Lee was on the move, hoping to meet up with Gen. Joseph Johnston and his troops in North Carolina. His men arrived at Amelia Court House on April 4; looking for food and weapons, they found only weapons. In desperation, the Confederate troops took to the countryside in search of food, begging the local populace to help them. In pursuit and eventually overtaking Lee's army was Sheridan and his cavalry.

The two armies clashed on April 6, at Sayler's Creek. The result was a resounding victory for the Union; losses for Lee totaled one-quarter of his army, and among those were a handful of generals. The remaining Confederates marched on, headed for Appomattox Station and what they hoped were supply trains.

The Confederate army arrayed itself at the small settlement of Appomattox Court House. The Union cavalry under Sheridan, who had just arrived, blocked one approach out of town, and Grant had sent three corps of infantry on a hurried march to join Custer's cavalry.

At first light on April 9, Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. John Gordon attacked the Union cavalry and, pushing back the first line, found themselves face-to-face with Union infantry. Realizing that his army was far outnumbered and effectively trapped, Lee rode out with a handful of aides to request a meeting with Grant.

The two commanders traded messages for a few hours and then met at the home of Wilmer McLean. Lee, arrayed in his finest dress uniform, arrived first. Grant, who had been suffering from a severe headache, arrived in a field uniform stained with mud. The two men traded stories about the Mexican-American War, in which they had both fought, and then discussed terms of surrender.

Grant offered to release all of Lee's soldiers, giving them leave to return to their homes without facing the prospect of capture or imprisonment, provided that they leave behind all of their army-issued weapons; in addition, Lee gained the addition of allowing his men to take their horses and mules with them (because unlike the Union soldiers, the Confederates owned their horses and mules and, more likely than not, needed those animals on the farms to which they were returning). Grant also told Lee that Union troops would supply their Confederate counterparts with rations for every remaining soldier.

Lee, who on February 6 had been named General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, gave a farewell speech to his soldiers, urging them to lay down their weapons and not engage in any sort of guerrilla fighting. His subordinate generals and commanders followed suit; the last surrender took place in June.

Lee returned to Richmond and complied with the Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon, signing an Amnesty Oath; he was not prosecuted for treason, but he was also not pardoned or restored as a U.S. citizen. He publicly voiced support for Andrew Johnson's plan for Reconstruction and, in February 1866, testified before the Joint Congressional Committee on Reconstruction. Lee urged reconciliation and warned that the harsh measures favored by the Radical Republicans would do lasting harm to an already devastated South.

In 1865, Lee was named president of Washington College in Lexington, Va. He had that job when he died of heart disease, on Oct. 12, 1870, having suffered a stroke two weeks before. The college is now named Washington and Lee.

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