April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln, and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. At 10.15 pm a Southern sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, crept into the theater box and shot the President in the back of the head. The assassin escaped. Doctors were unable to save the President's life and he died the next day and was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency on the same day. Just hours from celebrating the effective end of the Civil War the nation was plunged into shock and mourning.

1865 Civil War History: The Capture of Jefferson Davis
Following the murder of Abraham Lincoln the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, expressed regret at Lincoln's death. The new President Andrew Johnson, accused Jefferson Davis of helping to plan the assassination and issued a $100,000 reward for his capture. President Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865, in Washington, Georgia, and officially dissolved the Confederate government. The search for Jefferson Davis intensified. Davis and his wife were captured on May 10 at Irwinville in Irwin County, Georgia. Records show that it cost a staggering $97,031.62 to capture Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was accused of treason but was he was never put to trial. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned in a fortified chamber, called a casemate, at Fortress Monroe on the coast of Virginia. General Nelson Miles was placed in charge of the fortress. A harsh jailor, Miles ordered irons to be riveted to his ankles and refused to allow Davis visitors or books, except the Bible. Jefferson Davis was released after two years. He had served as President of the Confederate States of America from February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865.

1865 Civil War History: The End of the American Civil War
The surrender of the Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi saw the end of  hostilities between the North and South. The history of the Civil War had officially spanned from April 12, 1861 until May 10, 1865 a period of 4 years, 3 weeks and 6 days - refer to the End of the Civil War. It was over a year later on August 20, 1866, that President Andrew Johnson signed a Proclamation Declaring that Peace, Order, Tranquility, and Civil Authority Now Exists in and Throughout the Whole of the United States of America.

1865 Civil War History: Reconstruction
The end of the history of the Civil War turned to the Reconstruction of the South (1865-1877). Reconstruction is the term applied to the time period when the South was occupied by Federal troops whilst state governments and economies were established and the  infrastructure of the South was rebuilt.

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