<Li> Appomattox Court House </Li> <P> The Battle of Appomattox Court House (Virginia, U.S.), fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War (1861--1865). It was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General - in - Chief, Robert E. Lee, and his Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army of the Potomac under the Commanding General of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant . Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the nine and one - half month Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the remaining Confederate forces in North Carolina, the Army of Tennessee under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston . Union infantry and cavalry forces under Gen. Philip Sheridan pursued and cut off the Confederates' retreat at the central Virginia village of Appomattox Court House . Lee launched a last - ditch attack to break through the Union forces to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of lightly armed cavalry . When he realized that the cavalry was now backed up by two corps of Federal infantry, he had no choice but to surrender with his further avenue of retreat and escape now cut off . </P> <P> The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9 . On April 12, a formal ceremony of parade and the stacking of arms led by Southern Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon to Federal Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain of Maine marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia with the parole of its nearly 28,000 remaining officers and men, free to return home without their major weapons but enabling men to take their horses and officers to retain their sidearms (swords and pistols), and effectively ending the war in Virginia . This event triggered a series of subsequent surrenders across the South, in North Carolina, Alabama and finally Shreveport, Louisiana, for the Trans - Mississippi Theater in the West by June, signaling the end of the four - year - long war . </P> <P> The final campaign for Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States, began when the Union / Federal / Northern Army of the Potomac crossed the James River in June 1864 . The armies under the command of Lieutenant General and General - in - Chief Ulysses S. Grant (1822--1885) laid siege to Petersburg, south of Richmond, intending to cut the two cities' supply lines and force the Confederates to evacuate . In the spring of 1865, Confederate States Army Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807--1870), waited for an opportunity to leave the Petersburg lines, aware that the position was untenable, but Union troops made the first move . On April 1, 1865, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry turned Lee's flank at the Battle of Five Forks . The next day Grant's army achieved a decisive breakthrough, effectively ending the Petersburg siege . With supply railroad lines cut, Lee's men abandoned the trenches they had held for ten months and evacuated on the night of April 2--3 . </P>

What was the impact of the battle of appomattox
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